shalab

Sokol affair: Good to have it behind than keep churning it. I also noticed that Sokol's name wasn't in the report. I think it is right to do so to set an example for others. If he was soft on Sokol, he will be repeating the Gutfreund mistake which I don't expect Buffett to do. Sokol is getting the John Gutfreund treatment. If you read about the Gutfreund affair it has many parallels to Sokol. Sokol's reputation is permanently damaged for the rest of his life - not worth the $3 million he made in the Lubrizol deal.

A super investor by any measure over a very long time frame: During the 1956-2000 period, the fund earned a compounded annual rate of return of 15.3% (20.9% pre-fees). All with value investing the Schloss way.

"Warren Buffett isn't just an oracle, he's a wizard," Cramer said. "With the turn in housing, the strength in the rails, the bull market in chemicals and the insurance renaissance, Berkshire Hathaway's just too good to ignore, even as it seems to be ignored by everyone." 8) http://www.omaha.com/article/20120219/MONEY/702199955

No one can stop a Real estate collapse, not the japanese, not the U.S, and I would certainly wager that a socialist government would do no better. Remains to be seen. When they hold 3 trillion in foreign currency reserves, no one can do a run on the currency. If the real estate market collapses, a totalitarian government has the option of printing money and keep the economy going. They can give the yuan to the local governments. They can fight deflation without any problems like in the U.S and they don't have to take any debt.

Eric - an article and a poll custom designed for you: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/about-town/think-sydney-is-expensive-youre-right-20120214-1t3jl.html

Food for thought: If there is an attack on Iran - it is likely that the stock markets will tank.

One thing I was impressed by was how Romney used the tax code effectively to soak away money for his sons. I know there are a lot of people here with kids - I am interested to know your methods to soak away money for your kids. http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/06/pf/romney_kids_trust/index.htm

I hold a chunk of BRK. At about 1.15 to 1.2xBV I am thinking it is still cheap Agree and I hold a chunk of BRK also. The quality of businesses at BRK and equity holdings are by far the best. BRK is also a play on housing recovery as it has many housing related businesses which are depressed. No insurance company will even come close to BRK in terms of quality as BRK has non insurance companies that generate cash. The quality of BRK non insurance holdings is also top notch and it is the best blue chip out there. If you look at the growth of book value at BRK, the decline has come because the equity portfolio hasn't performed as well as it did in the eighties and nineties in the 2000s. I expect BRK to do well over the next several years with very little downside. It is the best blue chip out there from a business perspective.

Since expenses eat into returns and extra trading causes expenditure to go up; I think this is a good question. One trade for $3000 at a cost of $10 per year would cause an expense ratio of 0.33%. However, large portfolios generally tend to have lower expenditures. 300K trade at $10 would cause an expense ratio of 0.0033%. This is a good metric to evaluate in every portfolio every year; so would like to compare mine with others. cheers!

http://business.financialpost.com/2012/01/10/buffetts-apprentice-makes-strong-debut/

requests they had received for Blackberry phones since they started supporting Iphones and Android FWIW, the bestbuy salesman I talked to discouraged me from buying blackberry ( not that I wanted to buy one ) - he was guiding me to android.

So maybe I'm staying in America, or maybe I'm leaving in July. Stay tuned! You smell american over the internet ;D. I bet you a dollar you are coming back even if you go there.

Eric - not sure what you are talking about; BRK paid 5.6 billion in income taxes in 2010, MSFT paid 4.9 billion in fy 2011 and I believe GE paid 0.

do we know the size of his RIM position relative to the portfolio/FFH? How big a bet is this? My guess is around 0.3 - 0.4 Billion

Windows Phone to bump iPhone by 2015 http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9223548/Windows_Phone_to_bump_iPhone_for_second_place_in_15_IHS_predicts

noted that the U.S. has fewer doctors and nurses per person You can thank the American Medical Association for that - it is a cartel that keeps the supply of doctors artificially low. There are plenty of doctors from around the world who are willing to come to the U.S; go through the residency program and serve the people at a fraction of the current cost.

This is a relaxation of the earlier restriction - this will allow retail investors to buy in directly through brokerage houses. This is welcome news for many investors around the world. http://bit.ly/vyIDmD But, there is some red tape: The government said QFIs will include individuals, groups or associations, resident in a foreign country that is compliant with anti-money laundering forums such as the Financial Action Task Force and is a signatory to IOSCO's multilateral MoU. In order to trade, a QFI will have to open a demat and a trading account with a qualified depository participant, and all transactions will have to be through this route. The depository has to ensure that the QFIs meet all know-your-customer ( KYC) and other regulatory requirements. The money will be routed through normal banking channels, with convertible currencies such as the dollar transferred to a depository's rupee pool bank account. Once the funds are received, the depository can carry out the transaction. Under the arrangement, RBI will grant general permission to QFIs for investment under a portfolio investment scheme route that is similar to FIIs. To begin with, an individual QFI can hold up to 5% in a company, while all QFIs put together can have up to 10% stake. These limits are over and above those prescribed for FIIs and NRIs.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2017130298_export31.html

Looks better than 2010, an addition of 2.25 million people. http://bit.ly/sqEYwb

Looks like he should buy berkshire, I would if I were him to preserve my capital. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/india-tycoons-got-tons-cash-064653323.html

Happy holidays and wish everyone a healthy & prosperous new year! Thanks to Sanjeev for hosting an excellent forum.

Another shot in the arm for growth. City government workers in my area will get 3.5% raise in 2012 after having got 0.5% raise in 2009 and without getting any in 2010 and 2011. http://money.cnn.com/2011/12/23/news/economy/minimum_wage_increases/index.htm?hpt=hp_t2

And population is increasing. It is up by 2.2 million from July 2010 to June 2011. At this rate, U.S will add one Australia and 2/3 of Canada this decade. It will equate to a GDP of one trillion dollars. http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/12/22/vital-signs-slowing-u-s-population-growth/

You could be right that more people are staying home - in which case, it is a fillip to the local economy. I just came across this article which pegs U.S growth at roughly 3% in Q4 and downplays the Euro zone crisis as not impacting U.S growth in 2012. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/international-business/US-economy-gaining-momentum-as-global-growth-slows/articleshow/11223219.cms

The shops are still full - may be people are doing their x'mas shopping. Looks like a strong pull to end the quarter; expect this to keep going into next year.