Aswath Damodaran: Stop Trying to Beat the Market

<p>Aswath Damodaran, Professor of Finance at NYU Stern and the Kerschner Family Chair in Finance Education, widely known as the Dean of Valuation, joins Personable to explain why 90 percent of people should stop trying to beat the market, and why he still teaches after more than 40 years.</p><p><br /></p><p>In this episode, Aswath goes back to the first class he walked into as a TA in 1981, why valuation is a craft you learn on simple companies first, why the Fed is the Wizard of Oz, and why your biggest edge as a young investor is your age, not your stock picks.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is an essential listen for anyone interested in investing, valuation, markets, AI businesses, teaching as a craft, and what it actually takes to build wealth over decades instead of trying to get rich quickly.</p><p><br /></p><p>He discusses:</p><p>◽️ Why 90 percent of people should be in passive index funds rather than trying to pick winners</p><p>◽️ Why he calls himself incredibly selfish, and why almost everything he writes is him working through his own uncertainty</p><p>◽️ Why the Fed has far less power than markets think, and why “the Fed did it” became the excuse for underperformance</p><p>◽️ Why market timing almost never beats buying and holding, and why your age is a bigger edge than stock picking</p><p><br /></p><p>00:00 Introduction and Aswath Damodaran background</p><p>00:29 The first class in 1981 and why he still teaches</p><p>07:42 How to value AI companies, SpaceX and the Mag 7</p><p>14:50 US debt, inflation and who actually gets hurt</p><p>25:22 The Fed as the Wizard of Oz</p><p>29:06 Why 90 percent of people should just buy the index</p><p>47:30 Easy returns, bad habits and why he does not sit in cash</p><p>53:37 No gurus, no bucket list, and the one thing to take away</p><p><br /></p><p>Aswath Damodaran:</p><p>◽️ Website: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/home.htm</p><p>◽️ Blog: https://aswathdamodaran.blogspot.com</p><p>◽️ Substack: https://aswathdamodaran.substack.com</p><p>◽️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AswathDamodaranonValuation</p><p>◽️ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aswathdamodaran</p><p>◽️ X (Twitter): https://x.com/aswathdamodaran</p><p><br /></p><p>Harvey Bracken-Smith:</p><p>◽️ LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/harveybracken-smith</p><p>◽️ Instagram: https://instagram.com/harveybsmith</p><p>◽️ X (Twitter): https://x.com/harveybsmith_</p><p>◽️ Newsletter: https://personable.substack.com/</p><p>◽️ Website: https://w