LC

I see it a lot. Most professional documentation is worked on by a team (or multiple teams) of people. But yeah it’s super obnoxious when some dude writing from his couch does it.

Tilson is an interesting case. He has been following WB and Brk for YEARS, and yet his own funds returns have been lackluster. Yet, he has still attracted capital and been able to market his funds. I take two lessons from him: 1) Sometimes it's just not in the cards. You can say all right right things, do all the right things, and it just doesn't work out. To me, WT really seemed like (or believed that) he was executing the value investing playbook. And yet, no dice. 2) Despite all this, marketing still works! You can just really be sub-par, but if you spin a good yarn, you can hang around for decades.

Really scraping the barrel with that one, Whitney. Also, funny (and accuerate) poll, RTF ;D

I think it was easier to build wealth in the 80s/90s. Lower debt levels for the average young person and better market returns. The S&P 500 averaged like 18% or so from 1981-1999. That’s a good point as well!

I hit the mark about two years ago before I bought the houses...but I'd guess it isn't the same as it was growing up in the 80s/90s. Now, you can get a useful degree and go consult for 5 years, save your cash and you're 90% of the ways there. Which is a good thing!

Bought some VZ

Just some new technology to keep in the back of your mind: https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/green-material-for-refrigeration-identified

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/black-hole-first-picture-event-horizon-telescope A world-spanning network of telescopes called the Event Horizon Telescope zoomed in on the supermassive monster in the galaxy M87 to create this first-ever picture of a black hole. Some more tidbits: A picture of Katie Bouman, who led the development of the algorithm which made it possible to capture the image of a black hole, at the moment when the first black hole image was processed. https://preview.redd.it/7fhncejghhr21.jpg?width=772&auto=webp&s=7129bbfe28b1ba023b901d9fd7c856b52a3fb40a And here she is giving a TED talk in 2017 about how to take a picture of a black hole: Pretty incredible!

I really appreciated the sardonic wit in mjohn707's second paragraph ;D ;D

Give yourself a long enough leash to make mistakes. Do not try to limit your mistakes - this is how you learn. And eventually the market will “educate” you.

I'd say put the majority in an index fund as you're doing and take 5% or so to invest yourself. Read all those value investing books, value a bunch of companies "blindly" i.e. without looking at the market price, lose some money and understand the emotional highs and lows of changing portfolio market prices...over time you'll get smarter and more experienced...you'll know when you feel comfortable shifting more out of index funds and into personal stock selections.

As usual, we do not deserve Sanjeev ;D ;D

Bought DIS.

Rest in peace.

I'm single & was paying for drinks at the FloraBama last night. I feel a lot more sane today. That is all. ;D water and advil, my friend ;D ;D

The amount of brain damage that single payer system would save US citizens alone makes it worth it. ;D

Bought some berkshire

Thanks for your elucidating correction.

How is this topic still going? The lessons here seem pretty obvious: -Be really good at your job. This dude was raking in cash from his dental clinics. -Buy and hold works if you buy right. Put the two together and you have a chance at something really special.

One of the best ways imho is to ignore all the IR and go right to the products page and just be a customer. Do they offer a better value than competitors? A good product offering/revenue line is #1. From there you can do the traditional assessment.

Let go of your earthly tether Enter the void Become wind https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/975/870/ebc.gif

Any idea on the breakdown between new builds vs. existing home upgrades? I would imagine smart home products are highly correlated with new builds.

Thanks Keith. Some additional information on intangible asset valuation for those interested: https://www.oecd.org/tax/transfer-pricing/47426115.pdf

As John mentioned there are accounting rules which require the evaluation of assets on a quarterly basis to determine whether the asset is impaired: At the end of each reporting period, an entity is required to assess whether there is any indication that an asset may be impaired (i.e. its carrying amount may be higher than its recoverable amount). IAS 36 has a list of external and internal indicators of impairment. If there is an indication that an asset may be impaired, then the asset's recoverable amount must be calculated That is all good and well: but let's be real. Did Kraft/Oscar Meyer lose all this value between Q4 2018 and Q1 2019? Of course not - value deteriorates over time. What really happens is that, over time, value drops. But there are some conflicting forces at play: management obviously doesn't want to write down those assets slowly every quarter, and it is hard for external auditors to prove permanent impairment. So what happens (at least in my experience) is that over time the value drops...drops....drops...until management cannot deny or justify to the auditors the current carrying value. Then they take a big hit, like what happened with KHC. Just my 2 cents.

Oh and think about it this way: it’s easier to eat out less and save cash than get a raise at work.