Why I Wrote “Stay Calm”
Investing doesn’t have to be complicated or exclusive. Embrace uncertainty, stay calm and invested, and let markets work for you over time.
I grew up in Kansas with Depression-era parents, plainspoken people who never trusted investing in the stock market. In their minds, investing was for insiders. Not for people like them.
When my dad passed away in 1985, my brother and sister and I went to his bank and opened the family safe deposit box. Inside was $15,000 in cash, more than 15% of everything my parents had. Dad grew up watching banks fail. He needed that cash where he could see it. I understood it. It was still hard to look at.
If they’d invested that money when my dad came home from World War II, it would have been worth more than $1 million by the time we opened that box.1 They worked hard their whole lives for what they had. I still think about what they missed.
There are a lot of people in the same position my parents were in. Not because they’re careless, but because no one ever showed them that this wasn’t as complicated or as exclusive as it looks. You already know more about investing than you think. Investing is about making decisions under uncertainty. That’s most of what life is. You’ve been doing it since before you can remember with every job change and every move.
My new book is called Stay Calm: Learn to Embrace Uncertainty in Investing and Life. Writing it was my attempt to share what I’ve spent 50 years learning, and to get it in front of as many people as possible. There are people losing sleep over their financial future who’ve never had access to these ideas. That’s what I’m trying to fix.
A few years ago we made a documentary and put it on YouTube for free, figuring it might find a small audience. It now has more than 30 million views. That told me the people are out there. The book is the next step.
Stay calm, stay invested, and let markets work for you.
Disclosures
RISKS
Investments involve risks. The investment return and principal value of an investment may fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original value. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. There is no guarantee strategies will be successful.
CANADA
These materials have been prepared by Dimensional Fund Advisors Canada ULC. The other Dimensional entities referenced herein are not registered resident investment fund managers or portfolio managers in Canada.
This material is not intended for Quebec residents.
Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees, and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund investments. Please read the prospectus before investing. Unless otherwise noted, any indicated total rates of return reflect the historical annual compounded total returns, including changes in share or unit value and reinvestment of all dividends or other distributions, and do not take into account sales, redemption, distribution, or optional charges or income taxes payable by any security holder that would have reduced returns. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently, and past performance may not be repeated.
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