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I think Buffett is a better investor than me because he has a better eye toward what makes a great business. And when I find a great business I'm happy to buy it and hold it. Most businesses don't look so great to me.

Seth Klarman

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Seth Klarman
Age: 67
Born: 1957
Born: May 21
New York City
New York
Seth Andrew Klarman
Look
Toward
Looks
Hold
Great
Happy
Think
Eye
Thinking
Business
Makes
Investor
Better
Investors
Find
Businesses

More quotes by Seth Klarman

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Risk is not inherent in an investment it is always relative to the price paid. Uncertainty is not the same as risk. Indeed, when great uncertainty - such as in the fall of 2008 - drives securities prices to especially low levels, they often become less risky investments.
Seth Klarman
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Limit risk with: Deep analysis Bargain purchase Sensitivity analysis.
Seth Klarman
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Things that have never happened before are bound to occur with some regularity. You must always be prepared for the unexpected, including sudden, sharp downward swings in markets and the economy. Whatever adverse scenario you can contemplate, reality can be far worse.
Seth Klarman
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There are only a few things investors can do to counteract risk: diversify adequately, hedge when appropriate, and invest with a margin of safety. It is a precisely because we do not and cannot know all the risks of an investment that we strive to invest at a discount. The bargain element helps to provide a cushion for when things go wrong.
Seth Klarman
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In a crisis, stocks of financial companies are great investments, because the tide is bound to turn. Massive losses on bad loans and soured investments are irrelevant to value improving trends and future prospects are what matter, regardless of whether profits will have to be used to cover loan losses and equity shortfalls for years to come.
Seth Klarman
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The inability to hold cash and the pressure to be fully invested at all times meant that when the plug was pulled out of the tub, all boats dropped as the water rushed down the drain.
Seth Klarman
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A commodity doesn't have the same characteristics as a security, characteristics that allow for analysis. Other than a recent sale or appreciation due to inflation, analyzing the current or future worth of a commodity is nearly impossible.
Seth Klarman
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At equal returns, public investments are generally superior to private investments not only because they are more liquid but also because amidst distress, public markets are more likely than private ones to offer attractive opportunities to average down.
Seth Klarman
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The single greatest edge an investor can have is a long-term orientation.
Seth Klarman
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It's awful to have a depression, but it's a great thing to have a depression mentality because it means that we are not speculating, we are not living beyond our means, we don't quit our job to take a big risk because we know we might not get another job. There is something stable about a country, a society built on those values.
Seth Klarman
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Value investing is predicated on the efficient market hypothesis being wrong.
Seth Klarman
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Like to have a catalyst - reduces dependence on the market: Distressed debt inherently has a catalyst - maturity.
Seth Klarman
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Macro worries are like sports talk radio. Everyone has a good opinion which probably means that none of them are good.
Seth Klarman
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We don't deal in absolutes. We deal in probabilities.
Seth Klarman
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As Graham, Dodd and Buffett have all said, you should always remember that you don't have to swing at every pitch. You can wait for opportunities that fit your criteria and if you don't find them, patiently wait. Deciding not to panic is still a decision.
Seth Klarman
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We continue to adhere to a common-sense view of risk - how much we can lose and the probability of losing it. While this perspective may seem over simplisticor even hopelessly outdated, we believe it provides a vital clarity about the true risks in investing.
Seth Klarman
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Almost no one will accept responsibility for his or her role in precipitating a crisis: not leveraged speculators, not willfully blind leaders of financial institutions, and certainly not regulators, government officials, ratings agencies or politicians.
Seth Klarman
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Value investing is the discipline of buying shares at a significant discount from their current underlying values and holding them until more of their value is realised. The element of a bargain is the key to the process.
Seth Klarman
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Ratings agencies are highly conflicted, unimaginative dupes. They are blissfully unaware of adverse selection and moral hazard. Investors should never trust them.
Seth Klarman
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The government can indefinitely control both short-term and long-term interest rates.
Seth Klarman