Munger_Disciple

IIRC, Buffett said that he uses the 30-year US treasury bond as the discount rate. He said he mainly uses the DCF framework to compare the investments he is contemplating. Thus he would only consider a new investment if its projected return exceeds that of his next best alternative which he usually has already a position in and understands very well.

I think you are right maybe4less. Here is an explanation from Interactive Brokers: Amendment Requirements for 13G Filers Qualified institutional investors, including investment advisors registered with the SEC or a state, must amend their Schedule 13G within 10 days after the end of the first time their "beneficial ownership" exceeds 10% of the class of equity securities at month end. After that, qualified institutional investors must amend their Schedule 13G within 10 days from when their "beneficial ownership" increases or decreases by more than 5% of the class of securities over the amount held at the previous month end. Qualified institutional investors must also file a Schedule 13D within 10 calendar days after they cease being eligible to file a Schedule 13G rather than a Schedule 13D. In addition, passive investors beneficially owning less than 20% of an equity security must amend their Schedule 13G promptly, within two business days, after acquiring beneficial ownership of more than 10% of the class of equity securities, and after that, within two business days of increasing or decreasing their ownership by more than 5%. You must also file an annual amendment to the 13G if there have been any changes - immaterial or material - to your filed 13G. This must be done within 45 days of year end. You do not need to file an amendment if there have been no changes to the information filed or if the only change is to the percentage of securities owned resulting solely from a change in the number of shares outstanding.

I am tracking the portfolio of an institutional investor who files 13-F quarterly. This institution filed a 13G in June 2018 when they exceeded 5% ownership of a company stock. The 13-F for Q2-2018 reflects this 5%+ position. They recently filed a 13-F for Q3-2018 which shows significantly reduced ownership of the company well below 5% of the company stock. But I do not see an amended 13G filing which reflects the under 5% stock position. I am confused by this and a possible explanation from board members is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I agree with GFP that it is unlikely that Berkshire bought JPM, given Todd's board position. With respect to BAC, Berkshire will not go above 10% of BAC's total shares. That means that Berkshire might possibly add almost another 80M shares after Sept 30th, which would bring the total to 980M, about 10% of BAC.

Actually there appears to be sales of approximately 2.85B worth of financials during Q3 and $17.85B of purchases for a net purchases of $15B in the "Banks, insurance and finance" category.

My math agrees with yours. I got slightly above 200M BAC shares purchased during Q3 for 6B. They seem to have added a net $15B to financials during Q3 (there were some minor sales of WFC to stay under 10% cap). Pretty big move I think.

Mirror post on the original article: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/business-woman-shares-ridiculous-list-13442122 BTW, I used to play tennis and I really don't understand how Ms. Edwards gets a game of tennis at 7:30am and already leaving for work at 8:30am. That is only an hour to play, shower, dress and leave for work!

This article screams "bubble" in the VC land (people flocking to the bay area attracted by the vc gold rush with very vague job descriptions): https://www.businessinsider.com/a-day-in-the-life-of-hsbc-executive-melania-edwards-2018-10 Here is another press article commenting on the above: https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/this-bank-executives-very-busy-daily-routine-is-exhausting/news-story/2c24986ec49db79322f3949ed787e71b

Unrealized gains on AXP position are way higher, so it does not make sense to sell the position. Buffett has not added to the AXP position in ages. Got to be above 10% due to buybacks. In the case of Wells Fargo, Berkshire has not received the necessary approval from the Fed to go above 10% and still not be regulated as a bank holding company. After waiting 2 years, they gave up and started selling enough shares to stay below 10% so that Berkshire is not regulated as a bank holding co.

It is official now! The PR is posted on Berkshire web site: http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/news/jul1718.pdf I admit that until I saw this on Berkshire web site I was thinking there was a chance someone hacked into Business Wire web site.

It is about time! Should have been put in place 10 years ago. I guess better late than never.

I don't know what average distance an LA city bus travels per day, but the average range of all the LA city buses (which are predominantly natural gas powered) is 385 miles. So the BYD bus gets 1/8th the range which seems very low to me. I am not a battery/bus expert but I don't think it is as simple as adding more batteries under the bus. A whole host of issues will need to considered: cost, extra weight, clearance, safety, charging times, etc...

Not so flattering picture of BYD buses' performance in the LA area: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-electric-buses-20180520-story.html Actual range obtained seems to be about 1/3 rd of the advertised range. Only about 50 miles!

rb, You are right that roof-top solar panels reduce the temps by 2-4 degrees, but you would still need AC. You are also right the IRR goes up because the electricity you buy is $0.50/KWh. It would be even higher if the cost per KWh (to buy) is $5.00/KWh.... So you get the gist. Poor and vast majority of middle class in CA do not have solar so they bear the significant increases in electricity prices. They are also the ones to suffer from increased housing costs. You are also letting off the politicians in CA off the hook easily. Their regulations are at least partly to blame for the lack of affordability in CA. If you live here, you will understand better. The utilities are also trying to screw solar customers. They just moved the "peak" rate time from [11am-6pm] to [4pm-9pm] because they know very well you don't produce much solar energy in that period. State regulators approved this. If you want to avoid this new "peak" period, you will need to install battery storage in your house to "time-shift" your own production (which of course will result in more costs).

I live in California (I have roof top solar and drive an electric car) and here are my two cents on this "order": I think this is bad. Already buying a home is out of reach for most of Californians due to very high cost of building a home here and this will increase the cost. And it will lead to more homelessness which is already a huge problem in virtually every city in CA. Already many in the middle class are leaving CA due to high cost of living and this cannot possibly help matters. BTW it costs almost 50c/KWh during peak hours in the summer to buy electricity in CA due to the renewable energy mandates which are really a tax on people and hit poor and middle class especially hard. You can never do just one thing in economics. I predict this will make income inequality worse in CA.

Thanks Spekulatius and jimjam. I have installed StopAd and it works well with Safari but there seems to be no way to enable on Chrome browser on ipad.

Can someone suggest a good (if possible free) adblocker app for ipad? TIA.

I was surprised that there were no comments about the IBM sale & reallocation of the proceeds to Apple and about the on-going saga at Wells Fargo.

Thanks ShaiDardashti. That explains it.

I clicked the link sent by Parsad, but I don't see any pictures. It takes me to Dakshana web site but no pictures. I am using mac os and Chrome browser. Any suggestions? Thx

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/ajit-jain-donates-berkshire-hathaway-stocks-to-the-us-foundation/articleshow/59590739.cms

Good work, racemize. Buffett in fact included rolling 5-year BRK performance results in the 2010 annual report. It serves as a validating point for your thesis.

I too agree. I made the mistake of buying this book and regretted it almost immediately after seeing the first few pages. Did not read the rest. The notes are so sketchy that they are almost useless. If you want the actual transcripts of old Berkshire annual meetings, read OID.

Believe it or not, E*TRADE is the best discount brokerage to set up an individual 401k. They offer both Roth and traditional. Schwab lets you do only traditional. I set up an individual 401k for my son a couple of years back at E*TRADE.

Thanks thelads and netnet for your feedback. I received a free sample and was not overly impressed with the publication. So I think I will pass.