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Showing content with the highest reputation on 01/14/2024 in all areas

  1. @Luca before we did anything with the kids we talked to them first and got an agreement - any money they get from us is permanent savings. Not for spending - vehicles, vacations, wedding etc. The one exception might be a house. Yes, there is a risk that something could go wrong. But i am not worried (i think i know my kids and their attitude about financial literacy and money habits). As a family, we have been talking about financial topics their whole life (I ran a financial literacy club at their high school). Since we joined the real world (opened their TFSA’s about 18 months ago) the benefits far exceed anything i imagined. The kids are learning in small, slow increments. They are now able to help each other (setting up accounts, how the accounts work etc). Most importantly, they are starting to understand the power of compounding. And i am able to mentor them. Seeing how well everything has been going, we made all three of our kids an offer. After they graduate from university and get their first job we will match (100%) whatever they are able to save in their first year of working. No limit. The goal here is to help in-still the habits of thrift, live below your means and pay yourself first. My oldest graduated from university in 2023. She landed her first ‘big girl’ job. The day after she signed her offer letter she came to me with her savings plan and financial goals for the next year (on her own… not me badgering her). Her plan is to save about $25,000 in her first year. If she can do this, she will have $50,000 (in addition to TFSA and FHSA). To do this she is living at home (i called her a room mate and my wife almost killed me). We rent a big house (4 bedroom, 2,300sq ft with two living levels) so it is not a problem for my wife and me. There is also an estate planning / wealth transfer aspect to all of this. My wife and i have more than we will ever need. Shifting a small amount of our estate into tax free accounts (or index funds that they never sell in taxable accounts) to our kids - when they are very young - in a thoughtful, methodical, educational, habit building way is looking like a really good idea right now. I think each of my 3 kids could have $200,000 each, largely socked away in tax free accounts, by the time they are 25 years old. That is crazy. At the same time, they will understand most of the important building blocks of personal finance. And they will hopefully be developing good financial habits. The early results have been very positive. But it is a work in progress.
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  2. Thank you, @Luca, It was actually not so much - here, in this context - about Investor AB as such, but more about the overall mindset at Investor for how to choose [pick], invest in and run businesses. As shown by me above, the particular mindset was first crystalized in writing in 1946 at Investor AB, and still saturates everything there. Another way to phrase it conceptually is the following : "Stagnation is not stagnation - stagnation is regression" "'Good' is the worst enemy of the great company" Long term it is more about quality and growth than price [paid], @Spekulatius wrote in a post upstream. I don't think anyone here on CoBF would disagree with that. It is about a business simply breaking the 'usual business life cycle' to stay alive and also prosper and staying relevant going forward, no matter its age, instead of it to die. On the rim, it's about staying relevant due to innovation and development by investments in the future. Such businesses actually aren't few, nor seldom. They're just about everywhere. The World is actually stuffed with them. We just need to find them and pick them, carefully, to our best [not easy!] avoiding loosers and laggards. Mr. Buffett in his 50 years anniversary Berkshire letter from 2014 calls such a good company 'sprawling', and calls Berkshire sprawling, too, in that letter. Personally, It think we have quite some fairly young CoBF members by now who have the potential to take this really far for themselves, if they early on get it right and don't become subscription paying members of the foolish crowd by avoiding and stearing clear of serious and material mistakes early on, ref. the basics of compounding.
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  3. All great points above. Let me add one. Due to one child policy and the cost of living in big cities + education, a lot of households only have one male heir for four grand parents and they have invested absolutely all they have on him. Losing your only son/grandson means the end of the lineage and that's considered the ultimate failure in a Confucian society. The government can't afford to lose lives on the front, unlike with Russians who also have horrendous demographics but are culturally used to sending their sons to the meat grinder every few decades Chinese families wouldn't accept it for long. All our arguments above assume rationality though, it all goes out of the window if the top dog in a corrupt regime is too far gone inside his yes men bubble. I'm guessing that's not the case here so I voted no.
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  4. My fam are mostly vegetarian/pescatarian (I'm not). But Kyotofu Fujino was completely amazing: https://maps.app.goo.gl/hF8b7VPdotVbGPzM7 It's a tofu specialty restaurant that we went for lunch before taking train back to Tokyo. This place had long been recommended to me and now I totally regret not going there during my previous visits there. Not a specific recommendation but we've always found really worthwhile izakaya, yakitori, soba, etc places near our lodging. And as much as the temple/shrine/institution is the attraction, the supporting snack/restaurant/trinket shops surrounding the attraction are worth wandering around in, Arashiyama, Kiyomizu-dera, etc have fun supporting food/shopping areas. And if you don't have time to go to a hot spring, a local bath house is fun too.
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  5. Kyoto’s amazing, my favourite place to visit in the world. If you’re into food, try to find a kaiseki restaurant in Kyoto. It’s a real experience and Kyoto takes it to the next level. You might need to have your hotel book since most are reservations only. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiseki Renting a kimono for a day is kind of fun given the historical backdrop. All the Japanese gardens are incredible. The Philosopher’s Walk is a nice less touristy area to go for a walk. There’s an incredible robata (梨門邸) that we accidentally wandered into for lunch that I still reminisce about. https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3906.html
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  6. Depends the time of year you are visiting, Sakura in the spring and the leaves changing in the fall can be itineraries all on their own. I would also suggest a day trip or overnight stay in Nara if you are in the area, seeing the deer all around is kind of neat and good transportation links to get around town. If you are a car person, Toyota has a great car museum not too far from Nagoya station. Also, a direct train runs from Osaka/Kyoto to Kanazawa, which will be much less crowded than Kyoto but still has a lot of historical places and a great market. Just watch out for the weather, it's the seattle of japan. That said, Kyoto: Bamboo forest (arashiyama) Fushimi Inari (go really early or late in the day), combine with Tofuku-ji temple when down in that area Imperial palace Golden temple is kind of out of the way and not really anything else there but you have to go if you haven't been Nishiki market then you have the walking path on the east side of the city to hit a bunch of temples (kiyomizudera, kodaiji, shorenin temple) eikando temple and higashiyama temple more to the northeast. Best way to get around is bus, sadly the public buses can get really crowded. There's a tourist big red bus that might be worth checking out, and a time saver too. i haven't used it but have seen it around town at some spots. Maybe because I ate there last night but Yamachan for Japanese chicken wings is a place i always go while in the country. they are utterly addiction. Osaka the prime territory is Dotonbori, plenty of takoyaki places around to get a bite to eat, walk up and down the canal and the bridges, take the photo of the famous glico man. also have to try osaka Okonomiyaki, a japanese cabbage pancake. it's fantastic.
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