rkbabang

+1 to Kraven and T-Bone1's last posts. If there is one lesson that I think I'm starting to learn is that there is no "next Buffet" and to stop searching for him. I've always done best by finding undervalued companies and investing in them myself. Sure I sometimes find them because someone else invested in them, but stealing someone's idea is different than blindly depending on some guru to invest your money for you. I've been paring down my FFH over the last year anyway for many of the same reasons T-Bone stated. "Prem is smarter than me, he must know what he's doing" doesn't cut if for me anymore. When you don't agree with how someone does business there is no need to do business with that individual. The amount of hubris required to think that you are going to turn Blackberry's handset business around at this point in the game is just absolutely staggering. Yes the BBRY investment it is only a small percentage of FFH, but like the SD and Fibrek situations it is a window into a personality type of someone that I'm not sure I wish to invest in/with. I used to hold a 50% FFH position, it is still 14% of my portfolio today and I'm re-evaluating that. If the info that the plan is to try to turn BBRY around is true than I think BBRY is the final straw for me.

The American system (crony-capitalism, corporatism, mercantilism, fascism, or whatever you want to call it) at its best. Why use your resources to compete in the marketplace with all its uncertainties and all those fickle customers, when controlling the use of government violence through the political process to maintain your market share is so much easier? Comcast funding political groups to defeat Seattle Mayor who is getting gigabit fiber for Seattle

I know we are trying to be stock pickers here but why not choose the best fund available? For my 401k, I avoid the S&P500 index fund and get the MSCI EAFE/MSCI World funds for more exposure to international markets. My holdings in my IRA/regular are primarily U.S. companies. I also get my fixed income allocation from an actively managed mutual fundd. I have access to some great low cost Vanguard index funds and some good value managers with low expense ratio funds. I know "market return" is not as sexy as what we aim for here but I think having funds in my 401k makes sense for my asset allocation. Many good points. I did the allocation on my first day when I set it up, thinking that I'd do more research and figure out what to do later. I just never did. Reading mutual fund prospectuses where each fund owns a ton of different stocks in a ton of different industries all subject to change at any time at the whim of the management is about as exiting as watching your grass grow. Do you then try to keep tabs on what they are doing year by year and reallocate? Oh gee this fund now has 1.43% in XOM, it was 1.18% last year.... Still, I am way overweight North America, you have a good point. Putting a higher percentage in foreign funds might make some sense.

I ran into the same thing 2 years ago when I changed employers. My old employer used Fidelity for their 401K which had a "Brokerage Link" option, my new employer uses Transamerica which doesn't. I am doing almost what you suggested. One I rolled over my old 401K into an rollover Traditional IRA (I manage this, but no longer contribute to it), I max out my Roth IRA every year, and contribute 8% to my new 401K invested in whatever mutual funds they have available. They have a bunch of funds, I just allocated 5% each into 20 of them. Yes, it pisses me off as well that someone else other than me decides where and how I can invest my money.

Eric, I just ran across this company's website. EOS Energy. They don't mention residential on that page, but their smallest "commercial and industrial" units sound perfect for what you are looking for. They say Here's a presentation where they talk about grid storage, electric vehicle applications, as well as residential applications like what you are looking for. http://www.eosenergystorage.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Eos-Public-Presentation-2013-02-11.pdf The only problem is that it looks like none of these systems are shipping just yet. 2014 for the grid-scale systems and 2015 for the smaller systems.

I haven't had a cell phone plan in about 10 years. I had a Sprint 200 min for $19/month plan way back when. This is my current phone: LG 840G Prepaid Tracfone. My wife and kids have tracfones as well. They are fine for talking and texting. We have iPads/Kindle Fires/iPods/computers/etc for internet when at home.

They don't have an internet and phone only package? My cable company has the triple package as well as packages for any one or two. I'd save about $100 a month if I got rid of TV from my package. The wife and kids are the only reason I don't.

When you've got a government (i.e. violence) protected monopoly in most of the areas where you operate you can do what you wish. Monopolies = bad and expensive service. This is true whether you are talking about public education, police protection, or internet access.

These look interesting. You can put it on top of your existing desk and switch between standing and sitting as often as you wish. I'm thinking of getting one of these for my office at work. The Kangaroo Pro Junior model is $399. http://www.ergodesktop.com/products

I absolutely had a negative net worth at age 25. I bought my first house at age 24, so I had a 6 figure mortgage + high 5 figure student loans and a low 5 figure car loan. I had a descent job, but just starting to invest.

I haven't bought or sold anything recently. There are a lot of companies I'd love to own, but not at the prices they are trading at. Ignoring my small positions my portfolio is now (in order) BAC(LEAPS & warrants), FRFHF, AIG-WT, SD(common & LEAPS), HOTR, AAPL There is nothing I want to sell right now.

Google doesn't let you track warrants or options, both of which I hold, so I've never seen any value in using it to track some of my portfolio if I can't track all of it. As others have mentioned above, yahoo used to have a decent portfolio tracker only it has really gone downhill in the last few years. I can do without all the auto updates (I have no problem hitting reload when I want it to update) and other bells and whistles, just make it work like it did 4 or 5 years ago.

This is my experience as well. Seems like the site has fallen a lot in quality in the 4 years I have been using, but there is no better alternative. +1 and +1. I wish google would do something more in this area.

Anyone else use Yahoo portfolios to track their stocks? It seems to be going all nuts today displaying crazy quotes being up and down at the same time, dollar amounts in the portfolio messed up. This capture is just one example from the first stock in my list.

;D

As a real coffee geek I buy my own beans from a local roaster who roasts them in small batches and delivers them personally to my door within 24 hours. I grind them right before brewing them myself (sometimes I use my drip machine and sometimes espresso). The only time I buy coffee already prepared is when traveling, and yes I will choose Starbucks. Not because it is the best by any means, but because it is consistently okay. Unknown local shops are very hit and miss in my experience, with Starbucks you know what you will get. Dunkin' Donuts is okay as well. I couldn't imagine drinking that stuff everyday though.

I guess we know why he needed $4B. Larry Ellison Submits Bid for Blackberry

I've come back to this thread. As someone with a young child, I'm going to have to deal with a lot of what was discussed here (and, maybe, in the thread about retail) in the coming years. I was raised in a family that (over) prized academic outcomes versus both general sports results and "learning" and doing what you love. I won't say it failed for me. But, I didn't enjoy it. I was pretty good at sports and didn't mind losing. I liked teams much better than individual (I think for the right reasons). In any case, that was not prized in my family. I did well in school but I'd say I never figured out what I really enjoyed as the goal (the edict from above) was to get the grade. I didn't like to lose but I don't think I was a sore loser. The quote of me from above had to do, in my mind, not with Buffett (or yours truly) wanting to beat Michael Jordan. I feel the quote assumes you can't beat Michael Jordan (that's why he's a useful example) -- it's not about him, per se, but about something you might want to play (or do) but are facing a situation where you cannot win and would prefer not to simply be a lamb leading himself to slaughter but rather to fight on and try to win in another way or at another point in time. I agree with what rkbabang wrote in the rest of the missive. This is a succinct way of getting across the idea of "never giving up." In fact, eventually, you do often have to give up (or lose) but before that you will have achieved what Emerson thinks is useful about a hard-earned loss. It does make sense to play those games even if losing is certain. It might make sense to reward kids for participating in these situations. Some kids get better but won't if they give up because there are no rewards. I guess what I'm asking is: How do other fathers of young children feel on these matters -- both sports and academic? I know the way it was done when I was a child and I don't think much of that method. But perhaps I'm too quick to throw it away without some education on the alternatives. What do others feel they "should" do irrespective of what they (may) hope their child achieves? Or, are those things always aligned for most of you? I simply want my kid to figure out what he likes and pursue it. But, I don't want a sore loser or someone who quits before they have a chance to figure out whether they might like the activity. Thoughts appreciated but none expected :) -- Note: Edited for clarity We are all different, and our areas of giftedness become manifest in early childhood. What toughened up Emerson might defeat or destroy others. He was an "Invictus" kind of guy. Discover your children's tropisms, what they like to do and do very well. Then, you'll see how to facilitate the exercise and development of those gifts. :) I would agree with that. I like how I was raised and try to do the same for my kids. I was never pushed into anything. My parents didn't care if I wanted to participate in any activity or not, and never tried to dissuade me when I decided to quit and try something else (or even nothing). They let me know that they thought education was important (my dad never went to school at all and never learned to read or write), but I was never fearful of being punished or disciplined in any way for bad grades. They pretty much let me choose my own path and let me know that what I did was in the end up to me. My wife and I have tried to use a similar philosophy with our children and (so far) it seems to be working out well.

My worst mistakes were before I discovered value investing. I graduated from college in 1996, got a job and starting investing in tech stocks. I think you know how this ends.

If we're trading quotes George Carlin (most people don't sufficiently appreciate his genius IMHO) has a few relevant quotes for this thread: "If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten." "It's never 'just a game' when you're winning." "People who say they don't care what people think are usually desperate to have people think they don't care what people think." "Most people with low self-esteem have earned it." "Just think, right now as you read this, some guy somewhere is getting ready to hang himself." And of course the most important: "It's important in life if you don't give a shit. It can help you a lot."

I love that quote! It explains why the suicide rate is so high and I suspect that raising a generation of self entitled little brats who, not only have no experience losing, but think that it isn't okay to lose, can only raise it. Joshua Greetings, Professor Falken Would you like to play a game? How about a nice game of chess?

I love that quote! It explains why the suicide rate is so high and I suspect that raising a generation of self entitled little brats who, not only have no experience losing, but think that it isn't okay to lose, can only raise it. Joshua Greetings, Professor Falken

I love that quote! It explains why the suicide rate is so high and I suspect that raising a generation of self entitled little brats who, not only have no experience losing, but think that it isn't okay to lose, can only raise it.

This is news to me. I didn't even know there was such a thing as the "Hyperloop Development Team". Former SpaceX director Marco Villa joins Hyperloop development team

That's how I felt as a kid. I'm sure my kids feel the same. :) I don't think many kids like the no scoring policies. They tend to keep score anyway.