Aswath Damodaran, a valuations expert and finance professor at NYU, issued a firm message on Thursday, using social media platform X to distance himself from investment promotions and affiliations with financial entities.
His statement comes in response to concerns about online impersonation and misinformation, emphasising his primary role as an educator. Damodaran stated, “I am a teacher, first and foremost. I don’t promote stocks, seek out investors or have ties with investment entities.” He further clarified that he does not use Instagram or Facebook, cautioning, “If you read anything that claims otherwise, it is a scam.”
Damodaran’s warning is timely, given the blurred lines between public intellectuals and financial influencers in the digital age. His high-profile commentary, which includes valuation insights on individual companies and broader market views, has attracted significant attention from both retail and institutional investors.
In a recent blog post, Damodaran highlighted concerns over alternative assets, urging scepticism about the retail push into complex investment vehicles like private equity and hedge funds.
Alternative investments-ranging from private equity and hedge funds to real estate, crypto, and collectibles-have seen massive inflows over the past two decades as investors chased diversification and higher returns.
The NYU professor dismantled the rose-tinted case for alternatives, arguing that their touted benefits are often oversold. He highlights how high fees, complex structures, and opaque strategies are common across the space, saying many managers “first need their heads examined and then summarily fired” for paying two-and-twenty style fees with mediocre returns.
Damodaran warned investors to be wary of unrealistic assumptions about time horizons and liquidity. Alternatives might suit large institutions with stable cash flows, but retail investors often find themselves needing money at the worst possible time, when these assets are least liquid.
He remarked, “Even savvy institutional investors… are questioning whether private equity, hedge funds and venture capital have become too big and are too costly to be value-adding.”
Damodaran has consistently advocated for education over solicitation, reinforcing his preference for valuation-based investment strategies rather than speculative tactics. In April, he revealed his methodical approach to investing during market downturns, discussing his use of limit orders for companies like BYD and Palantir. He cautioned against reckless investment behaviours, likening them to “the art of catching a falling knife,” and stressed that careful valuation should guide decisions.