IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:

• Why Howard Marks aims for “steady excellence,” not shooting the lights out.
• What investors should learn from great (& not-so-great) tennis players.
• How to figure out the right “risk posture” for your investment portfolio.
• How he managed to pull off 5 major market calls in the course of his career.
• What makes Bruce Karsh, his long-time partner, a superb investor.
• How specialization can give you a powerful edge.
• How today’s investment environment resembles the dotcom bubble.
• Why Howard expects most AI companies to “end up worthless.”
• Why he’s deeply wary of investing in Bitcoin & gold.
• Why bonds now strike him as a relatively attractive investment.
• How he reached the pinnacle without sacrificing family, friends or hobbies.

TRANSCRIPT

Disclaimer: The transcript that follows has been generated using artificial intelligence. We strive to be as accurate as possible, but minor errors and slightly off timestamps may be present due to platform differences.

[00:00:00] Intro: You are listening to the Richer, Wiser, Happier podcast where your host, William Green, interviews the world’s greatest investors and explores how to win in markets and life.

[00:00:20] William Green: Hi folks. I’m absolutely thrilled to welcome back a very special guest today, Howard Marks, who’s the chairman of Oaktree Capital Management. It’s been a landmark year, both for Oaktree and Howard Oaktree recently celebrated its 30 year anniversary and since Howard co-founded the firm in 1995, it’s been a spectacular success.

[00:00:40] William Green: It’s grown into a globally revered leader in alternative investments with something like $218 billion in assets under management and more than 1400 employees around the world. And a few weeks ago, Howard also celebrated another landmark, which is 35 years of writing his extraordinary memos, which are such a trove of clear and lucid investment wisdom that they’ve earned a devoted following of, I think more than 300,000 subscribers.

[00:01:08] William Green: Howard markeddd that anniversary by publishing a free compilation of 45 of the best memos, which I spent the last couple of days rereading. I would say personally that nobody other than Warren Buffett has done more to distill and share the enduring truths of investing. So today we’re going to focus in some depth on some of the most important things that Howard’s figured out in his 56 years, and not only as one of the great investors of our time, but I would say also one of the great teachers of the investing world.

[00:01:39] William Green: So Howard, it’s lovely to see you again. Thank you so much for joining us.

[00:01:43] Howard Marks: Thank you, William, with a introduction like that I’m tempted to say go on.

[00:01:47] William Green: Okay. Well, we’re off to a good start then. I wanted to start by asking you about a, a really important dinner that you had in Minneapolis in 1990 that had a profound impact on you, both in terms of inspiring your first memo, but also I think subsequently in shaping Oak Tree’s investment philosophy.

[00:02:06] William Green: Why was that dinner such a seminal event and what did you learn from it?

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BOOKS AND RESOURCES

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• The ⁠Complete Collection⁠ of Howard Marks’ Memos.
• Howard Marks’ book ⁠The Most Important Thing Illuminated⁠.
• Howard Marks’ book ⁠Mastering the Market Cycle⁠.
• Charlie Ellis’s book ⁠Winning the Loser’s Game⁠.
• David Swensen’s ⁠Pioneering Portfolio Management⁠.
• Edward Chancellor’s ⁠Devil Take the Hindmost⁠.
• William Green’s book, “Richer, Wiser, Happier” – ⁠read the reviews of this book⁠.
• Related books mentioned in the podcast.
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