Howard Marks is a co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management and he talked about how to be a great investor. He said that “in order to be a great investor, you have to dare to be great.”
While most people aim for big winners in stocks, Howard said that their “approach cut off bottom tail” like investor Dave Van Benschoten does because Oaktree “does not swing for the fences.”
Howard contends that someone who swings for the fences will be lionized for 1 year, but who can do it for 30 years?
He sat down with Katie Koch, the Chief Investment Officer of Public Equity at Goldman Sachs in June 2022, and she cited Peter Bernstein in saying investors can’t win without humility.
Howard was agreeable to this notion in saying that “survival begins with humility” and investors can’t succeed if they don’t survive.
Intriguingly, although we might normally believe we learn and grow from our success, Howard said “success carries the seeds failure” and that “success teaches terrible lessons.”
Howard’s moral of the story in being a great investor is to be confident but not be overconfident.
And while we may have all the data we could ever want, it doesn’t necessarily add to true knowledge, and Howard doesn’t believe that artificial intelligence and computing technology will become the Warren Buffett of its kind.
If you’re interested in learning how to take control of your finances and start becoming an investor like Warren Buffett, check out my free PDF guide.
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