QOTD: Opinions About the Future

I started reading The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor by Howard Marks last weekend.

Coincidentally, I come across this great quote yesterday:

“I confess, I think about the future.  So do my colleagues.  If someone who’s spent decades investing doesn’t have an opinion about what lies ahead, there’s something wrong.  I believe our clients want us to apply the benefit of our experience in gauging and reacting to the opportunities and risks that lie ahead.

But I have a mantra on this subject, too: “It’s one thing to have an opinion; it’s something very different to assume it’s right and act on that assumption.”  We have views on the future.  And they can cause us to “lean” toward offense or defense.  Just never so much that for the results to be good, our views have to be right.”

-Howard Marks, Oaktree Capital Management
January 10, 2012

Hat tip Josh at Reformed Broker . . .

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

What's been said:

Discussions found on the web:

Posted Under

Uncategorized