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Fewer Losers, or More Winners?

oaktreecapital.com · 5,279 words · saved by 2 readers

Howard Marks discusses investing's essential choice: more winners or eliminate losers? Emphasize aggressiveness or defensiveness? A personal decision.

My memos got their start in October 1990, inspired by an interesting juxtaposition between two events. One was a dinner in Minneapolis with David VanBenschoten, who was the head of the General Mills pension fund. Dave told me that, in his 14 years in the job, the fund’s equity return had never ranked above the 27th percentile of the pension fund universe or below the 47th percentile. And where did those solidly second-quartile annual returns place the fund for the 14 years overall? Fourth percentile! I was wowed. It turns out that most investors aiming for top-decile performance eventually…

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