Professor Thaler, who was an author of the book “Nudge” and appeared as himself in the movie “The Big Short,” is one of the world’s great authorities on how humans behave when they make financial decisions. I got to know him well in the dozen years when he wrote Economic View columns for The New York Times, and on Wednesday night I called him.I wanted to help the readers I’ve perplexed, and asked what advice he would give.A story about market timing“You can tell the following story,” Professor Thaler said. “I was interviewed by one of the financial news networks on one of their morning shows, and they asked me, ‘What should people do the next time the markets are getting very volatile?’ I said my advice would be to turn off this channel and switch to ESPN.”That’s not a great thing to say to financial journalists, I said.“Right,” he said. “They switched immediately to a commercial.”But while he was kidding, he added, he was also serious.Follow the news, of course, and let your emotions flow. But don’t let them affect your investment decisions, he said …
