What to make of Scott Galloway? He’s a successful businessman turned self-proclaimed academic “thought leader” / NYU Stern MBA professor. Outspoken on politics and anti-Trump, he famously encouraged people to exit the stock market when The Donald won the Presidency in 2016.

He now admits that he paid a lot for the investment strategy – which he followed himself. Selling all of his stocks triggered a big tax bill and then he sat out a +20% climb in the stock market. He bought back in later and didn’t repeat his scheme when Trump won re-election in 2024.

He estimates that he lost 40% of his net worth following his own advice. LINK

Then, in 2024, he wrote a book titled “The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security“. He emphasized that financial security comes from stoicism, focus, time, and diversification. That all sounds right, but his own investment strategy seems to have strayed pretty from those four pillars.

Still, he was a successful businessman and says he has a net worth “in the low nine figures” – so likely hundreds of millions of dollars. He now says he has learned the lesson that that investors should remain in the market rather than attempt to anticipate political or economic turning points.

California Governor Gavin Newsom recently appointed him to the California State Board of Regents. Hopefully he realized that politics poisons pretty much everything it touches. Probably not, since his online posts are filled with big government boosterism and political vitriol.

Glad he’s come clean on his strategy failings, but I won’t be subscribing to his investment newsletter.

Have you even heard of this guy before?

Image: Wall Street Journal