coffeecaninvestor

Sold all of JNJ to buy RTO.

Yes, I completely agree. If you can’t think for yourself then just buy an index fund. There’s no shame in that it’s a perfect way to get rich enough to retire. I just think Buffett has different sets of rules, values, and objectives than the individual investor. I think when you ride coattails you need to understand that, and not take anyone’s actions or words as gospel.

There are in my view a few factors that none of us have that Buffett has, and I think it’s irrational for anyone to judge someone negatively for having done what he did. He is the steward of capital for many shareholders, and at his ripe age does not have the same time to recover any losses for them if he were to make a huge error. He also is one of the largest insurance companies and besides being regulated he needs to be 100% sure he can make good on his promises. I think there is a large difference in how Buffett would invest his own money and how he runs Berkshire. We can continue to argue how he screwed up, but it’s a waste of time.. sure he might have made a few more percent if he bought versus sold, but Berkshire has done more than fine since the bottom despite the “mistake” (even though both Buffett and Munger admit they make tons of mistakes).

You are welcome. I recommend 2x speed. I do think that what they say about market timing is true, and it definitely helps that they have a constant flow of cash pouring in so they can buy new positions with fresh capital. They do not have to constantly buy and sell large holding especially if the business is a great one like AXP or KO. I think the size of their positions is a factor they might have sold at extreme valuations that mathematically didn’t make sense. I found it interesting more than once they had trouble buying when stocks were cheap because of concerns about their insurance operations and not being able to use the float. I wonder if that was a consideration when the market plunged due to Covid.

I’ve re-listening to the 1999-2007 AGM and pairing that with the letters. Pretty great and timeless stuff in those years… I am not sure what else an aspiring investor needs other than to absorb that over and over again. Hoping his letter this year is a great one. One of my biggest regrets is not having attended a meeting when Charlie was alive. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/berkshire-hathaway-annual-shareholder-meetings-since/id1445276006

I am a 35 years old underwriter. I started investing when I was ~15 years old.. I think my first stock was some shitty clothing company (Jones New York). I knew nothing but was really interested in the stock market for some reason (probably due to my grandpa we discussed stocks all the time prior to his death). I graduated with a finance degree at a state university, but hated school since it was all theory other than one of my investment classes where as a group we got to invest $100K that was funded by the college. I worked 2 jobs through college, and took some of that money to invest along the way (I think I held AT&T through the GFC not realizing it was the sale of a lifetime going on). After graduating I had a few family members that wanted me to manage their retirement, and as soon as I got my first "real" job I started growing my snowball. The markets have ripped higher since I graduated (2011), I think basically I matched the index, maybe slightly worse due to holding too much cash. Now, I think about the future often (3 kids), and really wanting to create some lasting wealth decided last year to pull the trigger and join this board so I could learn from some people older/wiser than me. Since mostly everyone around me has very little interest in investing, and I've had no other "mentors" other than my grandpa, Buffett, and Munger I was drawn to this forum having stalked it for a few years. When the $50 fee went into place I knew it would only be a matter of time before this cheapskate ponied up.

OTCM comes to mind

I was pretty frustrated with the performance of the actively managed part of my portfolio the last few years. Thought about it the last few days and decided to wipe the slate clean for 2025. My goal for 2025 is to be less active, and more opportunistic. I tend to put cash to work too fast, and rather than waiting for a great opportunity I put in a so-so opportunity. I also found managing, and paying attention to a ton of small positions is super inefficient. I'll stick with 3-5 positions. Index Funds - 72% Cash - 14% RTO - 8% JNJ - 6%

Congrats! That’s a killer return. Hope to have a stretch like that one day. Did you have a lot of cash going into 2019/2020?

Decided to take some proceeds from CNI and dip my toes into JOE. Will DCA into this slowly unless we get back into the 30's then I'll buy more aggressively.

That's why WEB is the GOAT. I think that probably part of the reason why he has a little bigger cash pile now.. Given his wealthy shareholder base he doesn't need to swing for the fences in what feels like an aging bull market. Personally, the biggest risk isn't that my portfolio gets cut in half temporarily its that I am in a position of weakness, and sell at the bottom due to panic. We have saved enough that I can just let the current capital compound for the next few decades and we will retire just fine. Therefore, I figure having a little cash around is just going to make me sleep at night better while I wait for a favorable pitch.

Antidotally I saw the same thing in my friend group. Every party I went to back in 2021 everyone was buying shitcoin and bitcoin (this is a group who does virtually zero stock investing otherwise),and saying it was going to the moon. Then in the crash they became disenchanted, and haven’t said a word about it until very recently. But even now they aren’t as enthusiastic as they were then. The convo started up and died quickly because the missed the rip off the bottom for the most part. I will be curious to see how long it takes for those animal spirits to rev up again. I do feel like it is frothy, but have no idea how it will play out. I haven’t sold any significant amount of stock, but I do plan on letting a lot of new capital accumulate in some short term MMA/bonds versus trying to stay fully invested.

Thoughts on the Canadian rails? I was pretty focused on CNI since I owned it. They seem to be in a tougher situation with the new administration and trading at a premium to US rails. If on shoring continues I could a see a more favorable return from US rails.

Decided to get out of CNI and the tiny bit of CVS I had.

Small adds to CACI, MKL, CI, and IQV over the past week.

Sold NSRGY to free up funds to buy more JNJ and RTO. Just a little more optimistic on JNJ over Nestle after reading the Q's. The new CEO seems fine, but I think JNJ has a good pipeline, and an easier path to growth.

Obviously it’s impossible to know what he is thinking, but I was reading The Warren buffet Way in it he breaks down the “permanent” holdings. He has in the past sold some of them such as GHC when he felt like long term prospects are not as good as. That would probably be my bet. I think he likes management enough to hold a good size position, just not as big as it had gotten.I think it’s good for the old man to be flexible. I’m sure they will find a good use for the capital. It just might not be on the timeline we would want.

I am inclined to hold it. If you own it now it’s mostly because you like the collection of businesses and less because WB is going to make a needle moving investment. Structurally Berkshire has a lot of advantages, and so I think will do reasonably well relative to the S&P. Most of the BRK my family holds is in a taxable account and I’ll sell only if something radically changes for the worse. I’d actually be more concerned if Ajit leaves.

I think the Canadian rail roads are attractive. CNI has really ramped up the buy back over the past few years. It will be interesting to see how the CP/KC merger plans integration plays out. I haven’t followed it too closely but I should start.

It’s been awhile since any railroad discussions have come up. Any thoughts on them here? CP and CNI look interesting. I own CNI might add some more. It’s been hit by a ton of downgrades despite September volumes and price seeming to be increasing.

I think the one thing that held me back on HIFS was the fact they have expanded operations to other cities. I agree they are good underwriters, but I wasn't too sure how these new loans would perform. I read all their letters back as far as they go, and I agree mgmt has done a great job here.

I've owned HIFS and BAC in the past. Kind of kicking myself for not buying some HIFS when it was trading below BV. Although with all the regulations, and crazy stuff that has gone on in the banking industry I have kind of moved banking into the too hard pile.

Updating my Holdings Market Value %NW %Portfolio CASH 0.1% 0.1% CACI 0.6% 0.9% CI 0.7% 1.0% LHX 0.7% 1.0% IQV 0.6% 0.9% CNI 0.5% 0.8% MKL 0.6% 0.9% VRSK 0.7% 1.0% NNI 0.6% 1.0% FRPH 0.5% 0.8% OTCM 0.5% 0.7% CVS 0.1% 0.2% JNJ 4.6% 7.0% NSRGY 4.4% 6.7% RTO 5.0% 7.6% Index Funds 45.9% 69.3% Primary Home 33.8%

They used part stock to buy Teminex which was a large acquisition which is why there was dilution. They make a ton of smaller acquisitions every year which distorts ROIC/ROE calculations. Looking at how high and stable gross and operation margins are and its pretty clear it is a good business. You figure they would compete on price given the consolidated industry and margins would come down over time but they haven't. They also don't require much in terms of capex, or working capital which is great because they can use that for M&A, buy-backs, dividends, and deleveraging.

Haha I’ll be sure to ask on next quarters CC.. man did he fuck up its disgusting. Dude could have literally anything and he just destroyed his life.