Here's Howard Marks' Prescription For An Uncertain World

Howard Marks, the respected fund manager at Oaktree Capital, presentation titled "Managing Money in Uncertain Times"at yesterday's Barclays financial services conference in New York.

UBS's Art Cashin singled out the key memorable slide in his note this morning. Here's the text:

A Prescription for an Uncertain World

• Make sure your expectations are moderate
• Emphasize corporate investments
• Commit to active decision making - "even doing nothing is doing something"
• Remember that the reasons for caution aren't imaginary - "the improbable disaster" isn't impossible
• Balance the many pros and cons - "it's not supposed to be easy"

The outlook certainly isn't so propitious (and assets aren't so cheap) as to call for investing aggressively. But at the same time, conditions aren't so bad and prices aren't so high that it's time for extreme risk aversion.

• My bottom line: move forward, but with caution

"Advice from a wise man," wrote Cashin.