backtothebeach

That’s good to hear that Schwab has the commission free trading also for non-residents. I’m a bit tired of paying IB’s commissions, even though I suspect they may have slightly better execution. I don’t find IB clunky at all, though, I use it in TWS classic, and it basically looks like a spreadsheet.

That would be 1% of market cap, sounds like a lot. Any chance it is a data glitch?

I’ve been with IBKR for two decades, but looking to diversify. On the Schwab international website, it seems international users have the same benefits as US clients. For example, commission free trading, a debit card with refund of ATM fees and no extra fees when used internationally. Any non-US and/or non-North American Schwab users here? What’s your experience?

Possiblly Paypal/Venmo "friends and family" payments, but for purchases, a buyer can always dispute a PayPal or credit card payment and claw back the money if the product was not delivered, for example. It looks like that's not possible with Fednow, or am I missing something? It could replace ACH and Zelle. Could banks just use it as the new "plumbing" behind ACH?

For 2013 for example, wouldn’t you have to divide $128 by 0.81, so it is $158.02 in today’s devalued dollars? Also, in various years the adjustment is not applied: 2014/16/18/20.

Uncle dictator ate some chalk for a day.

The AAPL position was 20% of Berkshire's market cap a while ago, now down to 16.6% (or 15% if you substract an estimated 10% tax on unrealized profits).

Congrats! Looks so simple in hindsight. Short meme stocks when nobody is talking about shorting them anymore.

FWIW, my speculative idea LEO.DE lost 50% in 2022. So did NOEJ.DE. Luckily I sold my small LEO.DE position half way through the drop in a portfolio cleanup. Nothing but bad news for Leoni, falling sales, rising losses, now possiblly having to litigate a failed attempt to sell their cable business to lower debt. Their P/S ratio is 0.03. I suppose this means either massive upside in a turnaround, or that the market is anticipating massive dilution or wiping out shareholders in a restructuring.

Don't know who this guy is, but what a waste of energy trying to predict this stuff.

Predicting currencies is hard. I don't think it is so clear cut, either. Euro zone debt to GDP is about 96%, U.S. debt to GDP 137%, thanks to the binge spending of Trump and Biden. On the surface Europe can afford higher interest rates (while supporting Greece and a few other high-debt countries) better than the U.S.? On the other hand the U.S. can just pay interest with new debt, which the Fed buys up, all the while keeping inflation under control, until the end of days (see Japan)? I don't claim to understand the intricacies, or if the debt to GDP is entirely comparable between Europe and the U.S., maybe wabuffo can chime in. As a frequent traveller, from a buying power point of view, I think 1 EUR = 1 USD sounds about right. As an investor I don't hedge between USD / CAD / EUR. Over the long term it should average out ok. There actually seems to be a smoothing effect sometimes: US stocks go up more than EUR stocks for a period, but the dollar is weakening at the same time, and vice versa.

+10.5% in USD (+16.9% in EUR). Crunching the numbers now, a couple of things are surprising: - Biggest loser is Brookfield. Shout out to ole’ dealraker for keeping the skepticism alive, otherwise my position might have been even bigger. - I entered the year leveraged long, heavily in Berkshire, hedged by short SPY and AAPL calls that were both deep in-the-money. Turns out all the profit this year is from the hedges, because SPY and AAPL tanked, while Berkshire held up overall (after a wild ride). - 9 year CAGR is 15.1% in USD. Could have achieved the same going 135% long Berkshire 9 years ago and never spending another minute on the markets.

By my estimation: $217.60. Up 3.9% for the quarter.

Why don't you just agree to disagree on the definition of intrinsic value. Jeez. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/intrinsicvalue.asp "Financial analysis uses cash flow to determine the intrinsic, or underlying, value of a company or stock." (Sweet) "There is no universal standard for calculating the intrinsic value of a company or stock. ... While [financial analysts] may build valuation models using qualitative, quantitative and perceptual business factors..." (wachtwoord) "...the metric often used in calculations for intrinsic value is discounted cash flows." (Sweet)

Happy Christmas everyone!

I have never owned crypto. But maybe the bottom is close or is already in for BTC. The world's best counter-indicator says so: https://seekingalpha.com/news/3920549-jim-cramer-i-would-not-touch-crypto-in-a-million-years Also, once you substract the 20% of BTC that is considered lost forever, its market cap is "only" $260B. Is that low enough for all the drug money, untaxed money, and billions of aid to Ukraine that may or may not have been funneled into thousands of BTC wallets? That's what the cynic in me thinks. BTC may get another day in the sun. Is there a way to play BTC with options?

Unexpectedly got assigned BN and BAM from a few short $40 puts (old BAM strike price). Not a bad overall price I guess. Wonder if/when there will be options on BN and the new BAM. Then I would sell the calls until they are called away.

"Sokol wrote that he has "no historic family or business relationship" with Holmes but met her in 2015 at a Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans awards event." Maybe his blood leaves his brain when he remembers their encounter...

Warren: Bitcoin is worthless, it does not produce anything. Charlie: Invert, always invert! Greg: There’s also an element that eliminates risk…no earnings no underlying value.

I don't think I have anything ruptured (double checking... LOL), but when I first looked up BTC I saw that it had gone up from $20 to $100. I not only decided not to buy any, I was also too lazy to find out how to mine a few. Maybe I am wrong, but I believe at the time I could have mined a couple of BTC easily with a normal PC. So who is stupid here for not taking a bet with almost zero risk on this new thing. Kinda glad I never got involved though. I probably would have sold most of it at $1000 and felt even more stupid afterwards.

Sold BABA, bought FIH.U from the proceeds.

Crazy scenes from China.

Down 9% in USD, but up 6% in EUR. Quite the currency tailwind. Pain level 3-4 right now, but stress level about 7, trading too much. I am waiting for the moment to go 50/50 with my currency exposure between USD and EUR by partly hedging the USD holdings. There should be a moment, maybe when the EUR drops below $0.90, that everyone will predict a further extreme drop to $0.50 or something (kind of like they always predict that oil will go to $200 after a big runup...). That should be close to the turning point.

No problem, that was a well-timed vacation! The SPY position would have been a headache for sure.