DoubleLine follows a single, cardinal mandate: strive to deliver better risk-adjusted returns. This mandate includes the avoidance of risk-taking that historically has led to catastrophic principal losses. DoubleLine emphasizes the importance of sector allocation, security selection, portfolio construction, trade execution, and resourcing of the firm’s personnel and systems. Employee-ownership reinforces the stability of the investment teams and their accountability.

DoubleLine's investment approach is built upon the following principals:

• Investment decisions begin with risk management:
  DoubleLine believes that all investments need to start with risk analysis, not the traditionally taught benchmark comparisons. In our view it is not how investments compare to benchmarks, but how their risks relate to each other across a portfolio. Risk integration techniques enable DoubleLine to build what it believes are  more successful portfolio foundations.
• Good investment offer assymetric risk/return profiles:
  Investment ideas must offer an asymmetric, positively skewed risk-reward profile. In other words, selected securities and, in core-type portfolios, sector overweights must appear, through careful analysis, to offer greater potential payoff than potential loss.
• Interest rates cannot be accurately predicted:
  DoubleLine shuns risk-taking based on unidirectional forecasts regarding interest rates, default rates or other variables that drive return. Instead, DoubleLine's actively-managed sector allocation is designed to balance risk and potential alpha generation.