Finding the Missing Link Between Stocks and GDP

Famous advice is timeless. Such suggestions as "Go west, young man," and "plastics" may not retain their original import, but would you counsel a modern-day successor to The Graduate with "nanotubes?" Peter Lynch's fame as the longtime manager of the Fidelity Magellan Fund was such that even though he retired from this role more than 13 years ago, he arguably remains the world's most famous mutual fund manager. Part of his fame is no doubt derived from his pithy aphorisms, such as "know what you own," and his trenchant observation that if you spend more than 15 minutes a year thinking about the economy, you've wasted your time.

I must, as an economist, reject this last observation, but in homage to Lynch's career, I'll offer the following candidate for advice immortality: "Retire early."

In Search of the Lost Chord

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