THE MOST IMPORTANT THING - HOWARD MARKS
1. Other investors may be very smart, well-informed and more sophisticated, so you have to find an advantage they don't have. You have to think about things they don't think about, see things they don't see, or take advantage of vision they don't have. You need to have a different mindset.
2. Level one thinkers think and act alike, and so they often come to the same conclusions. And logically this cannot lead to a superior result. Obviously all these investors cannot beat the market because they are the market.
3. There are two factors that are extremely important to profiting in a bear market: You must have a view of intrinsic value, and you must be very consistent with that view in order to be able to hold a position and buy more even though the price drops and imply that you are wrong.
Well, there's a third thing: YOU MUST BE RIGHT.
4. No asset is so good that you can buy it at any price. Others are so bad that no matter how cheap you buy them, it's still a bad investment.
5. Investing has only one challenge: THE FUTURE. And because none of us can know for sure what will happen in the future, risk is inevitable.
6. Just because something happens doesn't mean it MUST happen, and just because something doesn't happen doesn't mean it's NOT LIKELY to happen.
7. Risk disappears when people forget its existence.
8. Over the course of most investors' careers, their results will be determined more by how many and how big they are than by their big wins. Skillfully controlling risk is the sign of a talented investor.
9. The best opportunities are often found in the most unexpected places.
10. You'll want to challenge risk when others avoid it, not when others take it from you.
