Our guest this week is Wes Gray. Wes is the CEO, chief investment officer, and founder of Alpha Architect, a Registered Investment Advisor that offers ETFs and works with other RIAs to launch their own ETFs. An accomplished researcher and writer, Wes has authored numerous books on investing and financial topics, including Quantitative Value and Quantitative Momentum. Before founding Alpha Architect, Wes worked in academia and consulted for a family office. Wes’ path into finance began at the University of Chicago, where he earned his MBA and Ph.D. and studied under Nobel Prize winner Eugene Fama. Prior to that, Wes served as a captain in the United States Marine Corps. In addition to his MBA and Ph.D., Wes also earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from The Wharton School.

Background

Bio

Twitter handle: @alphaarchitect

Alpha Architect

Quantitative Momentum: A Practitioner’s Guide to Building a Momentum-Based Stock Selection System, by Wesley Gray, Ph.D., and Jack Vogel, Ph.D.

Quantitative Value: A Practitioner’s Guide to Automating Intelligent Investment and Eliminating Behavioral Errors, by Wesley Gray, Ph.D., and Tobias Carlisle, LLB

Active Investing

“Even God Would Get Fired as an Active Investor,” by Wesley Gray, alphaarchitect.com, Feb. 2, 2016.

“Has the Stock Market Systematically Changed?” by Wesley Gray, alphaarchitect.com, Sept. 20, 2022.

“The Cross Section of Stock Returns Pre-CRSP Data: Value and Momentum Are Confirmed as Robust Anomalies,” by Elisabetta Basilico, Ph.D., CFA, alphaarchitect.com, Nov. 7, 2022.

Stock Market/Trend-Following

“How I Invest My Own Money: Robust to Chaos,” by Wesley Gray, alphaarchitect.com, June 24, 2022.

“Trend Following: The Epitome of No Pain, No Gain,” by Wesley Gray, alphaarchitect.com, June 26, 2019.

“Trend-Following: A Deep Dive Into a Unique Risk Premium,” by Wesley Gray, alphaarchitect.com, Oct. 18, 2017.

“Does Emerging Markets Investing Make Sense?” by Wesley Gray, alphaarchitect.com, June 17, 2022.

Value Investing

“Value Investing Live Recap: Wesley Gray,” by Graham Griffin, gurufocus.com, Aug. 25, 2021.

“Value Investing: Headwinds, Tailwinds, and Variables,” by Ryan Kirlin, alphaarchitect.com, May 20, 2022.

“Value Investing: What History Says About Five-Year Periods After Valuation Peaks,” by Jack Vogel, Ph.D., alphaarchitect.com, Dec. 21, 2021.

Behavioral Investing

“Terry Odean: Who’s on the Other Side of the Trade?” The Long View podcast, Morningstar.com, May 14, 2022.

“Behavioral Finance Warning: Humans Love Complexity,” by Wesley Gray, alphaarchitect.com, Aug. 3, 2021.

“Individual Investor Behavior: What Does the Research Say?” by Wesley Gray, alphaarchitect.com, July 22, 2022.

“Momentum Investing, Like Value Investing, Is Simple, but Not Easy,” by Wesley Gray, alphaarchitect.com, Sept. 18, 2018.

Bonds and ETF Investing

“Treasury Bonds: Buy and Hold, or Trend Follow?” by Wesley Gray, alphaarchitect.com, Aug. 10, 2022.

“Why Advisors (and Family Offices) Should Consider Creating Their Own ETFs,” by Pat Cleary, alphaarchitect.com, Nov. 4, 2022.

“ETF Tax Efficiency Isn’t Always Efficient,” by Sean Hegarty, alpharchitect.com, Feb. 25, 2022.