Barbara Stewart, CFA: The Smartest Things People Ever Did—Global Stories of Risk, Change, and Reward

Summary

Enterprising Investor Podcast Summary Episode: Barbara Stewart, CFA: The Smartest Things People Ever Did—Global Stories of Risk, Change, and Reward Release Date: June 15, 2025

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Introduction

In this enlightening episode of Enterprising Investor, host Mike Wahlberg welcomes back Barbara Stewart, a seasoned CFA charter holder with over three decades of experience in foreign exchange trading, wealth management, and more recently, as a researcher, writer, and keynote speaker focusing on women in finance. Barbara is renowned for her annual "Rich Thinking Study," a comprehensive research project that delves into global investment behaviors and personal success stories. This year’s study explores the question: "What’s the smartest thing you ever did?" Through insightful interviews across various continents, Barbara uncovers diverse narratives of risk-taking, personal transformation, and strategic decision-making that have led to remarkable success.

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Following Unique Interests Leads to Unimagined Success

One of the most surprising findings from Barbara's study is that 25% of the interviewees identified following a unique personal interest as the smartest decision they've ever made. This theme underscores the importance of pursuing passions that may initially seem unconventional but can open doors to unexpected opportunities.

• Raphael Ng's Ballet Journey ([02:44]):
  "Ballet certainly was the smartest thing he ever did, no question."
  Raphael Ng, from Singapore, defied cultural norms by being the only male in his ballet school. This bold move not only earned him recognition and scholarships but also expanded his professional network and led to personal milestones, including meeting his future wife.

• Nikki Yang’s Language Acquisition ([05:06]):
  "Learning Japanese has been the smartest thing I ever did because not only am I more empathetic and better in business, it actually helped my career enormously and my life."
  Nikki Yang from Taipei decided to learn Japanese after a chance conversation on a train. This decision enhanced her empathetic skills and significantly boosted her career in investment management.

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Personal Transformation and Overcoming Adversity

Barbara's study also highlights stories where individuals made profound personal changes to overcome challenges, leading to substantial life improvements.

• Ryan Holtman’s Recovery ([06:03]):
  "The smartest thing I ever did was going to rehab."
  Ryan Holtman from Australia battled with substance abuse and reached a point of wanting to end his life. His decision to enter an effective rehab program transformed his outlook, leading him to establish a successful plumbing business and maintain sobriety for over five years.

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Embracing Cultural and Geographical Changes

Physical relocation and exposure to new cultures emerged as significant factors contributing to personal and professional growth.

• Barbara Ortiz’s Continental Adventures ([08:38]):
  Barbara Ortiz, an electronics engineer from Galway, Ireland, made the bold decision to work in Antarctica—a move that ignited her passion for global exploration. Her experience led her to a pact to work on every continent, currently residing in the Arctic, showcasing the rewards of embracing global opportunities.

• Steve Balaban’s Global Footprint ([10:37]):
  "There's always an opportunity cost when you make any decision, but I'd rather see 85 cities and learn about all the people everywhere."
  Steve Balaban, a CFA charter holder, chose to travel extensively, visiting 85 different cities worldwide. This decision, while foregoing a stable lifestyle, enriched his personal and professional life through diverse cultural experiences.

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Pivoting to New Passions and Careers

Significant career pivots, often motivated by a quest for greater personal fulfillment, are a common thread in Barbara’s findings.

• Jetta’s Spiritual Shift ([12:30]):
  Jetta from Denmark embraced Buddhism after attending a lecture that profoundly resonated with her. This complete mindset shift led her to volunteer and educate others, finding unparalleled happiness outside the traditional career path.

• Irene Sang’s Entrepreneurial Leap ([14:15]):
  Irene Sang in Hong Kong left a promising corporate trajectory at Tiffany’s to start her own executive coaching company. Despite initial struggles, her bold move has resulted in sustained success over the past 15 years.

• Elizabeth Corbett’s Dual Careers ([15:08]):
  Elizabeth Corbett transitioned from a legal career to medicine, balancing rigorous studies with raising three children. Her commitment led her to a fulfilling role as an emergency doctor at Sydney Hospital, exemplifying the rewards of pursuing one's true calling despite significant sacrifices.

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Financial Control and Education

Gaining mastery over personal finances emerged as a pivotal smart decision for several participants, highlighting the importance of financial literacy and proactive money management.

• Overcoming Financial Fears ([16:37]):
  "I realized I had been kind of scared of money."
  A participant from Australia, despite a career in finance, had never seriously managed his personal finances due to a fear of wealth accumulation. Inspired by a holistic life podcast, he reorganized his financial priorities, embraced the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement, and is now on track to retire by 45.

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Barbara Stewart’s Own Smartest Move

When asked about her personal smartest decision, Barbara Stewart attributes it to her commitment to Rich Thinking Research.

• Commitment to Research ([18:21]):
  "I only know this in hindsight. I thought I was going to write one paper... but now I've interviewed more than probably 1500 people around the world."
  Barbara’s dedication to her annual study not only countered stereotypes about women and money but also expanded her global network and career trajectory. Her research has been embraced internationally, particularly in the Nordics, leading to ongoing support from CFA Institute and establishing her as a prominent voice in investment research.

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Conclusion

Barbara Stewart’s insights from the 2025 Rich Thinking Study reveal that the smartest decisions often involve following unique passions, embracing significant personal and professional changes, and taking control of one’s finances. These narratives illustrate that calculated risks and bold moves can lead to profound rewards, both personally and professionally. Moreover, Barbara’s own journey underscores the value of perseverance and the impact of dedicated research in shaping meaningful conversations within the investment community.

Listeners are encouraged to reflect on these stories and consider how stepping outside their comfort zones might unlock their own paths to success and fulfillment.

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Notable Quotes:

• “I like to ask one open ended research question a year because I'm always trying to get at the background stories and what really motivates people.” — Barbara Stewart [01:04]

• “Ballet certainly was the smartest thing he ever did, no question.” — Barbara Stewart on Raphael Ng [02:44]

• “Learning Japanese has been the smartest thing I ever did because not only am I more empathetic and better in business, it actually helped my career enormously and my life.” — Nikki Yang [05:06]

• “The smartest thing I ever did was going to rehab.” — Ryan Holtman [06:03]

• “There's always an opportunity cost when you make any decision, but I'd rather see 85 cities and learn about all the people everywhere.” — Steve Balaban [10:37]

• “I realized I had been kind of scared of money.” — Australian Participant on Financial Control [16:37]

• “I thought I was going to write one paper... but now I've interviewed more than probably 1500 people around the world.” — Barbara Stewart [18:21]

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For more insights and detailed analyses, visit the Enterprising Investor blog or listen to the full episode.

Transcript

[Mike Wahlberg]

Foreign welcome to the Enterprising Investor, the flagship investment podcast for CFA Institute. I'm Mike Wahlberg and I'm thrilled to have my old friend Barbara Stewart back on the show. Barbara is a CFA charter holder with more than 30 years of experience as an FX trader, high net worth manager, and in more recent years as a researcher, writer and keynote speaker about women and finance. Barbara publishes a major piece of research generally once per year called a rich thinking study, which uncovers insights gained through a massive undertaking of interviews with people all over the world. In recent years. She's written about the sometimes surprising things people hold in their investment portfolios, how people invest in themselves, and how smart women made their money. This year, Barbara asked 54 men and women, what's the smartest thing you ever did? I look forward to hearing some of those great stories. Welcome back to the show.

[Barbara Stewart]

Barbara thank you so much. I'm honored to be here again.

[Mike Wahlberg]

Mike so I mentioned a few of those great studies that you did over the years. What, what prompted the topic this year?

[Barbara Stewart]

BARBARA the same thing that always prompts my topic, which is just random thought comes into my brain. I'm being honest. I like to ask one open ended research question a year because I'm always trying to get at the background stories and what really motivates people. And I hadn't really thought about what's so smart, what do we do that's smart? And it just popped into my head. So I thought let's just run with it. I usually just trust my intuition on these kind of things. And it turned out to be a very fun year of interviews.

[Mike Wahlberg]

So who did you end up talking to this time around? And I'm thinking, just like, where around the world? Because it's always so fascinating to me where you end up.

[Barbara Stewart]

Well, every year it's slightly different. Sometimes there's new countries. I was in Australia more than usual last year I was in Jakarta. I was in Singapore, Malaysia, Taipei, Sweden, of course, Denmark, Turkey, and North America.

[Mike Wahlberg]

Wow. Wow, you really got around some great, some great countries in there. Some of them some of my favorites that I've been to and some that are on my list for sure. So let's get into the findings here. BARBARA One of the things that jumped out at me in reading your report was that you wrote that the most surprising finding was that about 25% of the people interviewed said the smartest thing they've ever done was follow a unique interest that led to unimagined success. And that's always you always kind of hear about that where folks really make their fortune in some sort of small niche area that you didn't ever think about that someone's going to make their money, someone's going to do it in that one area. And really it was following that gut, it sounds like, with some of the people that you talk to. So I was curious if you could tell us some of their stories.

[Barbara Stewart]

Yeah, I'll give you a couple of examples because I think any one of us, at any point, you can just either see something as an opportunity or not. And maybe you just jump at something and it changes your intention, entire perspective and entire life. So one fellow in Singapore that I met with, Raphael Ng, he told me that growing up, his parents owned a dance studio and he had tried every single kind of dance because they wanted him to follow in their footsteps. And nothing whatsoever appealed to him until one day he decided to try ballet. And he was the only guy in the whole ballet school. And people would make fun of him. And culturally it was kind of off brand and everything else for a guy to be in the school. But it turned out out to be the best thing he ever did because not only did he become kind of famous in a way in his high school, but he got amazing job opportunities, scholarships out of it. He met incredible people. It really built out his network. He just got noticed because he was this ballet guy. As well as doing well academically, he also met his future wife. So ballet certainly was the smartest thing he ever did, no question. And we had an interesting panel discussion at a CFA Society Singapore event in April around that, and he joined us. So it was great. Another woman who I met in Taipei, her name's Nikki Yang, she's a professional investment manager. Actually, she told me that the smartest thing she ever did was learn Japanese. And it came about also randomly. She was sitting on a train and got into a conversation. She's from Taipei. She got in a conversation with a woman from Japan. They became fast friends. And she learned that the method of communication was radically different. She said that in Taipei, people are very direct with each other. And this woman in Japan was very sort of empathetic, emotional. She said Japanese people can read the air, is how she put it. And she was so impressed by this woman. And it changed again her perspective that she decided to learn the entire language. And she said it's been the smartest thing she ever did because not only is she more empathetic and better in business, it actually helped her career enormously and her life.

[Mike Wahlberg]

Wow. It's amazing how language Can. Can hide things culturally about. About a people. Hey, I remember reading years ago about the differences between Italian and English. And this is a bit of an aside here, but just this idea. In English you'd say he broke the vase. And in Italians they would say the vase was broken. And there's not that. There's not that implicit blame immediately in that language, which I always thought was kind of beautiful and nice as well. One of the other stories in there that jumped out for me, Barbara, was it wasn't all about. Well, it was about success all around, but it wasn't all sort of puppy dogs and rainbows. Ryan Holtman was one story that. That I. That stuck out for me, which is just this idea of working on himself. He'd struggled with drugs and alcohol and. And was a good starting point for that was sort of the smartest thing that he ever did, which was to sort sort of get his own internal house in order to. Which was kind of a nice rounding out of the research, I thought.

[Barbara Stewart]

Yeah, he's in Australia and he's quite something to talk to. Like, he was really at the end of the line in terms of wanting to end his life and all of that. And a young guy, you know, just too involved in drugs, unfortunately. And he went into a rehab center and luckily it was a really effective one. And they taught him, you know, to flip things upside down in terms of how he was looking at the world and life and instead of thinking. Thinking everything was a downward spiral. They helped him realize that if he started today with a new attitude, and it sounds very simplistic, but it actually was effective. And I'm sure there was a lot more to it. Just he now thinks of it as the rest of his life. He's not going to worry about anything negative. He's built an entire plumbing business that's become really, really successful. And he's been, I think, clean for at least five years now. So obviously smartthing was going to rehab in his case.

[Mike Wahlberg]

Wow. And another thing that stood out for me as well was this concept of ikigai. Can you tell me about ikigai? Am I pronouncing that right?

[Barbara Stewart]

I think so, yes. This was a woman that I met, actually I met with her for coffee in Toronto, which was nice in person, but she came from Argentina originally and she had just had a lot of life changes. A relationship had ended. She'd been in the corporate world for many, many years in big jobs, senior executive, big mainstream corporates. And one day she just decided she'd had enough and she really felt like she needed to rejig her soul, her life, the whole thing. And that concept of. I can't even pronounce it, E, ki, jaw, or whatever it is, was something she just came across in a bookshop and decided to read all about it and just ended up living it, which was essentially just change her whole pattern of life, change her whole energy, and follow what was sort of meaningful to her and her. I mean, she shifted absolutely everything in her life in a great way. So that was just like, you know, you go into a bookstore and there's a word you've never seen, and you go down that rabbit hole and you're like, okay, I'm a new person now.

[Mike Wahlberg]

So you talk in the book about shifting your perspectives, thinking differently. But also one of the themes you uncovered as well was like, physically moving, moving your life. That was one of the best things that some folks did as well. Can you talk a bit about some of the stories that stood out for you in this sort of hit the road, Jack or Jill was the section that you called it.

[Barbara Stewart]

Yeah, I mean, the big thing in the whole paper is that big changes lead to big rewards. And I had four types of big changes that the research uncovered mainly. And those were like either changing your mindset, changing your career, changing your financial situation, or to your point, changing your city. And one of the interesting things about the category, changing your city was that twice the number of men as women that I interviewed did that. So everything else was sort of gender equal in terms of the other categories. But more men than women changed city as the smartest thing they ever did. I don't think that is. I didn't get into. I didn't ask why. I suppose one could surmise that maybe men have more flexibility if they're not the primary caregiver or. I don't. I don't even know if that's true. But that would be perhaps a subject for another research report. I'm not sure. But men seem to be more mobile in general. But in terms of people changing cities, it's just wonderful to see this happen. And they just literally just jump at an opportunity and go. And so one woman in Galway, Ireland. Her name is Barbara Ortiz. She's an electronics engineer. She decided to move to Antarctica for a job opportunity as one of, I think, 10% of women in Antarctica working on this oil rig or whatever it was. And she loved it so much, the change of seeing a completely different continent, that she made a pact with herself that she would work in all of the continents around the world, and she's ended up doing just that subsequent to my interview. She's now living in the Arctic in another big job as an engineer. So it's just funny going to one continent, she just, you know, that was such an experience, opening her mind that she just, okay, I'm doing all of them now. This is what I'm doing with the rest of my life, so.

[Mike Wahlberg]

Sounds like you made the same pact with yourself, Barbara.

[Barbara Stewart]

Yeah. Only in hindsight do I realize that wasn't quite as deliberate upfront. Also, one of our CFA fellow CFA charter holders that you might know, Steve Balaban, he talks a lot about private equity and he's done some recordings on that, has his own company with the private equity bootcamps. I'd interviewed him last, last year, and he didn't change for one city, but he's now visited 85 different cities around the world, and he wouldn't want it any other way. He said, you know, there's always an opportunity cost when you make any decision. And he's given up the opportunity for a stable, maybe less exciting lifestyle. But he figures while he's on the planet, he'd rather see 85 cities and see. Learn about all of the people everywhere. I certainly. That resonated with me, of course.

[Mike Wahlberg]

Yeah. And that, and that was, that was sparked from doing some study during, during high school. I remember reading that he did a month in the UK that included three weeks at Oxford, which is. It's so formative, isn't it, that early travel that you do. I am always trying to inculcate the love of that with my own daughter. She's, she's only 13 now. But it is really formative to sort of see the world and understand what all is out there and how important it is to experience those other cultures and imprint that. It sounds like that really affected him.

[Barbara Stewart]

Yeah. I mean, When I was 16, I visited France with my school, and now here I am, you know, many, many years later with a little apartment in France.

[Mike Wahlberg]

Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. So one of the, one of the, the headings that you, we talked about and you mentioned there was this idea of this pivot and prosper, so pivoting to something new and scary. And a lot of entrepreneurs seem to have emerged in your study from that as well. Who, who, who stood out for you in that?

[Barbara Stewart]

Oh, off the top of my head, I think one of the women that really had an effect on me. And it's, it's not about big money or big success type of pivot. Was this woman in Denmark named Jetta who, she decided to follow the Buddhist faith and it was simply by going to a lecture with a, a, a sister's friend once and she, for the ride and sitting in the audience and just spellbound, she decided, I don't know what I'm gonna do with the rest of my life, but I know that I'm going to become a Buddhist. So she completely had the mindset shift that changed her entire life and now she, she doesn't earn a ton of money or anything like that and she's certainly not like a big time entrepreneur, but she's volunteering at a Buddhist place and she is educating all kinds of people and she's like the happiest person ever met.

[Mike Wahlberg]

Amazing. Yeah, a lot of entrepreneurs in there and the thing that stood out for me was just this idea. A lot of the folks, as you know, I, I mean we won't ask you today because you've been on a couple times and you, you've given your answer, but this, I, this, the question that I ask at the end of each interview is, you know, what piece of advice would you give to your younger self? And what comes up fairly often is this idea of taking risks when you're younger, taking risks when you can afford them. And that seems to have been a theme that came through your work here, which is I wish that I had, you know, the smartest thing I ever did was quit my job and start a business. And the only, my only regret around that was that I wish I had done it earlier when I, you know, I could have been doing it longer. Right. When I, when I had the opportunity and I had less to lose, I guess, which, which I thought was quite cool.

[Barbara Stewart]

So many people. One woman in Hong Kong who had a brilliant career with Tiffany, she wrote up the corporate letter, still very young. And then at one point she just thought, I've been here 12 years and I can see that I'm going to be ending up as an executive in this company. Everything's laid out in front of me, but I don't want that. And so she just, yes, jumped ship. It took her almost a year to get on her feet. So it wasn't all smooth sailing from there. A hugely risky strategy. But then ended up deciding to form her own company and she does coaching with executives and she's never looked back. She's been extremely successful for the last 15 years or so.

[Mike Wahlberg]

Amazing. Yeah, that's Irene Sang, I think. Was that who that was? Yeah. And then I'm always Impressed When I read about this. I don't know what it is about doctors and lawyers, but Elizabeth Corbett there as well, you know, a lawyer, a lawyer who became a doctor.

[Barbara Stewart]

It's like, well, she's just had so much school, so she goes to law school, she's articling, she's in a firm earning money as a junior lawyer. And then she decides, this isn't for me. This isn't my calling. After all of that time studying. And so she decides to go to medicine school and, you know, gives up a salary, has to go back and study. I mean, what a huge cost there is associated with this smart thing that she did. Luckily, she said she had the support of her husband and her parents and they all were really kind to her and, you know, let her do all of this stuff. Meanwhile, she has three kids while she's doing all this. She gives birth to three kids along the way while she's becoming a medical doctor. And so, yeah, she's now working in the Sydney Hospital as an emergency doctor. And she loves it. Luckily, she likes this career after all that it would be bad if she didn't like it.

[Mike Wahlberg]

I'm suddenly feeling very inadequate.

[Barbara Stewart]

Some of the people I meet make me feel that way. Honestly, it's just like I'm really not accomplishing that much after all.

[Mike Wahlberg]

Yeah, so. So you're a charter holder? I'm a CFA charter holder. Let's talk finances. Some of the stories that came out of this were also the best things they did were, you know, get control of their finances, getting education. What did you learn there?

[Barbara Stewart]

Yeah, I think, I mean, one guy that I interviewed, also in Australia, he talked about how his whole life, even though he worked in the finance industry, he'd never taken his own personal finances that seriously. And I can certainly relate to that. I was definitely a late start investor. So he said he realized he had been kind of scared of money. Like he'd spend all the money that he'd make, and he almost was scared of amassing wealth and. And I can also relate to that as well. I like spending. But he was at the gym one day and he overheard a guy listening to a podcast. And usually we don't really want to overhear other people's podcasts, but in this case it was really effective because it was about getting control of your life, all categories of your life, six or seven categories. And finances weren't actually included, he said in the podcast. But the podcast got him thinking it should be a category. He realized that was his own weakness. And so he answered all of the same questions about all the other categories, but relating to his finances. And that shifted him completely. So he, from that moment on went into that kind of retire early, what is it called, fire movement or something like that, and put everything all organized. He's done it for the past three years. He's now going to be able to retire at 45. He just got super, super focused based on listening to this one thing. So that was the smartest thing that he ever did.

[Mike Wahlberg]

Wow. So my question for you this time around, rather than the standard one then, is, Barbara, what's the smartest thing that you ever did?

[Barbara Stewart]

Definitely rich thinking research. Again, I only know this in hindsight. I thought I was going to write one paper because I was irritated by stereotypes around women and money, and I thought maybe if I could share some positive success stories, we could counter those stereotypes. But once I released that one paper, luckily for me, it got picked up in the Nordics by some banks, banks that were holding women's events. And everybody just was so encouraging when I was presenting this stuff that I ended up deciding to keep doing an annual report and releasing it on International Women's Day. And CFA Institute also is incredibly supportive, sending me around the world. So I had no idea all of that would come about. It wasn't what I intended initially. I just wanted to put out some sort of stark piece of research that countered stereotypes. But now I've gone on, continued, and built this huge global network where I've interviewed more than probably 1500 people around the world, probably 2000 at this point. And it's just been so rewarding and shifted my whole career in this direction to commissioned research now as well. So no question in my mind that that's been the smartest thing I ever did.

[Mike Wahlberg]

Well, that's fantastic. I've really enjoyed hearing the stories from these reports. I've been speaking today with Barbara Stewart, keynote speaker and author of the Rich Thinking Studies, for a condensed summary of this year's report. You can also find a blog post on the Enterprising Investor blog. So thanks again for coming back, Barbara. It's always so fun having you on.

[Barbara Stewart]

My pleasure. Thanks so much, Mike.

[Mike Wahlberg]

I'm Mike Wahlberg, and this is me, the Enterprising Invest.