The Big Long: Risk and Reward With Ben Carlson

The Big Long: Risk and Reward With Ben Carlson

From Trillions by Bloomberg

May 21, 2026 · 32 min

About this episode

Ben Carlson discusses his book 'Risk & Reward' and the challenges of long-term investing.

What if you invested at literally the worst possible moments in market history? According to Ben Carlson, the co-host of the Animal Spirits podcast and an advisor at Ritholtz Wealth Management, even the world's worst market timer could still become a millionaire. Carlson's new book, Risk & Reward, explores why long-term investing remains so psychologically difficult. On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Carlson about his new book, which implores you to stop panicking and just stay the course. They discuss the genius of boring index funds, "fun accounts" as a behavioral release valve, whether buffer ETFs are financial Xanax and how the ETF wrapper may help turn tax efficiency into the new alpha. They also drill into Carlson's other big launch: Goaltender (GTND), a new ETF from Ritholtz, and go over why wealth managers are becoming ETF issuers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Hosts: Eric Balchunas, Joel Weber

Guest: Ben Carlson

Topics covered

  • long-term investing
  • market timing
  • behavioral finance
  • ETFs
  • wealth management

Keywords

  • investing
  • market history
  • psychological difficulty
  • ETFs
  • wealth management
  • index funds
  • behavioral finance

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Ritholtz Wealth Management, Animal Spirits, Trillions

Products: Risk & Reward, Goaltender (GTND), buffer ETFs, index funds

More episodes of Trillions

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Trillions podcast page.