Seth Klarman on buying

[4/26/17] Position sizing is another important part of portfolio management. Different stocks can command different percentages of your investment portfolio, depending on conviction. Klarman believes one of the best strategies to build a position, as well as an understanding of the business you are investing in, is to build a new position gradually:

“The single most crucial factor in trading is developing the appropriate reaction to price fluctuations…One half of trading involves learning how to buy. In my view, investors should usually refrain from purchasing a 'full position' (the maximum dollar commitment they intend to make) in a given security all at once…Buying a partial position leaves reserves that permit investors to 'average down,' lowering their average cost per share, if prices decline…If the security you are considering is truly a good investment, not a speculation, you would certainly want to own more at lower prices. If, prior to purchase, you realize that you are unwilling to average down, then you probably should not make the purchase in the first place.”

[12/13/17 - waiting for the bottom?]

“While it is always tempting to try to time the market and wait for the bottom to be reached (as if it would be obvious when it arrived), such a strategy has proven over the years to be deeply flawed...the price recovery from a bottom can be very swift. Therefore, an investor should put money to work amidst the throes of a bear market, appreciating that things will likely get worse before they get better.”

[12/3/18] Seth Klarman's 3 Pillars of Investing

[8/19/19] “In a market downturn, momentum investors cannot find momentum, growth investors worry about a slowdown, and technical analysts don't like their charts. But the value investing discipline tells you exactly what to analyze, price versus value, and then what to do, buy at a considerable discount and sell near full value.

And, because you cannot tell what the market is going to do, a value investment discipline is important because it is the only approach that produces consistently good investment results over a complete market cycle.”