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The financials are impressive. But I think you're looking at it a bit wrong in the 08-09 period. The building (I include here flippers etc) came to a stop before 08. So that doesn't get much representation in 08-09. Besides that the builders use cheap, low margin stuff so it doesn't have that big of an effect. The other part is that painting is not such an optional activity. Aside from a group of people that can't sit still most normal folks leave painting until it it really must be done. Also while the great recession was ugly in the grand scheme not so many people were affected - maybe 10%? Paint is also not such an expensive product. The most impressive aspect is that they were able (or even thought) to pass a price increase during 08-09 especially since paint is quite a competitive industry. I guess the paint companies must play really nice with eachother.

I think this is very smart. Frankly I don't understand families where money is a taboo subject. In my family money was always an open subject. We always talked about who makes what, what we spend different ways/ideas on how/where to save. What investments we have, why we bought them, how we finaced them. You get the picture. I feel that I've learned a lot that way and that it prepared me well for life. But then again when my sister needs some money she borrows using her credit card despite the fact that she has a 100k portfolio. Maybe it's like LongHaul says. Maybe some people get it and some people don't.

What you call "functioning psychopaths" are most likely sociopaths - psychopathy is actually a subset of sociopathy and almost by definition psychopaths are non-functioning sociopaths. Sociopaths are actually not that rare. It's estimated that they make about 5% of population. So odds are that everyone knows some. By the numbers for example , there are definitely sociopaths that are members of this board. It's also no secret that sociopaths make up a disproportionate section of successful people. These would include heroes, neuro-surgeons, leaders, presidents, lawyers, and business leaders. That's because their wiring make them suited for that. In fact they are sometimes refered to as a superior human. That's because they don't have to deal with those pesky emotions of having to feel bad when they do horrible things. In regards to the book that you reference I have absolutely no desire to learn to emulate sociopaths. I find it baffling that anyone would. I am comfortable being an inferior human, lesser of, than these people and still be me.

Just to add a bit of semantics here. When looking at frauds you're looking at sociopaths not psychopaths. They're just like psychopaths but without the murdering and other violent aspects. And yes, they are completely amoral and have an inability to feel empathy. They're wired that way. Also empirically they're highly intelligent and have great interpersonal skills (though it's not sure why). That is the perfect cocktail for a fraudster. I've met a few of these people in my life. One of them I know intimately. It's really scary when you make the connection and realize what they are. You definitely don't want to do business with them.

Wise words!

Your Honor, I would stand here in front of you on trial for armed robbery if I hadn't slammed into that policeman's car. This is totally vehicular motivated.

No, I wouldn't consider posting a client letter or a good idea on SA. The site is pretty crap. Full of wannabe analysts that have no idea what they're talking about. (Granted there are some smart people posting, but how do you separate the wheat from the chaff without spending a lot of time). Posting a good idea there or letter would just be a waste of my time. What do I have to gain? I'd much rather post something like that here. One big advantage this site has is that it's a forum where others get to chip in, criticize me, try to poke holes in my ideas. That's valuable. This site also has a bunch of people that don't know what they're talking about. But it also has some really smart people. Over time you figure out who falls into which category. When someone who's smart tells you that you've done something wrong that's valuable. Lastly, I tend to be pretty lazy. So if something doesn't bring me enjoyment or make me money I won't really do it. So... No on Seeking Alpha.

No

Anyone knows what the price for premium is?

Yea, I'm not gonna spend $75 a month for earnings transcripts. Most of the articles are crap.

Thomson Reuters data is good too and they license it out. It's what google used to use before they bricked their site. Does anyone know of any platform that's based on Thomson Reuters data?

I don't think increases in CAT frequency or severity will impact insurance companies that much. Policies have a finite life. As the cat losses change so will premiums. So the underwriters will likely be ok. The insureds? Who knows?

That is incorrect.

Lumberjacks make good money too. It's hard work but the pay is good. The truth is that lumber jobs aren't going anywhere. Canada and the US need a lot of lumber. Someone will fill that need and as it turns out Canada has a lot of lumber. It really is just as simple as that.

All extractive industries amount to about 8%. Throw in lumber and steel you're probably around 10. I don't disagree with your premise. But the problem with your idea is that it's not that easy to take a lumberjack and turn him into a code monkey.

Yea, maybe a woman would have helped. Also maybe having a few more board members that weren't senile would have helped also. Half that board probably consider it a personal victory if they survived a board meeting. I see that Mad Dog is also on that list. Now I don't doubt his ability to smoke an Iraqi division. But the idea that he would have anything to add in the area of blood testing is laughable. Blood letting is more his thing. Furthermore, as DETJD pointed out this more or less applies to everyone on the board. What a joke.

My guess is the new system will trigger more activities: user will type in tickers and search things. . More activities mean more data can be monetarized. They are probably not making money in the old version. I think they came out and said that the new site should generate more ad revenue. I'm guessing that in there is the assumption that their user base will stay the same. BIG ASSUMPTION.

still works for me. Straight up, no searching or anything

This is a pretty stupid question. 1. We can never know. 2. Why does it matter? In my view as long as they do what they do well I don't care if they're in the Forest Gump league much less who's ahead of the other.

FX ACB is not really confusing. It works much the same as the ACB for stocks works. Here's a couple of things. You are incorrect in your assumption that you have to take a cap gain on currency of you buy stock. Assuming you already have the currency and you have a cap gain on the currency, if you buy a stock in a currency you will not have to declare a capital gain on the currency. You only have to declare capital gain or loss when you actually sell the currency. In the example I've just mentioned, assume that your foreign currency appreciates while you hold the stock. When you sell the stock you will report the cap gain on the stock as well as the cap gain on FX. But at the same time the ACB on your FX position will go up by the equivalent of the FX capital gain you reported on the stock. While the above is pretty straight forward it can become a pain in the ass because you have to track all the dividends, interest payments, interest received, fees etc in foreign currency which can amount to a lot of transactions to keep track. One way to simplify it is that CRA offers you the option to use the FX rate of the transaction date, average FX rate for the month, or average FX rate for the year. Using average for the year simplifies the calculations a lot. But I prefer to use daily rates because then I can trigger precise cap gains and losses. I don't really understand what you mean with your example of taking loans from IB. Yes, if you buy a foreign stock IB will lend you the currency and you would go short the currency. If you don't do anything else you'll report cap gain/loss on both the position and FX. But if you don't want to bother you can buy the stock with the loan and the buy the currency shortly after buy the currency and cover the short and it's all good. Keep in mind, you do not have to report FX cap gains/losses below 200 CAD equivalent.

As far as I know TD and Questrade accurately calculate the adjusted cost base based on the information they have. I haven't seen enough slips from Scotia to be sure but they seem to do it fine too. Obviously if you have other accounts that is beyond their control. The reason I've posted this is that while some smartly ignore T5008s and do their own work, but many others don't. Instead they rely on T5008s and just simply key the info in some software. So I just wanted to put this information out there for people to be aware. Of course the downside to all of this is that CRA gets the information from the T5008s. If one is correctly using ACB, one is on average reporting lower cap gains than the FIFO T5008s should indicate. This has the potential to turn into a hassle with the CRA.

In case i was unclear CRA confirmed that they issued no such approval. So the people at IB are either lying or don't know what they're talking about. It's not like I can reach the VP of tax on the phone. Consistent treatment is not what matters. "I have been filing my taxes incorrectly and will continue to do so in future for the purpose of consistency" is not an argument the CRA usually accepts. Furthermore, in Canada an individual is personally responsible the ensure the accuracy of his or her tax filing. Though the CRA is not likely to look kindly on an entity that consistently issues incorrect slips. As to why the T5008s are incorrect I presume that that's how they do it in the US and they simply slapped the same engine in Canada. A mess is a correct description, but that's what happens when you don't do things right in this area.

This post may belong in the Personal Finance section. However I posted here instead to get more coverage since I know that a lot of board members use IB. If Sanjeev deems that I've erred I figure he will move it and I apologize in advance. In preparing the T5008s IB uses the FIFO method. This is wrong and it will presumably result in higher taxes in a lot cases. In Canada you must use average cost for your cost basis. I spoke to IB and they confirmed that they use FIFO accounting for all T5008s. They also said that they've received approval from CRA to do that. I then reached out to my contacts at CRA and they confirmed that you must use average cost and that it is the only method they'll accept. They further confirmed that no approval has been issued to anyone to use a different method of accounting of capital gains. Cheers.

In US https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growler_(jug) Now you have to tell me what it means elsewhere! A female organ that is part of the reproductive system. Hint: It's not a uterus.

One should be weary when reading and/or seeking advice from crooks. For more detail you can look up Duke's involvement with Ultimate Bet and Epic Poker League as well as a her brother's involvement with Full Tilt.