james22

BRK

Vanguard Sector ETFs YTD as of 12/11 Health Care (VHT) 12.22% Utilities (VPU) 11.5% Information Technology (VGT) 8.79% Consumer Discretionary (VCR) 2.88% Real Estate (VNQ) 0.68% Consumer Staples (VDC) -0.33% Financials (VFH) -11.21% Energy (VDE) -11.47% Communication Services (VOX) -12.31%

Yeah, if you manage to lose all your money you are not "hedged."

Ah, I was unfamiliar with PEFIX ("incorporating active insights into quality, momentum, style and size"). Nice. Just bumped my (beta-only) EM to near 20%.

No tilt to EM value?

Like to see the EM overweight. https://www.investmentweek.co.uk/investment-week/news/3065590/gmo-upgrades-emerging-market-returns-forecast-as-spreads-with-the-us-reach-widest-since-2003

Roughly: 5% Small Value Index (VSIAX) 15% Emerging Markets Index (VEMAX) 10% BRK 10% FRFHF 5% MKL 10% BAM 10% OAK 5% BAC-L 5% WFC-L 25% Stable Value

How about now?

BAM, BRK, VEMAX (Emerging Markets)

Why now? I'd like an excuse to add, but they still above my P/B target.

I'm guessing he didn't make a *financial* decision. If you want to change the world, journalism, NYU, and NYC are what you do to make more likely your voice is heard. Debt doesn't weigh much against that. ... it is no longer worth being a journalist? Worth, of course, is a loaded word. It can refer to money, viewing journalism as a lucrative way to make a living. Or it can have a vocational meaning, implying that journalism is intrinsically a public service. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/15/would-be-journalists-change-world-alex-thomson-felix-salmon

It's an interesting question, capitulation. If 'this time is different' or it is simply more difficult to judge the intrinsic value of a technology business today against its market price, maybe momentum is the better strategy. But when would one shift strategies? Every day is a day closer to the correction, yeah? And could one shift strategies once value investing inoculated? I don't believe I could.

I believe I'm a better investor today than 2000, but I sure couldn't prove it by recent year returns.

BRK has beat the market if measured by book value growth. The market has simply become more expensive.

Why? Curious, myself.

https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/

Well written, thanks.

Did ZeroHedge unreliably quote the several German publications have documented the growing problem of "no-go" zones - areas in which it is unsafe for non-Muslim citizens to travel (above)? Did ZeroHedge unreliably quote Chancellor Angela Merkel's interview with Germany's RTL Aktuell? While on the topic of keeping Germany safe, Merkel said "It's always a point to me that internal security is the state's duty, the state has the monopoly of power, the state has to make sure that people have the right to it whenever they meet and move in a public space." ... "That means, for example, that there are no no-go areas, that there can be no rooms where no one dares to go, and there are such spaces, and you have to call that by name and you have to do something about it. And I think that Thomas de Maizière did a very good job as Minister of the Interior, but we also said now that we want a model police law, we can not stand by the different security standards in different states and that needs to be as unified as possible Did ZeroHedge unreliably quote Rainer Wendt, President of the German Police Union? "In Berlin or in the north of Duisburg there are neighborhoods where colleagues hardly dare to stop a car -- because they know that they'll be surrounded by 40 or 50 men." These attacks amount to a "deliberate challenge to the authority of the state -- attacks in which the perpetrators are expressing their contempt for our society"

The newspaper, Bild, and the newsmagazine, Focus, among others, have identified (here, here and here) more than 40 "problem areas" (Problemviertel) across Germany. These are areas where large concentrations of migrants, high levels of unemployment and chronic welfare dependency, combined with urban decay, have become incubators for anarchy. In an article entitled "Ghetto Report Germany," Bild describes these areas as "burgeoning ghettos, parallel societies and no-go areas." They include: Berlin-Neukölln, Bremerhaven-Lehe/Bremen-Huchting, Cologne-Chorweiler, Dortmund-Nordstadt, Duisburg-Marxloh, Essen-Altenessen, Hamburg-Eidelstedt, Kaiserslautern-Asternweg, Mannheim-Neckarstadt West and Pforzheim-Oststadt. The problem of no-go zones is especially acute in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany's most populous state. According to the Rheinische Post, NRW problem areas include: Aachen, Bielefeld, Bochum, Bonn, Bottrop, Dorsten, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Essen, Euskirchen, Gelsenkirchen-Süd, Gladbeck, Hagen, Hamm, Heinsberg, Herne, Iserlohn, Kleve, Cologne, Lippe, Lüdenscheid, Marl, Mettmann, Minden, Mönchengladbach, Münster, Neuss, Oberhausen, Recklinghausen, Remscheid, Rhein-Erft-Kreis, Rhein-Sieg-Kreis, Solingen, Unna, Witten and Wuppertal. - https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-27/merkel-finally-acknowledges-german-no-go-zones-vows-eliminate

OAK

REITs Win With Tax Reform https://seekingalpha.com/article/4133517-reits-win-tax-reform?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-widget

Given: - GE seen as likely to embrace major company break-up, sources tell CNBC's David Faber. - GE breakup could come as soon as this spring, the sources said. - "We are looking aggressively at the best structure or structures for our portfolio to maximize the potential of our businesses," CEO John Flannery said on an investor call. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/16/ge-break-up-announcement-to-occur-as-early-as-this-spring-sources.html Any chance provides an opportunity for Berkshire? https://www.livewiremarkets.com/wires/ge-buffett-s-last-takeover

...the article considered whether investors could swap exposure to the S&P GSCI commodities futures index for similar exposure to commodity-like stocks. Noting that the S&P GSCI was composed 70 percent of energy exposure and 14 percent metals, Israelsen wondered if you could combine an energy sector fund and a precious metals sector fund and achieve the same type of returns. http://www.hardassetsinvestor.com/images/stories/links/israelsen_july2007_quasi_commodities.pdf Short answer: yes.

BAM

I appreciate the advice, everyone. My father was inclined to hold anyway for sentimental reasons, so he's happy for the excuse. And he's an equal sized IRA so can offset the risk there.