The Anxious Investor

A revelatory new guide to building wealth amidst stock market crashes and uncertain economic conditions, drawing upon financial modeling, behavioral psychology, and market history to offer practical advice to everyday investors.

Investing is scary. Never is that more true than during market pullbacks and recessions, whether the Great Recession of 2008; the brief, vertiginous COVID crash in 2020; or any number of recent smaller, yet still wrenching, periods of economic turbulence. We see those flashing red numbers and all semblance of “planning” or “risk tolerance” suddenly goes out the window. We wonder: Will I ever be able to retire? Should I be buying GameStop stock? What, uh, is this stock market thing, anyway?

Scott Nations has spent his career studying market volatility. His firm, NationsShares, is the world’s leading independent developer of volatility and option-enhanced indexes. In The Anxious Investor, he teaches readers how to understand the markets, master their own fear, and make the most of their money.

In the first half of the book, Nations offers a quick, compelling rundown of the worst financial crashes in American history, focusing on their causes, the recovery, and the lessons each holds for today’s investors. Interwoven with these stories are fascinating cutting-edge insights into investor psychology: What makes investing so scary? What can behavioral science teach us about overcoming our “lizard brain,” which is notorious for making poor financial decisions? What can help us stay the course when the waters get choppy? In the book’s second section, Nations offers a roadmap that any investor can follow, with practical, easy-to-understand advice to help guide readers through the 3 different types of market conditions (normal, crash/bear market, recovery).

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.