zarley
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Posts posted by zarley
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Agreed. Great letter. I'm not done reading it, but it is insightful and entertaining -- a great combo.
This quote from Lincoln I've never heard before:
If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening my ax.An excellent thought on being deliberate and prepared.
Thanks for sharing.
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Munger's Transacation
Class A Common Stock ( 1 ) 11/20/2008 S 2,000 ( 2 ) ( 2 ) See footnote 1 ( 1 ) $77,500 ( 3 ) 13,181 D
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1067983/000118143108063602/xslF345X03/rrd224408.xml
Thanks Grenville, that's the one I was thinking of.
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I've been watching the prices today . . . wondering what's up. $2,500 for the B's seems pretty crazy.
I agree about the low $70k range on the A's being close to a buyback price. Recall Munger's actions in Nov when it got this low. I believe he sold some A's to his family members around these prices, in a sort of pre-emptive distribution of his BRK holdings.
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Long term -- FFH. But over a shorter period the ORH preferreds may do a bit better.
If called at the end of 2010 ORH-A will return over 60% from current prices. FFH would need to get over $500 to provide that kind of return. That seems a little unlikely in the next two years, although it's certainly possible.
Given a 5-10 year time frame though and the earning potential of FFH is much more attractive.
I own both, but my position in FFH is 2x my position in ORH-A.
FWIW
zarley
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Apparently a couple guys put on a ukulele concert and donated the proceeds to WEB (cash in a brown paper bag). They also got an interesting interview with him, discussing many topics, but focusing mainly on his favorite stringed instrument.
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/02/10/interview-with-warre.html
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Several attempts to access the ORH-A thread in the Fairfax forum have given me this error:
Template Parse Error!It seems something has gone sour on the forum with the template system. This problem should only be temporary, so please come back later and try again. If you continue to see this message, please contact the administrator.
You can also try refreshing this page.
Actually, it's all the threads in that forum. Anyone else having this problem?
Zarley
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The descriptions of Susan's life were fine. Buffett needs to realize that we are all human and many will identify with his/her experiences rather than be critical. I for one did not think any less of him or his family due to the book.
I thought the portrayal in the book really humanized him. I think a lot of people tend to think of Warren the investment god and stop there. The personal parts of the book really show that he is an imperfect human being just like the rest of us. I think Schroeder could have really done a hatchet job if she wanted to, but instead, portrayed his personal flaws in a mostly non-judgemental way.
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Not sure the original link is working. Here's a different link: http://www.swissre.com/pws/media%20centre/news/news_releases_2009/preliminary_and_unaudited_2008_results.html
As part of this effort, the Group and Berkshire Hathaway have agreed in principle that Berkshire Hathaway will invest CHF 3 billion in Swiss Re. The final closing of the investment is subject to shareholder approval. The investment is expected to be in the form of a convertible perpetual capital instrument issued by Swiss Re with a 12% coupon. At Berkshire Hathaway’s option, it will be convertible after three years into Swiss Re shares, with a price of CHF 25 per share (subject to anti-dilution adjustments).Warren Buffett commented, “We are delighted to have this opportunity to increase our investment in Swiss Re. I am very impressed by Jacques Aigrain and his management team.”
This little tidbit was tucked in there as well:
The Group has also agreed, subject to regulatory approval, to enter into an adverse development cover with Berkshire Hathaway on the Group’s total Property & Casualty reserves. The contract will provide total coverage of CHF 5 billion.Someone at the TMF BRK board suggested that BRK received a 2billion premium for this meaning BRK basically reinvested that premium plus 1 billion of it's own at 12%. Anyone here have some insight about that? Seems like a pretty good deal.
Link to presentation slides: http://www.swissre.com/resources/170346804cebd7cd962ab798e2cf17c9-FY2008_preliminary_results_FINAL.pdf
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I agree with StubbleJumper, and voted to keep the current format. It will take a little time to know how and where the discussions go, but what you have is a great start. If we find certain sections are unused, you can always fold them into another relevant section, or put everything into the general discussion heading. I think in time the activity of the board will reveal if we need more or less subforums, but the current structure seems right to me for now.
FWIW
zarley
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:o For those of us who do not know, why is this share so special?
Currently offering close to 12% in dividend yield and has the potential to be called by Odyssey for $25 after October 2010. Best case scenario, you get ~$4 in dividends and a ~$7 capital gain by the end of 2010 if they call it asap (64% gain in ~two years). Worst case scenario, you get a 12% dividend indefinitely from a well run and well capitalized company, which is majority owned by Fairfax. It won't be a homerun, but I see it as a very safe bet that offers a good to very good return.
Here's a link to the issue prospectus: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1137048/000090956705001607/t18226e424b5.htm
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Is there anything fishy which might be happening? or is it that the market is kinda stupid
It's very thinly traded, so one committed seller can keep the price down for a while. If you look at a day's volume, it is usually in the low thousands of shares.
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Trying to figure out the table formatting . . .
Maturity Yield Yesterday Last Week Last Month 3 Month 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 6 Month 0.20 0.16 0.20 0.36 2 Year 0.72 0.78 0.92 0.99 3 Year 0.89 0.94 1.11 1.25 5 Year 1.43 1.45 1.44 1.90 10 Year 2.06 2.10 2.18 2.92 30 Year 2.56 2.63 2.63 3.43 The code for it is convoluted and tiresome; and the result isn't a lot better. I wonder if I'm doing it wrong.
:(
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isnt ORH-B cheaper? the div is almost the same? sorry i am kind of new to these preferreds and cant see a reason why orh-a is better then orh-b
Not really a question of better. The ORH-B shares have a floating dividend rate (based on 3 month LIBOR) and the A shares have a fixed rate. Since short term rates have come down considerably recently, the payout for the B shares will be less than the A shares for the immediate future.
At current prices the A shares are yielding almost 12%.
Disclaimer: I own ORH-A.
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Thanks Sanjeev. I know you have your hands full; your efforts are much appreciated.
I like using avatars. For me, I get to know posters by their avatar and it can make for a much faster visual filter if I'm looking for a post by a particular person.
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According to the recently released annual report for the Fairholme Fund, they have sold all of their holdings in BRK.
http://www.fairholmefunds.com/2008ar.pdf
During the last six months of the fiscal year, the Fund materially disposed ofcommon stock holdings in the following corporations:
Berkshire Hathaway, Inc.
Daily Journal Corp.
HomeFed Corp.
IDT Corp.
Mohawk Industries, Inc.
Mueller Water Products Inc.
Mylan Laboratories, Inc.
USG Corp.
Top 10 Holdings:
Pfizer, Inc. 18.72%
Sears Holdings Corp. 6.08%
Forest Laboratories, Inc. 5.98%
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. 5.13%
WellPoint, Inc. 4.82%
Boeing Co. 4.64%
Northrop Grumman Corp. 4.61%
UnitedHealth Group, Inc. 4.54%
The St. Joe Co. 3.81%
Humana, Inc. 3.41%
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61.74%
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Good tips on some of the posting functionality here:
http://cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/index.php?action=help;page=post#bbcref
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First, thanks Sanjeev for coming through with the message board format. At first glance, it looks great -- simple/functional. Just a couple questions though. . .
Will uploadable avatars be available? Freddie Prinz Jr. is awesome, but I might want to use something else.
Are videos postable? Should be standard by now, but it's not obvious as I type this up that it is possible.
Maybe this thread could be a repository for board function Q&A?
zarley
OVER UNDER $10.38 quarters earnings estimate asper Thomson Financial research
in Fairfax Financial
Posted
Link to Marketwire announcement:
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/090219/0475920.html