LC

Average ROA do Mediterranean banks from 2005-2010 was .8%

The only way to kill Starbucks is to make the mass consumer think coffee cafe's aren't cool.

I also thought it was very sensible. Underdogs rarely win. They win more often when the favorite errs, not from their own transformation. The favorite is the favorite for a reason! It either has better technology, more scale, etc. etc. David wasn't the underdog, in fact according to Mr. Gladwell's analsysis, an intelligent observer would place his bets on David given the advantage in weaponry and maneuverability! Apply this concept to both moats and challengers with superior technology/operations/value proposition.

Thank you LC and wachtwoord. My only worry is what would happen if IB's real time margin algo went wrong and thought I would need real time liquidation, but I actually didn't even buy on margin? Or what would happen if I mistakenly put in one more zero for the number of shares to buy, and caused a big margin call? Perhaps I was just being too extreme and frightened myself. Yes these things could happen. To take it to the extreme, the entire SIPC could shut down, our brokers could raid our accounts, and we'd all be left penniless. Obviously an extreme example, but this is a question of where your limit of reasonableness is. As far as I know, they are a pretty reputable broker.

Exactly. Having a margin account and going on margin (i.e. a negative cash balance) are two different things! Just open a margin account but keep a positive (or zero) cash balance!

Honestly....aside from mistakes of omission, my largest mistake has been entering limit orders on my leveraged positions. Take Sears of example. I had 50 strike calls that were underwater. I was sick of holding them, it was a huge percentage loss. So I just threw in a limit order at a 25% gain or so and let it sit. Then of course I forgot about it, wound up buying more calls as the topic became more popular here on the boards, and then when the runup recently happened, 25% of my options hit that forgotten limit order in the first day. It was a case of short term emotions crowding out rational decision making!

you can probably remove WBMD, as far as I know the interest in that was due to the odd-lot tender, which has been completed.

Packer, Eric, Uccmal, SD, Plan, Sanjeev...I mean the list goes on and on. Thank you guys :)

I thought I would start a small discussion on unique/eccentric places to source investment ideas and discover interesting companies. I'll start by contributing this sub-reddit on reddit.com: http://www.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife/ This "BIFL" community posts products and brands which have stood the test of time...essentially companies which have built up a strong level of brand value and customer goodwill over decades. Then the community votes and comments on these products...essentially doing much of the "filtering" for free. I would love to own some of the companies posted there! What other obscure sources for ideas are there?

Wow, I was (or more accurately, my ego was) secretly hoping it was fiat. I will have to take care not to allow confirmation bias to get the best of me now!

Sanjeev, you are a friendly fellow! I hope to meet you one day! I have a few guesses...I remember there was a thread a few months ago where you mentioned (in the context of a rising market) there were still opportunities to buy whole companies at great prices. You mentioned some small-cap Canadian company I believe. I am thinking it is along those lines...a 500m-1.5b Canadian company.

Thank you!

In other words, asset prices are up but earnings power is still low.

Thanks for the words, SD. I am still working on learning how to turn off my emotions. Sometimes I'll check my portfolio, see all green or all red, and it's a trigger: I forget about the business, I forget about Mr. Market, it just becomes a game of are the little pieces of paper going to go up or down? I'm getting better at realizing when I start letting my emotions get the best of me...I just log off and turn my attention elsewhere.

Just my thoughts on your last point...I don't think "small govt" and a "broken/loophole-filled tax system" necessarily go hand in hand.

thanks for posting!

Nice to know...hopefully I will never feel the urge to use it :)

I came across a nice website which has aggregated a good amount of Buffett's writings and quotes today and wanted to share with the board: http://egpeclub.home.comcast.net/~egpeclub/The_Warren_Buffett_Business_Factors.htm

I've always looked for companies with established histories, and run by people who seemed trustworthy. I remember a company run by a (and I say this as a compliment) boring, 60-something year old doctor from the Midwest. I never met the man or heard him speak, but his background seemed a bit more trustworthy versus say, the CEO of Medical Marijuana Inc, a former real-estate broker going on CNBC who was long on hype and charisma and short on operating results.

is the asterisk necessary? I've never used it before when manually quoting

I've looked a bit in the micro & nano-cap space recently versus the small cap area where I find myself looking for cheap companies the most. The best I could find before being dragged back to contemplating Strayer and some companies in the R.V. space was a company called Federal Screw Works, but my valuation (20m) and the market cap (3m) were so far apart that I feared I must be missing something (probably how bad the pension liability is). At any rate... Nate, I would like to pose two questions to you: -Do you find it takes longer to find gems in the micro-cap area? As well, do you find it easier to quickly place a company in the "no" pile? -How concentrated with these companies do you get in your portfolio? Do you have self-impose limits, and if so, when would you break them? Best, Louis

To flip it, can a 99% shareholder instruct the firm to sell 99 bulldozers?

I believe they are all considered pari passu, so would the only differentiating factor be liquidity? FNMAS and FCKMJ are the most liquid I have found, and are priced as such.

Awesome, I love it. If a suggestion is possible...would it be feasible to add in a cell which notes the date & annualizes the results?

I might move there just hoping to learn a bit from you via city-wide osmosis.