Category Archive

In his latest interview with Excess Returns, Cliff Asness discusses the challenges and opportunities of rational investing, particularly during periods of extreme market inefficiency. He argues that historical valuation changes are poor guides for the future, as they reflect shifts rather than fundamentals. While rational strategies often pay off, they … Read More

In his interview in the book – Efficiently Inefficient, Cliff Asness discusses the parallels between quantitative and judgmental (discretionary) investing, noting that both seek undervalued stocks with catalysts that might change their valuations. He highlights that while judgmental managers often concentrate their holdings, relying on deep company knowledge, quants leverage diversification, … Read More

In this interview with Bloomberg, Cliff Asness argues that market inefficiencies, such as wide spreads between cheap and expensive stocks, are becoming more pronounced and persistent. He explores three key reasons for this: the rise of passive investing, extended periods of ultra-low interest rates, and the influence of technology and … Read More

In his latest paper titled – The Less-Efficient Market Hypothesis, Cliff Asness explains why he believes markets have become less efficient over the past 34 years due to technology, gamified trading, and social media. This inefficiency raises the stakes for rational active investing, with bigger and longer-lasting market swings. Investors … Read More

In this interview with Carson Group, Cliff Asness discusses the challenge of deciding whether to stick with an investment strategy during a bad period or to make changes. He cautions against always sticking with a strategy, as it assumes that the market never changes. While often market conditions remain consistent, … Read More

One of the best resources for investors are the publicly available 13F-HR documents that each fund is required to submit to the SEC. These documents allow investors to track their favorite superinvestors, their fund’s current holdings, plus their new buys and sold out positions. We spend a lot of time … Read More

During this interview with Bloomberg, Cliff Asness discusses the unpredictable nature of financial markets, reflecting on his experiences since 2002. He highlights how extreme events, like the tech bubble and COVID-19, challenge assumptions. Asness emphasizes the importance of understanding both severity and duration in investment pain, noting that prolonged downturns … Read More

During his recent interview with Capital Allocators, Cliff Asness discusses his struggle with emotional responses to market fluctuations despite his long-term investment philosophy. He highlights the natural cyclical growth and shrinkage of asset management firms and stresses the importance of steadfastness and openness in strategy reassessment during tough times, acknowledging … Read More

In this interview with the Finserve Podcast, Cliff Asness reflects on the challenges of investment strategies. Initially, he believed the hard part was creating a profitable, diversified process. Back tests seemed promising but weren’t always reliable. Despite adjustments, real-life results were often less impressive. Over 30 years, they’ve used half … Read More

In this interview with Meb Faber, Cliff Asness argues that the market has become less efficient despite advancements in technology and information access. He believes the abundance of information can lead to overconfidence and create situations like the meme stock craze. He proposes that the ease of communication can turn … Read More

During his recent interview with TD, Cliff Asness discusses a concept he’s developed: the magnitude of the difference between high and low multiple stocks. He believes that the greater the difference, the better the opportunity for value investing. He points out that this difference reached a historic high in October/November … Read More

One of the best resources for investors are the publicly available 13F-HR documents that each fund is required to submit to the SEC. These documents allow investors to track their favorite superinvestors, their fund’s current holdings, plus their new buys and sold out positions. We spend a lot of time … Read More

During this interview with Bloomberg, Cliff Asness discusses the mistake that investors make of overanalysing individual components within a portfolio, rather than focusing on the overall performance. Ultimately, the goal is to build a cohesive portfolio, not simply fill individual slots. Here’s an excerpt from the interview: Asness: I’ve made … Read More

During this interview with Masters in Business, Cliff Asness discusses the role of luck in investing. His fortunate position of being involved in both the traditional long-only and long/short investment worlds. He also highlights the tax efficiency gained by separating an active stock portfolio into an index fund and a … Read More

In this interview with Carson Group, Cliff Asness Cliff Asness explains why he’s annoyed by the overuse of the word “bubble” in finance. He defines a bubble as a situation where no reasonable future outcome can justify current prices. Here’s an excerpt from the interview: Asness: I wrote a whole … Read More

During his recent interview with David Rubenstein, Cliff Asness discusses why doesn’t anyone call Warren Buffett a quant. Here’s an excerpt from the interview: Asness: Yeah, it’s related, but it is not the same. And this has caused no end of confusion. What quants call value? And I say quants. … Read More

During his recent interview with Bloomberg Wealth, Cliff Asness explained why equities are a scary place for investors. Here’s an excerpt from the interview: Asness: OK, first I got to give you the disclaimer. I am the quant geek long and short, so I don’t pretend to be a great … Read More

In his latest article titled International Diversification—Still Not Crazy after All These Years, Cliff Asness explains why investors should consider international diversification. Here’s an excerpt from the article: International diversification has hurt US-based investors for over 30 years, but the long-run case for it remains relevant. Both financial theory and … Read More

During his recent interview with Barry Ritholz, Cliff Asness discussed his ‘two newspaper’ investing strategy. Here’s an excerpt from the interview: Asness: About half our assets are really traditional, we’re money managers beat.. you know plenty of things don’t let a short, or lever, or any of those hedge fund … Read More