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 ----- Follow Meb on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube For detailed show notes, click here To learn more about our funds and follow us, subscribe to our mailing list or visit us at cambriainvestments.com ----- Sponsor: 10 East is a membership-based investment firm founded by Michael Leffell, former Deputy Executive Managing Member of Davidson Kempner, focused on providing targeted exposure to private markets. Members invest at their discretion in single-investment and niche fund vehicles across private credit, real estate, private equity, and venture capital. Follow The Idea Farm: Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | TikTok ----- Interested in sponsoring the show? Email us at [email protected] ----- 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.  ----- Meb's invested in some awesome startups that have passed along discounts to our listeners. Check them out here!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices