Xerxes

This one is interesting. It was not Trump election per say (as a investment related to the presidential cycle) but rather that “the animals spirits” being released after a decade of Obama-doldrum was going to move long term yield. So the long-dated portfolio was liquidated in late 2016. Saved bunch of money on that initial move. But it took YEARS for the long rates to actually inch up. It took a global pandemic to truly let loose the animal spirits. Just like it took a World War to pull the 1930 economies out of the doldrums of depression. So Prem was right in 2016 but also too early

agreed. but it was advertised as such that it was Lucasfilm loss for missing out on this supposed great Zack’ story. And that Netflix now got it. Check mate Walt Disney !!! I rather watch the Mandelorian 10 times in a row over and over than be subjected to 10 min of Rebel Moon.

I ll take Zack Snyder’s 300 Spartans going after those villainous Persians any day over this Rebel Moon abomination.

I watched as well. Thank you. most hilarious non believable moments: - the Koreans got into the act - the backstory of the “CEO” - the scammers being scammed by the “law firm” - “time served” verdict conclusion: - it seems in Florida you can do whatever you want.

thanks. I was enthused by the story that the director (Zack) had pitched this to Lucasfilm but they had rejected it. And now Zack Synder was going to release that story on Netflix. Big loss for SW. I watched 30 min to find out that this is garbage. I was giving it benefit of doubt given that I like Zack. then they threw in another story on the net that there is a R-rated version. And stay tuned for that. Yeah. Whatever

The Thai government even floated the idea of having Chinese police in Bangkok. To make the country “more safe” for Chinese. i don’t know how that came about. Now that is an explicit breach of sovereignty saw a lot of Germans in Chiang Mai. Probably “giving back” to Thailand, given how much money the crown prince is throwing around in Germany. I am told this is touchy subject for the Thai.

@Spekulatius I think the more appropriate term would be “Phuketgrad” and not “Phuketstan” Contrary to popular belief the “stans” of the former of Soviet Union are not terms such because “Stan” is Russian for the “land of …l“ I can say that in Farsi we call England, as “Ingalistan”, we call India as “Hindustan” etc. so I think “Stan” has Persian and probably Urdu roots. And Afghanistan and Pakistan (the other “stans”) were never formal Russian territory. Perhaps @Dinar can chime in. Here is a quick Google search.

Thanks when I went in November I actually went to Chiang Mai. I wanted to see the north. So skipped Phuket. I think that needs a dedicated trip of island hopping. I don’t think I saw much Russians in Chiang Mai, but saw a lot of Israelis. I agree with your comments about Bangkok food. If you forget for a moment the smoky cars and the heat, it is a fantastic city with style. They are extremely service oriented.

I ll add this about the flat dividend : in some ways not being a typical dividend grower (aristocrat) has probably been hugely beneficial letting the team focus on real tangible opportunities (waiting for the phone to ring) as oppose to doing annual gymnastic to please the “aristocracy” and keeping them happy with the annual predictable growth. It is a family office, they think like it and act like it. I like the approach. And happy to be riding along.

@Viking Not to nitpick on your post, but when we say TSR, don’t we mean (dividend and capital gain) and not (dividend and buyback) ? I think the latter is more from a company point of view. Typically called “total return” as oppose to “total shareholder return”. Ex: If a company reduces its share count by half over a decade, pays no dividend and the stock price is flat for the same 10 years (for whatever reason), the TSR is zero, while total return from the company is the aggregate dollar amount of buyback ? No ?

I ll just add that Panama Canal also has some issues related to lack of fresh water that is usually used to lift the ships in the docks. So these uncorrelated issues are just compounding on each other.

This is “signalling” more than anything else. And giving something tangible back to long term holders. Even more reason to stay around. Go back 25 years the dividend use to be $5 USD. At one point it was raised to $10 USD, and it stayed there, when the company was able to sustain a higher payout. I cannot complain on a job well done.

There goes your share buyback. makes sense though if the earnings are indeed structurally higher so should be the distribution.

I suppose I can buy the book with the yellow cover that goes to 2014 and print the ones from 2015-2024 and staple it myself to the book

Here is mine. I barely change much year over year. I don’t use any ETF or funds. Just direct equities. And don’t do trims and shavings. The first four cover 45% of the portfolio Asset managers: FFH/FIH 17% Berkshire 12% BN/BAM and subs. 8% Onex 7% Resources: Exxon. 6% Barrick. 3% Stelco. 2% Oxy. 1% Technology: Amazon. 8% Alphabet. 7% Mercadolibre. 4% IAC et al. 2.5% Operating businesses: Couche Tard. 5% RTX. 5% Walt Disney. 3.5% GM. 2.5% Bombardier. 2.5% Starbucks. 1%

This goes without saying: I couldn’t not have done that without you guys. Not that I am trading in or out or anything. I barely bought 3 times this whole year. And with no sell. But i am capturing a lot of value through this forum that eventually becomes seeds for future growth. The seeds of 2023 were placed several years ago as I was reviewing this forum during Covid time.

Now that I had chance to run the numbers: 2023 => 24.81% 2022 => -11.48% 2021 => 20.09% 2020 => 11.36% I should add that the numbers are artificially high because of the low base from which we started 2023. The seasonal bounce was fully captured. I don’t remove funds just add to it. These numbers are net of the additions. But not net of the market return of interim additions. Example: start of year $5 end of the year. $10 contribution. $2 therefore, ($10 minus $5 minus $2) divided by $5 is my return. not perfect as I treat an interim in Jan same as Dec

I need to withdraw this recommendation. This show is total garbage. The first season started well but then devolve into “they” the faceless bad guys that are corporate investors in London. It is like watching X-files. second season is all about shifting alliances, without the grace of Game of Thrones. avoid this like the plague

absolutely not. he is not a SW guy. Villeneuve’s Dune is great because his style meshes well with the way Frank Herbert set the Dune universe. David Lynch’ did as well but the movie was butchered by the studio. The great news however is not Dune 2 trailer, the great news is that Villeneuve will be making Dune Messiah (the second book) as the closing third chapter of the Dune trilogy. Historically Dune Messiah was always suppose to be part of the first book but in the 60s the book editor forced Herbert to cut it out as a separate book as it was anticlimactic. Spoiler alert: Paul becomes insane and falls from grace. the book editor could not have a story with a sad ending, where Paul Atrides becomes the very thing he had try to destroy. It was too much for a Western audience, where good-bad guys needs to binary.

Prem Watsa who !? Never heard of Prem Watsa until I ran into bunch of Globe & Mail articles from 2014 and 2015. Invested an insignificant amount around the time Trump became president in 2016 but only went heavy in 2020-21. I even saved the articles from back in the day. Doesn’t say much but was enough to get me intrigued. And then I found this board, a year or before Covid and joined up later.

This is a day early. Year has not ended yet.

For clarity, I was not referring to the nuclear attacks against the unlucky twin cities. That was a presidential call. And that made sense. I was referring to the insane firebombing of Tokyo in May 1945 which Lemay planned. War or not. That (using napalm in a city made of papers) was just the too much. Patton, Marshall, Nimitz, Halesay and even the unhinged Mcarthur were real soldiers. Lemay was just the American version of Yamashita. In turn a Japanese could argue that Yamashita’ act in the Philippines were also needed to end the war quickly. Anyways don’t mean to debate on this. Was just clarifying what I meant. We should be thinking about better things so close to the new year. All the best in 2024

I may be wrong but I think Morningstar itself (the company) is a capital return story

agreed my take is Cramer may or may not be a good “stock picker”. That is largely irrelevant. What he is good at is the “business of stock picking” and he has monetized that

That matrix table that shows gain/loss, unrealized/realized, fixed-income/stocks was never very clear in terms what goes in the equity portion. A lot of good stuff didn’t make it to the table. ICICI Lombard when it was realized (and that was no even fully owned). That piece of business they sold in Asia pre-Covid. To me a business is a business. Whether there is a liquid secondary market for its shares or not is an irrelevant criteria to have for inclusion to that infamous table.