Jump to content

Otsog

Member
  • Posts

    282
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Otsog

  1. Kind of mildly interesting (or maybe not...) facet of this.  There is a Canadian company set to start construction in May on a fibre optic cable that will connect Tokyo and London by going through the Canadian Arctic (http://arcticfibre.com/). Our internet speeds up here are shit, 1.5Mbps costs me $84.00/month with a 10Gb data cap, and we would be able to tap into the Arctic Fibre feed. If there are any regulatory changes that make this project uneconomical, Michael Lewis might be screwing me out of faster internet in 2016  >:(

  2. IMH, this is a lot to do about almost nothing.  Compared to the extent retail investors are getting screwed by the IRS and their state taxing agencies whenever they make a profit this isn't even in the same ballpark. ballpark? Not even on the same planet.

     

    If you feel that way then you can make that argument about any situation.  Bernie Madoff, Enron etc.

  3. Contrary opinion: I think this is just a blatant case of fear-mongering and promotion of his new book. A bit disappointing frankly (though probably a good read). HFT is mostly profiting from 'old-school' brokers, banks and other middle men. The fact that a couple of firms are making so much money now is only making transparent how much investors got ripped off in the past. But instead of being angry at the friendly broker that used to call us (Saluzzi) and now is pissed he lost his job to more efficient competitors it is probably easier to blame a bunch of techies with computers doing stuff we don't know anything about if we lose money in the markets. One always needs a scapegoat ...

     

    I'm not saying the current speed race is benefiting society and probably the market model of exchanges could be improved. But the stuff about front-running poor investors is just nonsense.

     

    I agree there is a better than good chance Lewis will present his case in a way that oversells the dangers, but, how is the front-running nonsense?  Firms/algorithms are making trades solely off your own order information (if you're an institutional investor).  That will be a detriment to every single pension plan and endowment in the world.  Even if it was just the IBanks that were getting screwed I would be pissed, to me this is a blatant (but easily solvable) degradation of the integrity of the capital markets.   

     

    The efficiency of the markets in the past has absolutely nothing to do with this.  Just because we were getting screwed harder before means we should be grateful and accept duplicitous behaviour today? 

     

     

  4. Someone mentioned poisoning people in the third world for fun and profit, but in a functioning market, devoid of government protectionism, and with a functioning tort system, such things would be far from profitable.  Now for those educated in government schools who think that a tort system couldn't function without political authority and the aggressive government violence that it implies, that is too complicated a subject to get into on a message board.  Whole books have been written on it and I'd be happy to give you the info you need to get started if it is a subject you are interested in.

     

    I'd be interested in any book recommendations.

  5. Not surprised to see other ER/MMM's here. 

     

    I've been reading a lot about this lately and hope to pull the trigger one day.  I would do this with a higher emphasis on the retirement aspect than the fulltime investor aspect.  I'd read a ton more, but also look at picking up other hobbies. 

     

    It's still at least 5+ years off but I am toying with the idea of moving somewhere very low cost for the first few years (SE Asia maybe?). I could get some cheap travelling in and if everything blows up I won't have to draw down a ton of capital.

     

  6. I agree Tiddman, I never see if there is any adjustment to account for Public/Private or international listings.

     

    The IBs were all private pre-1970, then mixed, then all public by 1999. 

     

    What if Koch went public? 

     

    If Samsung listed on the NYSE would that count?

     

    All those things would affect the metric but the change in the economy would be form, not substance.

     

     

    i think when we're talking tens of trillions, this wouldn't matter. Traditionally GNP should be used though given that U.S. companies earn a lot abroad and aren't so constrained by the U.S. geographical area.

     

    The article says they used the Wilshire 5000 which was just under 20 Trillion.  Take all the IBs and international listings, could that not easily reach 1-2T?  A permanent change of 5-10% which makes it not really comparable to historical figures.

     

    And yeah, GNP for sure.

     

  7. When Buffett appeared on the TV program, Money World, he was asked what investment advice he would give a money manager starting out. "I'd tell him to do exactly what I did 40-odd years ago, which is to learn about every company in the United States that has publicly traded securities." Moderator Adam Smith said, "But there are 27,000 public companies." Buffett replied, "Well, start with the A's."

  8. All forums I use have weak searches, even Reddit's search is crap. Use google

     

    Trying to find a post about something the premier said in the ALS thread?

    site:cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca ALS premier

     

    Trying to find a specific phrase?

    site:cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca "If it ain't broke"

     

    Trying to find a specific phrase but forget a word?

    site:cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca  "good business at a  * price"

     

    Trying to see if anyone called the March '09 bottom?

    https://www.google.ca/search?q=site%3Acornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca+try+searching+for+keywords&espv=210&es_sm=93&pws=0&biw=1334&bih=839&sa=X&ei=YakDU5XANqjg0QG954HQAg&ved=0CBoQpwUoBg&source=lnt&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3AFeb+1_2+2009%2Ccd_max%3AApril+30_2+2009&tbm=#pws=0&q=site:cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca+bottom&tbs=cdr:1%2Ccd_min:Feb+1_2+2009%2Ccd_max:April+30_2+2009

     

     

  9. Let's say the longest I stay in one place in a given year is 4 months. Im Dutch. Where would I be taxable on my capital gains that year? The place where you stay longest? Normally you have to stay somewhere for more then 183 days. My accountant couldnt asnwer this.

     

    I am assuming that if you stay somewhere for longer then 183 days, then they can could possibly claim taxes from you, because that is usually the period where you are liable for taxes. So if you don't stay anywhere for longer then 183 days, then technically your in some sort of tax limbo?

     

    183 days is only one facet of determining residency.  Above 183 days is usually the point where it becomes automatic and you don't have to consider anything else, but if you are sub-183 days then countries will start to look at where you dwell, where your spouse or dependents live, where your bank accounts are, where your drivers license is issued from, where you have medical coverage. 

     

    I don't know specifically what the Netherlands looks at, but you should check it out for each country you will be in. 

     

    What country is your bank branch in?  They will likely send your investment information to that countries tax authority. 

  10. Canada taxes the worldwide income of Canadian residents

    America taxes the worldwide income of American citizens

    Netherlands taxes the worldwide income of ??? (sorry I don't know)

     

    The Canada Revenue Agency mainly looks at your 'Significant Residential Ties' and 'Secondary Residential Ties' to determine if you have broken residency (http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/tchncl/ncmtx/fls/s5/f1/s5-f1-c1-eng.html#N102D3).

     

    To ditch the long-arm of the IRS you have to give up your citizenship, à la http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/11/technology/eduardo-saverin-facebook-citizenship/

     

     

    Edit:

     

    Netherlands taxation is residency based as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_taxation

    Only America and Eritrea tax based on citizenship

     

     

     

     

     

     

  11. Haha, I remember playing the business/personal guessing game at the RBC's in Victoria.  Eventually I stopped playing and always went personal.  Even if the business line is short it is still so damn slow. 

     

    Right across the street you could zip through TD business way faster, never once went to the personal line. 

     

    National Bank sent couriers to our office to pick up deposits (but omg, they nickel and dime the crap out of you for everything).

×
×
  • Create New...