Markowitz: Multi-decade investing should prioritize 50-year survival over 30% growth
Eric Markowitz · A Longterm Investor Looks Sudden Death In The Face — With Eric Markowitz · Aug 28, 2024 · at 40:19
Eric Markowitz, partner at Night View Capital, explains how confronting mortality reframed his investment philosophy around terminal risk and multi-decade survival.
0:00 / 0:34exact quote · 34.6s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“I think modern culture spends too much time focusing on growth and not enough on survival. And when you focus so much on growth, the key metrics you're trying to hit are top line numbers, like something that can grow at 30%, right? What, in my mind, maybe a better metric if you're truly trying to think about, okay, can this investment, can this, you know, thesis sustain over 30 years or 40 years? Like, can this provide for my kid? The real question to ask is, can this thing grow at two percent a year, but for 50 years?”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Eric Markowitz
Markowitz: Spreading bets too thin prevents creating meaningful outcomes
“Because if you spread your bets too thin, you're never really gonna. Create anything meaningful.”
Markowitz: Buy-and-hold only works with constant short-term tweaking
“Buy and hold, like, only works if you're, like, constantly tweaking in the short term and Constantly improving to enable like the buy and hold mindset in life.”
Markowitz: Going all-in on index funds is very risky
“That also doesn't mean like go all in on like index funds, which I think is also very risky.”
Markowitz: Long-term compounding is a fragile privilege rather than a guarantee
“Thinking and acting long-term is really, really important, but on a deeper level, it's not guaranteed. None of it is guaranteed. And so anything can derail the long-term at any point. And so for me, it was a real like wake up call of, you know, it's a real pri…”
Markowitz: Subtracting intensity and commitments creates greater potential for better outcomes
“The more you subtract and the less intense you are, the greater potential for better outcomes.”
Markowitz: Forcing success and over-striving prevents actual compounding from occurring
“Like so many things in life, you can't force things like you can't force relationships. You can't force you can't force success. And I think looking back and not just in 20, 22, but like, you know, probably a lot of my professional life there was a lot of like…”