DooDiligence

Twitter has been getting jammed up with poli-nonsense for a while now too. I recently discovered that you can mute keywords. A few choices that have done a lot to clean up my feed: Politics Political Republican(s) Democrat(s) Congress Senate SCOTUS Trump + I'm quick to block just about anyone who regularly posts poli-BS.

CLB

It exists so we don't have to do this. http://uglymule.com/images/fingers-in-ears.gif

Cigarbutt, the Michael Jordan link is got me laughing so hard, I am going to S..t myself. Forget this investing stuff. Now that basketball has been made simple in 20 EASY steps, I am going to start working on those. It will be a Cinch. Look for a 5 foot 6, finance guy playing for the NBA Washington Wizards in about 12 months. PS- Step 4 is practice, but there is no step to tell me how to Slam Dunk or Alley-oop. Maybe I will Google the 4 easy steps to Alley-oop in just 30 days.. ;) Earl Boykins was 5' 5" & signed to the NBA’s Washington Wizards in 2009. He subsequently went on to play with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Houston Rockets. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Boykins

I'm studying Beethoven's 32 variations because they're making me do it. I will never reproduce his performance ;D

Digging into footnote 2 on WEB's comp. https://www.cnbc.com/id/47605253 Wear a cup.

So much for the US Health Care System. If you are a healthy person in good mental shape, alone maneuvering this system may eventually put you on medication. I'm deeply distracted by the sunk cost fallacy & find it difficult to sell shares of MO which are slightly underwater. I know that I should sell if I don't believe that management is making good moves (and I don't.) I should turn that into an if/then statement & see if it's a tautology. Or would it be better to use a Venn diagram?

I'm single & was paying for drinks at the FloraBama last night. I feel a lot more sane today. That is all. ;D

Why do you sell your lower cost shares ? You should sell your high cost shares, perhaps take a loss and either wash sale it by parking in another tobacco stock or just rebuying 31 days later. Read my signature below. The part right before the Twitter link. [edit]: i forgot to add that I'm also still long MO Calls - Jan 2020 $52.50's & Jan 2021 $50's (fingers crossed...)

Some of my lower cost Altria shares for a small gain. Still believe CEO & BOD are idiots.

And I guess we're not even at the end of the beginning. If you have an interest in the Lloyd's insurance platform and if you have a few minutes to spare: Lloyd's has made progress but has been incredibly slow in integrating new technology. Before dismissing the value of the first video, helpful to remember that the 2019 video already looks and sounds out-dated when AI enters the picture. Resistance to change at Lloyd's may be related to resilience as they sort of defined the risk shedder-taker relationship a while back and would risk affirming that they will continue to be around for the foreseeable future. One thought that came to mind on the 1st vidi was unrelated to insurance. Coffee shops seem to be pretty durable. - Pricing risk must have been extremely difficult back in the day. Did they have usable data or were they just winging it? Seems like a very complicated business with significant barriers to entry.

Reducing the cost of float: https://www.reinsurancene.ws/berkshire-hathaway-guard-partners-with-ai-platform-planck/ https://www.planckdata.com/solutions

My job offshore was similar. 364 days, 23 hours & 57 minutes of total boredom, punctuated by 3 minutes of sheer terror.

shalab, I do not use Book Value much if at all. To me a business is worth some multiple of owners earnings. The multiple is based on how fast and how long owners earnings grow which is a function of its competitive advantage and total addressable market size. If I cannot estimate owner earnings, it is an automatic pass for me. I find it very difficult to wrap by head around valuation without owners earnings. If I use book value, it is mostly as a shortcut once I estimated the IV using the owners earnings x multiple. So if I estimate BRK IV to be $200 and book value is $160, to keep track of it more easily in my head, I use the derived value of 1.25 BV multiple. Vinod Book value becomes an analog?

Mars, then? SpaceX ;D

And here's today's press release. Below are a couple of excerpts: I really like this in principle & we obviously need some altruism in healthcare (hell, everywhere for that matter.) Just to play devils advocate though, how will patients feel about this in our "have it your way" society? I can almost hear the neo-con spin. "They're won't let your Grandma have her meds & are trying to kill her" ---- I do believe that initiatives like this could force players / payers to act on a value based framework. How well it will be received initially (by many) seems obvious too. CVS over the next 2 decades? I understand all the bearish arguments but don't see an existential threat to them.

Did Malone join the BOD @ BRK? ;D

It's almost as if he's switched to my investment process :o

Would someone please move this dumpster fire into the politics section so I can ignore the trolls.

https://www.the-american-interest.com/2019/02/25/bigger-fewer-riskier-the-evolution-of-u-s-banking-since-1950/ Reference suggested by someone who knows nothing and who also feels that the biggest financial innovation is the ATM because i don't mind the heat. It's (almost) always sunny in NW Florida ;D for those who enjoy heat, and I do. I reference the following Tweet to explain my aberrant behavior.

Knee jerk reaction from someone who doesn't know squat about banks but has a fair understanding of what happened in 2008. I'd hate to see world banking further consolidated.

Aha, AZO comes to mind too.

Very nice, thanks.

Outstanding analysis (the parts I'm able to comprehend) & the writing style is off the charts. I think we may also be in tune with regards to musical tastes. Here's to hoping Berkshires equity price falls off a cliff on Monday!

Fingers crossed. I sold ABC & SFTBY & have written "Warren, Chuck, Ted, Todd, Ajit & Greg" on the cash.