Daniel Crosby explains why investors can lose money in winning funds and how to build a portfolio they can actually hold. Picking the right investment is only part of the challenge; staying with it through discomfort is where behavior can overwhelm the plan.

In this episode of Excess Returns, psychologist and Orion Chief Behavioral Officer Daniel Crosby joins Matt Zeigler to discuss the new paperback edition of The Behavioral Investor. Daniel shares the story of a fund that returned over 18% annually for a decade while its average investor lost money, then explains how safety, stability, and success portfolios can help align investment decisions with human psychology. They also explore gambling apps, the limits of risk questionnaires, social media feedback loops, and the human side of financial advice in an AI-driven world.

Topics covered:

- Why a fund's returns can look very different from the returns its investors earn

- Building safety, stability, and success buckets around different financial needs

- The differences between risk tolerance, risk capacity, and risk composure

- Why knowing what to do does not guarantee doing it during a drawdown

- Daniel Crosby's case for rules, diversification, and meaningful benchmark differences

- How sports betting and prediction markets blur the distinction between investing and gambling

- Why recent market experience can create unrealistic expectations about future returns

- Education, environment, and encouragement as tools for changing investor behavior

- How algorithms reinforce market biases and why excitement can signal a blind spot

- Where AI can free financial advisors to spend more time on human relationships

The Behavioral Investor - paperback edition:https://link.amazon/B00hgkHGG

Daniel Crosby on X:

https://x.com/danielcrosby

Orion Behavioral Finance:

https://orion.com/behavioral-finance

Research discussed:

The heat of the moment: the effect of sexual arousal on sexual decision making

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/bdm.501

Chapters:

00:00 Daniel Crosby and The Behavioral Investor

04:51 Why winning funds can have losing investors

11:46 Risk tolerance, capacity, and composure

17:38 Stability portfolios and rules-based stock selection

23:06 Investing, gambling, and prediction markets

27:27 Recency bias and unrealistic return expectations

31:30 Addictive apps and changing investor behavior

35:48 Investor distractions and the media diet

40:51 Investment excitement, humility, and AI

45:00 What music reveals about consistency and experimentation

49:29 Where to find Daniel Crosby and the book

Learn more about the Excess Returns podcast network:

https://excessreturns.co

No information discussed in this podcast should be construed as investment advice. Securities discussed may be held by the hosts and guests, their firms or their clients.

Dr. Daniel Crosby on Behaviorally Optimal Portfolios, Risk Composure and the Casino Myth

Excess Returns

Dr. Daniel Crosby on Behaviorally Optimal Portfolios, Risk Composure and the Casino Myth