Howard Marks

Howard Marks

Howard Marks is a highly regarded American investor and writer, born on April 23, 1946. He is the co-founder and co-chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, a leading firm specializing in distressed securities and alternative investments. With a career spanning over five decades, Marks has been instrumental in shaping investment strategies in high-yield debt and distressed assets.

Marks began his career at Citicorp in 1969 as an equity research analyst and later served as Vice President and senior portfolio manager overseeing convertible and high-yield debt. In 1985, he joined TCW Group, where he helped establish one of the first distressed debt funds from a major financial institution. In 1995, he co-founded Oaktree Capital Management, which has since become one of the largest investors in distressed securities globally.

An accomplished author, Marks is known for his insightful writings on investing, including the bestselling books The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor (2011) and Mastering the Market Cycle: Getting the Odds on Your Side (2018). His investment philosophy emphasizes risk management and market cycles. Marks has been recognized for his contributions to finance and investing, earning him a reputation as a thought leader in the industry.

  • Investing
  • 1946
  • Male
  • 1
  • The Most Important Thing Illuminated
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    The Most Important Thing Illuminated: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor

    What if the key to winning the investment game is not what you know, but how you think? In The Most Important Thing Illuminated, Howard Marks, a titan of value investing, distills decades of battle-tested wisdom into a philosophy where every decision teeters between triumph and ruin. As markets pulse with greed and fear, Marks reveals how “second-level thinking”—seeing beyond the obvious—can turn volatility into opportunity. But when the crowd’s euphoria masks hidden risks, will your strategy shield your fortune… or become its downfall? The line between genius and folly thins with every trade—and one misstep could unravel it all. Are you ready to outthink the herd, or will you be its next casualty?

    • Originally Published: 2013
    • Publisher: Columbia Business School Publishing, 2013
    • Genre: Non-fiction
    • Pages: 248
    • Book Type: Hardcopy
    • ISBN: 978-0231162845
    • Access: Members