Parsad

For friends of Premier, MPIC or CofB&F...see attached invite! I'll be in Hong Kong from June 21st to 25th; Shanghai from June 25th to 28th; and Beijing from June 28th to July 1st. Cheers! PDH_Hong_Kong_Invite.pdf

How anyone can say this after looking at their chart versus the S&P500 boggles the mind! You are talking about performance that is in the top half of the top 1% when examining risk versus reward, and this is not impressive?! It's like telling a brilliant scientist..."Well, you're no Einstein!" It just shows me how far-fetched expectations have gotten in a rampant bull market. I'm hearing this sort of stuff from some of my clients and all I can say is I can't wait for the next correction! Cheers!

Best-selling Berkshire author and GWU professor, Larry Cunningham, did a lecture at St. Anselm College: Also available, his upcoming article in the Wake Forest University Journal: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Papers.cfm?abstract_id=2602825 Cheers!

It's not that I've gone away. I'm here every day for a while, but I just can't say as much as I used to. I think boardmembers have to understand that things are cyclical. When we first started, my friend LotsofCoke and Bsilly, were the premier posters on the board. Circumstances and times change, and you had others take their place like Ericopoly, Twcowfca, Uccmal, etc. But those guys did really well in the last couple of downcycles and don't need to waste their time digging for nuggets when they will simply wait for the next big correction...the rest of their time is spent on other things, like family, enjoying life, etc. So in this next cycle, there will be newer members who will take their place in terms of quality and quantity of posts. It may take some time for the board to whittle down to whom they place on that mantle, but it will come as it always has for the last 13 years. And of course, the older boardmembers will come out of hibernation when the shit hits the fan and share their brilliance once again. Too many times I've seen people want this or that in a forum or tool, yet functionality and simplicity go by the wayside and the experience deteriorates. Why has this board not been replicated successfully? Stockhouse is crap, as is Motley Fool, Yahoo and even Greenblatt's Value Investing forum suffers from "Let's tweak it until we f*ck it up!" The non-investment threads in General Discussion usually appear when ideas become thinner...yes, I've heard the crap about 60,000 companies globally...how many are in that investor's circle of competence?! The forum is a vehicle based on give and take. Some want better ideas and more investment content...yet how much have they contributed back in ideas and investment content lately? When events and circumstances create uncertainty in the markets, that is when you get the best out of this forum, as many once again start to contribute. When things are quiet and circumspect, you get non-investment related discussions and thin contributions. It's pretty simple! Cheers!

C'mon everyone! Last year we did nearly $3,000! That's the target for this year. We have 180 people come to our dinner each year in Toronto and we raised $25,000! There are 2,300 boardmembers on here and double that number in terms of people who view. Let's go...show me the money! Thanks very much to those who have donated already. Cheers!

Terrific article that captures the man and his beliefs. Congratulations Prem! Cheers!

Hi Folks, I'm doing the Gutsy Walk again on June 7th for Crohn's & Colitis Canada. Through our dinners each year in Toronto, we've raised nearly $100,000! If you include my annual Gutsy Walk campaign on here, we are over $110,000 in total. If you are interested in supporting my walk, please go to my profile and donate: http://crohnsandcolitiscanada.akaraisin.com/pledge/Participant/Home.aspx?seid=9641&mid=9&pid=2233297&sgid=47 Much appreciated! Sanjeev

By the way, those are two relatively busy roads you would be living on, so I hope you don't mind road noise if you buy! Cheers!

No, I don't buy it. He had the same issues fighting Marquez and there were no injuries...somehow he managed to win those fights on the card, but I thought he lost two of them. When you are an offensive fighter, you just aren't as disciplined, because you are looking to get inside the defense of the other fighter...thus you are going to get hit and lose points. But a defensive fighter that is disciplined can beat you on points by simply connecting and then dancing away. Manny has to be aggressive, but he wasn't aggressive enough...so he wasn't throwing enough punches and not enough were connecting to counter how many times he was getting hit. He had the most success in his career when the flurries were coming in quick batches throughout a round...not only at the beginning and end. Cheers!

This is basically my take as well. I will say that I think the Manny of 5 years ago would have won. His speed isn't where it used to be and that's the thing that got him to where he was. Yes, I would have loved to see that fight. Sadly, he was a better fighter when he was gambling, carousing and cursing...kind of like Tiger Woods before his wife caught him! ;D Then again, the argument could be made that Mayweather would have also been faster five years ago, as he is 38 now and two years older than Pacquaio. Cheers!

I watched the fight with about 30 people at a friend's house and it went about how I expected. But for many of the people there, who aren't boxing fans and used to "ground and pound" crap, they were upset about what they were watching. I thought Mayweather put on a clinic in how to beat Pacquiao. Same issues Pacquiao had in his fights with Marquez (another great defensive boxer), two of which he lost but somehow won on the scorecards. Manny needed to be aggressive through the whole fight, rather than in spurts or ends of rounds. He started to look tired by the 7th round or so...you can't keep up that type of frenzy punches and combinations. I think Floyd was a bit surprised by Manny's speed in the first two rounds and then got his bearings straight and focused on jabs and defensive counterpunches. He did what he needed to...let Manny go crazy when his guard was up and then quickly duck and get out of the corners and ropes. I had it 8 rounds to 4 for Mayweather. You have to give Floyd a ton of credit for remaining so disciplined. Especially with his crazy father telling him to go after Pacquiao after each round. Floyd just ignored him and stuck to his disciplined style. You can see Manny's problems with really good defensive boxers. I don't think there is any need for a rematch, but with all the money involved, you might see one if they can interest Mayweather. I think he should just get 49-0 and retire, and then watch people argue over who was the better boxer...Mayweather or Marciano...even though they were two totally different boxers, in different weight classes, with different styles. It was a good fight for true boxing fans, but not for ones that wanted to see a lot of brutality. Cheers!

Norm Rothery did a terrific writeup on the Fairfax events for Moneysense magazine. Norm works tirelessly with me to help put all of these events together, so give him a hardy thanks! Wonderful article and I'm very pleased, that along with Fairfax, we've put together something quite fun and special for investors and shareholders. Cheers! http://www.moneysense.ca/invest/stocks/highlights-from-fairfax-lollapalooza-2015

Hey, Sanjeev: Is that a typo you had there, free refreshments for everyone? ;D Soon it will be free parking once we have $2,000 per share! LOL :) Yeah, it's just water, soft drinks and glasses full of ice. Just so people can mingle and relax between George's conference and our dinner. Feel free to donate to CCC if you would like, but I am covering this cost. Cheers!

This works on all of the browsers. All you have to do is click "Post" and it will post. Just don't hit "back" or anything, otherwise then you lose the post. Cheers!

I remember meeting this gentleman on a flight from Dallas to Omaha about five years back. He was about 90-95 years old, half-blind, but very engaging. He was going to the Berkshire Hathaway meeting. Lived in Dallas, but had a farm in Omaha and was a long-time shareholder. I asked him about his farm..."Ohhh, I bought it many years ago...about 50,000 acres!" I asked him how long he's been a shareholder..."Oh, I owned it before Buffett got involved. My broker accidentally bought me 5,000 shares when I asked him to buy something else, but he thought this was a better investment." What happened...did you keep the shares? "Yeah, I ended up keeping them. I gave my idiot son 500 shares ten years ago, but he sold them, but I kept the rest of them!" And the broker? "Oh, I fired him right after he bought me the stock and told me what he did!" Did you ever see him again or thank him years later? "Nope!" as he chuckled. So why did Buffett buy Berkshire? Perhaps serendipity. Maybe it was a mistake for Buffett to buy Berkshire, but maybe he would not have turned Berkshire into what he did if he had sold it or bought something else. Thank goodness he made the worst mistake of his life by buying Berkshire! Cheers!

The pre-dinner meeting on April 15th is in Salon 1 of the Fairmont Royal York on the 19th Floor from 3pm to 6pm with free refreshments for everyone. Cheers!

Hi Folks, Last chance to buy tickets to our 10th Annual Fairfax Financial Shareholder's Dinner which occurs Wednesday, April 15th at 6pm in the Imperial Room at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto. www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca - scroll down a little and you'll see the ticket box on the left hand column We also have a few fantastic new silent auction items that Fairfax was able to arrange: - Wayne Gretzky autographed Edmonton Oilers Jersey w/Certificate of Authentication - Wayne Gretzky autographed Los Angeles Kings Jersey w/Certificate of Authentication - Milos Roanic autographed gift set w/includes a racket, shirt, bag and photograph...all signed by Milos! The Edmonton Jersey will begin the auction bidding at our dinner and end at the Fairfax AGM. The jersey will be at the table where I hand out the Templeton Foundation books at Fairfax's AGM. A special person will be waiting to award the jersey to the highest bidder! Cheers!

Again to reiterate on changes to the dinner: - Now in the Imperial Room on the Lobby Level - Nametags at Registration Table in Foyer of Imperial Room - Doors open at 6pm - Dinner / Presentations begin at 6:30pm - Guests arrive at 8:30pm-8:45pm for Q&A - Bring your credit card and cash, as we will have some terrific silent auction prizes! Pre-Dinner Gathering - 3pm to 6pm in Salon 1 now on the 18th Floor - Complimentary refreshments Cheers!

I agree with FFHWatcher in terms of logic on how you spend on a car...whether you have a large capital base/income or small capital base/income. In other words, even if you are younger and have a small capital base/income, then you would allocate a more modest amount into a vehicle than someone with a larger capital base/income. FFHWatcher may buy a $50-60K car. Someone younger with a smaller capital base should probably allocate around $15-20K. I have no hard and fast rules. I liked the new Jeep Cherokee, so I bought one new, but not without haggling at a number of dealers and then having the winner throw in a couple of things free like a flat screen tv and unlimited car washes. The other car I bought, a Mercedes B200 Turbo, I simply kept going to a couple of dealerships on a Saturday for a couple of months...just watching what they had in inventory. Of the cars I liked, the one that kept sitting out there each week...the dealer kept dropping the price because it wouldn't sell...that's the one I went and bargained hard for after about 2 months. I got it for a song and it runs beautifully! The bottom line though is I cannot buy anything without haggling a bit, or looking for a discount or coupon...I don't like paying retail. So, I would say there are no hard and fast rules about buying a car, but the biggest would be that you are buying something you can comfortably afford. If you don't know anything about cars, then I would recommend CONeal suggests...buy new, but what you can afford, and then drive it until the wheels fall off and the body rusts. Cheers!

Nothing nefarious in their motives, so the "red-flags" issue is irrelevant. They've taken a teaching approach in their presentations...to share the knowledge they've garnered from their experiences...and it just means a lot of exposure to a lot of students. Cheers!

It's been a couple of years since I last spoke to Francois, but my opinion would not change about him. He's an honest, good guy and a good investor. He has a good team as well. The one caveat I would give, and I always give this...doesn't matter who the manager is: In examining a manager's long-term results, I never look at what he did managing his personal portfolio, or money for family or friends. It's not the same thing...not at all...not even if it is audited. Managing capital from people you have more than an arms-length fiduciary responsibility to is completely different. Why? Because your parents and your best friend's Mom or Dad most likely won't pull the capital from you...and they also won't question you when you put 100% of it into Berkshire Hathaway or some other company. So whenever I see personal portfolio or family/friends data incorporated into long-term results, that caveat always comes to mind. That being said, Francois has still done very well if you exclude the 1993-1998 years...so the caveat is somewhat irrelevant in this case. Cheers!

It's not a particularly good article, and while some things are inaccurate, some of it is accurate. I would suggest this fed off or is reporting the Groveland party line. What I'm disappointed with is not that Sardar is finally being taken to task, but that the task master leaves a lot to desire as well. I'm not impressed by Groveland's proxy other than the fact they had the balls to do this with such a tiny stake in BH. Cheers!

You quote Carnegie, but the Janitor did exactly the same thing as Carnegie...donated his wealth to the local library and community. Perhaps, he was influenced by Carnegie...perhaps he was just a frugal old man who loved investing the way others love crosswords...perhaps he was lonely and selfish. No one really knows unless you know the man. For us to comment like we are doing is a lazy simplification of his life. Cheers!

Presentation at Google! Dynamic Duo...good stuff, but you guys need to be careful of getting too much exposure. You don't want people to start becoming de-sensitized to the message. It's why the Rolling Stones only tour every three-five years! ;D Otherwise you become the Grateful Dead and their Deadheads! Cheers!

Hi Folks, Due to changes at the Royal York, our dinner has moved to the Imperial Room on the lobby level floor. What that does is give us a far bigger venue and we have plenty of seats available. If you are on the waiting list, or were not interested in buying tickets because we were sold out, the Paypal button has been added back to the home page site on the left hand side: www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca Select the type of ticket you want, and click "Buy Now"! Please review the updated details below for the dinner. Cheers! 10th Annual Fairfax Financial Shareholder’s Dinner CMC Fairfax Financial Shareholder’s Dinner Imperial Room - Main Lobby Level Wednesday, April 15th, 2015 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.