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nodnub

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    SPAM EMAILS - not sure who got them

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    changing your password is smart, but the problem may continue.

     

    Once spammers get ahold of a real address that sends a lot of legitimate email, they can spoof that From: address and send out junk to anyone. This helps them get their junk past some of the spam filters, because they are using your legitimate, established email address that hasn't been flagged as a spam sender.  This is possible because email servers generally don't verify the sender, they just trust that the email in the from: field is really where it came from.  You can see an example of spoofed email when it says from: *@gmail.com  but when you look at the email header information it says that it was sent via yahoo.com servers.

     

    Prem letter to Dakshana scholars

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Tom,

     

    you can read it for free here.  it's in public domain now.   Yes, it seems a lot of the stuff in "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne was copied from Napolean Hill.

     

    http://www.archive.org/details/Think_and_Grow_Rich

     

    Hey,

     

    I already bought the book this week (I blindly buy books that are recommended by Buffett, Watsa & others and almost always find great value in them.) but thanks for the link anyway.

     

    What did you personally think of it?

     

    Tom,

     

    It was about 7 years ago that I looked at it.  I don't think I read the entire book so I may not have gotten the full benefit. I had a hard time reading some of it. I felt a little like I was being force-fed in some of the sections.

     

    I think that some people will learn from the book and improve their life or relationships, or achieve great things. Others will be take the ideas too far in the wrong directions and end up wasting their life pursuing something they thought they wanted. To the outsider, those people might still be viewed as successful.  Teachings like this are kind of like religion. It can be a force for good or bad depending how it is used.

     

    It makes me reflect on this quote:

    "Success is getting what you want. Happiness is liking what you get." -- H Jackson Brown

     

     

    Credit Cards

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I do not even think of Visa and Mastercard as credit card companies. I am referring to the card issuing lines of business like Capital One's US Card segment where most of the money is made on the spread and various fees/charges. The cut from executing each transaction mostly is balanced via rewards so this alone makes up only a small fraction of the revenues.

    Interesting.  I hadn't really given much thought to how the rewards are accounted for.  So I guess by implicitly paying for my reward with each transaction, I'm really not gaining anything at all.  I'm just moving my own money to improve Aeroplan's business.  But then, I guess I'm gaining more than if I just had a regular no-rewards card.  Too bad there wasn't an option for "give me no rewards but give me lower transaction fees".

    VAL,

     

    By using a rewards card you are still gaining something relative to no-reward card users and cash buyers, all of whom pay the same price as you, but get no rewards.  

    Did you know the merchants pay a lower fee for customer transactions with no-reward cards? The rewards recieved by gold card users have a cost, which the cc passes to the merchant in higher fees for gold card transactions. but the merchant does not pass the higher fees onto the gold card users alone... those costs are recovered through higher prices, affecting all customers.  So in most businesses, the customers using cash or non-rewards cards are subsidizing the rewards that gold-cardholders receive.

     

    The pathetic thing about Aeroplan or gold reward cards is that the merchant is charged a fee of perhaps 3.5% or higher for the transaction, but the customer reward benefit is only equivalent to about 1% of each dollar spent. Overpriced rewards items, flight booking restrictions, and time wasted looking through these reward catalogues etc, further reduces the value of the rewards.  If you have to pick rewards items from a catalogue, I've calculated that most of the "rewards" are valued at twice as much as they are on amazon.com.  The implied points value of the reward items is also more expensive than in local retailers.

     

    If you use a rewards card, in my opinion it's better to stick with a card that offers cash back so you can stop wasting time with all of flight restrictions or overvalued crappy rewards programs.

     

    Credit Cards

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Bookie you are quite correct in that 29%+

     

    Another thing that differs from most retail credit is that if you charged $2500 this month and pay only $2000 before the due date, than you will be charged interest on the $500 remaining. But with a credit card you may pay interest on all the charges that make up the full $2500 from the day you charged them until the end of the month of the charges. (unless policies have changed in the past few years)

     

    I also find it surprising that a lot of people do not realize that most retailers are charged approximately 2-5% of every charge processed by a bank charge card. However, the real cost to the retailer is actually higher because the charge includes 15% or sales tax. The retailer must submit 100% of the sales tax to government even though they only receive 95-98% of that money from the bank. One place where this all gets very substantial is in the building supply industry where people run up six figure accounts and then demand to pay with their credit card. One swipe of the card can cost the retailer several thousand dollars.

     

    I agree most customers have no idea of how high these processing fees are.  I also think that a lot of small business owners don't completely understand the fees they pay either.

    SNS - tips cost the waitstaff

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    what a truly horrible idea, passing the costs of cust credit card usage fees onto your waitresses! ugh... biglari is turning out to embody the worst traits of unbridled capitalism run amuck. his sense of entitlement at the expense of others seems to know no bounds.

     

    I think this is only for the cost of credit card processing for the amount of the tip.

     

    i.e.  if you get a $1.00 tip via credit card, then you only net $0.98 after the processing fee (on the tip amount only!) is deducted.

     

    I've worked as wait staff in the past. I really don't think this is a big deal. 

     

    Ask yourself--why should the business subsidize the portion of the credit processing fee that would be attributed to the employee's tip?

    MSFT

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Tough way to make a buck, I think one must take a basket approach to really make it work. The only one I have confidence in over the short to medium term is Google.......

     

    My wife has a hotmail account linked to her YouTube account.

     

    Today she got an email from service@youtube.com requiring her to link her YouTube account to a Google account (she doesn't yet have one).

     

    "Don't be Evil"

     

    How is requiring Youtube account members to shift over to a Google account evil?

     

    If you're going to criticize GOOG for being evil, you should go after them on the privacy front.

     

     

    txlaw,

     

    I think this is the privacy front. Google wants to be able to collect all the data they can on you and associate with a single user account.  Wait for Google ads to show up on random web pages related to the types of videos you watch.   They want to be able to compete with facebook's rich database of user information.  If you dislike targeted marketing as much as I do, then you might call it evil!

     

     

    Investment idea re: deflation -- Fairfax 7.75% Senior Notes due 2037

    in Fairfax Financial

    Posted

    ERICOPOLY, not sure what your fair share is - but I see a future where you will be paying more.

     

    I'm not a Johnson&Johnson heir.  Given the station in life I was born into, I think my fair federal tax burden is right where it would be if I were still employed at Microsoft.  I took a huge risk and I feel strongly that the reward is mine.  Nobody would have shared in my losses.

    ericopoly,

    I can't figure out what you mean here.  The reward is yours, but so are the tax liabilities.  How else should it be?   

     

    Are you just making a statement that you would prefer a flat tax system?

    Bugs with this board's software

    in General Discussion

    Posted

     

    In regards to missing posts, the originator of the post can delete the thread they started.  

     

    It seems unfair that the person that started the thread can delete the entire conversation and debate that many board members contribute to. A lot of valuable discussion is lost in this manner. 

     

    Can this be adjusted so that no one except the forum administrator can delete a thread?

     

    Canadian election poll!

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Like I stated before, leave the politics to the experts and focus instead on investing.

     

    As I correctly predicted the Conservatives would win. And I'm a very, very happy man because of it!

     

    Harper is going to be great with a majority mandate!  ;D

     

    Hi TO.RaptorsFan,

     

    How do you think Harper will be good for Canada?  Or how will the Conservative majority be good for you personally?

     

    I would like to try to get past any personal bias and see the other side of the coin, so I would like to hear your answers.

     

    Thank you,

    New Fairfax Corporate Site!

    in Fairfax Financial

    Posted

    It is all perception. They say you can't judge a book by its cover - but many do.

     

    Impressions are important. If you are going to invest with someone or meeting with a real estate salesman and when they meet you for the first time you see them driving a beat up old car and are dressed in a sloppy manner, it doesn't make a very good impression. I don't care who you are or what you are selling (insurance or investments) it is always important to put forth a good impression. As someone once said " A shiny red apple will always sell better than a dull green one."

     

    cwericb,

     

    I agree, it is all about perception. The funny thing is how differently people can perceive the same thing. Personally, I often choose the dull apple because it means that it is not commercially waxed, and an unwaxed apple that looks half-decent is usually from the recent/fresh crop (they haven't been sitting in cold storage for months).  Waxed apples often look much better than they taste. I would say that this is the basic idea behind value investing - be willing to buy something for what it is, rather than what it looks like.

     

    A salesman I worked with traded in his Porsche for a Volkswagen because he perceived that he was losing business--clients thought he was a bit too successful and that he was making too much money from their deals.

     

    I don't agree that Fairfax's current or past website is the equivalent of a salesman arriving in a beat-up car and an ill fitting suit. It's not flashy, but perhaps it appeals to the type of people that they want as business partners and shareholders.

    Beijing Real Estate Prices Plunge 27% In One Month

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I found the following links in the comment section interesting:

     

    read the first two highlighted excerpts here about "shark loans"

    http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/07/ponzi-shark-loans-fuel-chinas-housing.html

     

    and

    http://www.hturning.com/index.php?action=topic&id=44

    China’s official class is not tied to big corporations, but to real estate. Chinese wages are low, even for high ranking officials. But they get free condos in major cities, worth millions each. In the old days when the imperial regime debased copper coins, the officials would hoard gold and silver. Now they need a new storage of wealth. And that is real estate. Stocks in large state owned monopolies could be a choice except they are subject to international monetary flows, and American monetary policy. Real estate is local and totally controlled by the domestic official class.

     

    Most new condos sold in China are not finished in a livable condition. If the buyer actually wants to live in it, he/she would have to hire professionals to build the kitchen and bathrooms, do all the flooring, cabinets, lights and wall painting. The reason they are not finished when sold is so that they can be a long term storage of wealth. Unfinished condos in high rise buildings are less likely to lose value over time – there is nothing to deteriorate inside. To top it off there is no property tax in China. You can buy any number of condos, leave them in the unfinished condition and there is little maintenance cost.

     

    So the official class keeps accumulating real estate, while at the same time printing money to push up its price. By now the bulk of China’s wealth is in residential houses. An untold number of them, rumored to be in the millions, are empty (sold as investment). The country can simply keep building houses, print money to buy them and let them sit idle, and enjoy double digit GDP growth. It’s an interesting phenomenon.

     

     

     

    Warren and Charlie vs. Alchohol

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Is abstaining from alcohol really something a lot of a value investors do?

     

    If you read the poll results, you could see that the answer is no.  Only 20% of 29 voting boardmembers abstain from alcohol.  

     

    Of course, it is unlikely that any of us will replicate WEB's success in investing regardless of what we pour in our drinking glass.

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