The Memo: This Time It's Different

Behind the Memo - The Indispensability of Risk with Howard Marks, Bruce Karsh, and Maurice Ashley

2024 Year-End Book Recommendations

Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class by Rob Henderson To d d M o l z | C h i e f O p e r a t i n g O ffi c e r R o b H e n d e r s o n ’s memoir details his tumultuous upbringing with a drug-addicted mother and an absent father, moving through ten foster homes before being adopted.

Something of Value

I’ve heard a variety of views, and while I have my own, I don’t want to make it the subject of this memo., The Value Mentality in Action Back in 2017, my memo There They Go Again . . ., My conversations with Andrew over the ten months of the pandemic have represented a “voyage of discovery” and culminated in this memo., I hope you’ll find this memo interesting and helpful, and I wish you all the best in 2021., This memorandum is being made available for educational purposes only and should not be used for any other purpose.

1994-01-24-random-thoughts-on-the-identification-of-inv-opportunities

A l l R i g h t s R e s e r v e d Legal Information and Disclosures This memorandum expresses the views of the author as of the date indicated and such views are subject to change without notice., This memorandum is being made available for educational purposes only and should not be used for any other purpose., This memorandum, including the information contained herein, may not be copied, reproduced, republished, or posted in whole or in part, in any form without the prior written consent of Oaktree.

2003-03-11-whad-ya-know

A l l R i g h t s R e s e r v e d Memo to: OaktreeClients From: Howard M a rks Re: Whad’Ya K n o w ?, I always ask Nancy to read my memos before I send them out., UThe Value of Predictions II The P&I survey reminded me of a memo I wrote in 1996 under the above title., This memorandum is being made available for educational purposes only and should not be used for any other purpose., This memorandum, including the information contained herein, may not be copied, reproduced, republished, or posted in whole or in part, in any form without the prior written consent of Oaktree.

2004-07-21-the-happy-medium

A l l R i g h t s R e s e r v e d Memo to: OaktreeClients From: Howard M a rks Re: TheHappy Medium My second general memo to clients was dated April 11, 1991 and imaginatively titled “First Quarter Performance.”, In November 2001 I wrote a memo on this subject entitled “You Can’t Predict., The memo discussed some of the cycles that affect the investor:  The economic cycle evidences moderate fluctuations (although their impact can be profound)., The theme of this memo will be that the cyclical phenomena that so heavily influence our investment outcomes aren’t caused by the operation of institutions or physical laws., This memorandum is being made available for educational purposes only and should not be used for any other purpose.

2005-10-17-hindsight-first-please-or-what-where-they-thinking

A l l R i g h t s R e s e r v e d Memo to: OaktreeClients From: HowardMarks Re: HindsightFirst,Please(or,What Were They Thinking?), ” – Winston Churchill I often cite John Kenneth Galbraith’s observation that one of the outstanding hallmarks of the financial world is “the extreme brevity of the financial memory.”, My May memo “There They Go Again” discussed the residential real estate boom in depth, and I’m not going to repeat its message., Readers of my memos know I feel awareness and understanding of cycles is an essential tool for investment survival., This memorandum is being made available for educational purposes only and should not be used for any other purpose.

2006-10-19-the-new-paradigm

A l l R i g h t s R e s e r v e d Memo to: OaktreeClients From: Howard M a r k s R e : TheNewParadigm When I was a kid, no one ate kiwi fruit or heirloom tomatoes – or had ever heard of them, for that matter., As I mentioned in a memo earlier this year, I’d heard a buyout mogul say, “It’s our job to buy good companies at fair prices and make them better.”, In my memo on hedge funds of two years ago, I cited an insightful piece from Byron Wien of Morgan Stanley called “In Praise of Hedge Fund Volatility.”, This memorandum is being made available for educational purposes only and should not be used for any other purpose., This memorandum, including the information contained herein, may not be copied, reproduced, republished, or posted in whole or in part, in any form without the prior written consent of Oaktree.

2008-12-17-volatility-leverage-dynamite

A l l R i g h t s R e s e r v e d Memo to: OaktreeClients From: Howard M a r k s R e : Volatility+Leverage=Dynamite Nearly fifteen years ago, in April 1994 – at a time when absolutely no one was reading my memos – I published one called “Risk in Today’s Markets Revisited.”, It’ll also pick up on some ideas from my last memo, “The Limits to Negativism.”, That’s true as far as it goes, but I’m going to devote this memo to things which could have followed that paragraph., This memo calls on investors to gauge risk and use only appropriate leverage., This memorandum is being made available for educational purposes only and should not be used for any other purpose.