The financial news cycle moves fast, but the fundamentals of investing have not changed. Melissa Joy, CFP® sits down with Ben Carlson, Director of Institutional Asset Management at Ritholtz Wealth Management and author of five books including his latest, Risk and Reward, to explore what history actually teaches us about markets, human nature, and the psychology behind smart long-term investing. Ben brings equal parts data and storytelling to make the case that understanding the past is one of the most underrated tools an investor can have.

From the inflationary spiral of the 1970s to lost decades and the dot-com aftermath, Ben and Melissa walk through the market cycles that shaped today's investing environment and what those periods reveal about our own tendencies as investors. They also dig into the coming wave of wealth transfer, why women will increasingly control the bulk of financial assets, and why the financial advice industry is not yet ready for it.

What You'll Learn

• Why studying financial history matters and what it reveals about the range of possible outcomes
• How inflation in the 1970s shaped investor psychology in ways that still resonate today
• What the lost decade of 2000 to 2010 teaches about diversification and why that lesson keeps getting forgotten
• Why simplicity in a financial plan beats complexity almost every time
• How to build a portfolio durable enough to survive a wide range of outcomes without requiring you to predict the future
• Why preparation is more valuable than prediction when it comes to investing
• What the great wealth transfer means for women and why the financial advice industry needs to catch up
• How human nature is the one investing variable that never changes across market cycles
• What Ben's list of 20 investing beliefs reveals about discipline, self-awareness, and behavioral finance
• Why the best financial plan is the one you can actually stick with through difficult markets

About Ben Carlson

Ben Carlson is the Director of Institutional Asset Management at Ritholtz Wealth Management and the author of five books on investing and personal finance, including his latest, Risk and Reward. He is the creator of the blog Wealth of Common Sense and co-host of the Animal Spirits podcast.

Book: Risk and Reward

Blog: awealthofcommonsense.com 

Podcast: Animal Spirits

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