Marco Van Basten

That's not correct. Altria's volume declines were NOT 10% per year in 1990, 2000, 2010 or 2015.

I think most of it if not all is pure profit. Here are a couple of anecdotes: So a friend went to a dealership to buy a new car. She was told that this car is now 20% more expensive because of tariffs. She said where is it assembled? She was told Japan, yet on the sticker it says NJ. She told the salesman, this car is not subject to tariffs because it is assembled in NJ. The guy mumbled something and just disappeared... It reminds me of barbershops on UWS raising price in 2020 from $20 per haircut to $30, and justified it due to inflation... And then being surprised that people started getting haircuts less often...

No! 10% volume declines will leave you with nothing in a decade. I doubt the dividends in 10 years will exceed dividends today. Meanwhile inflation marches on.

You seriously think that neither Russia nor China is interested in Canada? Both would gladly take it over in a heartbeat.

Till Eulenspiegel says hello... I have never been to Utrecht, would like to though. For the first time ever, I will take my kids to Europe next April, I was thinking Paris and the chateaus around it - Blois, Vaux le Vicomte, Fontainbleau, Chartres, Chantilly, Chenonceau, Amboise, Chinon, etc.. Holland will probably have to wait until 2027

Love the handle, Richard Feynman was a great scientist

What has been his performance, do you know? Like 5, 10, 15 years? If I recall correctly, he had a couple of fantastic years on small capital, and a lousy decade after that, but I may be mistaken. Thank you.

I vehemently disagree. I think the cost of equity capital for Fairfax has to be at least 10%. Given the risk in the insurance business of tremendous losses and chances of a massive investments losses at the same time + leverage, it is certainly a risky investment. I own Fairfax in size, it is a 10% position for me, probably was a 6% position at cost.

I have nothing against tobacco companies, I owned PM going into 2025, it was a gigantic position for me. Look at volume declines in 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2025. 1-2% volume decline is manageable, 10% which is what Altria has been experiencing is not. We will have to agree to disagree.

There was a bear market in 2020, 2022, and March/April of 2025. What did Mr Buffett buy? I agree that deficits are a huge problem, but I am not sure that T-bills are a good defense. And the problem with holding T-bills is when do you pull the trigger? Why wasn't Mr Buffett buying Fairfax in 2022-2024? Why wasn't he buying MCO/MSFT/GOOG in fall of 2022? Why wasn't he buying Facebook when Parsad was pounding the table? (O'kay, I didn't buy either.) To those who hold cash because they are concerned about the deficit, geopolitics, etc..., I share your concerns. My question is: when will you pull the trigger and why? I will say though at 2.7% on TIPS, that's interesting, albeit the risk is that the government miscalculates inflation....

So I have about 20% of my portfolio in sand/gravel/crushed stone/cement plays. I own MCEM, CRH, ACA & Heidelberg materials. I made a mistake in mid-March of this year, I should have sold my ACA & bought VMC instead, as ACA was roughly flat vs my purchase price while VMC was down 20%-25% from the time I had bought ACA and is a higher quality business. If memory serves me correctly, I bought Heidelberg Materials on December 20th.

@dipod. I would NOT touch MO, BTI and PM are not cheap here in my opinion, and MO is a melting ice cube, and so is possibly BTI. I would start with Ambev (6% dividend yield), should grow over time and currency is cheap. I would look at Grupo Moctezuma in Mexico - superb cement producer, very well run, it is just somewhat illiquid, but 6% yield I believe as well. There is also Clipper (CLPR) in NY, but it is very, very, very high risk, and management is in my opinion lining its pockets at shareholders' expense, so I would allocate 1%-2% of the portfolio to this. Aena - the Spanish airport (for taxable account only due to a withholding tax in Spain.) I would also make a very unorthodox suggestion. There are companies like MSFT/MCO/SPGI that were very low yielding 10 years ago, yet grew their dividends at a such a rate they now yield 3-5% on the purchase price. If you can find such companies, it make sense to buy them for the dividend portfolio since they will yield more to you in 10 years then a 3% yielder today that barely grows. SUI - a trailer park REIT, which is yielding around 3-3.5% today, but will probably double the dividend over the next decade.

Why are you selling, if I may ask? Thank you. I have always wanted to invest in private businesses, so am curious about this topic.

I bought an ADR, which, in retrospect, was a mistake. This is due to fees charged on ADRs every time that there is a dividend, and the fact that this fee is not deductible for income tax purposes.

I missed it even though I read WSJ daily. Would you mind linking the story? Thank you.

I saw that, but I am frankly not sure what can be done. Have you seen his plan? If so can you post it? As I have gotten older, I have realized the wisdom of Peter Lynch's quip that turnarounds rarely turn.

I remember that year well. Nazi stuff is just abhorrent, I didn't know that. Had I known, I would have chosen a different handle, that's the trouble with football players. I guess Al-Farabi would have been better, eh @Xerxes?

Yes, but it is not a simple business - look at Kering for instance. For LVMH the key is whether they can succeed in India. I would guess that they will do well in Africa and Latin America, but the business does have fashion risk. You should follow Richemont, I missed it, but I'd buy it on the next sell-off. I'd do the work on Ferrovial if I were you.

Yes, but Europe still has incredible companies and really good opportunities for investment. ASML, Safran, Airbus, and my personal high tech favorites - CRH & Heidelberg Materials.

Thank you, track record is too short to evaluate the stock picking ability...

USAID is $75bn I believe, student loans is $100-200bn per annum, change in taxation on foundations and endowments is in the tax bill. Medicaid changes kick in December of 2026.

I got one word for you: Apple!

It should decline further as student loans start getting repaid, including interest, and savings from things like terminating USAID start flowing through. Additionally, taxes on foundations and endowments should also start reducing deficits although that may all be given back in the tax bill. Lastly, Medicaid work requirements may force 8MM adults into the labor force, that should generate $500bn+ in GDP potentially, and say $100bn in federal taxes and tens of billions in Medicaid savings.

Why do you like Bain FP? I saw many sum of the parts pitches on the name, but never pulled the trigger. Thank you.

And yet, if you asked Jamie how does his portfolio look like, I bet you he has more than 70% of his net worth in equities, and almost nothing in gold and cash.