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Must-Read Interview with Howard Marks

Barron’s had an awesome interview over the weekend with Howard Marks.  They made it the cover story for a reason.  If you missed it, you must immediately read it here.

For those that don’t know, Howard Marks is the chairman of Oaktree Capital Management ($77 billion under investment).  They focus on distressed debt and Warren Buffett is one of his biggest fans.  What I found very appealing was his use of sentiment in his overall market thesis.

He’s been in this game longer than I’ve been alive and whenever I see someone willing to share what they’ve learned, it is like Christmas.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the story and my take. (more…)

DAVID TEPPER: If You Invested $1 Million In My Hedge Fund In 1993 You Would Have $149 Million Today

David Tepper, who has been running distressed debt hedge fund Appaloosa Management for the past twenty years, is crushing it this year. 

 Meanwhile, the S&P is up about 19.7% this year. 

Tepper was up 5.5% in July net of fees. 

He’s still bullish on stocks.

He told Wapner that he finds them “reasonable” and that he’s still long.   (more…)

The First Requirement for Success

“Sun Tzu said if you sit by the river long enough, you’ll see the bodies of your enemies float by. The key is “long enough.” If you live long enough, you have to be the survivor. When I was a kid, we didn’t have the video games you have today, so we used to listen to comedy records. One of the greatest ones was Mel Brooks doing the 2000 year old man. Carl Reiner says to him, “how did you get to be the world’s oldest man?” And he says, “Simple. Don’t die.” How do you get to be the world’s oldest investor? The answer is don’t crap out.

“So if you look at distressed debt where we started in 1988, I could tell you who our number one competitor was in every year through 1995 and not one is a main competitor today. And it’s not because of what we did; all we did is perform consistently. They crapped out. It sounds simplistic to say, but the first requirement for success is survival…”

– Howard Marks

What steps do you take to ensure survival as a trader? (more…)

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