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Thank you!

Mohnish Pabrai speaks at MDI Gurgaon Dec 2014 At 15:00 he starts talking about Dhandho Holdings.

Then, please, answer the question I asked anders just a few posts ago... Gio The answer is obvious and he already gave it to you. The point is that your initial post and how it's written suggests that you positioned yourself for a crash by having a high cash allocation and limiting your spectrum of investments as opposed to allocating cash "naturally". I would argue that I have no idea whether we are in 1996 or 1999. For all I know the market could start a 30% slide tomorrow because [reasons that will be apparent only after the fact] or keep going for years. As long as there are compelling opportunities you should seize them and avoid forming a strong opinion about the market (à la Hussman) which can put a big part of your capital on the sidelines for a long time.

A couple of things: First of all I agree that the US market might continue to rise and end up in bubble territory. Low interest rates, lower unemployment, lower oil prices etc lead to a steadily improving economy which will improve confidence and drive equity markets. But I also think timing the market is foolish. When you say that you have a high allocation in cash and deliberately limit your investments I think you are doing just that. In my opinion it is ok to hold cash and sometimes lots of cash, but it shouldn't be a *decision* that is based on 1.) a ratio 2.) media coverage 3.) Hussman 4.) the length of the bull market 5.) anything macroeconomic 6.) sentiment 7.) technical analysis 8.) or in general your "view of the world and the markets" It should be the *result* of your usual bottom-up investment activity: Depending on the available opportunities your cash allocation goes up or down.

It's back online

Looks like it was removed? ??? Indeed, maybe there was something wrong with the video. It will probably be uploaded again.

Another Pabrai Lecture just appeared on Youtube: Boston College, Oct. 9 2014 Edit: Video was removed from youtube

I have similar thoughts. My thesis on this would be that he attracted a lot of money from people who primarily knew him from his housing bet and thought he was some kind of a wizard who would always make them money. Even though the struggle to actually get that big payoff in the end was described very well in "The Big Short", those people are likely to lack the patience required to invest in a value fund. Investors might have complained and judging by Eisman's personality he is rather shuttung the whole thing down than changing his style.

One thing to add would be looking at management. Look at where they have been in the past and - if possible - read some annual reports from that time. Look at what they promised and what they delivered. Over the long term stock performance can be an indication of value creation. Compare the stock performance to competitiors (maybe the industry is just doing well as a whole). Give it some context (Fincial crisis is not the CEO's fault...). I wouldnt rely too much on mainstream media to research CEOs. They hype people that turn out to be bad and miss the big winners. I also find it useful to maintain a watchlist of great CEOs. It might reveal a great investment opportunity when they start at a new company.

Here you go: http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/general-discussion/dhandho-holdings!/ Thank you!

I recently watched a video where Pabrai talked about building a business and he briefly mentioned that he was in the process of buying an insurance company with other investors. My first thought was that this could be his source of permanent capital similar to Greenlight Re, Third Point Re, and ofc Berkshire but I couldnt find anything on google and he didnt really say a lot about it. Does anybody know more about that?

Likewise! I forgot to ask, has anyone read Competition Demystified? Was thinking about tackling that soon. It's extremely insightful for investors who seek to evaluate the competitive position of a business. Especially the discussion of economies of scale changed the way I think about them. I would highly recommend Competition Demystified to anyone who is an investor, manager or simply interested in the topic.