hasilp89

I'd recommend Bernard Arnault's - it's quite impressive how consistent he has been over time is on what his focus's is. His AGM comments are also very good. Some other's I've gone back and read - Prem/Fairfax, VNO/Roth. Worth reading the original Buffett Partnership Letters. Have been meaning to go through the Munger/Blue Chip ones but haven't made the time.

lol no clue how they get the names right. in general i find the tikr transcripts to be pretty good. would also recommend the Quatr app - most EC/AGM/Investor Days/industry conferences can be streamed live or on replay. (although FFH AGM isn't on there!)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rW-8uDJFJzlu0jzAaPWXX_P1XdvvOeKTABhEV6ouSKk/edit?usp=sharing it is available on tikr also. in a google doc here.

For me it’s on the insurance side. It’s part of the business, but the unknown unknowns especially with global operations (1 in a 100 year flood happening right now in the UAE - hopefully Gulf doesn’t have a bunch of flood policies). While I understand the culture of the management and generally trust them one. poor decision layered on one misprinted risk can hurt. Unlikely it puts a large hole in the business but it could slow things down. Additionally I think it’s worth considering how strong the underwriting market has been. It can’t be this strong forever and premiums won’t go up in a straight line. Again doesn’t mean they drop 20% but it’s not out of the realm of possibility to see some declines.

Don't believe it is a rumor, Dave Sokol did say that. It was wonderful to meet you and many others!

+1

lol. How about the jobs and opportunities offered to them by Israelis. I’m sure they find similar employment with hamas… how many Jews in Arab gvt vs Arabs in Israeli gvt.

The currency used by Iran to fund all their nonsense. Doors opened up to get rid of them.

She did a good interview with Howard marks recently that touches on the ideas from the book - https://open.spotify.com/episode/1eQVEutUjWJu7CYn2h03iF?si=2uRGUb3JSmmz-euSnO-8-A

I'm not sure I am helping you @Saluki but i'd start by considering the cost of float/leverage and what you earn on it. additionally I think in most cases the float these non - insurance businesses carry is not long dated. Starbucks card maybe get used in a a few months. Naked wines every 6 months. Expedia 6 months. Pluxee maybe a bit longer or forever if certain amounts aren't spent. So ever if it is free or you are paid to take it, your investment options are limited to ST term Fixed income with lower historical yields. Not sure what business you're talking about (feel free to share :)) but would think similar to @bizaro86 what is your cost to perform the $1m of service/product each year. Assuming you have to deliver $1m of service a year are you able to do that at $1m a year (making the cost 0%) or otherwise.

lol going after EQC. Telling them to liquidate.

The guy who pays for obscure insurance filings and shares them. Also moonlights as the illiterate guy who can’t do math. (bad joke, my way of saying I appreciate you @gfp)

Well said @charlieruane agree on both fronts. And great 1st post. most folks won’t take into account risk and when they do it’s measured by volatility (which is incorrect).

collect the dots to connect the dots!

Gotcha, that is what I was figuring. Upsetting that is the case given the mismanaged reits out there. @Dinar thank you for that recommendation. Was not familiar with it but a great example.

Care to expand on that? Agree on Litt prefer cash to noise.

Curious if anyone has any interesting or successful REIT activist campaigns that are worth studying. Given the REIT structure my understanding has been that it can be difficult for activists to take stakes past a certain size but i could be wrong. Additionally the external management seems to cause complications. Are there other reasons why it doesn't typically work. GGP came to mind but curious if there are others. tagging a few folks who may know. @Gregmal @thepupil @BG2008 @Dinar

Ad from Mitsubishi in todays ft (mentions brk)

Maybe it goes here. Can’t be the top when we’ve got etfs on selling covered calls on single stocks. ngmi https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/a-fund-with-a-94-9-yield-you-guessed-it-theres-a-catch-d11ab079?st=oicvrj0gk4pen9u&reflink=article_copyURL_share

well said.

ditto. pipeline issue seems complicated. Seems to be issues with the iraqi government, reimbursements to kuristan ... but a resolution could be interesting. Paid nearly 100% of current mkt cap in dividends in 2022 (prior to shutdown). no debt. didn't think i'd be watching videos of the american representative of the association of the petroleum industry of kurdistan this afternoon.

lol.

100% Wasn't Coke some significant part in the past? it's really a broader problem (and this has ticked me off for years now). It's the fact that people think they know better than Warren when it comes to BRK. Sure you want to give some parenting or spouse advice, yeah maybe i'll listen. But about how to run Berkshire Hathaway. Seriously? The guy built this enduring business with 1 trillion of Assets from practically nothing. He knows it better than anyone. Probably won't ever be done again. Even more he's built it specifically to endure long after he's gone. And still every year or so some joe shmo or barrons chump comes along and thinks they know better than him. They come along and make a grand recommendation of how he should restructure the company or portfolio. It really is one of the more asinine topics to venture into. i think the people that do so are relegating themselves to the intellectual level of primates.

So you believe that the ability to colonize a country by force and massacre is a comparative cultural advantage. Defense is one thing, that seems like another. I’d take a pass on having that advantage.

27% pretax - not thrilled but not bummed. largest +ve contributors - fairfax, expedia, vts, arch, gtx largest detractors - Ashford, docs, greenfirst Plenty of errors of omission and commission hopeful to continue improving this year grateful to everyone on COBF who post and share their insights Happy New Year!