Parsad

Yup, I agree! I also think the opportunities people have today...be it in the job sector or entrepreneurship...there is no excuse for not building a comfortable life if you hustle and work hard. Of course there are exceptions where tragedy/crisis can delay, affect or hinder a person/family's economic growth...but opportunities in my opinion have never been better! Cheers!

Yup, totally agree! But there also has never been more government support systems, safety nets, tax credits, grants, scholarships, bursaries, go fund me's, etc than anytime in history. If you can't save 5 cents on every dollar when unemployment is at 4%, interest rates at 5%, inflation is at 3% and you make the average income or better in North America...I think that falls to the consumer, not the times. Even though I'm inundated with online offers to spend my dollars, and I can afford to buy just about anything I want, I still live frugally as if I'm broke! That saving or frugal mindset has to be channeled...doesn't show up by itself when you start making $150K a year. Cheers!

Oh, the kicker to the whole Christmas Hamper story is after we delivered the hamper, spent about 10 minutes with the family, the mother apologizes but has to go out for a Christmas party...girl's gotta have a good time! We're not sure who looked after the two children...the daughter was 12 and the boy was 9. But Mommy was going to go party! So in my humble and generalized opinion, the destructive pattern in savings among the population may have as much to do with gratification than economics or disparities in income! Even when I was broke, I managed to scrape up a nominal amount in savings each month, and as the small pile grew, I was able to start investing. Any loose change, unexpected bonuses/checks...all went into emergency savings, then savings, then investments. Cheers!

I just don't think there is any reason the average person (not below the poverty line) cannot save some money...even if it is nominal...5% of after tax income. My family was the first full Fijian family to come to Canada in 1964. Before that, the men would come to work, but wives and children didn't come till almost a decade later. My father was 21, my aunt was 10 and my uncle was 3. They were fortunate enough to come with a thousand dollars. They put $500 down on a house on the west side of Vancouver that cost $13,500...today the land alone would be worth $3M. About three years in, my grandfather passed away. My father was now 24, with a widowed mother of 40 who barely spoke English, a sister who was only 13 and a brother who was barely 6. He worked 3 jobs to maintain the mortgage and look after the family, while my grandmother took in borders to make ends meet. Even then, they managed to pay the mortgage and save a small amount each month. That frugal life lasted my grandmother her whole life. Not only did she look after her children, but eventually lived off her retirement pension and old age security for nearly another 30 years, while still managing to save small amounts of money. She never borrowed a cent outside of that original mortgage. When she would eat at McDonalds with the family, if she didn't finish her fries, she would carefully wrap up the paper packet of fries and put them in her jacket pocket. What looked funny to me as an 8 year old, makes much more sense as an adult who was finally able to understand the challenges she faced earlier in life. A couple of Christmases ago, I decided to donate a Christmas hamper to an underprivileged family. My family and I gathered the components, put it in a basket and went and delivered it to a struggling single Mom with two young children. When we got to the basement suite they were renting, the back patio was covered in a shitload of stuff...barbecues, camping gear, toys, all sorts of other things. When we went into the house, the underprivileged kids were playing handheld video games in a basement suite jam packed with stuff and they had just finished a couple of restaurant pizzas for dinner. After that experience, I decided I wasn't going to do another Christmas hamper. Maybe I was too judgmental, but was this underprivileged or mismanaged?! Regardless, I've chosen different organizations for my annual donations to go to where underprivileged or under-represented is much clearer! Cheers!

I've been on the broke side and I'm fortunate enough to be on the very comfortable side. I can tell you for a fact that there were things I had to do when I was broke that were tough, painful and demeaning to my ego and self-worth. But when you need to make a buck, you work and take shit to make a buck. Now, on the other side, if anyone says money doesn't make you happy...you're right. But it sure lets you sleep more comfortably at night with a lot of stresses out of the way, and the fact you are no longer beholden to a paycheck or some asshole who pays your paycheck. I've never wanted to be rich or famous...just free! Like Spicolli, all I wanted was to just catch that perfect wave, have a beer and a slice of pie! Five-star hotels when I travel are also great! Cheers!

You guys are probably in the minority. The majority of people, especially near retirement, would probably be very pleased that they have no mortgage payment to make each month. Being debt free, money in the bank, income coming from passive investments...that's a life where you can tell the banks, bosses, lenders and everyone else to just fuck off! Cheers!

Yes, that is true. Any statistic or accounting number should not be looked upon in a vacuum. But each can provide some insight into the company's true nature and financial position. P/E by itself offers nothing...same with EPS or P/BV...EBITDA is no different. Cheers!

In my case, I look after my mother. If something happens to me, I need things to be simple for my mother to take over with my brother's help. Having different loans in different places would be a pain for him as executor and the transition needs to be simple for my assets to go to my Mom, nephew and niece. So almost everything is in non-taxable accounts, one corporate account and I have a simple small mortgage...no other debt, no complex tax strategies, no offshore accounts, no foreign property, etc. Boring but effective! Cheers!

Two other options for Canada: 1) If your RRSP is big enough, move your mortgage into there...house is paid and the mortgage interest gets paid to your RRSP. Not 12-15% annualized, but at least the only debt belongs to your RRSP. Then borrow equity against the house to hold the investments you sold in RRSP account...now interest is deductible. No capital gains in RRSP. 2) If you have a corporate account that is big enough, use a shareholder loan and pay off the mortgage...now you pay the interest over time to your corporate account. Again, not 12-15% annualized, but debt belongs to corporate account. Then borrow equity against the house to hold the investments you sold in corporate account...now interest is deductible. Although you'll have possible capital gains that may offset any advantage from doing this. Cheers!

Yeah, I thought it was an amazing movie! Also saw it a couple of years after it came out. Surprised I didn't watch it earlier! Cheers!

I loved both! Probably one of the few kids to eat brussels sprouts. Cheers!

Those numbers are comparable to Canada...about 50% are living paycheck to paycheck and an unexpected expense of $200 would put them in difficulty. Because employment numbers are doing so well, pandemic funds that supplemented savings, consumers are surviving by a thread. You get a recession or downturn, you are going to start seeing problems. Already, bankruptcies and insolvencies are way up...I don't think the restaurant sector has ever had it so tough...maybe the Great Depression?! The confluence of high input costs, higher salaries, higher costs for fuel/electrical, landlords not making concessions on lease rates...margins are getting squeezed. They estimate close to 50% of restaurants are not currently profitable in Canada! I'm seeing so many restaurants in great commercial areas selling or folding. At some point, I would imagine landlords are going to start having to make concessions on leases, but because of losses or rent delays during the pandemic, they are reluctant to reduce rates too much. Makes it very difficult for restauranteurs to keep margins above water! Cheers!

What a twat! Complete moron as well. The new capital gains tax on personal corporations and individuals above $250K in capital gains is what led Prem to sell. He's also always stated that 90% of his net worth would be in Fairfax. When he bought that $150M tranche, I'm pretty sure that was almost all of the liquidity he personally had or the majority of it. This just restores the net worth balance of him having 90% in Fairfax and 10% outside of Fairfax, while saving millions in capital gains tax that he would have to pay after June. Cheers!

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fort-worths-tallest-building-sells-111742615.html Yikes! Comparable write-downs anyone? Cheers!

I don't really invest in the broad market except for VOO which I own in my corporate account, as I don't want to generate much in realized capital gains. I look for individual stocks in the rest of my portfolio and mostly even in the corporate account...so I can always find a couple of good ideas a year in the U.S. regardless of the market's overall valuation and I incur no political/property rights risk. Cheers!

Wasn't me who started this thread. But once it was started, I was hoping to contain politics within it, rather than spreading to other posts. So far, the political posts have been contained to this thread and the Russian/Ukraine thread. Cheers!

If they provide the same return or the return you desire...why would you? Cheers!

On the weekend, Buffett talked some about investing in China and elsewhere outside of the U.S. He said as long as he's there, it is unlikely that Berkshire will invest significant sums outside of the U.S. Younger management may choose to do so when he's gone, but culturally he has no advantage investing outside of the U.S., nor does he have any real need to since many of Berkshire's investments and businesses have substantial operations outside of the U.S. After my experiences with China, and considering the size of investments I'm making, Buffett's position is extremely similar to my own thinking. Cheers!

+1! Cheers!

Good results...pretty much in line with expectations and guidance! Cheers!

If you look at Maersk's results for Q1, their guidance has jumped leaps and bounds from $1B-$6B in EBITDA to $4B-$6B. That's one hell of a jump on the low side! I would imagine that Poseidon will hit the targets Sokol has talked about. Cheers! https://finance.yahoo.com/news/maersk-posts-q1-profits-above-060706435.html

On the weekend, I watched Dumas' Three Musketeers...two parts: D'Artagnan Milady Terrific actors, great story, writing and action. Very well done and thoroughly enjoyed them! Cheers!

I never said that you were hypocritical in condemning genocide. I said let's not get too self-righteous in suggesting where we see genocide, since western history is replete with acts of genocide and in massive scales. In my opinion, there is a difference between war crimes and genocide. Almost every war will produce acts categorized as war crimes...whereas every war crime is not necessarily genocide. But you are right...this discussion is probably exhausted. Cheers!

Define what you mean by "real economy"? Manufacturing today is an extremely commoditized industry with lower margins compared to yesteryear. If that is what you define as the "real economy" then most of the Magnificent 7 would not exist. China excelled at manufacturing for several decades because they had the cheapest labor. That isn't the case any more. It is why capital is flowing to other countries, including even the U.S. Combine that with political risk, property seizures, non-transparent accounting and reporting, difficulty moving capital out of China and lack of an equitable court system...no wonder capital is fleeing China. Cheers!

The West...Britain, France, United States, Germany. There's enough spilt blood by most countries, so any self-righteous stance is demeaning to any real debate. Cheers!