Andy Dufresne

I don’t know where you live… So I guess your country has benefited much from this “so-called” EU… And I won’t speak for Greece, nor Spain, nor Portugal, nor France, because I have never lived there (actually I have lived in Barcelona for two year, but let’s disregard that!)… I speak for Italy though: if you think this “so-called” EU, or worse still the Euro!, have “brought jobs, well being and prosperity” to Italy… well then, believe me, you have no idea what you are talking about. Cheers, Gio I think Gio is spot on - I don't live in the EU but had the chance to see the effects of the Euro on another small economy - Cyprus - over frequent visits lasting a few years (starting when the Cypriot Pound was still the currency). After the Euro was introduced, prices for everything went up significantly in real terms, and new money poured in from both the EU and Russia to build a lot of expensive vacation units. However, in the longer term the price increases drove away those Northern Europeans, especially British, looking for a cheap vacation in the sun, on which the Cypriots had traditionally relied, to Egypt and other locales. I remember sitting at the bar of a hotel watching the 2010 World Cup only to have the owner of the hotel (a British/Cypriot) bemoan how they expected the hotel (and Cyprus) to be full of tourists and they actually had none.

In my limited experience with / exposure to sell-side "research", the bulk of it is very very poor - not only is there an almost myopic focus on short term prospects, but the numbers are fiddled around to get to a "price target" (heaven forbid someone tries to actually calculate intrinsic value) and the sentiment on a company can change rapidly so that a stock once lauded can be swiftly downgraded even though nothing intrinsically valuable has occurred with the company or the competitive environment. I could go on, but I think you get the point. As mentioned, they can serve as Cliff Notes / summaries of financials but I think it much better to go directly to the source material and see things there for myself.

@Gio - I think the crux of the issue is exactly this "selling a bad product" - first, most investors would not know how to tell a good from a bad product - the fact they have money to invest says nothing about their financial education, general intelligence, etc (nor that of their advisors for that matter). Second, the performance itself has not been horrific IMHO because in absolute terms this guy has not lost the principal, whose protection is more or less his goal AFAIK

Nate I listened in and it was good stuff, especially how you explained the much better transparency of the balance sheet due to the rules on how loans get reported and consequently knowledge of the margin of safety!

Munger, IMHO, meant for us to read classics of historical writing, e.g. Edward Gibbon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_the_Decline_and_Fall_of_the_Roman_Empire Jacob Burckhardt: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Civilization_of_the_Renaissance_in_Italy Josephus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jewish_War Caesar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commentarii_de_Bello_Gallico There are many others - its a matter of taste and to some extent what languages you can read well - e.g. if you can read Latin, French and German your options increase ... the English translations, if they exist, as good as they may be, are IMHO but a pale reflection of the source language [then again, I have graduate training in history so I am not objective ...] In any case, read!

Congratualtions! Rest and think carefully whether you want the strain of L2 in June - L1 isn't a walk in the park but L2 is a different beast! PM me if you have questions and again - well done!

No fancy DCF, no 2 or 3 stage DDM, no table comparing P/E, P/B, P/S, P/CF with other companies ... not sure it would get into Seeking Alpha for that matter!

Hard to figure out my "real" return as I have no control of my pension accounts and a good portion of my funds were sidelined for a house purchase which did not materialize. I'd estimate about 25% in my taxable account in terms of my local currency (before tax). Headwinds - the NIS depreciated about 15% versus the USD/CAD and I bought USD/CAD throughout the first half of the year,when it was lower, ending up with ~65%, so this added ~8% return Best positions: Value-wise 1. CKI - a loonie for 70 c (twice - exited and am back in) and run by smart guys to boot; 2. BAC $15 2016 LEAPS - sold recently for a significant gain; hoping to roll into 2017s; Catalyst 1. YHOO $30 2015 LEAPS - this was the best and worst position of the year - I bought at the bottom after the disappointing quarterly earnings (YHOO was around $33) thinking that the BABA IPO would happen soon and was up ~150% days before the IPO; I bought more ITM LEAPS - strike 35, they also went up nicely. Then the IPO and short-sellers knocked me out (it was a large position for me), and I sold the 35s at a loss. I still had a nice overall gain, but had I held on I'd be sitting with a quadruple now. Lessons learned: (a) think about the shorts! (b) hedge! I can only hope I get another 1 ft hurdle in 2017, recognize it and stay the course with my conviction. 2. ALSK - waited for the FCC approval of the AWN merger with GCI and bought immediately when it came out. Had a double at one point, but was greedy and ended up selling later for a small gain. More Luck than Brains: 1. Oi - I made money twice here, even though I should have lost my pants the second time. 2. AIQ - same deal - sold for a nice profit twice when shares seemed to be stuck. Packer - thanks for the ideas in any case (ALSK included)! Worst positions: Penn West - I bought right before Oil tanked, which could not be helped I guess; however, not enough DD on my part and I am sitting on a significant loss. Learning positions: I bought and sold two "hot-air" stocks to experience the thrill and pain of the roller-coaster trader's ride - both were quite volatile. Ended up selling one for a gain and one for a loss (overall I lost some money), but the bad feeling I got was worth the price of the lesson. Greedy Miss of the Year: Idenix Pharmaceuticals - I followed the stock and when I saw Klarman aggressively enlarge his position I should have done more DD or bought a starter position to force myself to do the DD. Sadly, I did not ... All in all, a good year. I appreciate the camaraderie that exists on the Board and hope to be a more meaningful contributor in 2015!

Guys, I'm really tired from this emoticon quarrel and I feel like you've completely hijacked the thread. If you wish to continue, please open a new thread - thanks. And now, back to the original intent ... resolutions, after I just finished my first full year of investing: 1. Be more efficient and systematic with my investing; 2. Find an original idea to share with the Board, and do some real research rather than read 10Ks 3. Think more about portfolio and risk allocation Cheers!

Hi guys, A friend of mine is looking to get a reliable data set for historical option prices for the S&P 500 (read - would love at least 15 years, but will take anything ...) - i.e. all options (all strikes and for all dates); end of day data is sufficient. Can he get this data for free from anywhere? If not, is there a cost effective way of getting it (e.g. some package on any of the online brokers)? TIA, Andy

I think the exams are worthwhile, especially Level II. The main advantage of the exams for most people is that there is a concrete goal and time-frame so one studies ... As for getting a job - I think the CFA is good at marketing this but it conveniently ignores the difference between correlation and causation, preferring to market the latter.

Thanks again guys! :)

Today I realized that my next post (=this one) would be my 100th 8) I've had a lot of fun perusing the Forums and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank some of the people here who have made me laugh, smile and a better investor: Sanjeev - for making this possible; xtreeq - for the introduction to the Forum; ERICOPOLY - for anything from CA tax considerations to implied interest paid on options; Packer16 - for most of my winners, for our tete-a-tete(s) about Oi (via xtreeq); Uccmal - BAC Leaps Gio - for your joie-de-vivre and passion for investing! I really appreciate the community and I hope that I get to my 1000th post having contributed more than I have thus far!

Thanks JEast!

I don't know where you get the x8 figure but in general both GAAP and IFRS require a company to show all of its off BS lease obligations; I simply then add them as part of the company's debt to the EV calculation (together with underfunded pension liabilities, etc.)