The Minutes of Howard Marks on investing philosophy https://minutesof.com/howard-marks/on/investing-philosophy/ Everything Howard Marks has said on investing philosophy: 7 verbatim quotes between January 2019 and June 2026, each with a timestamp and a link to the… en Sun, 30 Aug 2026 16:22:27 +0000 Marks argues investors have inherent optimism bias because investing requires giving money hoping for more lat https://minutesof.com/q/60a4741c-52ab-4076-b190-1c64f0757d6c/ https://minutesof.com/q/60a4741c-52ab-4076-b190-1c64f0757d6c/ “Because you have to be optimistic to be an investor. What is investing? You take your money, you give it to somebody else in the hope you'll get back more later.” — Wharton School Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:17:40 +0000 investing philosophy Marks explains why timing the bottom is impossible: you can only identify it after the fact. https://minutesof.com/q/fc0123a3-ff20-4400-aba2-d61c2185ee17/ https://minutesof.com/q/fc0123a3-ff20-4400-aba2-d61c2185ee17/ “the bottom is the day before it starts going up. Right? And if that's true, then by definition, you never know when you're at the bottom because you can only tell the next day.” — Wharton School Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:17:40 +0000 investing philosophy Marks adopted if you avoid the losers, the winners take care of themselves as Oaktree's founding motto in 1995 https://minutesof.com/q/ea1f50ad-df8f-4b68-8a14-b8f468139d5b/ https://minutesof.com/q/ea1f50ad-df8f-4b68-8a14-b8f468139d5b/ “in equities, if you can avoid the losers and losing years, the winners will take care of themselves.” — The Investor’s Podcast Sat, 13 Dec 2025 22:45:06 +0000 investing philosophy Marks says great investors are right only 60-80% of the time; those needing certainty should avoid investing. https://minutesof.com/q/7b044501-97ab-4b54-abb7-7ea9eba2dac8/ https://minutesof.com/q/7b044501-97ab-4b54-abb7-7ea9eba2dac8/ “The great investors are right 60%, 70%, maybe 80% of the time. If you're the kind of person who has to be right all the time, you shouldn't be in in investing.” — David Rubenstein Wed, 04 Oct 2023 12:46:10 +0000 investing philosophy Marks argues understanding psychology's ebb and flow is crucial to improving upon buy-and-hold investing. https://minutesof.com/q/c23e0792-59bc-4c9f-9390-7324d17636cf/ https://minutesof.com/q/c23e0792-59bc-4c9f-9390-7324d17636cf/ “I think that if you want to exist in the investment world and you want to, you can just buy and hold good things if you want to take that approach, But if you want to improve upon that, I think it's very important to understand the ebb and flow of psychology and act accordingly.” — Milken Institute Mon, 14 Jan 2019 19:09:05 +0000 investing philosophy Marks defines exceptional investors as those achieving good returns disproportionate to risk taken. https://minutesof.com/q/da3f4998-f66a-4f70-9429-e81f57abc8b1/ https://minutesof.com/q/da3f4998-f66a-4f70-9429-e81f57abc8b1/ “I think that an exceptional investor is someone who has a good return disproportionate to the risk born. A good return with the risk under control.” — Milken Institute Mon, 14 Jan 2019 19:09:05 +0000 investing philosophy Marks argues the key insight is that any asset can be good at the right price. https://minutesof.com/q/64419f56-bf74-4e46-8eaf-77b88b5dc057/ https://minutesof.com/q/64419f56-bf74-4e46-8eaf-77b88b5dc057/ “the big realization of the last ten, forty years is that just about every asset can get cheap enough so that it's a good investment, and most investments can get so expensive that they're a bad investment. And the revolution of the high yield bond industry was really to say,” — Milken Institute Mon, 14 Jan 2019 19:09:05 +0000 investing philosophy