CorpRaider

I will often cite the morningstar study regarding the outperformance of investors in target date funds over the actual fund's performance and the underperformance of most other fund investors versus the funds they own. This is apparently due to dollar cost averaging and the elimination of the temptation to buy high and sell low. If they have a decently low cost target date fund option and are not into finance, I would probably tell them they might consider that option.

. They could raise rates, they could cap the roth exclusion, they could change rmd rules. You can control distributions and converions from traditional, you can control if you leave california for florida for 10 years, or forever...race's analysis is accurate if you max. You could also just take the excess cash from the tax deduction from the traditional and put it in mkl or brk till you die off and get the stepped up basis...tell me what your rates are now and what they will be in the future and i can give you the right answer. Since thats not knowable, you could hedge the tax risk by taking the current deduction for your mediocre 401(k) investment options and put your 30% APR, brilliant personal investments in the roth.

Thats probably a good plan. Get some "tax diversification".

If you are in a low enough bracket to qualify for the traditional, i would go with that. You will have control over timing of recognition of the income. Gw bush iii comes in and slashes rates? Convert it to a roth or at least some of it. Move to texas and convert it...people pay big money for advice on how to defer recognition of income.

Don't sleep on bloomberg.com either.

He's full of something, that's for sure! haha!

Hah! Yeah, I've never made it through the conservative aggressive investor and I'm not a wuss as I made it through some of Dreman's books. Greenwald's comments in the most important thing were sort of "weak sauce".

I personally don't like investing in places where there aren't good property rights and a solid tradition of rule of law. Putin is likely to take your cookies if he wants them. If enough people feel the same way it might result in lower multiples.

I had a pretty mediocre year as well, got crushed by the s&p. I had way too much cash. EDIT: Thought I would add a little more detail since you are all showing your knickers: I did 40.5% in my Roth, a much smaller account than some others I run. Most of that was due to some great fortune with respect to timing on the SD leaps; I caught a triple on those things and got out. Larger accounts I have/run managed only 12-16%, underperformance is attributable to holding too much cash 50%+.

Tendering PSX stock; ~$19MM. http://www.bloomberg.com/article/2013-12-30/aI3ohUbFAQZw.html

Ditto.

I like it. Wish the podcast updated faster.

I was going to take another tranche of KMI @ $30 but it popped on me.

Ok, it is logically flawed, because you are criticizing his current cash and position sizing philsophy based upon the very shortcomings it was designed to remedy (whether successfully or not, remains to be seen). It is like one of those quantum paradoxes from a Star Trek episode with time travel.

Hi Eric, I recently caught some interview where they discussed a really cheap variable annuity. It made me think of this thread. I think the linked interview is the one. I believe it is Cortazzo who talks about a supercheap variable annuity with a flat monthly fee. Not sure if the investment options have imbedded higher expenses. http://wealthtrack.com/recent-programs/premium-mark-cortazzo-alexandra-lebenthal-2/

Do you guys subscribe to fortune? Seems like it has too much general management focus for me.

No doubt. Also if DE wasn't bought and paid for, that would help.

Eric, If that is your wife in your avatar, you guys are even! haha. Just kidding.

I see what you're saying. His stated position on liquidity, as set forth above, has not been proven to outperform through a serious bear market, for sure.

I've got a lot of problems with you people, and now you're going to hear about it!

I don't think it is fair to hammer Pabrai's position on cash and liquidity based upon underperformance during the great recession period which was likely caused by not holding enough cash and is probably the exact scenario his current views on liquidity are intended to address.

Yeah and almost every one of them is drawing at least two classroom instructor salaries.

I am a repeat offender for many of these. Don't worry though, I'm flighty and will likely soon forget my password and/or username. P.S. For a guy who is young enough to have owned a colecovision...

I take your point, but the six hour statement is a joke. The teachers I know have to take stuff home all the time (like more often than not: either planning or grading papers or doing some committee bs) and stay after hours for professional development and meetings internally and with parents. My wife used to teach and during the school year she was working as many hours as I was as a new attorney at a big law firm (which is a lot, BTW) and I was making at least 3x as much. They also have about 18 moronic administrators who all have various and detailed opinions about how they should do their jobs based upon their two years of experience in the classroom from 20 years ago. I finally talked her into going to wait tables at Chills or run the register at Target for better hourly pay and lower stress. I'm kidding, somewhat. They do have benefits that aren't totally crappy, but if healthcare and employment decouple, I could envision a real dearth of teachers. In the end its about supply and demand and since women were forced into the profession for so long the labor rate in teaching is probably artificially depressed. One would expect that to correct itself over time.

I like the suggestions of the superinvestors article, Greenblatt's first two books and the lowenstein ones moreso than the straight biographies to help spark/stoke the initial interest.