Castanza

Taxes aren't a choice... There is nothing to stop someone from having all of their assets willed to the US Government upon their death.

Now look up their cost basis and how much they get paid in dividends every year. It was also Berkshires largest “publicly traded” position at close to 40%. If you account for the privately owned businesses Apple was only ever like ~11% of Berkshires IV.

I hear what you’re saying but to me this is backwards thinking. A couple who doesn’t budget and chooses to drop 40k on a wedding deserves more expensive gifts and donations from their guests than say a couple that budgeted and had a modest wedding? Because that’s exactly what this line of thinking does. The more you spend the more you expect and the less you budget the more you expect. Very transactional imo. You’re also pricing out some guests by basically saying “if you are poor, please don’t bother coming to our wedding.” Gatherings of celebration should not be transactional. I don’t host dinner parties and expect my guests to pay for the $350 steak a wine I just served them. I paid ~$1800 for flights and accommodations plus fun expenditures to go to a good friends wedding. Never once did I ask for compensation back on that. Why? Because I cared more about being there for my bro than the money. The same view should be taken from the Hosts perspective imo. We can agree to disagree though haha

I'm a new parent myself and all I know is that kids definitely benefit from spending more time with their parents in the early years. I work from home, but had 3 months off and my wife also had 3 months off but is back part time (nurse). Not everyone's circumstances can accommodate this obviously and daycare is a very common thing. I've always been of the mindset that if I choose to have kids I want to do everything in my power to know my wife and I are the ones raising our children and spending as much time with them as possible. Financially it doesn't work for a lot of people though. I have never heard anyone say they regret spending more time with their children. Consider it a privilege to have the opportunity if you can afford it. You'll have a much closer bond with your kid imo. Advice for the first 5 months (your mindset): "They aren't giving you a hard time, they are having a hard time." Will bring you back to earth when you're sleep deprived and frustrated at 3am. Also make a pact with your wife to not hold anything you say against each other the first few weeks. Buckle up and enjoy it!

We got invited to a wedding last year and the couple requested $120 per person for the food. We didn’t go. You don’t invite people and say “come celebrate with us!” Then charge your family and friends. It’s poor taste imo. Them showing up and bringing a gift off the wedding registry or traveling is gift enough imo. I think it’s classless to throw a party and then asks your guest to pay. Tf is the world coming too.

Eh I’ve always had a strict policy of no work friends outside of work. I’m of the mindset that if all your friends are work friends, then all you’ll do is talk about work. It’s not to say I’m not friends with anyone at my work. I certainly am. But a lot of people view work as a place to find friends. For me it’s the complete opposite. If that’s what works for someone else though then that’s great. I find I’m around more than enough people working from home. It was a transition at first but it’s been since Covid now and haven’t looked back. I have to go into the office once or twice a year and my lord is it soul sucking going back into that environment. “Great weather today”, “How’s the family?”, “hey there are leftovers in the break room” No thanks lol but that’s just me! There are too many benefits that wfh brings. I took my son to the park or on walks during my lunch break. Can’t put a price on that!

Hell yeah! People spend their lives working 60 hours a week, chasing praise from bosses for pizza parties and company branded merch LOL I'll never understand that mindset but to each their own!

I work from home, wear Birkenstocks 80% of the year, spend my time fly fishing, hunting, hiking, playing bball, cooking, gardening, reading a lot, volunteering, sipping whiskey and hanging with my family/friends. I have zero desire to be in some extensive leadership role form my current company or any company that would require me to work 60+ hours a week with much added stress. I work in tech because it's convenient NOT because Im passionate about it. I do take pride in my work and do it well, but "punching out" is important to me. I don't live to work, I work to live. My goal is to work less not more and finding ways to preserve/grow wealth for my family is always at the forefront of my mind. Type A has nothing to do with saving money or planning for the future. I want my descendants to be able to live more and work less or pursue things they are passionate about without added stress from finances.

I’m in my low 30’s and have owned a position in BRK pretty much since I started investing. But I never sized it up significantly because I never expected outperformance. I expected consistency and preservation of capital from a top notch management team that let me sleep easy at night. When WB if gone I expected consistency and BRK to maintain their culture, their identity and their durability. However I expect T&T to bring a little agility to their approach. I’m more excited about Berkshire now than I have been the last 10 years. I bet it outperforms over the next 20. I hope it continues to stay no dividend though.

UPS and DHL OXY DFH and DHI

I’m not buying but JNJ, CNC, PEP MDLZ all near 52w lows

Best of luck to you guys north of the border. Hopefully US and Canada can figure things out quickly in a way that suits everyone. MX included!

Trump likes to be a perpetual wild card and a thorn in the ass to other politicians. Why? Because he knows they know he’s bold enough to “do things” (and he absolutely will) and it lights a fire under the ass of the rest of the world to make changes. Politicians are mostly happy with the status quo minus a few “PR stunts” that never seriously threaten their ability to stay in office and bolster their ability among supporters and fence riders to tilt the favor of re-election their way.

Nature takes care of this naturally. I think intellectuals spend way to much time thinking about things like this. At the end of the day you have type A people and type B people.

Says who and on what basis? Society and government exist to back the rights in the individual….you’ve got it backwards. Here is a book for you to introduce you to the topic: The Quest for Cosmic Justice - Thomas Sowell