The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 10 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Howard Marks: The Value Versus Growth Dichotomy Should Not Be Hardwired
“And by the way, when I say the value investor does this and the growth investor does that, Probably the biggest single theme of the memo was that that dichotomy should not be so hardwired.”
Howard Marks: Internet information cannot provide an investing edge
“Human knowledge is cumulative, and lately it's been rushing forward at an incredible pace, so it's hard to imagine that there's a piece of information that I can get off the internet that's going to make me any money for the simple reason that everybody else c…”
Howard Marks: Computers cannot pick the next Amazon or Steve Jobs
“I always say that I don't think that a computer can sit down with five business plans and figure out which one is Amazon in advance, or meet five CEOs and know which one is Steve Jobs.”
Howard Marks: Teaching second-level thinking is like coaching height
“People say to me, can you teach somebody to be a second level thinker? And I said, I don't know. It's kind of like asking the basketball coach to coach height. All his efforts won't make his players any taller. Some people get it, some don't.”
Howard Marks: Trimming winning investments just to lock in profit is a mistake
“This idea that as soon as there's a profit, you should take some of it off the table, seems like a huge mistake.”
Howard Marks: Managers should raise smaller funds following strong performance
“Most firms, if they have a very successful fund, will follow it up with another fund which is larger on the back of that. But if you think about it, if you had a success in a given area, the good performance of that fund is synonymous with appreciation. In oth…”
Marks: High-yield debt succeeds through aware, analyzable, and diversified risk
“How can they insure people's lives when they know they're all gonna die? And the answer is, number one, it's risk they're aware of... Number two, it's risk you can analyze... Number three, it's risk you can diversify... Number four, it's risk they're well paid…”
Howard Marks: Investor edge requires better data analysis, qualitative judgment, or forecasting
“If everybody has all the company data about today and the means to massage it, How do you get a knowledge advantage? And the answer is you have to either somehow do a better job of massaging the current data, which is challenging, or you have to be better at m…”
Howard Marks: Investors should rebrand the selling decision as 'unbuying'
“You know, it all comes down to maybe we can think better about the selling decision if we rebrand it and we call it the decision to unbuy. The thought process should be the opposite of the buying decision and not some chicken stuff about being afraid to lose.”