bookie71

The biggest problem for me is the tax portion you have to pay on the conversion. If you can multiply your after tax "Roth" 15 times (apx 20% for 15+ years) then the offsetting tax that was paid would also multiply by the same amount. You can withdraw before 59 1/2 without a penalty if you do equal payments for a period of time. Also you have trust congress to not tax the Roth. The pot (all the Roths) gets bigger each year and as the deficit grows so will the temptation to get into it. They are already talking about a VAT and in the past they had for awhile, several years ago, they had a penalty tax if you had too much in your profit sharing or pension plan. Our government says our debt is about 13 trillion when it is actually about 60-70 trillion which is about 194,000 for every citizen. http://truthin2008.org/content/?articlesource=439 check the above site for "truth in accounting" for the government. It also has some interesting figures for many of the states. I used to trust Congress to some extent, until in the 1980's they retroactively changed the real estate rules for deductions and basically put the real estate market into a recession.

And if things slow down and they can't find deals, they will pay a large return of capital dividend. A few years ago they returned 12.50 (I think)per share

bookie, do you mean this software? http://www.timevalue.com/tvalue.aspx yes, except I think I only paid 49 for it years ago, but maybe that was only for an upgrade from DOS.

Don't forget he has been giving his BRK away to the Gates Foundation and others.

Actually with a program called T Value it is easy to compute with ithe in's and out's. See if your accountant or tax preparer has it and will show you how to calculate it. It is very easy to use and reasonably priced.

P.S. Remember the funds are on a "cash" basis and only recognize the gain or loss when it is actually "realized". When you invest you are buying the "recognized" gain or loss.

Actually the tendency seems to be to sell the big gainers. After a big downturn in the market, as a tax preparer, I spend a lot of time trying to explain to folks why they have a big capital gain when the value of their portfolio dropped by XX%

that's why you never buy a mutual fund in December, they are about to distribute LTCG, STCG and dividends.

But our Rotary club doesn't meet at Applebees. ;D I, personally prefer several local family owned restaurants for the atmosphere and food quality - the chain outfits are too plastic for me.

Our Rotary club meets at Dennys and the food is good but not great. They just put out a new menu, but it didn't really change much. I'm not sure that the owners understand today's market. They talk health, but are still way too heavy on the grease.

You might look at CET (Central Securities) it trades at a discount to NAV and it's big asset is discounted at about 20%, so you get a double discount. I've looking at it for my kids, but still on the edge- I',m not sure if Fairholme is getting too big, I have some in their accounts from some time back, but the fund seems to be making some very risky plays (to me)

I have kept track of mine on a very simple yearly balance sheet on excell (apx 10+ years), It isn't fancy, but at least it gives a starting point. The entities I have control of, I keep in Quick Books.

The real test will be when the lawyers get through with Toyota, could really be bad.

I don't know what happens now, but in the mid 1980's when so many banks failed in Alaska, you became an unsecured creditor and had to wait until the bank is liquidated as in any other bankruptcy. If someone has the knowledge and time to investigate there is a lot of money to be made in buying the loan packages from FDIC but you can loose your shirt if you don't do your own due diligence.

You can get all the education in the world ( and it helps) BUT you can't teach common sense.

Congratulations - The way a championship game should be!!!!

But their women beat our women - and they know how to celebrate :-)

The sharks attack!!!! >:(

And we expect to get this from our congresspeople? Maybe they should be required to wear patches like the race drivers do, so we know who has bought them.

I beleive it requires more salemanship than investing knowledge. Of course there are exceptions.

On their site I believe they have the appraisal and it is discounted because of lack of marketability, I haven't checked recently. but it was on there a few months ago.

But I bet that there are some nice finder's fees. ;D

The 2009 annual report is out at: http://www.centralsecurities.com/AnnualReport2009.pdf Chuck

WOW, he's human, what a concept. All humans have positive and negative aspects.

Whenever the mood strikes them - usually some time after the Berkshire meeting. ;D