275. Cliff Asness: one of the greatest hedge fund managers of all time

Very few people have truly changed the way we think about markets. Cliff Asness is one of them. Founder of AQR, student of Eugene Fama, and one of the sharpest thinkers in quantitative finance, Asness is part of that tiny group of investors whose ideas move global conversations, challenge long-held beliefs, and force even professionals to rethink what they think they know. In this exclusive conversation, we step directly into his reasoning: why factors work (and when they stop working), what “expected return” really means, how investors survive the toughest market cycles, and why being wrong alone often feels worse than being right too late. We talk about value, momentum, risk premia, the tension between academic theory and real-world markets, the role of AI in investing, and what it means to stay faithful to a method when everything around you tells you to abandon it. This episode is more than an interview — it’s a masterclass in discipline, intellect, and humility from one of the greatest investors of our time. If you care about investing, Cliff Asness is a required stop. Produced and distributed by Corax. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices