This is Planet Money from NPR.

If you've looked at any index of financial markets, this year has been bad.

For stocks, crypto, and bonds, everything is heading south.

You might have noticed this if you've seen the news, or if you have an investment or

a retirement account.

And it kind of begs the question, is there any way to navigate this kind of period?

Well, like, can anyone, or are we just along for the ride?

If risk is everywhere, how do we strategize?

How can you take risk smartly?

Of course, there is a whole industry dedicated to the idea that you can take risk smartly.

You can lose less money in a market freak out and make more money when markets are happy.

And in thinking about how to do well in investing over time, it made me think of this guy I met

while I was reporting my book about bonds.

He had a whole plan that he thought would help him outperform everybody else over time,

and help him survive these kinds of moments in markets to help avoid blowing up, losing

all the money he managed.

And it's not so much that his strategy itself was revelatory.

It was how he described it, the term he came up with.

The idea of strategic mediocrity was my tongue in cheek, title or name to put on the idea.

Strategic mediocrity.

Ben Trosky developed this theory, this idea, when he was working at this money manager

in the 90s.

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