EliG

It's curious that BRK added 20% to Suncor in the same quarter. Granted, it's a much smaller position than XOM. Suncor is Ted Weschler's pick if I recall correctly. Is he bullish on oil while Buffett is bearish?? That's an odd looking pair of transactions.

He planned to return up to 20% of capital in Q4. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/24/investing-hedgefunds-tepper-idUSL2N0TE1US20141124

Questions to Canadians: Are any of you still buying USD at the current level? I have about 15% of portfolio sitting in cash (CAD). CAD is trading below purchasing power parity (~82c). It's annoying to buy USD here. On the other hand, it may be not too late if the worst predictions about Canadian economy come true.

$0.80 - $0.82 is close to the long-term average. One can argue that move *to* parity was a crazy aberration, and that we are just now returning back to the normal rate.

Randomep, I found this very confusing. Why not use XIRR?

Jobyts, google XIRR. It is available in Excel, Google Sheets and Open Office.

+1 "Someone will always be getting richer faster than you. This is not a tragedy." -- Munger

+10% pretty brutal??? I wonder what kind of adjective do you reserve for a year like 2008. What would you call being down 20-30%?

Try StockRover.com. Basic version is free.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. http://i.imgur.com/P9hLWEi.jpg

The demand side: The supply side: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-atYqPmLk8LI/UkohLrNKatI/AAAAAAAAFo4/HNR23Lz-aL0/s1600/fig1.gif The demand doesn't seem to be the issue here. Low prices should cure the supply side.

Long Cheap; Short Expensive. Buyer Beware. http://www.alphaarchitect.com/blog/2014/10/31/long-cheap-short-expensive-buyer-beware/

+1 to innerscorecard. I wouldn't touch XCS.TO with a ten-foot pole. 28.5% materials. 15.7% energy. 44% total in Canadian resource small-caps. You are making an active bet on commodities via junky small-caps. This is not passive investing.

Wow, what a smart guy. ;) Option A. Invest with Gottfried. Pay his management fee (2/20?) to own top 3 Clarke holdings. Option B. Buy Clarke at 30% discount to book. Gee, I don't know, that's a tough choice.

Back to Guy Gottfried. He pitched Holloway at VIC: http://www.valuewalk.com/2014/09/guy-gottfried-radar-underfollowed-gems/ He pitched TerraVest here: http://www.marketfolly.com/2014/10/guy-gottfrieds-presentation-on-tree.html Holloway and TerraVest are the top two holdings in Clarke. Clarke owns 42% of Holloway and 28% of TerraVest. I wonder if Gottfried clones Armoyan's ideas. :)

I took a quick peek at QVAL holdings. The number of retailers is disturbing. 7 out of 40 equally weight positions, or 17.5% of assets.

10 year return: -4% If the business is so good, why the return is so poor?

ETF.com and Morningstar for ETF research and reference materials. Bogleheads forum for community discussions. Just be aware of a strong Vanguard bias.

This Bloomberg article doesn't mention any Canadian names, but it kinda validates Glenn's point. We're Sitting on 10 Billion Barrels of Oil! OK, Two

I think it's very common in Canada. Posted bank rates are exactly like car MSRPs. No one pays them, except maybe a few financially illiterate suckers. You can easily get a much better rate through a mortgage broker. The brokers don't actually haggle on your behalf. They have prearranged deals with the lenders. Lenders pay them a commission on each mortgage sale. Mortgage broker rates depend on the credit score, of course. The advertised rates assume a good score.

Desjardings site shows "posted bank rates". They are negotiable. Use a mortgage broker if you hate haggling. Bank rates vs. broker rates http://www.mortgagebrokers.ca/mortgage-rates/

https://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/u-brent-crude-fall-more-1-kuwait-saudi-234728574--business.html

Great article on oil sands pricing. Diluted oil sands bitumen is actually worth more than it was four months ago http://www.macleans.ca/economy/economicanalysis/why-falling-global-oil-prices-arent-hurting-alberta/

Stephanie Ruhle is an embarrassment. I cringe whenever I watch her interviews... and I only watch them when I'm really interested in the guest.

Back of the napkin retirement planning: 1. Estimate your normalized annual spending, after tax. 2. Add your expected average tax rate. 20-30% or whatever. This is how much you need to draw from your portfolio before tax. 3. Multiply #2 by 20x (5% withdrawal rate), 25x (4% withdrawal rate) or 33x (3% withdrawal rate). This is the magic number you need to save before you retire.