The Most Important Thing - Howard Marks

[vand]

A good audiobook listen for those of us who still believe there is a place for active investing and contrarianism in investing.

The sections devoted to Risk Management are the highlight of the book for me, they marry the approach of the classic contrarianism with an appreciation for risk relative returns espoused by portfolio theory.

It's OK to be a defensive investor, and it's OK to be an aggressive investor. It's not OK to mix one with the other; you must know which type of investor you are. A defensive investor can be performing better than an agressive investor in a bull market even though his returns are much lower, and an aggressive investor can be doing better than a defensive one in a bear market even though he is losing more money.

[brandon4454]

Hello my first post and I read this about 6 months ago and I got it from the library and no longer have it to reference.

I thought he made a good case to be a defensive investor because essentially that is what he is. His book teachs you how to emotionally think as an investor. He tells you what he thinks makes a good investor, but he never gets into the details of what makes a good value investor.