12 Investment Lessons from Howard Marks (Co-Founder of Oaktree Asset Management)

With over five decades of experience navigating credit markets, mastering cycles, and pioneering strategies in high-yield bonds and distressed debt, Howard Marks is a rare voice of both practicality and philosophical clarity.

In his recent appearance on the Money Maze Podcast, Marks shared an extraordinary stream of insights — many drawn from his acclaimed memos — that outline the principles which have underpinned his long-standing success.

Below, we outline 15 key investment lessons from the interview — timeless principles that can help you in navigating uncertainty, managing risk, and thinking like a true contrarian.

1. It’s Not What You Buy, It’s What You Pay

“If you don’t know the difference between buying good things and buying things well, you shouldn’t be in this business.”

High-quality assets can still lead to poor outcomes if bought at inflated prices. Value, not merely quality, often determines return.

2. Success Requires Doing What Others Won’t

“And so there was scepticism around what we were doing. But there always is when you do something that nobody else is doing. It’s the pioneers who get the arrows.”

Extraordinary performance comes from having the insight and courage to go against consensus, investing in what others may fear or ignore. Marks epitomised this through his pioneering work in junk bonds despite the scepticism from his peers.

3. Being Early Can Feel Like Being Wrong

“Being too far ahead of your time is indistinguishable from being wrong, because if you do something that doesn’t work for six months or a year, might you be wrong?

Even when your thesis is right, markets may take years to recognize it. Patience and conviction are essential for contrarian investors but sometimes you must recognize you are wrong

4. Don’t Sell Just Because Prices Moved

“Selling because something is up or selling because something is down. Neither one is right on its face.”

Exiting a position should be based on re-evaluating the thesis, not short-term movements or emotion-driven reactions.

5. Not Everything Is a Buy or Sell — Some Are Holds

“Most people say everything’s either a buy or a sell. I don’t think that’s true. I think there are things that are legitimate holds.’

Nuance matters. A position may still offer valuable upside even if it’s no longer undervalued.

6. Eliminate Certainty from Your Vocabulary

“I believe absolutely that there is no place in our profession for certainty.”

Words like “always,” “never,” “has to,” and “can’t” reflect dangerous overconfidence. Embrace probability over absolutes.

7. Intellectual Humility Is a Safety Net

“I think it’s very important for your success to be brutally frank about what you don’t know — that way, you never get into trouble.”

Admitting limits isn’t a weakness —it’s a form of self-protection and risk control.

8. You Can’t Predict, But You Can Prepare

“Preparing really means not preparing for one outcome, but for having a portfolio which prepares you for a range of outcomes. I think that’s where success lies.”

It may be wise to build portfolios that are resilient across multiple scenarios, not optimised for a single guess about the future.

9. Tailor your approach to your environment

“If you invent a mechanism and then encounter an environment for which it is ideally suited, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it produces great success.”

Marks emphasises the need to consider one’s environment in one’s investment approach. This means what will work at one point in a market cycle should not be assumed to work at all points.

10. Shared Information Offers No Edge

“If you and everyone else know something, it’s already discounted in the price of the stock.”

To outperform, you should bring something others don’t — insight, interpretation, or unique perspective.

11. Some Judgments Require Human Insight

“No computer can read five business plans and pick the next Amazon.”

Quantitative models have limits. Assessing vision, innovation, and management quality requires qualitative analysis and intuition – uniquely human qualities.

“Investing is positioning capital to benefit from future events — and yet the future is unknowable.”

It’s a paradox at the heart of the craft: successful investors don’t know the future, but they should position for a range of outcomes.

12. Filter Noise — Focus on What Really Matters

“Success doesn’t come from knowing everything. It comes from knowing what’s important.”

Facts ≠ insight. The best investors focus on a few vital factors, not every data point. Indeed, Marks described Warren Buffett himself as: “Figuring out which few things are important, and then studying the hell out of those.”

🎯 Conclusion: Wisdom in Uncertainty

The enduring message from Howard Marks in this conversation — and throughout his career — is that great investing isn’t about certainties or formulas. It’s about judgment, humility, emotional control, and preparing intelligently for an unpredictable world. Whether you’re managing billions or your own retirement account, his insights serve as a guide for navigating markets with discipline and self-awareness.

This article is written by Rufus Davies, who has completed an internship at MMP. Rufus is a first year Politics, Philosophy and Economics student at Durham University. Rufus has a passionate interest in financial economics, and has completed internships at Jefferies and Lansdowne Partners in pursuit of this interest.

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