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\n \n One of Marks’s early supporters was none other than Warren Buffett. The CEO of Berkshire Hathaway first met Marks and his long-time partner Bruce Karsh when they both held debt in the same distressed company. Buffett provided them with his proxy during the restructuring, leading to a successful outcome and a lasting friendship. After Marks referenced Buffett in one of his memos, he sent him a copy, to which Buffett responded with a note offering to endorse Marks’s future book. \n Marks’s investment philosophy emphasizes understanding market psychology over mere forecasting. This approach enabled him to identify the dot-com bubble, caution against excessive risk-taking in 2007, and pinpoint a market bottom during the 2008 financial crisis. Today, he observes parallels in the current market landscape but refrains from labeling the AI-driven market as a bubble. \n “Writing the memos is an absolute joy for me,” he stated. “They serve as the vehicle through which I share my thinking with the investment community, allow me to connect with Oaktree’s clients and employees, and serve as my creative outlet. I plan to keep at it.”\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Howard Marks didn’t initially aim to become one of the most influential voices in finance. His journey began in 1990 when he penned his first investment memo, which he sent to a handful of clients. For a decade, he received no feedback. However, everything changed in January 2000 with the release of his memo titled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/igorsplayground.com\/appcheckr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/igorsplayground.com\/appcheckr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/igorsplayground.com\/appcheckr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/igorsplayground.com\/appcheckr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/igorsplayground.com\/appcheckr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/igorsplayground.com\/appcheckr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/igorsplayground.com\/appcheckr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/igorsplayground.com\/appcheckr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/igorsplayground.com\/appcheckr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/igorsplayground.com\/appcheckr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\n Howard Marks didn’t initially aim to become one of the most influential voices in finance. His journey began in 1990 when he penned his first investment memo, which he sent to a handful of clients. For a decade, he received no feedback. However, everything changed in January 2000 with the release of his memo titled “Bubble.com.” In it, he cautioned that investors’ uncritical faith in the internet was paving the way for a significant downturn.
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“This was the first of my memos to engender any response from readers,” Marks reflected. He elaborated on the psychology behind market bubbles, particularly in the context of the dot-com boom, which soon transitioned into a bust as inflated equity valuations fell back to reality. Within months, the dot-com bubble had burst, establishing Marks as a respected voice on Wall Street.
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Since then, Marks has authored over 160 memos that delve into market psychology, risk assessment, and investor behavior. This week marks the 35th anniversary of his investment memos. To commemorate this milestone, Oaktree Capital is unveiling a digital archive of all Marks’ writings, along with a selection of his 45 favorite pieces.
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“He said, ‘If you ever write a book, I’ll give you a blurb for the jacket,'” Marks recalled. This encouragement became the impetus for Marks’s first book, “The Most Important Thing.” Buffett honored his promise, stating, “When I see memos from Howard Marks in my mail, they’re the first thing I open and read. I always learn something.”\n <\/p>\n
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“Valuations are high but not crazy,” Marks noted in an interview with CNBC’s Sarah Eisen. “Expensive and going down tomorrow are not synonymous.” At 79, Marks continues to be active and engaged. He views his memos as a means to remind both himself and his readers that markets are influenced as much by human behavior as they are by numerical data.\n <\/p>\n