Parsad

Generally, they do read many of your posts...especially about Fairfax! Getting a Ping-Pong table into Roy Thomson hall is easy enough, but I'm not sure how the dynamics would work. It would be more suitable for a more relaxed atmosphere, like the way Berkshire does it in Regency Mall in front of Borsheims. Cheers!

+1! Remember Buffett was a fan of Phil Fisher as well. He also tried technical analysis when he was younger. I think the best way to view any investment manager is as an amalgam of their readings, life experiences and circle of knowledge they've developed over time. They may be heavily influenced by a handful of people, but they are far more than just that. Cheers!

It's an unfortunate securities loophole he's exploiting. For example, in Canada the exchanges will not let you issue shares, even via convertible debt, below $0.05 a share. So, you cannot do this. It would be very easy for U.S. securities regulators to stop this practice. Cheers!

Guy Spier and Mohnish will be speaking to MBA students at The Stanford Graduate School of Business in a joint session on Monday, March 16 from 12:15 to 1:15 PM (Room C106, 655 Knight Way, Stanford, CA). If you'd like to attend, please drop a note to nickii_karen@pabraifunds.com. They have very limited seats for non-Stanford students. First come; First served! And then they are on to TED 2015 in Vancouver!!! Cheers!

+1! I can tell you exactly why I'm fat and overweight. It has nothing to do with sugar, gluten, etc, but the fact that I do not eat a balanced diet and do not get enough exercise. You eat too many calories and don't exercise at least three times a week, your body will slowly, if not over years, become unbalanced and your health will deteriorate. It's as simple as that! Not that sugar is toxic, or whatever smoke people are blowing up your ass these days. Anything in a large enough dose will kill you...even water! Your body is self-regulating and a prime piece of technology...to call it a marvel of engineering is an understatement. Yes, processed foods over the years have increased the amount of sugar and sodium levels in them. But it all still comes down to a balanced diet, watching your total caloric intake and a moderate amount of exercise. Those three things will take care of a whole host of other ills. 15 years ago, scientists and doctors said you shouldn't consume more than a few eggs a week. Now, doctors and scientists are saying that eating a couple of eggs a day isn't an issue. Red meat, coffee, sugar, salt, butter, alcohol, and whatever else go in and out of favour every decade. The real problem isn't sugar or fat, but the sheer size of the portions we get these days. It all started with Big Gulps and Supersized...7/11, Costco and McDonalds should all get the same amount of blame! If you went to a restaurant 20-30 years ago, their dinner plate is today's appetizer plate, and today's dinner plate can hold twice as much food as back then. A Big Mac used to be the biggest burger you could eat when I was a teenager...today it's about the same size as a fully-loaded "L'il Buddy Burger" at Five Guys! That's the little burger at Five Guys...the one children order these days! Even if you order something healthy at a restaurant, the portion size is huge. So while you may be eating a nice salad, the total caloric value of that salad may be well over 1,000 calories. A 7 oz steak, with vegetables and mashed potatoes is healthier and less than 2/3rds of the calories. You could add a Coke and still come in under the salad. And then you have all of the food porn that people love! Inundated with food culture, and the fact that acquiring food gets easier and easier, while lifestyles are more and more sedentary, you can easily see why the world is becoming fat...and it isn't due to the sugar, salt, fat or gluten. Cheers! Sanjeev, You are right about your circumstances and what we should be doing to trim down, but in a strange way we may be unwitting victims of an alien invasion. No, this isn't about spooky invasions of aliens from other planets or graveyards, but about aliens all around us and even inside us. Yikes! That sounds even weirder, but it's true! We all have hundreds of species of bacteria living inside us in our digestive tracts and especially in our colons. These are continuously fighting against each other for living space and dominance. When we eat a diet that is mostly wholesome whole grains, vegetables and fruits, an amazing thing happens after a period of time. Certain types of bacteria will take over most of the space in our colons. These are the ones that like to feed on the fiber and larger molecules of resistant starch that are part of a mostly plant based diet. When that happens, there is an amazing transformation. The products of that beneficial biome release substances that are absorbed through the gut and have great health benefits throughout the body. One of those benefits is to suppress excessive appetite and to predispose us to enjoy the same whole grains, fruits and vegetables those types of bacteria like. If we continue to eat those foods the undesirable competitors of the good bacteria won't have available the different type of food from our diet that they need to mount a counterattack and re conquer the territory. Then, we are in the sweet spot. We now like and enjoy those foods that are good for us as we benefit from the positive feedback loop from the colon with the good bacteria that release beneficial substances throughout our bodies. The diet that once seemed so hard to transition to is now very easy. But wait, there is more! We have lost a lot of extra weight, and it is easy for us to get up out of our chairs and move around. We realize we have begun to enjoy taking walks; so we walk a little farther. That nagging pain we used to have in our feet is getting better as our feet don 't have to bear as much weight. Then, we may do something we haven't done in years: we begin to jog a little bit. And the feedback loop goes around and around as we get more and more healthy. I totally understand the bioflora residing in our colon and how that affects our health. But my main point was a lot of the problems with the car can be fixed by simply making sure the battery is charged, brakes aren't rusted out from sitting still, and the engine is revved from time to time. Everything else is the fine tuning of the engine...using better gas, oil, washes, detailing, etc. If more of us just did the basics, that would change a lot of things...I'm as guilty as anyone on this matter! :-X Cheers!

+1! I can tell you exactly why I'm fat and overweight. It has nothing to do with sugar, gluten, etc, but the fact that I do not eat a balanced diet and do not get enough exercise. You eat too many calories and don't exercise at least three times a week, your body will slowly, if not over years, become unbalanced and your health will deteriorate. It's as simple as that! Not that sugar is toxic, or whatever smoke people are blowing up your ass these days. Anything in a large enough dose will kill you...even water! Your body is self-regulating and a prime piece of technology...to call it a marvel of engineering is an understatement. Yes, processed foods over the years have increased the amount of sugar and sodium levels in them. But it all still comes down to a balanced diet, watching your total caloric intake and a moderate amount of exercise. Those three things will take care of a whole host of other ills. 15 years ago, scientists and doctors said you shouldn't consume more than a few eggs a week. Now, doctors and scientists are saying that eating a couple of eggs a day isn't an issue. Red meat, coffee, sugar, salt, butter, alcohol, and whatever else go in and out of favour every decade. The real problem isn't sugar or fat, but the sheer size of the portions we get these days. It all started with Big Gulps and Supersized...7/11, Costco and McDonalds should all get the same amount of blame! If you went to a restaurant 20-30 years ago, their dinner plate is today's appetizer plate, and today's dinner plate can hold twice as much food as back then. A Big Mac used to be the biggest burger you could eat when I was a teenager...today it's about the same size as a fully-loaded "L'il Buddy Burger" at Five Guys! That's the little burger at Five Guys...the one children order these days! Even if you order something healthy at a restaurant, the portion size is huge. So while you may be eating a nice salad, the total caloric value of that salad may be well over 1,000 calories. A 7 oz steak, with vegetables and mashed potatoes is healthier and less than 2/3rds of the calories. You could add a Coke and still come in under the salad. And then you have all of the food porn that people love! Inundated with food culture, and the fact that acquiring food gets easier and easier, while lifestyles are more and more sedentary, you can easily see why the world is becoming fat...and it isn't due to the sugar, salt, fat or gluten. Cheers!

I'm sorry, I don't go on these boards often. Who's Sanjeev? I wouldst be Sanjeev...thy Lord of the message boards! Do not use my name in vain, lest thee be banned hence forth. What username did you want instead? Cheers!

Too early to say that. If China slows further, deflation will increase. Cheers!

+1! If anything should perturb investors, and I think to certain degree this was a royal f**k up because they were so conservative, but the hedges cost us a lot. They were just way too early with them. Equity prices were cheap, the hedges had limited upside at the time, and the only reason they needed them was because any significant drop in their equity/bond portfolio would have been magnified by the amount of asset/equity leverage they use. You can't fault them for their conservatism, as the world was falling apart...but They would have been better off holding more cash and no hedges, or maintained a lower ratio of leverage. Cheers!

Ben's a terrific choice! Prem's wife Nalini would have been a good choice too. Cheers!

First of all...Prem is not Buffett. No one is Buffett, except for Buffett. It's a moot point, because there is no one like him...period! Second, Buffett no longer invests like he did when he was younger...Charlie had a lot of influence on him...he's no longer a pure Ben Graham investor. Can anyone say that BNSF was an investment Graham would have made when Berkshire bought it? Yet, it has turned out spectacularly well. Fairfax and their team are pure Ben Graham investors. They will buy out of favour, distressed assets that other people don't give a damn about. They will make 10-12 investments and 1-2 of those will go to zero or there abouts. But they will hit home runs on another 4-5, while 4-5 will be modestly higher, lower or flat. That's how they operate...average in, average out...and hopefully your analysis was correct on a good chunk of your ideas. There's nothing complex or hidden that you are missing. They have a team of people who invest the capital...some of those team members will get their analysis right on an idea, and some will get it wrong. No different than Todd Combs or Ted Weschler looking after some of Berkshire's portfolio and getting things right or wrong relative to Buffett. It's not about questioning someone who looks after your money. Everyone cares about their own money as much as you do. But I've noticed that the ones who usually say that are the ones that sell at the wrong time and buy at the wrong time. It's like mutual fund investors...they generally put capital in at the wrong times and pull it in a panic at the wrong times. The average investor's time horizon is relatively short...a couple of years at best. How much of an impact will SD have on Fairfax? We'll find out at some point in time, but I bet it is heck of a lot less than this discussion is suggesting it will be. Cheers!

Really...this is what you have to worry about? Mistake of all mistakes!? I crack up every time I hear people second guess Prem. He's not going to be right on everything, and yes they will f**k up royally on some things from time to time, but he will still be right on enough things to outperform almost all of his peers over the long-term...due to the amount of asset/equity leverage they utilize and their pure Ben Graham investing framework. What percentage of their $30B portfolio is in SD? Forget them buying at $8 down...even if they totally screwed up the valuation and understanding of the business, and then they started buying at $20 down...what is the total percentage of the $30B they put into SD...at cost, not today's valuation. They would have had to put in at least $1B at cost into SD to even begin to think it would seriously hurt shareholder equity long-term if it went to zero. I would think their total cost is probably around $400M...if that. And the assumption is that the other $24.6B of their $25B+ investment portfolio is sitting idle doing nothing. Once you get past that, then you can see why this concern is irrelevant! Cheers!

ET Now Channel in India has donated 600, 1-minute ad slots to Dakshana through March. Here is Dakshana's first television ad: Cheers!

LOL. Maybe you guys can ask him how can he lead a fairly stress free life while running one of the largest companies in USA and periodically running into near-death corporate situations (Washington Post strike in 70s, SEC investigation in 70s, Salomon Brothers debacle, Gen Re debacle, Net Jets debacle, death of all the "made in America" brands he bought, Lubrizol and Sokol, etc.). I would have killed myself multiple times during his career. "Stress free" my a** ??? ::) :-X :'( :o +1! There is nothing stress-free about Buffett's life, except that he gets to do what he loves...so the stress is there, but viewed differently than say someone who absolutely hates their job. Cheers!

Mohnish, Sreeni Pulavarti (UCLA Endowment) and Mihir Worah (PIMCO) fire-side chat...minus the fire and fireplace! ;D Cheers!

I started the predecessor board to this site on February 20, 2002. Me and a few friends from Omaha...that was it! Thanks for all of your support and your friendship! All the best, Sanjeev Parsad Manager

Hi Folks, Tickets are completely sold out...all 140 tickets gone!! Please email me at cornerofberkshireandfairfax@gmail.com to be put on a waiting list for cancelled tickets. First come, first serve on the list. Last year, we had about 8 cancellations and those tickets went to the waiting list. If anyone is interested in corporate sponsorship of prizes, or any donors for prizes, please contact me at cornerofberkshireandfairfax@gmail.com.

70% sold now folks! I will not be able to help you when it is sold out...we will only have a waiting list for cancellations. Also, due to the fact we will probably be combining Norm's pre-dinner with the Upper Canada room opening earlier at 4:30pm, we may have to reduce the seat count by about 15-20, to create enough room for people to mingle...so we are closer to 80% sold out if that happens! Just not enough space for the pre-dinner anymore at the Railroad Car bar, unless we rent another small room/ballroom. Also, many people like to stay at the Ben Graham Value Investing Conference right until 4pm or so. Cheers!

A couple of events in Omaha for those interested during Berkshire weekend. The Charlie Munger Summit http://www.valueinvestorconference.com/#summit Omaha Value Dinner w/Tom Russo http://www.valueinvestorconference.com/#dinner Cheers!

Tie Southern California Event: http://socal.tie.org/fireside-chat-investment-gurus/ Mohnish is one of the speakers. He said he also rode 26 miles today! Sheesh. Cheers!

Where does this guy find the time for all of these interviews and lectures? Then, he reads all of those books on his bookshelves, somehow squeezes himself into spandex to ride his bike, and still runs Pabrai Funds, Dakshana and Dhandho...not to mention write a few books! :) Cheers! http://www.btvin.com/videos/watch/10563/demystifying-stock-market-investing http://www.btvin.com/videos/watch/10562/%e2%80%9cdemographics-of-india-promising-for-the-future%e2%80%9d

Here is the second half of the interview. Cheers! http://fivegoodquestions.co/season-1/s1e9

Wow! $15K for property taxes in Arlington...crazy. You guys better have the best sewer system, roads, transit and city services than anyone else I know. Cheers!

Details for George's annual conference. Cheers! April 15, 2015 Ben Graham Centre’s 2015 Value Investing Conference The Ben Graham Centre for Value Investing will hold its 2015 Value Investing Conference at The Fairmont Royal York in downtown Toronto. For more details and to register: http://www.bengrahaminvesting.ca/Outreach/2015_Conference.htm

Hi Folks, Just a reminder to get your tickets ahead of time. I don't want to be taking a ton of calls last minute and telling people that we are out of tickets already like last year! 40% sold already! Cheers!