Parsad

+1! And in worst case scenario, you can eat cash...high in fibre. Try passing a gold bar through your colon! :) Cheers!

April 13, 2016 Ben Graham Centre’s 2016 Value Investing Conference The Ben Graham Centre for Value Investing will hold its 2016 Value Investing Conference at The Fairmont Royal York in downtown Toronto. For more details and to register: http://www.bengrahaminvesting.ca/Outreach/2016_Conference.htm

Seminar on Value Investing and the Search for Value July 18-22, 2016 Toronto, ON This seminar, taught by Dr. George Athanassakos (Professor of Finance and the Ben Graham Chair in Value Investing at the Ivey Business School, Western University), is geared towards financial professionals and individual investors seeking to enhance their knowledge of value creation, valuation and value investing theory and practice. Mr. Francis Chou, President, Chou Associates Management Inc., will be a guest speaker on July 22. For more information see, http://valueinvestingeducation.com/seminars.htm

I agree! If anyone should have avoided SD, it would have been the guys who expected the commodities blow-up and deflation. But you have several primary managers at Hamblin-Watsa, as well as analysts, who all manage some money. They are allowed to allocate a significant portion as they see fit. SD was probably not a consensus investment, but one allocated by a couple of managers with the capital at their discretion. How many value investors on here have varying views of the same security? Cheers!

Steve Cohen gets barred for 2 years alongside his previous $1.8B fine. He can start managing outside money again in 2 years! Nice job U.S. regulators...you'll just be dealing with this again 8-10 years from now. Cheers! http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/cohen-barred-managing-investor-funds-years-36170207

If oil was above $70 barrel, and it was well above at one point, it would not have been a dog of a stock. Everything is relative to the economic circumstances around it. Lou Simpson owns quite a large chunk of Chesapeake...which is nearly as big as a dog. Doesn't mean Lou Simpson was completely wrong on the thesis, but the environment changed dramatically and the viability of the company changed. You pick ten stocks...as long as you are right on six of them you are golden. Two will fail and two will tread sideways. But you still do perfectly fine over the long-run if you get those six of ten right. Cheers!

Don't know how the Keg's are everywhere, but I go to many in Vancouver and surrounding areas during the year and I've been to the one in downtown Toronto near Fairfax's office. I've never had a bad steak...in fact, I've always had a good to great steak at the Keg...cooked exactly how I like it. The service is always great and you know what you are getting there. I went to BierMarket a couple of years ago...the mussels were fantastic as was the beer. I've never had the burger there. Harvey's competition is DQ, McDonalds, BK, et al...when compared to them, Harvey's burgers are as good or better. They are not Five Guys, nor are they Shake Shack...they aren't meant to be like them. Swiss Chalet is what it is. It was one of the first restaurants to offer healthy fare, but roasted chickens are now available in every grocery store deli. Still, they give you exactly what you kind of expect. The food at the Montana's I go to here is pretty good. Nothing spectacular, but decent low-mid market restaurant fare...not that different than TGIF's, etc. I think East Side Marios could use some help...the only one in Vancouver closed a little over two years ago. Never been to Finn McCools. The one thing that should be noted is that Berkshire and Fairfax shareholders always want the companies BRK and FFH invested in to be really well run, top notch, clean, excellent service, etc. But remember, that these businesses are what they are. Even if Berkshire buys McDonalds, it will never be as clean as a Sees Candies. The culture of the two businesses are different. The expectations, traffic, etc are all different. I remember when I first became a Berkshire shareholder, I would always wish that local DQ's were run better...I expected better, because these were BRK businesses! But they are what they are. BRK bought them because they generate plenty of free cash flow...not because they are Five Guys or In & Out. Fairfax can improve some of these operations to a certain degree, but if you start to detach from what has worked, you may impact the cash you generate because you lose the existing clients or you impact margins with increased expenditures. Can you imagine McEwen revamping East Side Mario's menu and adding a mushroom truffle oil risotto? I'm guessing margins would shrink to the same level as McEwens high-end restaurants! Cheers!

You are correct. But he's simply discussing that the field of winners narrows so dramatically over time in these bubble industries, that anyone trying to buy for the long-term is likely going to get burned at some point. While right now, the carcass of one of these so-called winners from the automotive age is selling at horse and buggy multiples...which company or companies would you say provide the greater margin of safety...GM or a basket of internet darlings? Cheers!

Regardless of a new website, I've emailed Paul Rivett for you...it will get to the top at Cara! Can you send me your email or phone number (cornerofberkshireandfairfax@gmail.com), and I'll forward it to Paul, in case anyone at Cara wants to contact you. Cheers!

Seminar on Value Investing and the Search for Value July 18-22, 2016 Toronto, ON This seminar, taught by Dr. George Athanassakos (Professor of Finance and the Ben Graham Chair in Value Investing at the Ivey Business School, Western University), is geared towards financial professionals and individual investors seeking to enhance their knowledge of value creation, valuation and value investing theory and practice. Mr. Francis Chou, President, Chou Associates Management Inc., will be a guest speaker on July 22. For more information see, http://valueinvestingeducation.com/seminars.htm Cheers!

Nice, little slideshow. Cheers! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-NXDCXzrao

Wishing you all the best for Christmas and 2016! Thanks for your contributions and support for "Corner of Berkshire and Fairfax". Also enclosed is our company Christmas email which is equally addressed to the board members here...who I consider my "friends"! Cheers!

Interesting analyst report regarding Fairfax's insurance businesses. Ironically, at the same time Greenlight Re and Third Point Re are struggling! Cheers! http://dashboard.cormark.com/servlet/display.pdf?repid=jfenwick%40cormark%2Ecom_20151214130804604&userid=jlotesto%40cormark%2Ecom

Get your tickets folks...about 1/3rd sold already! I can refund later, but I can't sell you a ticket if we are sold out. Cheers!

Hi Folks, Details for our annual dinner. Tickets will go fast, so please buy them now...I can always refund closer to the date if you decide not to attend, but I cannot provide a ticket if we are sold out! We had over 180 people attend last year and we will probably blow through 200 this year. To buy tickets, go to: www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca Scroll down half the page...Select the type of ticket you want, and click "Buy Now"! Please review the details below for the dinner. Cheers! 11th Annual Fairfax Financial Shareholder’s Dinner CMC Fairfax Financial Shareholder’s Dinner Imperial Room - Main Lobby Level Wednesday, April 13th, 2016 Fairmont Royal York 100 Front Street West Toronto, Ontario (416) 368-2511 Presentation Only - $100.00 CDN Presentation & Expansive Full-Buffet Dinner - $200.00 CDN Cash Bar If anyone is interested in corporate sponsorship of prizes, or any donors for prizes, please contact me at cornerofberkshireandfairfax@gmail.com.

Essentially, you are correct in the way you laid it out and the repercussions. If you are privy to non-public, MATERIAL information from a board meeting or as a director through any correspondence/discussion, then you cannot trade that stock even in the SMA account. At any other time, when not dealing with material information or a blackout period, then you can trade as usual, but would have to file on each trade as an insider. Yes, you only have power of attorney over each of those SMA accounts, but you are also in a privileged position and there is a conflict of interest as a director and investment manager. The restrictions of a director should supercede your abilities as an investment manager. Cheers!

Went for $72,600 USD this year! Wow! http://www.ebay.com/itm/Power-Lunch-Mohnish-Pabrai-/121786832318 Cheers!

Hey Folks, The two other auctions other than the Lunch w/Pabrai one are for a Conference Call w/Pabrai and a special Berkshire Hathaway rug. Both auctions expire November 13th: Conference Call: http://www.ebay.com/itm/121786892798?ssPageName=STRK:MESCX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1554.l2649 BRK Rug: http://www.ebay.com/itm/121786949355?ssPageName=STRK:MESCX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1554.l2649 Cheers!

At $11,300 US now! Auction expires tomorrow at 4pm. C'mon get yer bids in! Cheers!

LOL! Funny, but I think Kraven will probably stab you through your heart while you are sleeping tonight...and then go back to reading. Cheers!

LOL! +1. Cheers!

You can become a billionaire selling collateralized loan obligations that are worthless as well...it's been done as we all know. My point wasn't that you can't become rich from a short book or that people aren't willing to pay for it, just that the institutional money is stupid and thinks that they need to pay short managers to reduce volatility (not risk) from portfolios. It's modern portfolio theory and I cringe at that...just like I cringe every time I hear someone say the word "alpha"! Cheers!

I'd like to see that math. Making 20% a year it would take you 52 years to turn 100,000 into a billion. Making 8% a year it would take 121 year or so. Good luck! -you aren't including the returns from a long book. Very few hedge funds run with less than 100% gross (i.e. a short position does not crowd out a long position). So the rate of compounding would be much higher. build a spreadsheet. for any given time period, take the s&p, put in 100% long exposure and then add a 50% short book that makes 8% / year (you would obviously need to make it have some sort of negative correlation to the s&p to approach reality, but making 8% a year from shorting is certainly not anywhere close to recent reality so this is kind of a useless hypothetical). rebalance to 100% by 50% monthly quarterly, whatever. the compounding will be very high and it will have lower drawdowns and vol, the track record would be great. -you aren't including management fees and incentive fees, 8% / year from a decently diversified and scalable short book would make my fund incredibly attractive as a high return, high alpha strategy. If I couldn't raise money from institutions, I'd walk into Izzy Englander or Steve Cohen's office and be running a big book in no time. -you're starting value is too low ;D If you can make 8% a year shorting over the next 20 years, you'll be billionaire too. But it's not happening. That's really really really really hard. What was Einhorn's short book return from 2000 to 2015? That's not quite 20 years, but would you not say pretty close to 20 years. But Einhorn's already a billionaire, so he doesn't need 8% a year. When you build an investment portfolio, you shouldn't be thinking about 15 decent long positions and 6-7 decent short positions, so that you can avoid drawdowns while maximizing exposure in the porftolio. That along with the liberal use of the word "alpha" is modern portfolio bullshit! You should be looking for 8-10 of your absolutely best ideas...or less...and it shouldn't matter whether they are long or short. That being said, remember that the downside to shorting is unlimited, while the upside is limited. A great long position will always make you more money than a great short position. If your primary concern when running a fund is drawdowns, then you probably should not be running a fund. The primary concern should always be finding the best ideas you can and maximizing results for your partners with the least amount of permanent capital loss. Cheers!

Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett/2015 Golden Anniversary Edition http://www.amazon.com/Permanent-Value-Warren-Buffett-Anniversary/dp/1578649870/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1446151758&sr=1-1&keywords=of+permanent+value Cheers!

Annual lunch auction with Mohnish has begun. 9 days left...at $2,025 US right now. Cheers! http://www.ebay.com/itm/Power-Lunch-Mohnish-Pabrai-/121786832318