DooDiligence

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Bogle addressed the aspect of fund managers voting proxies in Clash of the Cultures. There doesn't appear to be too much expense in voting proxies unless you consider a poorly researched voting decision which rubber stamps the BOD resulting in subsequent mediocre or poor performance of the company itself. You'd think that managers would want to improve outcomes by voting effectively. On another note; I've read some opinions about the possibility of indexing diverting capital from promising new businesses. It seems like the PE firms & hedge funds which we criticize so heavily for the highly publicized "unicorns" may, in part take up the slack & fund some very worthy (as yet unhorned) startups for future inclusion into an index...

It is funny & my favorite comedians are able to take these absurd situations & the characters involved & make me snort with glee! Discussion of these topics can get heated but we engage in them because we are lucky enough to be free to do so. Extreme views from the left & right raise valid issues that get pulled to the center for semi-effective outcomes over time (kind of like Grahams voting & weighing analogy.) I may despise one & tolerate the other (candidate/point of view) but wouldn't want to be in a world where people I vehemently disagree with were not allowed to express their views (how's that for idealistic & utopian?!?)

Lol, a silly question deserves a silly answer. It's not a question of hedging, but rather of whether your portfolio's success should hinge on the outcome of an election (or any other "dramatic" event). ++ However it turns out I'll be fine in the long run...

Still wouldn't make me vote for him... Which is grand and all, however I'm not sure what that has to do with the post you referenced or the title of the thread. The thread topic is "How would you hedge a Trump win on Nov 8". To which, perhaps going long the one sector that has been slammed at every turn by Clinton and the Dems would make sense given the high correlation between the two. And my answer relates to the fact that I own NVO, BBH & XBI (pay attention & don't be so snippy...)

Contact the GOP frontrunner...

You know I've about had it with this elites bullshit. The presidency is a titular office, one person. Trump is running for it on the R ticket. So people can say, oh he's against the system, against the elites, I'll vote for him, down with the elites. But the presidency is a titular office, the elites are a power structure, the Senate and the House is where the elected elites lie. If these people are serious about taking down the elites they should vote them down. I'm willing to give people the benefit of the doubt that they want to take down the elites and that's why they're voting Trump. But if they're willing to take down the elites, what should we also see? We should see that the people that are voting Trump should vote anything other than D or R on the rest of the ticket. They should vote the cooky Libertarian candidate for Senator or the crazy Green House candidate or write in their cousin en masse. But we all know that that's not what we're going to see. These people who bitch about the elites will vote for Trump and then down the ticket will vote for the exact elites they pretend they're revolting against. So yea, vote for whomever you want to vote for. It's your right. But please give me a break about the elites bullshit. Unfortunately; the system seems geared so that voting independent does nothing but tilt the results toward either a D or R (and send a message of how few are displeased enough to vote for the other crackpot on the ticket; which is promptly ignored/factored in to the next campaign strategy.)

Funny thing is most of the people with that degree would consider it a successful end point to be running a boat! Hahahahaha!!! If I was running an 80' Somethingorother in Sint Maarten I wouldn't be whining...

Maybe Apple (someone talk me out of it!)

NVO

Still wouldn't make me vote for him...

How are you going to do that? I guess the first-level-thinking approach is kind of illegal, on the second level you could maybe go long plastic surgery, cosmetics, hideous fashion.. :P Oops (meant to say "I'd go long dong some Eastern European hookers") thought I was on a different forum... Thank you Whiterose & I agree & am screening now for plastic surgical groups & will be attending fashion shows to identify the worst designers (hope, hope, hope there's some hookers on the runway!!!) I must say though; ccplz going long coal would be quite courageous (cavemen everywhere would applaud that move!)

I'd go long Eastern European hookers...

I'll be so glad when all this is over! I just joined this board a month or so ago after having lurked in the shadows & read posts on here for nearly 3 years. The intelligence & restraint I've come to admire in your thoughtful analysis of businesses has completely gone out the window when it comes to which one of these idiots should be our next president. (Here's where someone trots out a post I made about my least favorite candidate which just proves my point...)

Love your avatar (and your thinking...)

Hey Greg; I don't know if you saw this post on another thread by Liberty but the YouTube video is well worth watching. I'm still jaded about the political process & the lack of humanity exhibited (AKA douchebaggery) by the vast majority of our so called business & political leaders but the video made it a tiny bit understandable (if you buy into it which I did...)

I agree (my previous post was a bit narrowly focused.) I had the same problem with my Mom & Sister back in 08 & again in Jan (can't remember all the other hand holding I did in between.) With my Mom it was "oh my God I'm losing money" in 08 until I convinced her the divvies weren't stopping (and that's all she truly cared about.) My Sister has been easier to convince but yeah you're right; poor understanding & short termism blinds many people. I trot out that story about Buffett & the farm purchase (highlighted it from my Kindle copy of the Letters to Shareholders) it's a passage that resonates well.

Glad you cleared that up (I thought you hated him because he was a Huskers fan...)

That is exactly true. How many times do people panic and cash out at or near the bottom, then wait until the almost the top to decide that they should start investing again. It doesn't matter what type of funds you choose if this is your "strategy". There's another thread somewhere on here about frugality & contentment. "Success is having what you want & happiness is wanting what you have" Restless minds grasping for happiness lead to impatience & poor returns...

Buffet uses the existing tax laws because he would be lax in his fuduciary duties if he didn't. Cardboard attacks everything in an attempt to obfuscate (kinda like Trump...)

One leads to the other. See; trickle down economics really does work...

This book makes me want to go back & get an accounting / biz management degree & a CFM & then go do something besides run a boat...

Interesting history. So basically Buffet ran a hedge fund before Berkshire? I assume that some of you are managing funds using methods similar to the Buffet Partnership?

I laughed, I cried - the feel good movie of the year! Really makes me wonder about all the different possible outcomes of a Trump presidency. An attempt to convert the US to a dictatorship & the resultant pine box is a fun thought...

Perhaps you should listen to John Bogle before writing this... I read Clash of the Cultures last month. I'm already a believer with VTI, VXUS & VDE (been $ cost averaging the 1st 2 for years & bought VDE opportunistically when oil hit $30.) I still make picks which I believe fall into the Buffet partnerships Generals Relatively Underpriced category & view the fund investments as the hedges of a scaredycat...