David Y. Lin, CFA
Chief Investment Officer, Principal
T(626) 792-2228
Edlin@cliffordswan.com
David has served as Chief Investment Officer since 2024. In this role, he oversees the firm’s equities, fixed income, and alternatives teams and sets the overall investment strategy using a long-term fundamentals-based approach.
As an Investment Counselor, David advises institutions and individuals on their investment needs, building portfolios tailored to their financial goals. Prior to joining Clifford Swan in 2018, he managed U.S. and international strategies for institutions, bringing a global perspective to the firm’s investment approach.
David received a Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School in 2010, graduating from the value investing program. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Claremont McKenna College (2004) and is a Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA) charterholder.
My work gives me an overwhelming sense of purpose. And that’s to devote myself to clients and this community.
Articles from David Y. Lin
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Market Commentary
Quarterly Insights: July 2026
War, the Changing Shape of AI, and the New Fed Mandate From renewed unrest in the Middle East to growing questions about the artificial intelligence boom, the investment landscape remains complicated. Judging by today’s elevated valuations, investors appear willing to look past these risks. While that optimism may prove justified, the recent leadership change at […]
Investment Management
The Rise of the Invisible Economy
The investment industry has come a long way, offering Americans more ways than ever to build wealth. But the rise of alternatives—once the exclusive domain of institutions and the ultra-wealthy—has made it more difficult to cut through the noise and identify what matters. We’ve developed a framework to help. For most of our country’s history, […]
Market Commentary
Message from the CIO: Iran Developments – Portfolio Perspective
The following message was originally distributed to clients on March 2, 2026. This past Saturday, February 28, the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran, killing several senior figures including Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In retaliation, Iran has fired missiles at its Gulf neighbors and U.S. military bases in the region. We are […]
Market Commentary
Message from the CIO: Tariffs and the Market Sell-off
The following message was originally distributed to clients on April 4, 2025. Yesterday, the President’s “Liberation Day” tariffs sparked the stock market’s worst trading day since 2020. That volatility could continue. In the fog of bad news, our reflex is to look to expert predictions. It gives us the illusion of control. But time and […]
Market Commentary
U.S. Exceptionalism and What It Means for Your Portfolio
Over modern U.S. history, we’ve hardly gone a moment without hearing predictions of America’s imminent downfall. In that sense, you might say that declinism is one of the great American past times. During his 1960 Presidential campaign, John F. Kennedy painted a scary picture of a Russian enemy well on its way to world domination […]
Investment Management
A Reality Check on AI
While computers have only been around since the 1950s, our fascination with artificial intelligence goes all the way back to early recorded human history. As a species, we can’t help but want to project human qualities onto non-human things. The first known robot was built in ancient Greece, an automatic maid that would pour wine […]
Investment Management
The Head and the Heart
In life, few things put us at the mercy of our emotions the way investing can. The last three years in the markets have been especially unnerving, exhibiting the plot elements of a Shakespeare play. We witnessed drama as the world locked down during Covid, a supernatural-like intervention by Congress and the Federal Reserve to […]
Market Commentary
A Playbook for Unprecedented Times
Take yourself back to 2019 when the year was drawing to a close. Imagine being told:2020 will be the year when our hospitals will be overwhelmed, offices will close indefinitely, scores of workers will be sent home and lose their jobs, and the developed world will be on sporadic lockdown. Now, imagine also being told that […]
Investment Management
How to Invest When Company Lifespans Are Shrinking
In 1965, a company in the S&P 500 Index had an average life of 33 years. Incredibly, that number is now down to 18 years and falling.What’s driving the change? Technology has a lot to do with it as entire industries have been reshaped, from the way we shop for clothes to how we power […]