Here are a couple of quotes that we periodically review to help guide us through difficult investment environments and remind us what matters in the market. Enjoy.
"I try every chance I get to convince people that in investing, there's no such thing as a good idea...or a bad idea. Anything can be a good idea at one price and time, and a bad one at another. Here's how I've put it in the past: It has been demonstrated time and time again that no asset is so good that it can't become a bad investment if bought at too high a price. And there are few assets so bad that they can't be a good investment when bought cheap enough...No asset class or investment has the birthright of a high return. It's only attractive if it's priced right. Investment success doesn't come primarily from 'buying good things,' but rather from "buying things well."
- Howard Marks - Founder of Oaktree Capital
"There are no relationships or equations that always work. Quantitatively based solutions and asset-allocation equations invariably fail as they are designed to capture what would have worked in the previous cycle, whereas the next one remains a riddle wrapped in an enigma. The successful macro investor must be some magical mixture of an acute analyst, an investment scholar, a listener, a historian, a river boat gambler, and be a voracious reader. Reading is crucial. Charlie Munger, a great investor and a very sagacious old guy, said it best: 'I have said that in my whole life, I have known no wise person, over a broad subject matter, who didn't read all the time -- none, zero. Now I know all kinds of shrewd people who by staying within a narrow area do very well without reading. But investment is a broad area. So if you think you're going to be good at it and not read all the time, you have a different idea than I do.
- Barton Biggs - Famed market strategist
