muscleman

Thank you! I will take a look at this.

Why will there be foreign taxes if US residents buy PSH? We will only pay tax to IRS when we sell for a profit, right?

IB and Fidelity offers international trading. :)

Withholding Taxes The Fund is not subject to any income or capital gains taxes in Guernsey. The only taxes payable by the Fund on its income are withholding taxes applicable to certain investment income. As a result, no income tax liability or expense has been recorded in the accompanying financial statements.

Same questions. http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/PSH:NA NA is over $24, current price $22. Why is premium 2.5%?

I haven't been able to fully understand the lawsuit between SICO and US government, and what's the likelihood that AIG is liable to pay for that?

Who is Jim Millstein? Does he have enough political power to make the congress listen to him? I want to understand the current situation better. If all of the law suits fail, what will happen next? I can't believe the current conservator ship will last forever.

What's the probability of winning for the preferreds at this moment? I read through this whole thing but still kept scratching my head. ::) It sounds like the federal court's judge is willing to try to take this to trial, but the district court judge doesn't. How will the district court judge's decision affect the federal court?

Do you smell any opportunity that will soon be caused by forced selling here? :)

I haven't had much time reading books but recently I found Audible.com to be very interesting. I spend 70-80 minutes per day in my car for commute, and I can connect my iphone to my car via blue tooth and listen to the books. Do you have any recommendations of the books? I want to read as much as possible. ;D

Do you know why Ackman bought 10% of FNMA but not more? Is there any law that prevents him from buying more?

I am surprised to see that a lot of the reinsurance companies are so cheap on a PE basis. The ROE of these companies are not bad either. Thoughts?

LOL! Essentially. The funds go into a law firm trust account. They issue the certificate and it is delivered to your broker, or wherever you desire the certificate to be delivered. Mohnish just did one for $110M...I don't think there were any real issues. We are going to be doing one for $10M...I'm pretty sure we can avoid any problems. Cheers! I see. Pabrai didn't do well in 2008. A 66% mark to market loss. While it is quite fine in his fund, it may not work out well as a reinsurance company. Regulators could push for capital raise at that point. How are you going to handle that problem with this new reinsurance vehicle? You'll see. The risk isn't on our balance sheet. Cheers! Are you going to become the investment manager of this reinsurance company after you secure at least 1 board seat?

LOL! Essentially. The funds go into a law firm trust account. They issue the certificate and it is delivered to your broker, or wherever you desire the certificate to be delivered. Mohnish just did one for $110M...I don't think there were any real issues. We are going to be doing one for $10M...I'm pretty sure we can avoid any problems. Cheers! I see. Pabrai didn't do well in 2008. A 66% mark to market loss. While it is quite fine in his fund, it may not work out well as a reinsurance company. Regulators could push for capital raise at that point. How are you going to handle that problem with this new reinsurance vehicle?

I've been reading Buffet's letter and I noticed that although Berkshire experience a few cycles when the insurance market is tough and he stated the willingness to stop underwriting unprofitable policies, Berkshire's float kept growing since 1967. Do you know why? I would assume that the float would shrink heavily when they reduce underwriting volumes. ::)

Public company will be investing directly in Bermuda vehicle. MPIC Funds will be the largest shareholder in the public company. All acquisitions of private enterprises will occur through the public company, while MPIC will continue to manage assets as it does. At some point, Corner Market Capital (MPIC's general partner) will be roled into the company like Hamblin-Watsa was in Fairfax, and it will become another cash flow machine for the pubco. Already a public company. Press release will go out in the next couple of days. Will move to a larger listing in the New Year. Cheers! Will this reinsurance company also invest in publicly traded stocks, or only buying out private companies? In other words, will it run similar to Berkshire's model?

How does private placements work? I've never done one before so please excuse me for asking newbie questions. Am I going to fill out some forms and wire my money to some bank account, cross my fingers and hope that after a few weeks, the shares hit my broker account?

Picasso, I notice that the dealers are taking these bonds at higher and higher prices without an investor buying on the other side of the trade. Why are dealers accumulating inventory and willing to pay more and more to accumulate? Do they speculate on the prices as well? I thought they would just find a buyer and a seller and buy low from the seller and immediately flip to the buyer for a small profit. http://www.municipalbonds.com/bonds/issue/74526QKQ4

Just as a basketball player should focus 100% on the court instead of the score board, you don't need to track your personal net worth. Just focus 100% on your investments and you will end up well :)

I've been reading George Soros' book. He said sometimes the recession can be avoided by the policy makers, but normally they do not act until they see a real threat, which usually comes from a sharp decline in the stock market. Then they act and prevented the recession. So it is exactly the sharp decline in the market that PREVENTED the recession. On the other hand, there are cases when the policy maker can make mistakes, or the decline of the market has blown up too many margin accounts so the recession is bound to happen before it can be cured. :) My study shows me that Soros makes most of his profit from stocks, which he doesn't get in and out frequently, but he does not disclose how he buy and hold the stocks. I suspect that he uses value investing principles as well, because he mentioned low P/E in one of his chapters. His macro bets don't make nearly as much profit, even though he became famous for that.

This guy's portfolio is pretty concentrated. But somehow his performance is index like. What a coincidence. :)

Bill Ackman focus on the large cap portion and seems to have done well. :D

http://blogs.barrons.com/incomeinvesting/2014/08/14/puerto-rico-prepa-utility-announces-creditor-agreement-extension/ Debt holders deferred the payments so the game can continue. :) I think this looks more like a muddle through scenario now.

http://www.municipalbonds.com/bonds/issue/745190MH8 http://www.municipalbonds.com/bonds/issue/745190TD0 The 2018 subordinated now trades at 60 while the senior debt trades at 44. Can you believe it? ;D

Do you want to invest through PSH? I think due to his long holding periods, it may be better to just buy the stocks that he has announced?