Grenville

+1

+1 nice! Thanks for posting.

Yeah, it's nice to hear that it's 500/week and not per day!

Nice script! thanks!

Thanks for posting!

Great to see them pulling some of their capital out!

I would vote against trying to time the market with an index fund especially if you're going to want to invest in individual companies in six months. I would say read the Berkshire letters. Pick some companies and try to value them. Once you find stuff you feel comfortable with valuing, look to find stuff with a margin of safety. If you feel comfortable enough start investing a small portion of your capital based on your analysis. As you get more comfortable with your analysis and the results, put more capital at risk. Put the lessons of the Intelligent Investor to work. The other thing that was important for me was to read the 10Ks cover to cover. It's hard at first, but you'll be surprised how much better you get over time.

Great read!

I'm probably just restating what has already been said, but this line in the recent conference call emphasized the downside of the equity hedging strategy at FFH. Mark to market fluctuations are hurting Fairfax. When they realize their investment gains, they are permanently decreasing their notional hedge. Thus there is no further opportunity to gain the loss on the hedge back. It's realized. If the market drops back to the start of the year, the hedge losses aren't reversed. I guess Fairfax could re-buy the long position they sold, but then they would just reinstate the hedge on it. A longer sort of bet like a long term put similar to their CDS or CPI bet would give them an opportunity to earn that loss back since they still have the notional exposure. Instead here they get no real benefit to picking stocks especially if the hedge doesn't match their bets. (sort of related to Packer's beta analogy) Another worry would be if the markets continue up or even sideways, investors don't really get any benefit from Fairfax's investment ability on the equities. If markets continue up, Fairfax will continue to realize their equity gains and close out the hedge to a point where there is no equity positions and no notional hedge.

I think there is a big difference between a growing user base and a shrinking one.

This. There will eventually come a time when FB's valuation will no longer allow them this luxury, but for now, they might as well keep snapping up valuable tech companies using their overpriced pieces of paper. Thinking about it more, I agree. He's using stock to buy another base of users. It makes sense if you value the company based on users. A majority of FB's cash is from their stock sales.

He's using 4bln in cash. Don't know how much of that they raised at their IPO, but the whatsapp folks are smart for getting a good chunk as cash.

I forgot to add that I like the site the way it is and the way Sanjeev has thoughtfully implemented changes/updates.

I wouldn't be investing full-time, if it wasn't for this board and the people I've met through it. I appreciate the time and energy you've put into putting a board like this together. It's been an incredible resource. It's hard to find a place to find balanced, educated views on companies and other subjects.

Thank you for the detail from the AR. I read those ARs, but my memory isn't that good. That detail just didn't stick.

I didn't realize (don't remember reading about it/started investing in FFH in 08/09) they had out of the money index calls to hedge on the upside in 2007! I'm surprised they didn't do the same here, it's cheap insurance just like the CPI derivatives.

Great to see the improvement in the insurance subs and to see Zenith positive. The hedges were costly. Book value at $339.

BNSF Announces $5 Billion Capital Commitment Program http://www.bnsf.com/media/news-releases/2014/february/2014-02-04a.html

I'm guessing we won't have any date until they release the 10K. I am a bit surprised it isn't out yet, not sure what the hold up is.

Thanks for posting!

Here are the details of the plan: Delaney, Carney, and Himes Announce Housing Finance Reform Proposal, Plan to Introduce Legislation this Spring http://delaney.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/delaney-carney-and-himes-announce-housing-finance-reform-proposal-plan

Thanks Brker_guy!

Not sure if this story is true, haven't been able to find any verification.

Via Twitter: Bob Pisani ‏@BobPisani 1h Fannie Mae $FNMA, Freddie Mac $FMCC spiking on reports House Democratic leaders unveiling plan for both to be sold as independent companies