NYU Professor Loses 40% of Portfolio Selling Stocks After Trump Win

On Monday, NYU professor Scott Galloway took to his "The Prof G Pod" to admit something painful: he sold every single stock he owned the moment Donald Trump won the 2016 election. It was an emotional move that landed him with a massive tax bill before he could buy back in when prices had already climbed higher. In the end, Galloway estimates this mistake ate up roughly 40 percent of his liquid net worth held in stocks.

He broke it down during the "Office Hours" segment of the show as a cautionary tale for anyone letting feelings dictate their portfolio.

"So when he was elected in 2016, I sold all my stocks," Galloway said plainly. "That was stupid. The market ripped for the next year. There was so much insecurity about him actually winning that the fear had been priced in. Stocks ripped up."

The timing hurt more than just his investment balance sheet. Because he lived in New York at the time, the selloff triggered a significant hit from capital gains taxes. About six months later, Galloway decided to return to the market only after seeing gains of 10 percent to 20 percent already baked into the prices.

"So you could argue, at least notionally, that decision cost me 40% of my liquid net worth in stocks," he told his audience. He calls it his "biggest investment mistake."

The White House responded quickly on Tuesday. Spokesman Davis Ingle spoke to Fox News Digital and framed Galloway's ongoing criticism not as valid analysis but as pathology.

"Scott Galloway should immediately seek psychiatric help to treat his severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has completely rotted his peanut-sized brain," Ingle said.

Galloway does not back down from the heat, though he acknowledges the reality of the market moving against him. He argues that President Trump's economic and foreign policies are a ticking time bomb for the United States.

"I think the president is a f---ing idiot and a stain on the American experience," Galloway said. "And that the grand sum of all of these head up your a-- economic and federal policy decisions will eventually crash this economy or result in long-term structural damage that will take decades if not generations to repair."

The data supports Galloway's observation about the immediate aftermath of 2016, even if his reaction was too slow. The stock market surged following Trump's victory. According to the federal government's own 2017 Economic Report of the President, the S&P 500 climbed 3.4 percent in November 2016 and hit a then-record high later that month. By 2018, reports showed the index had gained another 19.4 percent, posting gains in 11 of the year's 12 months.

Galloway now says his experience proves one thing: investors should stay put rather than trying to guess political turning points. He warns that predicting exactly when a market top occurs is dangerous. Instead of betting on timing, he suggests diversification.

"Trying to guess when the top happens is dangerous," Galloway said. "Probably my biggest investment mistake was the emotional reaction I had to the 2016 election of Donald Trump."

He added that while government actions matter, the economy keeps grinding forward regardless of who is tweeting or not.

"And what the government does matter, but the majority of the economy just grinds on regardless of who is tweeting what or not tweeting what," he continued.

Looking ahead, Galloway predicted Trump would eventually drop out of the 2024 presidential race to satisfy a plea agreement that kept him out of jail. That did not happen. Trump stayed in the race and returned to the White House after winning the 2024 election.

Fox News Digital reached out to Galloway for comment, but he had not immediately responded.