ValueMaven

Well said @Parsad !!!

Let me ask this - over the next DECADE - would you rather own: Berkshire, Markel, or Fairfax?? I know my answer!! -- you can only pick ONE Berkshire hands down...

Good article - but nothing new here to long-time shareholders and students of the company. Actually this is an awesome asset for Berkshire. I really wish BHE monetize the BYD stake --- but that is just me

fyi - was able to get my hands on the full letter. It's floating around now if you look

Could anyone see Berkshire acquiring CLX? The stock has been cut in HALF and is now only ~$17B market cap company. We know how much Buffett loves brands - and the business throws off a ton of cash. That said - he has mentioned with regards to Kraft he has been surprised and how quickly the consumers preference for some brands has changed.

Apple is cheap - no way he did that. People still fail to understand the power of the ecosystem and the upgrade cycle. They are innovating AND giving cash back to shareholders.

Looks like a deep freeze might hit Texas. Does anyone know the status of BHE's $10B CAPEX proposal to the state?

American Express had a total blow-out quarter. They are buying back a ton of stock AND raising the dividend aggressively. If you have to think what this might look like in 5-10 years for Berkshire given the current pace of the buybacks...and that Berkshire owns north of 18% of AXP o/s

I Bonds! CPI for December was up 7.1% year over year… and 0.3% month over month.

They need to move this business out of BHE and into MSR!!

CPI comes out on Wednesday. The first two months are already running at 2.66% annualized. The May rate might be 6-7% again

The person at headquarters is more of a trader who executes for Warren vs. an investment manger specifically. I believe Snowball is the source on this one

Only about $20b of bonds vs $280b of equities. I believe there is a muni bond trader at HQ who mostly is rolling over positions, and managing some of the t bill exposure as well. I think what you are referring to is when WEB gets active in stuff like Junk paper in 02/03…and not the typical general account for Berkshire. I’d expect Ted to do more here - but also work with Todd and Greg as well. Ted has distress experience

2,000% ?? How … even still you might be flattish with that drawdown lol

Just placed my full year allotment for 2022 this morning. Dec 21 interest hits on Monday: 1/3/22

Welcome aboard @fareastwarriors - most of us will be double dipping in January as well. Early modeling of the May rest rate looks like 4.5% to 8%. If inflation the next 4 months matches the previous 2 and doesn’t slow down, the variable rate will be ~8%. Right now it’s 2.66% with only 2 out of the 6 months reporting.

How about the typo in the Sanders letter —- Precision Castports —- I had to do a double take

Great site. Thank you for sharing. Guy posts a lot of interesting material and analysis

@gfpvery helpful. Thanks. Why are you taking March and Sept rates when the rate resets in Nov and May? Why the 2 month lag. also what is the source of that table? I can’t seem to find that specific one on the BLS website

wow - very well said!! I’m glad it just wasn’t me who has had this trouble. The other idea is to just use CPI as a gauge and compare to what the rate is when it resets. Although that’s not an ideal scenario.

exactly

@longterminvestor agreed. I wonder how they are modeling out future CPI U based in that article however. also I can’t seem to find a good source for CPI U.

Might be immaterial … However the BHE 2021 Investor Day presentation has now been posted directly onto the headquarters website. Historically this annual fixed income presentation was only posted on the IR section of BHE website. I wonder what caused this change ?? Could we expect similar presentations for BNSF - which like BHE issues it’s own debt into the fixed income markers. Nonetheless, I thought I would make everyone aware of this given the lack of typical updates on headquarters website !!

https://www.freep.com/story/money/personal-finance/susan-tompor/2021/12/21/savers-can-rush-make-year-end-move-put-more-money-bonds/6500031001/ Really interesting insight There are four more monthly rates to go — December, January, February and March. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers is published every month and the I Bond rate reflects that index. Pederson said if the last four monthly rates for the CPI-U average 0.5% then the May 1 rate would be at about 7.2%. If rates average higher than that — say 0.9% -- the next I Bond inflation rate would be more than 10%, he said. Right now, it appears as if the May 1 rate could be similar to the current rate or maybe higher, which would help savers lock up a decent rate for one year at least

You are LOCKED for 12M. Period. The US Federal Govt has to determine that your area was hit by an emergency (Flood, Wild Fire etc) to warrant a pre-12M redemption. Who cares - these i Bonds are way better investments then basically most bond funds etc. I have a friend, very successful wall street guy - has 5 kids. They put in $70K ($10K for each kid, and then husband and wife) in Dec and will do another $70K in Jan. $140K @ 7.12% - not bad. He had no idea about these. That is the real unique part - you are basically double-dipping into year-end, at the elevated CPI U rate. Plus, if inflation persists then these things really payoff.