Episode 51: Why do many investors pull their hair out worrying about where the stock market is headed?

Dimensional Founder and Chairman David Booth knows it's an ongoing problem. He also believes it's unnecessary.

In his new book, "Stay Calm: Learn to Embrace Uncertainty in Investing and Life," Booth points out that most people already know more about investing than they think. So worrying about it doesn't make much sense. The book will be available September 1, 2026.

"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," Booth says.

Writing the book is Booth's attempt to share what he has spent 50 years learning. "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," he says.

One of those ideas is letting the market work for you. That means relying on what capital markets can deliver—in the past 100 years, for instance, the S&P 500 gained roughly +10% per year on an annualized basis—instead of trying to predict where they're going. (S&P data © 2026 S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, a division of S&P Global. All rights reserved.)

In Episode 51 of The Informed Investor podcast, David Booth joins Dimensional's Jake DeKinder, Head of Client Communications, to discuss "Stay Calm" and the power of its "stress-less" approach to investing.

Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Indices are not available for direct investment; therefore, their performance does not reflect the expenses associated with the management of an actual portfolio.

LINKS FROM TODAY'S EPISODE:

Preorder "Stay Calm: Learn to Embrace Uncertainty in Investing and Life" https://www.staycalminvesting.com/preorder

Subscribe to the Stay Calm Investing Newsletter

https://www.staycalminvesting.com/newsletter

The Informed Investor: Feedback Survey

https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/informed-investor-survey

"The Informed Investor" on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCyJr6FFig-h1mA7rVP7Mbk0irFw2wA90

Dimensional Fund Advisors Shorts on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@dimensionalfundadvisors/shorts

Jake DeKinder on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-d-4105b98/

David Booth on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-g-booth/

Learn more at https://www.dimensional.com/

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