nodnub

I have also been happy with the opportunities that have appeared since September 2008. I was fortunate to be watching the markets and able to take advantage of panic over a few days in September, October, February and March so that I could double my equity allocation at reasonable prices. I still hold more cash than I would like. I will continue to put the cash to work, though more slowly than in the last 10 months. In retrospect I could have been greedier on some of those days--but I am happy to have dry powder for whatever comes next.

Guys, can we chill? Where is this board going, with a bunch of folks being particularly testy for the past couple of months, a new poster calling Sanjeev "dude", and now even the F____ word flying? I agree with UhuruPeak. Everyone should keep their posts respectful (this is not the yahoo boards). Criticism strengthens our understanding but I think most of us here want to see constructive criticism that is focused on refuting ideas, not attacking individuals. This is what the old board was like when it was at its best. I respectfully suggest that all posters should re-read the Terms of Use that Sanjeev posted on the main page. http://cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/index.php?topic=42.0 Cheers!

Partner, that is unfortunate. No person is happy to feel overlooked or unrecognized. However, in situations like this I try to remember Prem's guiding motto and accept the situation without resentment. "There's no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit"

Neither Interactive Brokers nor Thinkorswim are currently offering RRSP accounts.

true

Does this remind anyone else of what worked so well for LTCM? I am sure they thought all their Nobel Laureates understood sigma too. But they didn't realize that their models relied on unrealistic assumptions.

Hi Scott, Rest assured that Warren has given a lot of thought to succession planning and company culture-building at Berkshire. Wouldn't you say that a company like Fairfax has an equal "key person" risk (imagine the risk that Prem is hit by a bus)? The reality is that both Prem and Warren have surrounded themselves with extremely capable managers that have a strong sense of integrity. I suspect that the culture at both companies will survive for at least 10 years after the founders move on. There will be ample opportunity to sell at that point if you see the culture or fortune of Berkshire fading.

The man is 85 years old. Respect for your elders is good thing to remember. Do you have any relatives that old that take a active role in their community and are chairman of a successful public corporation? Any that can still stand straight and talk clearly? Cheers!

Hi Crip, Do you know what the production cost per barrel is at Suncor these days? Do you know how it compares to production costs at Canadian Oil Sands Trust? I have owned and followed Suncor in the past. It was a fairly well managed company and costs were quite a bit lower than Syncrude at the time.

If you start typing BYD in google finance, the autocomplete shows gives you a couple of possible leads. 1211:HK BYDDY BYDDF You can see the price quotes here. http://finance.yahoo.com/q/cq?d=v1&s=BYDDF.PK,BYDDY.PK,1211.HK HKD/USD= 0.129 right now. 1211.HK = HK$18.60 in USD = US$2.49 = almost exact price of exact of BYDDF on US Pink Sheets. BYDDY, on the other hand, is an unsponsored ADR at 10:1 share ratio, therefore it is trading at US$24.30 (nearly same as 10x$2.49). I'm not sure of the implications of investing in unsponsored ADRs. Hope that helps.

My brokerage is the discount arm of one of the Canadian chartered banks. The only way I can buy on a foreign exchange is to call in my instructions verbally during their local trading desk hours. These hours don't overlap with SEHK trading times so they record my instructions and submit an order and then get back to me in a day or two with the outcome. Hard to get your price unless you are buying a liquid stock. The commission fees charged are higher and there are additional exchange fees. If you dealt with someone like Interactive Brokers, I suspect you could trade directly on SEHK during Hong Kong market hours. This would be the best option. Another option: You can often buy a sponsored or unsponsored ADR for chinese stocks on the Pinksheets. They always seem to have tickers that are 5 letters long and end in F or Y or something (I think that signifies non-US stocks). More information about these ADRs can be found at www.pinksheets.com. I think that site tells you the ratios between the ADR and the stocks listed on HKSE. (for example it could be 10shares on HKSE = 1 ADR share) Maybe someone with more recent experience can chime in on this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BYD_Auto http://www.google.com/finance?q=HKG%3A1211

BK? bankruptcy

I agree. Mohnish's letter dated January 16 2009 is at large on the internet. It contains his performance numbers and some of his reflections on 2008.

Pabrai funds were down ~60% in calendar 2008. I have never praised anyone on the mere basis of one or two years of outperformance--so I refrain equally from criticizing them now.

I agree with most of what Sellers is saying, with one caveat. I think it IS possible for people to learn to re-wire their brain to think differently at any age given appropriate stimulus and exposure. Anyone that researches "Brain plasticity" and brain function recovery and adaptability in stroke victims will see that our brains have a great amount of untapped potential to re-map, learn new things, and new concepts at any age. It is obvious that merely reading a lot and going to business school will not give you the traits required to be a great investor. However, I do think it is possible to re-wire our brains to become better investors and capital allocators. it requires submitting yourself to certain stimuli over long periods of time -- and it does change the way your brain processes and responds to information. Thus far, we have not found a reliable way to train the average person to do this themselves. Scientific understanding of the human brain is still fairly rudimentary--consider the following quote: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroplasticity During the 20th century, the consensus was that lower brain and neocortical areas were immutable in structure after childhood, meaning learning only happens by changing of connection strength, whereas areas related to memory formation, such as the hippocampus and dentate gyrus, where new neurons continue to be produced into adulthood, were highly plastic. This belief is being challenged by new findings, suggesting all areas of the brain are plastic even after childhood

Eric, Based on your background, I believe you were using the term "sandbox" as per the software development definition. There is no similar definition outside of the IT/software world and may have been easily misunderstood by oec (as it was by me). A general language reference to a sandbox might be more readily construed as an insult---an invitation to go play with kiddy toys in the sandbox and come back when you are a big kid.

Is the highlighted part of the statement accurate? Does the broker require that you have a debit balance in your margin account before they can lend out your shares? Or can they lend out any shares held in a margin account regardless of whether you are carrying a margin debit balance?

If you go to www.OID.com there is a sample excerpt from the recent issue.

great idea--count me in!

I believe you can choose to use their posted average exchange rate or you can elect to use the actual rates at the transaction dates. Whichever method you use, CRA wants you to use it consistently. You can't switch back and forth to game the system.

I have spoken to several telephone staff at CRA on this issue in past years and I always seem to receive different answers. If you call them about this issue, I would suggest ask to speak to a supervisor or area specialist. I believe that as long as currency gains are moderate compared to your portfolio size and you are not trading the currency in a FOREX account (where the stated objective is currency gains) that you can ignore the gain that you had on USD while not invested in any shares. I hope that someone else here can add further detail or point to a CRA tax bulletin on this.

I think Buffett is saying: of all the businesses serious considers buying, he expects all of them to do well over the long run. If the one he purchases doesn't do well - he expects it will be due to large economic problems that will pull down the other considered investments as well. Walmart and Costco might make a better analogy.

Jack, can you expand on what advantages you expect BNI to have over the next 10 or 20 years? I imagine fuel efficiency and lower cost (versus highway trucking), rail ownership (expensive for someone to build competing network). What other aspects am I missing? Thanks