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The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor (Columbia Business School Publishing)
 
 

The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor (Columbia Business School Publishing) [Kindle Edition]

Howard Marks
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Chairman and cofounder of Oaktree Capital Management, Howard Marks has been linked to Warren Buffett for his lucid assessments of market opportunities and risks. His memos to clients have long been consulted by the world's leading value investors. Now he brings his insightful commentary and investment philosophy to everyone.

Informed by a lifetime of experience and study, Marks helps readers understand the keys to investment success and how to avoid the pitfalls that can destroy capital or ruin a career. Utilizing passages from his memos to illustrate his ideas, he teaches by example. Part memoir, part creed, the book shows the development of an investment philosophy that fully acknowledges the complexities of investing and the perils of the financial world. Marks's insight applies brilliantly to today's markets, supplying many broad takeaways for both the amateur and seasoned investor.

Marks expounds on such concepts as "second-level thinking," the price/value relationship, patient opportunism, and defensive investing. His frank and honest assessment of his own decisions—and occasional missteps—provides valuable lessons on critical thinking, risk assessment, and investment strategy. Marks encourages investors to be "contrarian," to judge market cycles wisely, and to achieve returns through aggressive yet measured action. Which is the most essential element? Successful investing requires thoughtful attention to many separate aspects. Each of the subjects Marks covers is the most important thing.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Everyone knows about the anticipation leading up to Warren Buffett's annual shareholder letters. But for a certain Wall Street set, there are equally high expectations for the writings of Howard Marks.

(Peter Lattman Wall Street Journal )

Regular recipients of Howard Marks's investment memos eagerly await their arrival for the essential truths and unique insights they contain. Now the wisdom and experience of this great investor are available to all. The Most Important Thing, Marks's insightful investment philosophy and time-tested approach, is a must read for every investor.

(Seth A. Klarman, president, The Baupost Group )

When I see memos from Howard Marks in my mail, they're the first thing I open and read. I always learn something, and that goes double for his book.

(Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway )

Few books on investing match the high standards set by Howard Marks in The Most Important Thing. It is wise, witty, and laced with historical perspective. If you seek to avoid the pitfalls of investing, you must read this book!

(John C. Bogle, Founder and former CEO, The Vanguard Group )

If you take an exceptional talent and have them obsess about value investing for several decades, including deep thinking about its very essence with written analysis along the way, you may come up with a book as useful to value investors as this one—but don't count on it.

(Jeremy Grantham, cofounder and chief investment strategist, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo )

The Most Important Thing is destined to become an investment classic-it should easily earn its place on every thinking investor's bookshelf. Howard Marks has distilled years of investment wisdom into a short book that is lucid, entertaining, and ultimately profound.

(Joel Greenblatt, Columbia Business School, founder and managing partner of Gotham Capital )

A clear and expert resource for all investors.

(Kirkus Reviews 5/1/11)

Veteran value-investing manager Howard Marks draws on pithy memos he wrote to clients over the years to dispense insightful advice on everything from risk taking to the role of luck.

(Money Magazine 5/1/11)

There is, quite simply, an incredible amount of wisdom between the covers of his book and an investor is doing them a disservice if they don't read, and re-read, this book.

(FocusInvestor.com 4/20/11)

The book is written in a way that both seasoned investors and novices should appreciate.

(Brenda Jubin Seeking Alpha 5/2/2011)

If Benjamin Graham's and David Dodd's Securities Analysis was the essential, must have investment book of the end of the 20th century, then Howard Marks's The Most Important Thing is a serious contender for parallel status in the 21st century.

(Stephen E. Roulac New York Journal of Books 5/1/2011)

...many valuable insights into the psychological roots of investors' habitual errors.

(Martin Fridson Barron's 10/3/11)

All investors should read it.

(Alex Dumortier The Motley Fool 7/12/11)

"The Most Important Thing"... offers readers an overview of how to think when considering an investment opportunity, which is quite valuable indeed, considering studies have shown most people tend to make impulsive, indiscriminate investment decisions.

(Syracuse Post-Standard 8/6/12)

About the Author

Howard Marks is chairman and cofounder of Oaktree Capital Management, a Los Angeles-based investment firm with $80 billion under management. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in finance from the Wharton School and an MBA in accounting and marketing from the University of Chicago.


Product Details

  • File Size: 522 KB
  • Print Length: 196 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0231153686
  • Publisher: Columbia University Press (April 19, 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B004U5Q1O0
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray: Not Enabled
  • Lending: Not Enabled
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,561 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • Would you like to give feedback on images?

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
390 of 431 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars Experienced Investment Readers: Do Not Buy April 24, 2011
By S. Wang
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Just so you know where I'm coming from, I got the Kindle version early because I deeply respected Howard Marks and was excited to learn more about what he thought was the Most Important Thing (yes, I already read the oaktree memos). This book is intended to be Howard Marks' statement of investment philosophy, or his "religion" as he puts it. He counts among his peers Galbraith, Buffett, Munger, Klarman, Bernstein, Grantham, Greenblatt, Grant, and Bogle, all superinvestors in their own right, but also great investment authors (the two qualities don't necessarily coincide as we shall see).

I set out reading the thing, and even took notes. However, I soon realized that what I was reading wasn't worth noting down. I am writing this to provide fair warning to experienced readers, in full knowledge that this runs counter to the personal endorsements of Buffett and co. So I will be as specific as I can in my criticisms, and by all means buy it if you think I'm way off point. Caveat emptor.

First, the organization isn't great. Marks chooses to simply reprint a lot of his past stuff. This results in the book not being as crisp as it could be. I am not talking about a "magic formula for investing" in equations or sentences, which he explicitly says he is not providing and anyway I am not seeking. I am just asking for the basic, minimally repetitive, coherent flow of thought any investment author ought to provide to his readers in a single book.

Second, he even sort of tricks you in the title. I don't think you'll mind me spoiling this for you because it is so... lame: There is No One Important Thing. In fact, there are 18. And oh, yeah, a lot of them are minor variations of each other (Chapter 2 is on Understanding Market Efficiency. Chapter 19 is on Adding Value. You Add Value where Markets are Inefficient. wow!) Therefore the book, while short, is also much too long - Marks' entire philosophy is succinctly stated within Chapter 20 alone. I do not find anything that is said in any other chapter that is not better said in Chapter 20, except for the one new jargon that he coins, "second level thinking" (which is code for not being an idiot - "first level thinker" being a strawman hypothetical typical investor who invests like a headless chicken). In turn, this entire philosophy can be found in the eponymous memo that spawned all this verbiage: [...]

Further, experienced readers of investment books like myself will not find a lot new here. There is the obligatory anecdote about the prof walking away from the $10 bill lying on the ground. There is the distinction between an informational and an analytical edge, and the need for that over the rest of the market. There are -way- too many pithy quotes about the importance and difficulty of being contrarian. None of this is new, in fact it is the convention among investment authors, ironic for someone who stresses unconventional thinking. (Perhaps what is unconventional is that he actually practices these things. But if you're smart enough to get that, you don't need this book as anything more than a paperweight or conversation starter.)

I have found that the best way to describe this book is that "it must have been co-written by Captain Obvious". I have one final example for you if you remain on the fence about whether to buy the book. In chapter 19 he introduces the reader to the concepts of alpha and beta (yes, this book really is that introductory) and states his belief that alpha is not zero. The key to achieving nonzero alpha is apparently "superior insight". I have now entirely spoiled chapter 19 for you - it gets no more insightful than that. Ditto the rest of the book, this chapter was just the most fresh in my memory.

I'm sorry, but NOTHING in this book will tell the experienced investment reader anything he doesn't already know. By all means buy it if you still respect the guy anyway, I sure did. But absolutely do not buy if you (again, speaking only to the experienced reader) expect to gain anything new from it.

(5/5/11 - original review edited for errata and writing style - didn't feel the original review reflected what i wanted to say as it was written hastily and late-at-night.)
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33 of 34 people found the following review helpful
By AK
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have read Howard's memos for years so was excited to see a book come out under his authorship.

I highly recommend buying this book if you are unfamiliar with Howard. His views on investing are invaluable.

If you are like me, however, you may find this book to be a bit of a let down as it relies heavily on his old memos (all of which are free on the Oaktree website). The book literally rewrites important segments of his memos and then adds a bit of color here and there. I find it convenient to have the most important points of his memos in one place and nicely summarized, but that's about it.
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48 of 57 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars An investment classic April 26, 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Mr. Marks states that when he was attending client meetings over the years he noticed a pattern. He would say in one meeting that that such and such was the most important thing about investing and in later meetings he found himself referencing other items that he titled the most important thing to understand. Upon reflection about this pattern he decided to write a memo in July of 2003 that covered all these critical areas in his investing philosophy.

This new book expands upon the ideas he covered in that original memo. Topics that are covered include: market efficiency, value, risk, investment cycles, contrarianism, finding bargains, patient opportunism, circle of competence, luck, avoiding pitfalls, etc... In short all the topics that a focus investor needs to understand and be able to place, and use, in their own mental models.

What does Mr. Marks want his readers to gain from his book? Here are his own words from the introduction of the book:

"I didn't set out to write a manual for investing. Rather, this book is a statement of my own investment philosophy. I consider it my creed, and in the course of my investment career it has served like a religion. These are the things I believe in, the guideposts that keep me on track. The messages I deliver are the ones I consider the most lasting. I'm confident their relevance will extend beyond today.

You won't find a how-to book here. There's no surefire recipe for investment success. No step-by-step instructions. No valuation formulas containing mathematical constants or fixed ratios - in fact, very few numbers. Just a way to think that might help you make good decisions and, perhaps more important, avoid the pitfalls that ensnare so many.

It's not my goal to simplify investing. In fact, the thing I most want to make clear is just how complex it is. Those who try to simplify investing do their audience a great disservice. I'm going to stick to general thoughts on return, risk and process..."

Mr. Marks has succeeded in his goals in a brilliant manner. There is, quite simply, an incredible amount of wisdom between the covers of his book and an investor is doing them a disservice if they don't read, and re-read, this book. I will be placing it on my shelf right next to the great investments classics of Security Analysis, The Intelligent Investor, the Berkshire Hathaway annual reports, and Margin of Safety. Quite simply I can't recommend it highly enough.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars good advice
This book gives a well thought our and documented argument for value investing.
There are references to historical market events and the experience of the writer. Read more
Published 12 days ago by shippy
5.0 out of 5 stars whom the hell u should listen to
some readers like this book and some didn't..
so whom the hell u should listen to?
well, the writer, Howard Marks, has billion of dollars under management. Read more
Published 28 days ago by chine
3.0 out of 5 stars A most important read
As the author of[...] I know a thing or two about financial info-products such as what makes them good, bad, worth buying and reading or just skipping past. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jonah Jones
5.0 out of 5 stars A rare investment book-It's worth reading.
I've been reading economics and investment books for the past 40 years. Most are nonsense or just pushing the latest fad. Few are worth reading or have timeless value. Read more
Published 1 month ago by ecoel
2.0 out of 5 stars You can't have so many MOST important things
The most important thing is just "cut losses, let profit run." This book is informative, but not useful at all.
Published 1 month ago by Qu Hai Yin
4.0 out of 5 stars Great for beginners
This is a good read for beginners starting out their journey into investing and money management.
However, it is simply a rehash of almost all general concepts of value... Read more
Published 4 months ago by buybuybuy
4.0 out of 5 stars Not a playbook, but insightful
This isn't a play book on how to invest, instead it talks about not getting hung up with following the crowd or trying to keep up with the Jones. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Craig Frooninckx
3.0 out of 5 stars A diet book without regimen
If this book were a diet and weight loss book, it would cover tips such as more exercise, no sweets, but no specific regimen that promises to lose 10 lbs in a month. Read more
Published 5 months ago by A Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars The Most Important Thing - Inefficient Markets
This is truly the best book that I have ever read about inefficient markets. It is conceptually sound and simultaneously based on the wise experience of a portfolio manager over... Read more
Published 5 months ago by O. R. Thomas
5.0 out of 5 stars "Most important thing" review
I am about halfway thruough this book at this time and so far it is very good. I especially like all the time spent on the risks involved with investing. Read more
Published 5 months ago by R. Brown
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More About the Author

Howard Marks is chairman and cofounder of Oaktree Capital Management, a
Los Angeles-based investment firm with $80 billion under management. He
holds a Bachelor's Degree in finance from the Wharton School and an MBA
in accounting and marketing from the University of Chicago.



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