Ashvin Chhabra - The Aspirational Investor

How do you create a portfolio strategy that takes into account both safety and the pursuit of your aspirational goals?   That’s what today’s guest, Ashvin Chhabra, set out to answer with the Wealth Allocation Framework. Ashvin is President and Chief Investment Officer of Euclidean Capital, a New York-based family office for James H. Simons & Marilyn H. Simons. The Simons Foundation is dedicated to advancing research in mathematics and the basic sciences and is currently one of America's largest private funders in those areas. Prior to his current position, Ashvin was Chief Investment Officer for Merrill Lynch and Chief Investment Officer at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He's also the author of a terrific book, The Aspirational Investor, which was published in 2015. Ashvin holds a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Yale University in the field of nonlinear dynamics.   In this episode, Ashvin, Tano, and I discuss Ashvin’s background as a theoretical physicist, why he didn’t see himself becoming a great trader, how the Wealth Allocation Framework was developed, his frustrations with modern portfolio theory, how he brings behavioral finance into wealth management, how to think about inflation and wealth preservation, and so much more!     Key Topics:   Welcome Ashvin to the show (1:05) The beginnings of Ashvin’s dream of becoming a physicist (2:58) The deep insights Ashvin was exposed to in his university studies (3:53) Benoit Mandelbrot’s influence on Ashvin’s thinking (5:51) Ashvin’s transition from theoretical physicist to derivatives trading (9:20) Why Ashvin didn’t resonate with a career on the trading floor (11:24) How the Wealth Allocation Framework was developed (15:54) Three main components of the wealth allocation framework (18:11) The engine of wealth creation (22:24) Why we need to understand models in their specific context (25:05) An evolving view of risk (28:46) Bringing behavioral finance into wealth management (31:23) Ashvin’s perspective on the evolution of the endowment model (34:55) Diversifying through various ecosystems (38:26) How to think about inflation and wealth preservation (41:43) Bringing in an element of common sense and humanity (45:26) The macro issues that worry Ashvin (47:52) The beauty of the non-linear aspects of financial markets (51:13) Ashvin’s book recommendations (53:03) And much more!   Mentioned in this Episode:   Ashvin B. Chhabra’s Book | The Aspirational Investor: Taming the Markets to Achieve Your Life's Goals Ashvin B. Chhabra’s Paper | Beyond Markowitz: A Comprehensive Wealth Allocation Framework for Individual Investors Patrick Bolton, Tano Santos and José Scheinkman’s Paper | Cream Skimming in Financial Markets Robert A. Caro’s Book | Working Robert A. Caro’s Book | The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York Benoit Mandelbrot & Richard L Hudson’s Book | The Misbehavior of Markets: A Fractal View of Financial Turbulence Benjamin Graham’s Book | The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing Morgan Housel’s Book | The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness Amor Towles’ Book | A Gentleman in Moscow   Thanks for Listening!   Be sure to subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And feel free to drop us a line at [email protected].   Follow the Heilbrunn Center on social media on Instagram, LinkedIn, and more!

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Value investing is more than an investment strategy — it’s a fundamental way of thinking about finance. Value investing was developed in the 1920s at Columbia Business School by professors Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, MS ’21. The authors of the classic text, Security Analysis, Graham and Dodd were the very pioneers of their field and their security analysis principles provided the first rational basis for investment decisions. Despite the vast and volatile changes in the economy and securities markets during the last several decades, value investing has proven to be the most successful money management strategy ever developed. Value investors’ success over the second half of the twentieth century proved not only the validity of the value approach, but its preeminence over even the most widely taught and practiced modern investment theory, which was developed in the 1950s and ’60s and remains dominant even today. Our mission today is to promote the study and practice of Graham & Dodd’s original investing principles and to improve investing with world-class education, research, and practitioner-academic dialogue. In this podcast you will hear from some of the world’s greatest investors, their views on the investment management industry, how they developed their investment process and how they see the field changing over time.