John Hjorth

Protector Forsikring ASA has its own separate topic here on CofB&F in the Investment Ideas forum here. [I own it.] Your post above belongs there, not here.

- There is nothing like getting up quite early, grabbing a cup of coffee, and go to CofB&F and start the day with reading good humor like this!

You guys constructively discussing JOE here should really leave this topic [in the General Discussion forum], meant in a positive way, to continue the discussions in the separate JOE topic [in the Investment Ideas forum]. It's a real pitty this ongoing discussion by now is going on here, and not in the separate JOE topic, meaning it 'drowns' here, over time, not tied to JOE. Peace, and enjoy your Sunday!

Thanks, Eric [ @cwericb ], I did the branch-out here without even asking you to do it yourself, or discussing it with you in advance, based on that I think it's great topic for discussion. - - - o 0 o - - - Here are some hardcore data related to Fairfax from my households investment bank [Swedish & listed Nordnet Bank AB [SAVE.STO], for us, Danish branch] : And : To get a perception of the number of shareholders in those four countries, I can today see the following : Related to FFH.TO : Meaning : 248 owners in total over those countries, and for FRFHF: Meaning : 4 shareholders. - - - o 0 o - - - Edit : Link.

I've read some comments and discussion about promises under the recent Presidential US election lately here on CofB&F. Which reminded me of, 30 years ago, we had a Danish comedian, called Jakob Haugaard [still alive and kicking] , who, back then - as a joke - did run for our national Danish lesgislative body, called 'Folketinget'. and actually got elected! Here is his election promises from back then : For some of the points, one has to be Dane with local knowledge, to understand, but I think you all get the picture. Link.

Posted by @cwericb in topic : How Long Have You been a Continuous Shareholder of Fairfax Financial?, and by starting this topic, based on @cwericbs post, branching it out as a separate topic : I have been thinking about exactly this personally also recently, out of being thankful for getting this place on the Web to know, which to me and my family [also, like for many other members of CofB&F,] has been really life condition changing. - - - o 0 o - - - I have no idea about how many shareholders hold Fairfax shares, or even know about the existence of the company. I can provide some hard core data about it from my investment bank, where the bank operates in the Nordic countries Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway, I will post data later.

Starship Launch 7 : Elon Musk : 'Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!' I would say : Likely the most expensive, and advanced!, New Year fireworks - ever!, over Turks and Caicos Islands, and 17 days late! ! :

@73 Reds, I can't help it, I'm actually chukling a bit here! : The answer to your question is : Yes! I'll try to elaborate a bit, later, perhaps it will be tomorrow. I know it reads totally crazy for many, especially for the North American CofB&F members.

@Eng12345, @formthirteen, @Castanza & @73 Reds, It's actually a bit more complicated. What @formthirteen posted above is about taxable accounts, and in that respect true and correct. For tax deferred accounts, the tax scheme here for the return taxation is as follows: Nordnet Bank AB, Danish branch : How is this year's PAL tax calculated? [Google translation]

@Eng12345, Not just full sweep money out of the households accounts, but also subject to a margin call tomorrow for an eventual cash overdraft, if not fixed today. It's actually friggin' crazy to treat citizens this way. I should really get in contact with the member of our legislative body [, called 'Folketinget'], whining for material change. -Every year, I think now is the time to do something about it on the political level, and then - within a few weeks, it's 'just the past', because the view is forward looking!

The socalled PAL-tax withdrawal hit all the households tax deferred accounts today at about 1:30 PM. After working basically most of this week on getting an overview how it all would play out today, I managed to fix it all within an hour or so. Some tax deferred accounts 'fixed' by selling SCHO.CPH, because the account types [called 'kapitalpension'] are abolished and therefore closed for contributions. The others and the rest [called 'ratepension'] fixed by a combination of contributing cash and sellling SCHO.CPH. Terrorist tax collection at its best, no bill in advance, no specifikcation, just a a cash transaction, funds dragged out of the account on the day. Thank God it's now over for this year.

Hamster wheel already, you know, @Gregmal.

I'm going to sell some SCHO.CPH tomorrow, to get coverage for yearly MtM valuation and taxation in tax deferred accounts, to avoid a margin call for taxes in tax deferred accounts. Ohh, well. Naturally, got prepared for what for the Lady of the House to do in that respect, also. Woke her up, in the middle of the night, saying : 'I just fixed it all for you!, - now you really need to ask me out - tomorrow! - Cuckoos Nest will suffice!' Reply : <sleepy> : 'OK...'

Personally, @RockNation, I'm one of those shareholders thinking about Fairfax as a business as a whole, based on a thesis of owning a good business for the long term is the way to build wealth. For the future, let's see.

Almost 11 years, [voted 11 - 20 years here], [FFH.TO] bought the first shares in April 2013, added again in October 2016 [, an add, which pretty much turned out to be a mistake, that now has been autocorrected by the company]. I have considered several times to give up on it during the lean years and to move on. Today, a pretty happy camper here, but non-core position [In the ~3 per cent bunch]. Thank you to Lars [ @Viking ], @Dazel , @Crip1 and all the others contributing massively to the FFH classroom on the school here called CofB&F.

Just a friendly *bump* here, directed at those CofB&F members, who may not yet have taken the poll. And thank you very much to all those CofB&F members, who in this topic have shared with us all their thoughts! At least to me, it's always - each year - an interesting read, to get to know about how you personally think about investing in the recent environment!

This rear-view way of looking at things is by fundamental process flawed, because it is just that : rear-view looking.

This is to me soo funny! - And true, also here on CofB&F during those years! Greg [ @Gregmal ], perhaps we could even add all the 'double dip' talk starting during 2009 and the years onwards to perhaps ~2012.

Thank you, @thowed, Agreed. And that's it. I have tried to post in this topic, based on the above statement of yours, by providing several examples.

Vatnik Soup Looks good!

Thank you, Sanjeev [ @Parsad ], So a 'flow-through' arrangement, the funds eventually ending in Dakshana Foundation.

The Economist - Business - Way of the Viking [December 30th 2024] : Why are Nordic companies so successful? Subheader : From Lego to Novo Nordisk, many of Europe’s top firms come from the region. - - - o 0 o - - - It's a special, and a bit weird, experience for me as a Nordic native [Dane] to read the article, because it touches matters and conditions, I really don't think about on ongoing basis, but just takes as given conditions. We have a lot of good businesses, that are privately held by families or via foundations. Let me here just mention a few - more or less random : Lego, Danfoss, Grundfoss, Salling Group [Bilka, Føtex, Netto], Bestseller. They are all multinational, but headquartered here in Denmark. Then we have a bunch of family or foundation controlled businesses, that are listed : Novo Nordisk and Novonesis, A.P. Møller Mærsk A/S, Carlsberg, Coloplast, Lundbeck, William Demant, Rockwool etc. They are also all multinational, but headquartered here in Denmark. All used to compete in international markets, as a basic existential condition. What is special for both groups of companies, where foundations are involved in ownership, is how the ownership is structured and designed, based on legacy and existing legal conditions, and foundation founders' thoughts as minted in foundation articles of association, bylaws, related to purpose : 1. Protecting and preserving control of founders' business, i.e. take over-protection, 2. Other, typical philantrophical, purposes. 3. Defined foundation entitlements to founders family and decendants. These foundations are organized legally today as special type 'business foundation', are taxed according to company taxation, with taxable deduction for expenses to philantrophical activities, subject to special individual legislation, reporting, and regulatory oversight and control. - - - o 0 o - - - If somebody asks me about how this works on overall basis, my aswer would be it works great.

To me personally, this is true for European politics to the right, liberal or conservative, have this as an important element to take care of the not-so-well situated citizens, to avoid exactly that - social unrest - with the purpose to preserve existing societal structure.

Thanks for the elaboration, @compoundvalue.

@compoundvalue, Congratulations!, - What's the explanation of the asterixs for '17 and '18, including the 'N/A's for those years?