Castanza

FRPH, JOE, DEA (Thanks Lance and Pupil for putting on the radar)

JOE

What's the thesis on DEA? DOGE fails?

Good stuff! Hell of a ballsy move at the time. Exactly, behind every lucky break or opportunity is a choice. A lot of people never take that chance.

Curious how you ended up in finance/investments? Did you go to school for it and take the trad route?

Per Motley Fool today. “If you look at NVDA's market cap right now, $3.5 trillion, you could buy the entire, if you sold NVDA, you could buy the entire energy sector, all the companies you just talked about, plus the giants like Exxon, Chevron, Oxygen, Petroleum, everything else, you'd still have money leftover to buy Walmart, Coca-Cola and JP Morgan. And by the way, if you did that, you'd be getting more dividends from those companies than NVDA earns an entire year.”

If someone genuinely builds a quantum computer that is reliable, marketable, usable, and packaged in a way that would make it commercially viable; I don't see how govt would not be stepping in to hamstring the tech until there are adequate security solutions developed. Who knows what that looks like in terms of time and rollout. Pauls Security Weekly - has a few solid podcast episodes on cryptography with some experts that discuss the implications and paths forward. Worth a listen in general if you're interested in hacking, security, current trends, company issues, how companies are posturing etc. Lots of business implications discussed on the show daily by actual experts. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pauls-security-weekly-audio/id1149992167?i=1000639854269

None that discussed the company in depth (as you did), just casual mentions by hosts when discussing WB etc. I believe Chit Chat Stocks was one and The Acquirers Podcast. I’ve seen it pop up on Reddit from time to time. Maybe the same members as on COBF though.

I’m in my early 30’s, been on this board since 2019. Continued to read up on and follow the discussions had here on FFH. Had a small position in 2021 but never owned it in size until 2022. Im just now hearing FFH mentioned by my peers who ascribe to “value investing”. BRK was always a topic of conversation along with the classic investors like Lynch. But Prem is now being mentioned more and more. I have heard FFH discussed on more value oriented podcasts over the last two years as well. Perhaps a new generation of value investors is slowly discovering this gem north of the border? Overall mentions seem to be going up. Especially after the MW short report.

I've gone from 9-14% in the last month. Will probably flex down a few positions that have reached or surpassed fair value either this month or start of the new year.

FRFHF (18%) MSFT - (16%) reduced 4% RTX - (13%) BRK.B (8%) GOOGL (6%) reduced 2% CNSWF (6%) JOE (5%) CPRT (5%) WFG (2.5%) reduced 2.5% MELI (3%) new SSD (2.5%) new DHLGY (1%) new Cash ~14% SBRCY (who tf knows) new = last 3 months

Is per capita really a good way to measure medical expenses though?

Definitely depends because I’ve seen the opposite and experienced it my self. Nobody does it perfect and Canada is far from perfect according to the Canadians I know. Other systems like the ones in Czech are pretty expensive. Many of my coworkers who come here prefer the US system. Why? It’s cheaper for them. A high deductible health plan is a massive savings. If you’re making 70k usd equivalent in Czech, you’re paying like ~7k in taxes every year just for healthcare. This is like maxing your HD health plan every year in the US even if you don’t use any medical services. This could be short sighted though as they are mostly young and medical costs go up the older you are so you probably recoup a lot of that. Im not opposed to some universal system, but I think a better solution would be two or three pronged 1.) Remove the employer mandate and allow the free market to work. Pricing is competitive, quality is competitive etc. 2.) Maybe start with a universal system that that only handles catastrophic coverage. 3.) Expand incentives like HSA offerings, or make them borderline mandatory like 401ks. Tax incentives like “fit checks” or something. I get we live in a society, but I’m not gonna lie when I look around at all the Texas Roadhouse land whales we had here in the states and think; “why should I care about your health when you clearly don’t care about it either?” End of the day the current system is broken and I know it’s stifling innovation, overall happiness, and the American Dream.

The issue is that health insurance is tied to your employer in the US. Prior to HMO1973 Most people only carried catastrophic insurance. It was cheaper, competitive, and plenty of pro-bono work available for the needy. I sometimes think about how healthcare being tied to employment is holding back American innovation. Everyone knows someone who would start a business or take a risk if it weren't for the health insurance aspect of it. Plenty of people out there working jobs they hate, just for insurance. If I were President, I would start there.... edit: Anecdotal story about UNH personally. Two years ago I was going to get my employee mandated health check for the insurance "discount"...$500 off. Well my doctor decided to randomly retire right before my appointment and I was unable to get another physical in time (boo-hoo me). UNH would not work with me at all.....All I needed done was height, weight and blood pressure lol ffs really? I guess I could have went to an urgent care and ate the $250 out of pocket for that....If they are willing to fight you on something that simple, I cant imagine a complex medical bill.

"Tempt not a desperate man"