Professor Kenneth French on Risk, Return, and Rationality | #530

Today’s guest is Professor Ken French, the Roth Family Distinguished Professor of Finance at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He’s written some of the most influential papers in finance alongside former podcast guest, Professor Eugene Fama. 

In today’s episode, Ken shares what topic he and Professor Fama disagree on. Then we get into a number of topics: what it means to truly be a long-term investor, the global market portfolio, misconceptions around stock buybacks, and much more.

(01:17) - Welcome to our guest, Kenneth French

(03:35) - Investing in FAANG Stocks: Should You Expect Unexpected Returns?

(07:10) - Deciphering an investors skill vs. luck

(15:12) - Having an investment plan

(20:24) - The global market portfolio

(25:02) - Thoughts on gold and other commodities

(26:26) - Incorporating human capital

(32:12) - Ken’s thoughts on stock buybacks

(35:36) - Improving financial education

(40:10) - Disagreement, Taste, and Asset Prices

(44:05) - Ken’s most controversial opinion

(46:37) - Ken’s most memorable investment

Resources

Ken’s website

The Best Way To Add Yield To Your Portfolio by Meb Faber

The Arithmetic of Active Management by Bill Sharpe

Things I’ve Learned from Gene by Kenneth French

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Past guests include Ed Thorp, Richard Thaler, Jeremy Grantham, Joel Greenblatt, Campbell Harvey, Ivy Zelman, Kathryn Kaminski, Jason Calacanis, Whitney Baker, Aswath Damodaran, Howard Marks, Tom Barton, and many more. 

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