David Booth: ‘The Markets Work Well for Everybody, Not Just the Insiders’

Please stay tuned for important disclosure information at the conclusion of this episode.

Welcome to The Long View.

I'm Ben Johnson, Head of Client Solutions with Morningstar.

And I'm Amy Arnot, Portfolio Strategist for Morningstar.

Today's guest on The Long View is David Booth.

David is a repeat guest, the founder of Dimensional Fund Advisors, and has just released a new book titled Stay Calm, Learn to Embrace Uncertainty in Investing and Life.

Amy, we had such a terrific conversation with David, and there are almost too many highlights for me to choose from.

So I'm going to really call out what I thought was one of the interesting through lines, which really centered on data and it.

One point David shared with us, without data, people are just arguing beliefs.

And there was so much time within our industry where investors really were in a data desert and really that foundational layer was critical to everything that David, his colleagues at Dimensional and so many others around the broader investing industry have ultimately brought to bear for the benefit of so many investors over the years who once may have felt like outsiders and are now very much inside and benefiting from decades worth of research and work in a way that they couldn't have just without that data foundation.

So the through line of data is mundane as it seems today in 2026 really stood out to me.

Yeah, Ben, I thought that was a really interesting point too.

And I really love David's comments about how having access to a more complete data set can really help provide a sense of calmness and reassurance for investors, even in an uncertain environment.

And another highlight for me, stay tuned to find out more about Gene Fama's favorite Swedish pop group.

Oh, no.

Now that we've got people on the edge of their seats, Amy, without further ado, let's dig in with David.