Step One to Becoming a Better Investor

By Ed D'Agostino | July 12, 2024

In seasoned investment circles, nearly everyone reads the memos from Howard Marks, the co-chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, which he’s been writing for his clients since 1990. The most widely read of these memos, “Something of Value,” is foundational reading for anyone serious, or anyone who wants to get serious, about investing.

“Something of Value” grew out of discussions between Howard and his son, Andrew, while they lived together during the early days of the pandemic. Andrew, a cofounder and partner at venture capital firm TQ Ventures, is successful in his own right. But as a growth-oriented tech investor, many would consider him the polar opposite of Howard, a noted value investor with a focus on alternative investments.

In his memo, Howard calls this a false dichotomy. He writes that value and growth “should never have been viewed as mutually exclusive to begin with.” And he argues that successful investing ultimately comes down to superior judgment.

Today, we are doing something a little different. Instead of sharing one of my personal interviews, I am passing along a must-watch interview with Howard and Andrew, where they discuss “Something of Value” in greater detail.

Howard, who also spoke at our latest Strategic Investment Conference, stresses the importance of open-mindedness and of continuing to evolve your thinking over time. He also looks critically at his own biases as an investor, which is something we all need to be able (and willing) to do.

Watch the interview with Howard and Andrew here.

You can also read the full “Something of Value” memo here.

We’ll return with a new Global Macro Update interview next week with Dmitri Alperovitch, founder of CrowdStrike and co-author of World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the 21st Century.

Thanks for reading.

Don't let friends miss this timely insight—
share it with your network now.