shalab

When we looked at the general economic situation sometime back, nearly 80% said their situation was better. Some conjecture was that the board contains mostly high networth individuals - let us do a poll to see where we stack up. cheers!

Up 15% this year. http://www.cnbc.com/id/39447134

Book value increased by 19.x% from 1992 to 2007 at SNS. While the book value increased, the company did poorly with capital allocation. If the previous managers had followed this strategy, they would have been immensely rich. As Munger said (paraphrasing), "Show me the incentive, I can tell the man's behavior" - this incentive structure is not aligned with shareholders. This is definitely better than the previous iteration of this plan and we all knew it was going to come back. He is already getting paid for being the CEO. He should get paid for managing the assets separately. This is where the incentive agreement should come in. Furthermore, with the current CEO/BOD, there are questions about when this will be updated to remove the caps. I dont think Biglari can make more than 10million at the moment on a per year basis even under the best circumstances. I peg his compensation at around 8million with the old scheme which will not hit/test the cap. cheers!

>Is BH a buy now No, I would like to see the BOD changed. Gabelli is fine as a BOD. I dont trust Cooley and other yes (wo)/men in the board at the moment. It seems to me that Biglari can approve anything he wants through this board.

I don't own shares any more I still don't think this arrangements is fair to shareholders.he should be measured by gain in investment portfolio . I am not comfortable with the board either - Cooley is a huge disappoint

So at age 37 I've just got too many years left to risk it in bonds -- inflation will slowly destroy me. Eric - you are absolutely right. There is a story about a widow in Chris Brown's book in the "the little book" series. In this case, a widow was asked by her advisors to put her money to bonds and at the end of her life, she had to rely on her sons as inflation destroyed the value of principle. However, he advised one of his clients to put money in Berkshire and the results were different :- ) and this was the seventies.

I think 5 million with house, car paid off is a safe figure - so you dont have to rely on investing prowess to survive. On the other hand, 1 million in liquid assets may also suffice if it can be compounded at 7-10%/year.

> Sounds a little different than his recent statement that we will not see a double dip isn't? Doesnt seem different to me after having listened to both the interviews fully. Is the situation improving - yes. Is it where it was - no? Are there a lot of people suffering - yes. Are we generally better off compared to where we were in Dec 2008 and in 2009 - yes.

It is a true achievement to have completed successful 25 years and revered by so many! Congratulations.

I am sure people have been searching for the next Newton, Franklin and Einstein for several centuries past but havent run into them yet. So, next Buffett/Munger is as likely as the next Franklin, Newton or Einstein. cheers!

rick_v, your point is valid as the other poster mentioned, Buffett probably put his money into BRK as both he and Charlie had their significant net worth in BRK. He never bought whole businesses in his personal account. Nice discussion, we continue to learn from the masters...

rick_v => Buffett's compounding rate in his personal account is 8.8% for 40 years which pales in comparison to the compounding rate at BRK which comes in at 20%. If Buffett had compounded his 18 million at 20%, it would be worth 26 billion. Something to ponder...

Per google finance, yes, this is excluding dividends. FFH returned -2.14% compared to SP500's 0.94%

dcollon, would still appreciate your notes. The interview was great - congrats for being able to be there in person and question Charlie. Does anyone know how to burn a DVD from Charlie's interview? cheers!

If investors are anchored, irrespective of whether or not they have missed any "turns," they have good reason for remaining steadfast in their beliefs considering all the criminal manipulations and machinations which continue unfettered at home and abroad, most importantly, at the central banking levels tied directly to their politics ValueCarl - which indicators do you follow and what are your investments today? It seems there is an opportunity for everyone to learn from you!

Wouldnt the stock jump as they get closer? The stock would loss some of its cheapness There is plenty of liquidity with Microsoft - with average volume at around 60 million/day, dont see any problem in buying back a few billion dollar worth of stock without any movement.

WSJ tonight is reporting MSFT is considering taking debt also now to pay a special dividend I would be surprised if MSFT issued a special dividend with debt - Ballmer has said that paying out a one time $3/share dividend sometime back didnt help the shareholders. The beneficiaries of this exercise would be Gates (~7% ownership) and Ballmer (~5%) ownership of MSFT. However, it totally makes sense to borrow money to buy back stock - if you believe Microsoft is undervalued. This increases the EPS. It also allows increases in dividends to existing shareholders without increasing the money earmarked for dividends. This is because the number of shares outstanding would decrease.

Alot of investors are anchored...alot of investors have missed this second correction and turn. Agree with this 100%.

That MSFT proposal smells like a POS to me. I am the first one to say that raising debt right now makes sense, but only if you can allocate the capital wisely. Buying back is a good idea - it also increases the percentage ownership of the current management. ( ~12% by Gates/Ballmer ). They can also increase dividends if they buy back adequate number of shares without really increasing payout.

>Does anyone know if Watsa subscribes to the libertarian philosophies of Ayn Rand? I dont know Prem personally - but if I have to guess, I don't think he subscribes to a political philosophy. As the great Charlie Munger said in one of his lectures, subscription to a political ideology can turn a person's head into cabbage.

What is the best way to continue compounding your money in a tax free way? - convert the WSC shares to BRK shares. This is a no brainer decision and I doubt it will go the other way.

Link from WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703597204575483132150937828.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

From the 10Q: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/934612/000093461210000029/d10q.htm The companies identified as affiliates of BNSF include Berkshire and its subsidiaries. In the second quarter of 2010, the Company declared and paid a dividend of $250 million to its parent company. For the period February 13 – June 30, 2010, the Company made cash payments of $335 million for income taxes to Berkshire. If this rate holds up on a per quarter basis, it is a huge upturn from the ~550 million/year dividend paid earlier.

Article in FT said Japanese real estate as a good investment for long term investors but the deals are hard to come by.

To buy gold and farmland, one must believe in inflation.