Episode summary
CIO Greatest Hits: Endowments – Andy Golden (Princo)
Capital Allocators with Ted Seides
· · Hosts: Ted Seides · Guests: Andy Golden, Scott Wilson
Summary
Andy Golden describes how Princeton University Investment Management Company built its decision process around a long-term, valuation-independent framework and a staff with real discretion. He traces his own unusual path into investing, then explains how Princeton moved from trustee-led security selection to a staff-centric model after Ed Matthews helped formalize the governance shift. That structure was tested early in the 1998 crisis and became central to the culture.
Golden argues that Princeton’s edge comes from using external specialists, maintaining a very long horizon, and being willing to own uncomfortable positions when the process supports them. He says the portfolio is designed around core beliefs rather than short-term market signals, but he also describes how the midterm allocation can diverge materially when opportunities or risks demand it. Over time, an unintended overweight to private equity became a major feature of the portfolio.
He also emphasizes a highly collaborative but disciplined culture: managers are evaluated as people, not just by recent numbers, and major decisions use a formal “bull-bear” process with rotating devil’s advocates. The result is a portfolio that is equity-biased, manager-driven, and intentionally concentrated in places where Princeton believes it has an informational and governance advantage.
Key takeaways
- Golden says Princeton’s edge is a staff-centric governance model that gives investment professionals real discretion while keeping trustees engaged.
- He argues for a valuation-independent policy portfolio, but says the real process has become increasingly bottom-up through manager selection.
- Princeton’s target mix is heavily equity-biased, including 25% private equity, 25% independent return, 19% real assets, and only 5%+ fixed income.
- Golden says Princeton prefers external managers because specialized firms have more bandwidth and can exploit niches better than an internal team can.
- He frames manager selection around “alignment of appetites,” not just fees, and prefers optimizing fees rather than minimizing them.
- The firm uses a formal bull-bear process with assigned advocates and pre-votes to reduce politics and improve decisions.
Notable quotes
“We're given all the tools that we need to compete to be the very best at what we do”
“our whole decision process is structured in the hopes of moving closer and closer to that nirvana”
“we believe it's important to optimize fees, not minimize fees”
“I think investing is a science craft and an art”
How the episode opens
Hello, I'm Ted Sides and this is Capital Allocators. This show is an open exploration of the people and process behind capital allocation through conversations with the leaders in the money game. We learn how these holders of the keys to the kingdom allocate their time and their capital.
You can join our mailing list and access premium content at capitalallocators.com. All opinions expressed by TED and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of capital allocators or their firms. This podcast is forformational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.
Clients of capital allocators or podcast guests may maintain positions in securities discussed on this podcast. With eight years and over 500 podcasts under my belt, I'm often asked to recommend my favorite episode. But I can't really answer that question.
I feel like I have 500 children and don't think I've disowned a single one. So when asked, I usually offer up a great recent episode to get a listener started. Finding the best episodes in a big library of content isn't easy.
So we thought we'd help. Each summer going forward, we're going to share our best. Over seven weeks, we'll replay conversations curated from our favorites and yours, excluding those from the last 12 months.
Our 2025 summer series focuses on CIOS. We're blessed to have an incredible library of long shelflife content, and we just couldn't pick seven. Instead, we'll share a dozen gems canvasing every type of institutional asset owner.
Our summer series kickoff is a twofer of Andy Golden, now retired after 30 years at Princeton University Investment Management Company and Scott Wilson from Washington University St. Louis. We packaged these two leading endowment investment officers to compare their investment styles.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- endowment investment models
- asset allocation
- ciographic decision-making
- princeton endowment strategy
- washington university endowment strategy
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Princeton University Investment Management Company
Watch the episode
Watch “CIO Greatest Hits: Endowments – Andy Golden (Princo)” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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Capital Allocators with Ted Seides, this episode and its artwork belong to Ted Seides – Allocator and Asset Management Expert. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
