Howard Marks

• known as one of the world's greatest investors
• widely regarded as the "Warren Buffet" of distressed debt securities
• specializes in putting capital to work when others are fearful (aka "catching falling knives")
• has appeared as a guest on Real Vision multiple times

Has followed a set of principles to become a great investor:

1. Discipline
2. Contrarianism
3. Selectivity

Learnings From Howard

• The key to understanding the business & market cycle is to understand that most behavior is cyclical and tends to go to far
• The human contribution to markets causes excesses in one direction then reversion towards (and often through) the mean 
• Its hard to predict the timing of cycles, but is easy to predict that they will happen
• Cycles can tell us what is likely to happen (not when)
  • Example:  When elevations are high, they are likely to eventually go down. 
• Definition of Investing:  The process of positioning capital to benefit from future events
• Rejects the idea of "waiting for the bottom" to invest - because we never know how low things will go or where the bottom is.  When things are cheap you have to start investing and that might mean catching a falling knife as things get even cheaper

Views Before The 2020 Corona Crash:

• felt that valuations were already elevated for multiple years prior
• investing approach was to move forward, but stay cautious