Ben Stein

Comedic Financial Renaissance Man, Economist, Speech Writer and Aide for Presidents Nixon and Ford, Columnist, and Award-Winning Television Gameshow Host and Commentator

Topics: Economy, Comedy & Humorist, Best Selling Author, Business, Business Leadership, Finances, Media, Moderator, Host & Emcee, Philanthropy, Politics, Storytelling, Education, World Affairs, Military, Professional Development

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Biography

Ben Stein is the most famous economics teacher in America. His comedic role as the droning economics teacher in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” is by far the most widely viewed scene of economics teaching in economics history and has been ranked as one of the fifty most famous scenes in movie history.

But in real life, Ben Stein is a powerful speaker on economics, politics, education and history and motivation–and like his father, Herbert Stein, considered one of the great humorists on political economy and how life works in this nation.

Stein in real life has a bachelor’s with honors in economics from Columbia, studied econ at the graduate level at Yale, is a graduate of Yale Law School (valedictorian of his class by election of his classmates in 1970), and has as diverse a resume as any man in America.

Much more important, Ben Stein is morally committed to making your meeting a success and bringing his extensive background to bring out the most powerful and funniest trends in current history.

That background includes: poverty lawyer for poor people in New Haven, trade regulation lawyer for the FTC, speech writer for Presidents Nixon and Ford (he did NOT write the line, “I am not a crook….”), columnist and editorial writer for The Wall Street Journal, teacher about law and economics at UC, Santa Cruz (undergrads) and Pepperdine (law school and undergrads).

He has written or co-written roughly 30 books, mostly about investing, with his brilliant colleague, Phil DeMuth, many of them New York Times bestsellers. His and Dr. DeMuth’s book, Yes, You Can Time The Market, has become a landmark of using price theory for securities market analysis.

He wrote a column about economics for The New York Times for several years, roughly 2004-2009.

He was the co-host, along with Jimmy Kimmel, of the pathbreaking Comedy Central game show, “Win Ben Stein’s Money,” which won seven Emmies, including ones for Ben and Jimmy for best game show host (surely making him the only well-known economist to win an Emmy). Presently, he writes a column for The American Spectator and for NewsMax, and is a regular commentator on Fox News and on CBS Sunday Morning, as well as a frequent commentator on CNN. His latest book, The World According to Ben Stein: Wit, Wisdom & Even More Wit, will be released in 2022.

Ben lives in Los Angeles with his wife of 45 years, Alexandra, two dogs and six cats. He loves meeting new people and hanging out with them. He’s a party guy, albeit an extremely serious economist and a decades long critic of excessively loose fiscal policy and unhelpful regulation in finance.

Videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBEd4zLjkAc

Speech TopicsExpand each topic to learn more

Universities and Colleges

His topics include, What Does It All Mean for You? The Economic Meltdown: How It Happened and How You Can Survive It and Thrive

A Positive Program To Beat the Retirement Crisis

A step by step plan for the nation, each company’s employees, each retiree to be enable to retire comfortably by careful and highly DIVERSIFIED and RISK AVERSE saving and investing. I will lay out how we got into the retirement mess, how much short we are, and how as a nation we can get to a better place. I will also set out a plan to save and invest with the help of financial professionals so that the investor’s money grows—while avoiding the risks of catastrophic downturns without taking unnecessary risks. This is a speech for people who seriously want to retire comfortably and help others do so. It involves discussion of a wide range of investment vehicles with emphasis on the financial professionals’ role in getting a decent retirement.

Politics in America

At a time of tremendous uncertainty for America’s political, business and social institutions, Ben Stein provides a patriotic, optimistic look of how we have been here before—and we will find our way forward to a brighter future. Stein lays out what leaders must do to move the greatest country on earth forward by delivering a positive policy prescription for a moral and economic recovery. Stein is a lifelong Republican, but is not afraid to call out his party when he believes they are off the tracks—especially about budgets, taxes and deficits. A former speechwriter to Presidents Nixon and Ford, a campaigner for Ronald Reagan and a longtime observer of all things politic whose views are regularly featured on CBS Sunday Morning, CNN and FOX, audiences leave Stein’s uplifting and pragmatic presentation feeling that America’s best days lie in the not-so-distant future.

Ben Stein on Life

Ben Stein is a profoundly unique individual who has had the good fortune to have “been there and done that” in a myriad of professions that many of us only dream about, see on television, or read about in the news. Always entertaining, always informative and possessing expertise in everything from law to laughs, Ben Stein will leave your audience with useful insight (if you want it!) or simply great memories of a fun time had by all.

The Economy

In election after election there is endless complaining about waste, fraud and abuse in Washington, each batch of candidates promises to clean it up, but somehow it never happens. With the latest economic debacle in full tilt, one thing is for certain—you and I will pick up the monster-sized bill in many different ways. What is missing is more regulation from Washington and more prosecution, not less. Ben Stein shares these insights and more regarding the current economy, what prompted this fiasco and what must be done to dig us out.

Testimonials

You were a joy to work with, a total pleasure, and I hope you enjoyed your stay with us. Thank you for speaking to our clients, for being so lovely to work with, for being such a gentleman, for being so kind and accommodating and just for being you.

– Susie Findell - Suntrust

I have been to many conferences over my 20+ year career, and your speech at the Broadmoor was the best after dinner speech I have ever heard--entertaining and educational--particularly on a personal level.

– Jim Harrington - Rydex Investment Advisors' Conference

Thank you once more for the terrific time that we had with you last Monday up here in Marquette. You were a genuinely interesting person to converse with and that cannot be said of a lot of the speakers we've had up here. You were a total class act.

– Thomas Brown - Northern Michigan University

The messages that you conveyed -- about loving, honoring and being loyal to one's family, about inclusion, about prejudice, and about the power of naturally beautiful places like Williamstown -- are messages that transcend our political differences. At least I hope they do.

– Lydia Weiss, Williams College Alumni Association

You were just magnificent today! Your speech was strong, touching, funny, perceptive, interesting, and, most of all, from the heart. You don't just phone it in. You believe it and convey it in such a way that you teach, reveal truths that we don't think about often enough or hear enough, and you leave a lasting impression on everyone in the room. Not only that, but you stoically and cheerfully endure being mobbed, photographed, kissed, importuned, hand-shook, book-thrust, and generally mauled and slurped.You are a wonderful, valuable, lovable and generous human being. I kind of want to vote for you for something! I'm glad you talked of Col. Denman. Your article on him is, I think, one of the most beautiful you've ever written, and I've saved it. People in LA forget, or never knew, of people like him, and like your father, both of blessed memory. They had more class than the richest "star" ever will. And, so do you.

– Lorraine Stalberg