dolce far niente

I have found a few companies with cash at 80% of market cap or greater with negligible debt in Asia. Some have market cap = cash and small amount of debt. Most are below 50 million in market cap. But they have minuscule trading volume so it's hard to build a sizeable position for most fund. I used to work for big mutual fund briefly and have a few friends in investment fund. They often apply rules such as market cap has to be at least XXX million or they have minimum trading volume. So there are enough inefficiency if you look at small cap stocks.

I started on this project a few months ago: http://ryanholiday.net/the-notecard-system-the-key-for-remembering-organizing-and-using-everything-you-read/ http://ryanholiday.net/how-and-why-to-keep-a-commonplace-book/ Just going through the index card from time to time bring helps me a lot.

+100. Very clear. Much appreciated.

My family and good friends, capitalism & rule of law, internet (so I can visit this board), intellectuals who went before me and left their writing behind... and winemakers (God bless those Barolo) Petec, hope you are holding up well there. Happy holiday everyone.

This is non-investment related. He mentioned that he would teach any of his employee, who is thinking of striking out, how to start and run a business. Even if the employee is competing against him in the future Not a single one of them clone his method. Can share his methodology and advice for business owner? I found no mention of this anywhere. TIA and really grateful for opening this up.

Pardon my ignorance. What is WSB?

The Small Big - Small Changes That Spark Big Influence. By Robert B. Cialdini and friends. It should be banned.

Congrats Gio!

http://qz.com/273797/tom-murphy-taught-warren-buffett-how-to-manage-a-company/

This could be one of the false optimization question. Meaning there is no answer to it. But an interesting thought exercise for me. This is what I would do: 1) Stop thinking about the property for 30 days. If you still like it in a month time, you can consider it. 2) Within that 30 days, go for a really nice holiday and stay in very nice hotel. One of those exclusive one such as Aman hotel. Compare the experience to owning that property. Would I want to buy that property when I can just stay in different Aman with different lady once a month. 3) Check for other options in the same neighbourhood. Can I get something better at the same price and hopefully at lower quantum. 4) If I still can't decide, I will but 51% of the property with the right to purchase the remaining at the same price within the next 10 years. 5) All above fail, you buy it.

This is a good summary: http://25iq.com/charlie-munger-book-to-date-chapters-1-5/ Edit: sorry more like a compendium.

Thank you. I just bought one.

Gio, Buffet gets his insurance business at depressed pricing. A recap on Geico: http://www.gurufocus.com/news/218282/geico--the-growth-company-that-made-the-value-investing-careers-of-both-benjamin-graham-and-warren-buffett-wedgewood-vic-presentation- Buffet's brilliance was actually buying great company, led by great CEO at very low PE or PB. So, all the stars are aligned and it was a very fat pitch. There is nothing wrong with paying up for good companies led by great leader. But it's just a less "fat pitch", return is probably reduced since you have paid up for the premium.

Yada, I think that's too simplistic. "There is simply not that much more valuable things to add after all the abundance we have already." 100 years ago, car wasn't a need. 80 years ago, TV wasn't a need. 25 years ago, PC in each home wasn't a need. 20 years ago mobile phone wasn't a need. 10 years ago, mobile data/LTE wasnt a need. (I don't know how I killed my time on train ride) I'm a saver and I watch my spending carefully. I'm noticing my need/want expand with higher income. There are new jobs/fields being created that were not there 20 or 10 years ago. App developers, website coders and UX designers, data scientists, system/warehouse optimizer, cloud computing, social media person to man FB & twitter, drones specialist. If we look at Etsy, there is a resurgence in hand-crafted goods. But maybe 10 jobs were destroyed for each of these new jobs, I'm not sure of the plus and minus. From what I understand new fields usually have problem getting qualified people. Just ask the companies in Silicon Valley. Could be a case of temporary/structural skills mismatched. I have met entrepreneurs/business owners who have problem filling vacancies. Having said that, I have no strong opinion on all this. I'm just ranting and taking a break from my work.

Andreessen Horowitz's take on this using 140 characters. “1/One of the most interesting topics in modern times is the “robots eat all the jobs” thesis; best book on topic: “2/The thesis is that computers can more and more substitute for human labor, thus displacing jobs and creating unemployment.” “3/At core, this is Luddism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite ) — “lump of labor” fallacy, that there is a fixed amount of work to be done.” “4/The counterargument is Milton Friedman: Human wants and needs are infinite; there is always more to do. 200 years of history confirms.” “5/To avoid the Luddite mistake, must believe “this time is different”, that either (a) there won’t be new wants and needs (vs human nature),” “6/Or (b) It won’t matter that there are new wants and needs, most people won’t be able to adapt to contribute & have jobs in new fields.” “7/While it is certainly true that technological change displaces current work & jobs, and that is a serious issue that must be addressed…” “8/It is equally true, and important, that the other result of each such change is a step function increase in consumer standards of living.” “9/As consumers, we virtually never resist technology change that provides us with better products/services even when it costs jobs…” “10/Nor should we. This is how we build a better world, improve quality of life, better provide for our kids, solve fundamental problems.” “11/Make no mistake, advocating slowing tech change to preserve jobs = advocating punishing consumers, stalling quality of life improvements.” “12/So how then to best help individuals who are buffeted by producer-side technology change and lose jobs they wish they could keep?” “13/First, focus on increasing access to education and skill development — which itself will increasingly be delivered via technology.” “14/Second, let markets work (voluntary contracts and trade) so that capital and labor can rapidly reallocate to create new fields and jobs.” “15/Third, a vigorous social safety net so that people are not stranded and unable to provide for their families.” “16/The loop closes as rapid technological productivity improvement and resulting economic growth make it easy to pay for safety net.” “1/The flip side of “robots eat all the jobs” not being discussed: The current revolution in the “means of production” going to everyone.” “2/In the form of the smartphone (and tablet and PC) + mobile broadband + the Internet: Will be in almost everyone’s hands by 2020.” “3/Then everyone gets access to unlimited information, communication, education, access to markets, participate in global market economy.” “4/This is not a world we have ever lived in: Historically most people in most places cut off from these things, usually to a high degree.” “5/It is hard to believe that the result will not be a widespread global unleashing of creativity, productivity, and human potential.” “6/It is hard to believe that people will get these capabilities and then come up with… absolutely nothing useful to do with them.” “7/And yet that is the subtext to the “this time is different” argument that there won’t be new ideas, fields, industries, businesses, jobs. “8/In arguing this with an economist friend, response was “But most people are like horses; they have only their manual labor to offer.” “9/I don’t believe that, and I don’t want to live in a world in which that’s the case. I think people everywhere have far more potential.” More at: https://medium.com/life-learning/how-andreessen-horowitz-is-disrupting-silicon-valley-208041d6375d