The Rational Reminder Podcast

In this episode, we welcome back David Booth, Co-Founder of Dimensional Fund Advisors and author of Stay Calm: Learn to Embrace Uncertainty in Investing and Life. David reflects on his remarkable career at the center of the evidence-based investing revolution, from studying under Eugene Fama at the University of Chicago to helping build investment strategies around decades of financial research.
 
We explore what the data revealed about markets and professional money management, why implementation matters as much as great ideas, and how investors can make better decisions without trying to predict the unpredictable. David also shares his views on trust, financial advice, public versus private markets, human ingenuity, and the meaning of true wealth. Along the way, he explains why staying calm, having a process, and staying invested can matter far more than finding the next winning forecast.
 
Key Points From This Episode:
(0:00:04) Introducing David Booth and his new book, Stay Calm: Learn to Embrace Uncertainty in Investing and Life.
(0:01:15) What David learned as a commission-based shoe salesman: Do the right thing and be upfront with people.
(0:03:35) The gift of being an outsider and how financial science changed the investing experience for ordinary investors.
(0:05:38) Why outsiders are often willing to challenge assumptions—and how data changed the debate.
(0:06:53) David's experience arriving at the University of Chicago and studying under Eugene Fama.
(0:07:49) Inside Chicago's rigorous research culture and the lessons David learned from presenting his work.
(0:10:03) The empirical challenge behind efficient markets and why data mattered more than beliefs.
(0:11:41) How Fama and French approach research by trying to prove their own conclusions wrong.
(0:12:05) The two-fish joke and the challenge of understanding the environment we are immersed in.
(0:12:45) How Jim Lorie and Lawrence Fisher helped provide the historical market data that transformed financial research.
(0:14:18) From early mutual fund research to the question that shaped David's career: What should investors do if managers cannot consistently outguess the market?
(0:20:59) Why Dimensional distinguishes between passive investing and indexing.
(0:23:21) The origins of Dimensional's approach to small-cap investing and the importance of execution.
(0:24:45) Why David would rather be an investor today than in 1971.
(0:26:21) Jensen's alpha, risk-adjusted returns, and what Michael Jensen's research revealed about professional money managers.
(0:28:30) Why implementation is everything—and why models are tools for making decisions under uncertainty.
(0:33:47) Why the most important thing about an investment philosophy is having one you can stick with.
(0:35:46) Why David sees education as an antidote to fear and wants investors to feel more optimistic about investing.
(0:36:18) Human ingenuity as the foundation of David's optimism about markets.
(0:37:53) Why trust is the ultimate product in the investment business.
(0:39:40) Why understanding the science alone is not enough—and how advisors can help investors stay invested.
(0:40:23) What David's art collection has taught him about non-monetary returns and true worth.
(0:43:07) Why a good financial plan is a process built around trade-offs, flexibility, and adaptation.
(0:45:22) The problem with fixed goals and why David thinks many goals are inherently fuzzy.
(0:46:34) How David distinguishes between forecasts, wishes, and worries.
(0:49:44) How investors can identify and tune out noise by focusing on how markets work over the long term.
(0:51:30) David's unfiltered perspective on private markets, transparency, price discovery, and liquidity.
(0:52:38) Why true wealth begins with values, family, and the things that matter beyond money.
(0:54:57) What winning means when wealth includes both monetary and non-monetary rewards.
(0:55:39) Why David describes optimism as science-based hope.
(0:57:33) What Stay Calm means to David: Make decisions aligned with your values, build a process, and trust that you can deal with whatever comes your way.
Links From Today's Episode:

Meet with PWL Capital: https://calendly.com/d/3vm-t2j-h3p
Rational Reminder on iTunes — https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rational-reminder-podcast/id1426530582.
Rational Reminder on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/rationalreminder/
Rational Reminder on YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/
Benjamin Felix — https://pwlcapital.com/our-team/
Benjamin on X — https://x.com/benjaminwfelix
Benjamin on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminwfelix/
 
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)

In this special episode, we are joined by Mike Sullivan, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at OneDigital, and Vinay Gidwaney, OneDigital's Chief Product Officer, to discuss their new book, Workforce Intelligence: The People-First Playbook for Leading Your Company Through AI Transformation. Together, they offer a practical, pro-human framework for navigating a future where artificial intelligence becomes deeply embedded in how organizations operate.
 
We explore why leaders should focus on tasks rather than headcount, how AI can amplify uniquely human capabilities, and why companies may need to rethink how they manage their workforce. Mike and Vinay explain their concepts of reducible and irreducible skills, AI coworkers, workforce intelligence, collaborative AI use, and the importance of building an organizational intelligence layer. They also share practical lessons from OneDigital's own AI transformation—including why leadership activation, trust, reskilling, and a partnership between technical and non-technical leaders are essential.
 
This conversation offers an alternative to the prevailing narrative of AI-driven job elimination. Instead, it asks a bigger question: if AI can take on more of the work we currently do, what might humans become capable of doing next?
 
Key Points From This Episode:
(0:00:00) Highlights.
(0:00:25) Introduction.
(0:01:23) Why AI adoption affects employers, employees, and financial markets—and why the conversation is relevant far beyond technology.
(0:02:27) Two possible paths for companies: replacing people with AI or using AI to amplify human capabilities.
(0:03:53) How PWL is already using AI to help financial planners and portfolio managers work more strategically and serve clients better.
(0:06:22) Mike and Vinay's five-year partnership around deploying AI inside OneDigital.
(0:09:07) The "radiating red dot": Why Mike's analysis suggested that up to 25% of OneDigital's workforce could be disrupted by AI.
(0:11:09) "See faces, not headcount": The decision to pursue transformation by amplifying people rather than simply reducing jobs.
(0:12:19) Why Mike and Vinay felt a responsibility to offer a more practical, human-first narrative about AI and work.
(0:13:40) Vinay's realization that widespread access to AI makes human differentiation even more important.
(0:17:22) Mike's first experience with an AI coworker—and the endless possibilities it unlocked for curiosity and exploration.
(0:18:22) Human intelligence versus artificial intelligence: Why AI's greatest value may be its ability to help people think differently.
(0:22:19) Why the future of work should be analyzed at the task level rather than through predictions about jobs disappearing.
(0:23:58) The coming reskilling challenge—and why the allocation of work between AI and humans needs to be more deliberate.
(0:25:12) Why Vinay believes companies that discard their human talent could lose their most important competitive differentiation.
(0:26:30) Why AI transformation should be viewed as a "movie, not a snapshot," with work continually being reshaped.
(0:28:10) What "workforce intelligence" means: Managing the combined intelligence of human talent and AI talent.
(0:30:07) Why Mike and Vinay believe HR—not just IT—must play a central role in leading the transition to a blended workforce.
(0:31:54) Reducible versus irreducible skills: Letting AI handle work that can be broken into processes while humans spend more time on judgment, experience, and other "squishy" capabilities.
(0:34:10) Applying the framework to financial planning: AI for modeling and information processing, humans for judgment, relationships, and helping clients navigate life decisions.
(0:37:00) How AI can reduce meeting preparation from hours to minutes while generating insights that would otherwise be missed.
(0:37:48) The importance of trust and communication as employees try to understand what AI means for their future.
(0:39:53) The Workforce Intelligence score: Treating AI as talent and measuring the evolving mix of human and AI work.
(0:42:09) Transactional versus collaborative AI use—and why collaboration can be more amplifying for both people and organizations.
(0:45:40) Why companies need agency over their AI systems and should think carefully about intelligence lock-in.
(0:48:47) Codifying organizational intelligence: Building systems where human expertise improves AI, which in turn helps humans become more capable.
(0:50:24) What it means to become "activated" by AI—and how using AI as a coach and teacher can expand human potential.
(0:52:44) Ambient AI: Systems that continuously observe information and surface patterns when human judgment is needed.
(0:54:11) The Charlotte-Denver redundancy and the challenge of making the best organizational intelligence available to everyone.
(0:57:26) OneDigital's five-tier fluency model for developing AI capabilities across employees, advanced users, managers, and builders.
(1:00:13) Why democratized software development creates a new governance challenge—and how AI may help manage it.
(1:00:54) Why OneDigital gives AI coworkers names, faces, profiles, skill sets, and human managers.
(1:04:01) Mike's belief in the dignity of work—and why employers need to approach the AI transition with humanity and care.
(1:06:53) Vinay's belief in human potential and why the goal should be to expand what people are capable of doing.
(1:08:56) Why organizations should avoid measuring AI success solely through cost cutting and instead consider human amplification.
(1:12:41) The four questions for Monday morning: Turning big ideas about AI transformation into practical actions leaders can take immediately.
(1:13:55) Why AI transformation needs leadership from the top and a partnership between someone who understands technology and someone who deeply understands the business.
(1:15:40) Leadership activation: Why organizations are unlikely to change until their leaders personally experience how AI can transform their own work.
(1:17:44) What we still don't know about AI—and why the guests believe we are still in the very early innings of this transformation.
(1:18:55) The three-minute-mile analogy: AI may optimize human minds in ways we cannot yet imagine.
(1:20:00) A final call for a pro-humanity, blended workforce—and the need to move faster in adapting to what AI makes possible.
 
Links From Today's Episode:

Meet with PWL Capital: https://calendly.com/d/3vm-t2j-h3p
Rational Reminder on iTunes — https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rational-reminder-podcast/id1426530582.
Rational Reminder on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/rationalreminder/
Rational Reminder on YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/
Benjamin Felix — https://pwlcapital.com/our-team/
Benjamin on X — https://x.com/benjaminwfelix
Benjamin on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminwfelix/
 
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)

In this episode, Ben Felix and Dan Bortolotti take on 10 of the biggest myths in personal finance and investing. From the idea that young people should save every possible dollar to benefit from compounding, to assumptions about economic growth, dividends, index funds, valuation ratios, stock picking, bonds, gold, and homeownership, they examine the subtle details that can make  conventional wisdom misleading.
 
Ben and Dan explore why personal finance is often about balance rather than absolute rules, why spending decisions can be just as important as saving decisions, and how investors can confuse familiar stories with useful financial principles. Along the way, they discuss consumption smoothing, marginal utility, total returns, diversification, valuation, risk, inflation, and the trade-offs between renting and owning.
 
They also announce a new podcast initiative: future episodes featuring PWL clients discussing their experiences and the impact that financial planning has had on their lives.
 
Key Points From This Episode:
(0:00:00) Highlights.
(0:00:35) Ben and Dan return to the podcast and discuss recording from PWL's Montreal office.
(0:01:09) A new podcast initiative: PWL clients will join future episodes to discuss their experiences with financial planning.
(0:01:43) A new podcast initiative: PWL clients will join future episodes to discuss their experiences with financial planning.
(0:02:18) How greater clarity about their finances can affect clients' important life decisions.
(0:05:30) Introducing the main topic: 10 of the biggest myths in personal finance.
(0:06:24) Myth #1: You should save as much as possible when you're young to maximize the benefits of compounding.
(0:08:54) Why the marginal utility of consumption may be highest when income and living standards are comparatively low.
(0:11:26) How health, skills, and experiences can also compound over time.
(0:12:31) Why aggressive saving habits can sometimes lead to an inability to spend accumulated wealth.
(0:13:37) Helping retirees identify what they actually enjoy spending money on.
(0:15:35) Why spending and saving decisions can become emotionally charged and feel irreversible.
(0:17:30) Saving as deferred consumption—and why the answer for most people is some balance between spending now and saving for later.
(0:18:50) The life-cycle model and the idea of smoothing consumption across a lifetime.
(0:20:23) Building a saving habit while also learning to spend thoughtfully.
(0:21:09) Myth #2: Economic growth is good for stock returns.
(0:21:30) Why economic headlines can influence investor psychology and investment decisions.
(0:25:12) Why strong economic growth does not necessarily translate into strong stock returns.
(0:25:12) Myth #3: Dividends explain a large percentage of historical stock market returns.
(0:27:52) Why the source of a company's return does not make one component inherently more valuable than another.
(0:30:57) Myth #4: Index funds only give investors average returns.
(0:30:57) Why an index fund can outperform most active investors.
(0:33:14) The difference between average performance and the performance of the average investor.
(0:36:31) Myth #5: Future market returns are always low when the Shiller CAPE ratio is above 40.
(0:36:31) What the Shiller cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio measures.
(0:41:25) Why valuation can contain information about expected returns without providing certainty about what markets will do next.
(0:43:24) Myth #6: Warren Buffett proves that investors can beat the stock market by picking stocks.
(0:43:24) Buffett's extraordinary career, the importance of his early performance, and the difficulty of using exceptional outcomes as a general strategy.
(0:46:17) Myth #7: Bonds and cash are safe investments.
(0:46:17) Why reducing stock exposure does not eliminate investment risk.
(0:50:03) The distinction between short-term volatility and other risks, including inflation and purchasing-power risk.
(0:53:59) Myth #8: Gold is an inflation hedge.
(0:53:59) Why gold's long-term preservation of purchasing power does not necessarily make it a reliable hedge over intermediate periods.
(0:56:28) Myth #9: Gold is the one true currency.
(0:56:28) The long-running debate over what money is and who should control it.
(1:00:42) Myth #10: Renting a home is throwing money away.
(1:00:42) Why paying rent provides housing while allowing renters to retain capital for other purposes.
(1:08:04) Why simple rules of thumb can sometimes be useful even when they are not financially optimal in every situation.
(1:09:52) Wrapping up the 10 myths in personal finance.
 
Links From Today's Episode:

Meet with PWL Capital: https://calendly.com/d/3vm-t2j-h3p
Rational Reminder on iTunes — https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rational-reminder-podcast/id1426530582.
Rational Reminder on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/rationalreminder/
Rational Reminder on YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/
Benjamin Felix — https://pwlcapital.com/our-team/
Benjamin on X — https://x.com/benjaminwfelix
Benjamin on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminwfelix/
 
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)

In this episode, we welcome back William Bernstein to discuss the final book of his longtime friend Jonathan Clements, Money and Me. Bill reflects on Jonathan's ideas about spending, happiness, retirement, investing, inheritance, and the psychology of financial decision-making, while sharing personal stories that bring those ideas to life.
 
We explore why material purchases often lose their appeal quickly, why autonomy can be one of the best things money can buy, and how worrying about money can be a greater problem than spending it. Bill also discusses the four horsemen of financial disaster—inflation, deflation, confiscation, and destruction—why diversification matters, and why investors should be skeptical of assumptions about future returns and market forecasts.
 
The conversation also examines what it means to "win the game" financially, why retirement should be thought of as a verb rather than a destination, and the three foundations of well-being: connection, competence, and autonomy. Bill shares Jonathan's approach to teaching children about money, the concept of "Omega" as a way to think about spending versus saving, and why the people around us can have an enormous influence on our expectations and consumption.
 
Key Points From This Episode:
(4:56) Why success can contain the seeds of its own destruction—and the role of competition, organizational hubris, and luck.
(6:15) Why dynastic wealth is so difficult to preserve across generations.
(8:28) A hierarchy of spending: material purchases, experiences, autonomy, and the relief from worrying about money.
(10:54) Why some people continue worrying about money no matter how much they have.
(11:44) Why we are poor at predicting what purchases and lifestyle changes will actually make us happy.
(13:36) How to pressure-test large purchases by considering their downsides and their effect on your time.
(14:20) Why the happiness generated by spending does not necessarily scale with the price of a purchase.
(15:21) The importance of gratitude and savoring small pleasures.
(16:39) The four horsemen of financial apocalypse: inflation, deflation, confiscation, and destruction.
(18:15) Why inflation is the financial risk Bill focuses on—and how investors can blunt its effects.
(19:26) Why relatively inexpensive international markets can still offer optimism for long-term investors.
(21:02) Jonathan Clements' "investment sin": slightly overbalancing when rebalancing.
(22:04) What it means to have "won the game" financially.
(24:36) Why a TIPS ladder or annuity can help defuse retirement spending needs.
(25:19) Why the math of financial planning often fails to account for human psychology.
(27:21) Why diversification matters when bad returns arrive at the same time as bad circumstances.
(28:20) The challenge of variable spending in retirement.
(29:10) Why retirement should be a verb—and why simply stopping work can leave people searching for meaning.
(30:00) The three foundations of happiness: connection, competence, and autonomy.
(32:03) Investment assumptions people should avoid, including confusing great companies with great stocks.
(33:10) Why eloquence can be an alarm bell when evaluating financial forecasts.
(34:18) Jonathan's three-pronged strategy for getting more out of your money: pause before making important decisions.
(35:01) How to audit your past spending to identify what actually made you happy.
(37:11) Hedonic versus eudaimonic happiness—and why life satisfaction can outlast momentary pleasure.
(39:05) Why enjoying your work can be more valuable than maximizing your salary.
(40:56) A different perspective on FIRE: working less and doing work you enjoy rather than simply retiring early.
(41:37) Why giving money to children while you're alive can be more useful than leaving it as an inheritance.
(42:29) How parents teach children about money by modeling their own spending behavior.
(44:13) Jonathan's practical approach to teaching children about spending and saving.
(44:49) The "Omega" concept: avoiding both YOLO spending and dying as the richest person in the graveyard.
(46:26) How social comparisons influence spending and expectations.
(48:54) Why rising markets can encourage investors to take on more risk.
(49:06) How recency and the availability heuristic shape investment beliefs.
(49:46) Bill's favorite memories of Jonathan and his remarkable outlook while facing a terminal diagnosis.
Links From Today's Episode:

Meet with PWL Capital: https://calendly.com/d/3vm-t2j-h3p
Rational Reminder on iTunes — https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rational-reminder-podcast/id1426530582.
Rational Reminder on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/rationalreminder/
Rational Reminder on YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/
Benjamin Felix — https://pwlcapital.com/our-team/
Benjamin on X — https://x.com/benjaminwfelix
Benjamin on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminwfelix/
 
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)

Barry Ritholtz returns to the Rational Reminder podcast to discuss the biggest mistakes investors make—and why avoiding them may matter more than finding the next great investment. Drawing on decades of experience in markets, wealth management, and financial media, Barry explains why forecasting consistently fails, how investors can distinguish good advice from noise, and why humility, probabilistic thinking, and disciplined behavior are among the most valuable investing skills.
 
Throughout the conversation, Barry shares lessons from his new book, How Not to Invest, covering everything from media consumption and behavioral biases to index investing, portfolio concentration, market cycles, and choosing a financial advisor. He explains why experts are often better at providing context than making predictions, why social media amplifies poor financial advice, and how investors can build processes that help them stay disciplined through uncertainty. The discussion blends academic research, practical experience, and memorable stories into a comprehensive guide for becoming a better long-term investor.
 
Key Points From This Episode:
(0:04) Cameron and Ben welcome Barry Ritholtz back to the podcast and discuss his new book, How Not to Invest.
(4:12) Why successful billionaires often make poor economic forecasters and how the halo effect leads people to overestimate expertise.
(6:39) Why Wall Street professionals are generally poor at forecasting future market returns despite their domain expertise.
(7:42) What experts are actually good at: providing context, historical perspective, and nuanced analysis rather than predicting the future.
(8:47) Barry's checklist for identifying bad financial advice, including emotional appeals, false certainty, and conflicts of interest.
(10:35) How social media algorithms reward outrage and overconfidence instead of thoughtful investing.
(11:21) Why 24/7 financial news encourages unnecessary action that often hurts long-term investment returns.
(12:17) Why long-term investors are often better off ignoring financial news altogether.
(13:52) How short-form financial content on platforms like TikTok encourages misinformation and poor investing decisions.
(15:22) Gell-Mann Amnesia and why investors should remain skeptical even of trusted news sources.
(18:00) How reading books, consuming long-form content, and building a trusted information network improves decision making.
(20:21) Barry's definition of investing as making probabilistic decisions with imperfect information in an unknowable world.
(22:55) How successful investors focus on controlling savings, asset allocation, discipline, and behavior instead of unpredictable events.
(24:52) Why recognizing the limits of your own knowledge is one of investing's greatest advantages.
(26:30) How experience, losses, and continuous learning help investors become more self-aware.
(27:16) Three ideas that heavily influence Barry's investment philosophy: Sturgeon's Law, George Box's models, and William Goldman's "Nobody knows anything."
(30:18) Whether artificial intelligence changes Sturgeon's Law that "90% of everything is crap."
(31:46) Three forms of economic innumeracy that lead investors astray: denominator blindness, survivorship bias, and misunderstanding compounding.
(36:04) Why understanding secular bull and bear markets is useful psychologically—but not as a timing strategy.
(39:12) Why investors should understand market cycles without attempting to trade around them.
(40:44) What stock valuations can—and cannot—tell investors about future returns.
(42:18) How investors should respond to wars, pandemics, and other major external events.
(45:53) The biggest investing lessons from the COVID-19 market crash and why personal experience often differs from market performance.
(49:04) Why index investing remains one of the most reliable approaches to long-term wealth creation.
(50:44) Why every market forecast should be expressed probabilistically rather than with certainty.
(52:06) The lies traders tell themselves and why disciplined risk management separates successful professionals.
(56:11) What active investors need if they hope to consistently outperform.
(57:24) The biggest behavioral mistakes investors make, including lack of planning, excessive concentration, and ignoring taxes.
(59:43) Why concentrated stock positions become dangerous—even after creating substantial wealth.
(1:02:33) How sudden wealth and large financial windfalls frequently lead to costly mistakes.
(1:05:14) How to identify trustworthy financial advisors by evaluating their process, temperament, and communication.
(1:07:27) Why advisors who consistently communicate their thinking help investors avoid emotional mistakes.
(1:09:26) Barry's practical blueprint for becoming a better long-term investor: create a plan, invest consistently, define the purpose of money, and build around a diversified index portfolio.
Links From Today's Episode:

Meet with PWL Capital: https://calendly.com/d/3vm-t2j-h3p
Rational Reminder on iTunes — https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rational-reminder-podcast/id1426530582.
Rational Reminder on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/rationalreminder/
Rational Reminder on YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/
Benjamin Felix — https://pwlcapital.com/our-team/
Benjamin on X — https://x.com/benjaminwfelix
Benjamin on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminwfelix/
 
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)