73 Reds

None. In fact the only equity investment in the past year has been Fairfax, the last buys being right after the MW report. That doesn't, however mean that cash has been the only alternative. Personally it has always been necessary to have one or more alternative sources for reliable investment beyond traditional paper assets (i.e., stock and bonds). Cash is, and always has been the last place to park meaningful sums of money, though having been raised by depression-era parents, I probably retain more than most would consider prudent for no other reason than a safety blanket.

Yep. That demonstrates that investment success does not require any real skills, per se. In fact, if you are just starting out, it would be nearly impossible not to amass more than you need for retirement by simply dollar cost averaging a reasonable sum into a broad based equity fund over the course of a normal working life span.

So in hindsight do you think you made a mistake by not adding capacity once the competition faded away? Otherwise, what could you have done to better prepare for competition that re-entered your market?

Dealraker, you make a very good point. Many (most?) successful people I have ever known pay entirely no attention to a published price unless it works to their benefit. For that matter, many of these folks own assets with no published price at all.

Also, one would expect that during a period of zero interest rates, just about any equity investment should do well. Though I was not a shareholder throughout the 2010s, that had to be very frustrating for those who owned the stock during the period.

Viking, I understand that Travelers invests much like most insurance companies so the idea that Fairfax is not levered as much to the insurance cycle assumes that investment results will overcome a softer insurance market and has little to do with the actual volume of premiums? This has been one element of Berkshire's secret sauce as well; the question is if it works so well for companies like Berkshire, Fairfax and Markel, why don't other insurance companies adopt a similar model?

Viking, I'm not sure I understand it either. Does this simply mean that Fairfax writes less insurance?

I read Atlas Shrugged as a young teen and to this day it remains the best novel I've ever read.

Those are mine as well. Others include Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (Jessie Livermore) and the The Millionaire Next Door.

It would be interesting and probably scary at the same time to see a current schedule of all insured catastrophic events and the max liability for each.

Viking, do you or anyone here know what the most significant catastrophic insurance event was that affected Fairfax and what it cost & when it occurred? Also, do we know the maximum dollar liability the company may be on the hook for now for any single event?

So do we go to the source, and if so, exactly what happens to Iran?

So you believe there is no other way to change an ideology? I'm not trying to put you or anyone on the spot here, just that I don't have an answer and this is an intelligent group where a discussion like this can be had without emotion getting too much in the way (thanks for that!)

So to circle back to the original question, what alternative short of complete eradication of Hammas, whether possible or not, does Israel have?

Western governments come and go. One can love or hate Israel's current leadership but at least the populace has an opportunity to effect change, as often as necessary. My (admittedly naive) hope many years ago was that perhaps technology and social media might effect a widespread change of thinking in the youth living in Gaza, the West Bank and other terrorist-run regions and countries. Not that it was, or is easily accessible but once the cat is out of the bag so to speak, the hope was they'd at least begin to understand what they are missing and ultimately find a way to choose a better path.

With whom among Hamas or any such organization would you establish such relations? In fact how can a Western thinking culture establish relations with people who elect - by force or otherwise - terrorists to lead and govern them?

Does anyone expect Hamas to act rationally? The question for everyone who criticizes Israel's objective of completely eliminating Hamas is, what would you propose?

Makes sense, particularly if you believe that growth is the objective. OTOH, may we conclude by the already proliferation of share buybacks that continued BV growth is perhaps more important and there could well be a cap - implicit or otherwise - on the growth of the company? In any event, even 12% BV growth for the next 15 years would hardly be a disappointing result.

But I wouldn't invest in gold either.

That is rather bizarre! If he's done selling he probably figures it won't be long before Berkshire owns as much or more of AAPL than before he began selling due to share buybacks.

For many people losses feel much worse than the enjoyment derived from gains. Its just human nature. Can't speak for others but I became a much better investor when I removed all the emotion from investing. This comes with experience, age, and likely an increase in net worth. When you sleep just as well after days your portfolio value loses six figures (or more) as when it gains that much, the emotional part of investing has been sufficiently removed.

The fact that shorts are permitted to operate provides opportune long investors a key advantage. I've never met or even heard of anyone who has been successful only short-selling. If they claim to be successful, ask them whether they would have done better using their skills for long investing. Strictly mathematically speaking, you won't find any 100 baggers, 10 baggers or even doubles after borrow costs. No thanks.

Take her to the nearest race track tonight.

Yeah, I dunno, if it were BRK my wife might have divorced me.

I put nearly 100% of my wife's rollover IRA in Fairfax stock in late 2021. Recently she asked me how I missed NVDA. Moral of the story: Try to please your wife in other ways.