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Ben Carlson

Ben Carlson

@ben-carlson · 20 positions · On ppll ↗

Director of institutional asset management at Ritholtz Wealth Management and author of the blog A Wealth of Common Sense, which argues most of investing is behaviour rather than analysis.

Ben Carlson did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

3 of Ben Carlson's claims fit 5 mental models. Most often: Compounding, Exponential growth, Play long games.

Models they name

Their own words name the idea.

Compounding

Small gains that build on themselves beat big one-off wins; so do small losses.

Used by 18 others

Saving dominates returns early in a career and returns dominate saving later, because compounding is back-loaded.

Mental modelExponential growth

  1. Ben Carlson Director of institutional asset management at Ritholtz… How much you save has a far greater impact than your investments early on in your career. But as your portfolio grows, investment returns swamp your savings because of the wonders of compounding. How to Invest When Your Portfolio Gets Biggerawealthofcommonsense.com · 3 Sept 2026All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsHow much you save has a far greater impact than your investments early on in your career. But as your portfolio grows, investment returns swamp your savings because of the wonders of compounding.

    ↗How to Invest When Your Portfolio Gets Biggerawealthofcommonsense.com

    3 Sept 2026

Power laws

In many things a few cases account for most of the result, so the average misleads and the outlier decides.

Used by 25 others

Venture capital investing is a power-law strategy where a small number of big winners are expected to make up for many losses.

  1. Ben Carlson Director of institutional asset management at Ritholtz… Venture capital is a power law strategy by design. The hope is 1-2 big winners make up for all of the other losers. Can You Be a Boglehead Tech Investor?awealthofcommonsense.com · 24 Sept 2026All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsVenture capital is a power law strategy by design. The hope is 1-2 big winners make up for all of the other losers.

    ↗Can You Be a Boglehead Tech Investor?awealthofcommonsense.com

    24 Sept 2026

Models we see in what they say

Our reading: their claim applies the idea without naming it. The claim is theirs; filing it here is ours.

Exponential growth

Growth that doubles looks like nothing for a long time and then like everything; intuition is linear and gets it wrong.

Used by 13 others

Saving dominates returns early in a career and returns dominate saving later, because compounding is back-loaded.

Mental modelCompounding

  1. Ben Carlson Director of institutional asset management at Ritholtz… How much you save has a far greater impact than your investments early on in your career. But as your portfolio grows, investment returns swamp your savings because of the wonders of compounding. How to Invest When Your Portfolio Gets Biggerawealthofcommonsense.com · 3 Sept 2026All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsHow much you save has a far greater impact than your investments early on in your career. But as your portfolio grows, investment returns swamp your savings because of the wonders of compounding.

    ↗How to Invest When Your Portfolio Gets Biggerawealthofcommonsense.com

    3 Sept 2026

Play long games

A longer horizon makes some problems solvable and some short-term wins look like what they are.

Used by 41 others

There is no average year in the stock market; the long-run average only shows up over a very long horizon.

Mental modelThe map is not the territory

  1. Ben Carlson Director of institutional asset management at Ritholtz… There is no such thing as an average experience in the stock market until you’ve been investing for a very long time. 10 Things You Need to Know About Investing in Stocksawealthofcommonsense.com · 27 Aug 2026All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsThere is no such thing as an average experience in the stock market until you’ve been investing for a very long time.

    ↗10 Things You Need to Know About Investing in Stocksawealthofcommonsense.com

    27 Aug 2026

The map is not the territory

Every model, word or plan is a simplified map of reality; useful when its structure matches, misleading when mistaken for the thing itself.

Used by 55 others

There is no average year in the stock market; the long-run average only shows up over a very long horizon.

Mental modelPlay long games

  1. Ben Carlson Director of institutional asset management at Ritholtz… There is no such thing as an average experience in the stock market until you’ve been investing for a very long time. 10 Things You Need to Know About Investing in Stocksawealthofcommonsense.com · 27 Aug 2026All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsThere is no such thing as an average experience in the stock market until you’ve been investing for a very long time.

    ↗10 Things You Need to Know About Investing in Stocksawealthofcommonsense.com

    27 Aug 2026