bookie71

Thanks for posting

What is good for the oil states is bad for the country and what is good for the country is bad for the oil states. If you are in an oil state be careful of the banks as the value of their collateral can become almost nil. IF lots of home are repo'ed then the value goes down and loan reserves are not large enough. It took Alaska almost 10-15 years before real estate prices came back to pre crash times. Hopefully with our savings account and permanent fund it won't be as bad this time, BUT I don't trust our politicians.

More than you wanted to know - see page 9 "out migration" (1980's era) http://laborstats.alaska.gov/pop/estimates/pub/popover.pdf

IF you are in an oil state watch and observe. Read about Texas, Alaska, Louisiana, and Oklahoma in the late 1980's.

Scudbucket, THANKS

Watch out for the ripples. http://www.adn.com/article/20150124/low-oil-prices-chill-once-hot-oil-town-north-dakota

WEB's Berkshire letters

but he is hiring a professional to manage, so how can he qualify as a "real estate professional"?

Do you realize the damage a bad tenant can do? If you have a current gain you would probably be giving up the tax free aspects of it. You probably can't deduct the loss as I think I remember you are a M.D. and your income is probably too high. You should talk to your tax advisor befor doing anything. jmho

Back in the late 1960's or early 1970's at a real estate taxation class the instructor pointed out that many people had lost everything because they didn't want to pay taxes. He also pointed out that real estate should be valued on cash flow and not tax brenifits (save those for what you might have missed in your original assumptions).

I have always enjoyed the meetings of the First National Bank of Alaska. Not quite as good now with daughter mc'ing, but Mr. Cuddy who is well into his 90's would rival Mr.Munger.

mrholty, Your post reminded me of something someone told me years ago. It was to set up a separate brokerage account (I call it my crap shooting account) at another brokerage with an amount that i could afford to lose. In it I have found out that I don't do margin, options or active trading. I do all my experimenting. It started out at 10,000 was up to over 40,000 and is at 15,000 now. My regular account have done quite well, but because I got the off beat things out of my system P.S. The crap shooting account has evolved to be more like the other accounts.

I believe (think) (unsure)that you can carry the unused credits forward so you won't lose them :-\.

Don't forget the off balance sheet liabilities such as Civil Service unfunded retirement, unfunded Social Security, Medicare, etc..

Which one will give you the experience that you want? My past experience is that a small firm gives you much more diversified experience sooner, because of fewer folks. You also will probably be required to put in more hours. If they are creepy friendly, that is a good sign also. What does your better half think? This is extremely important.

To bean expert you simply need to talk and act like you know what you are doing. . . Remember, the old definition of an expert is, EX= has been; SPURT= drip under pressure ;D

I have had no problem with Schwab.

Yep, Chaney and the gang almost blew the Berlin deal. Luckily the other side was able to convince the president to go to Berlin and see for himself how bad their economy was. I had forgotten how bad it was until i read Ken Follet's Edge of Eternity recently.

I just hope Russia doesn't start a war to bale out their economy. The oil price drop in the 80"s helped to bring down the "wall" in Berlin.

If the price drop holds (as it did in the late 1980's) it will be great for the economy and a total disaster for the oil states such as Alaska, N.D., La., etc. In the 1980's we (AK) lost almost 25% of our population and many local banks failed because the value of their collateral (homes and real estate) fell so much. At one time you could buy home for less than the lot cost originally and the bank would throw in a house.

Humm, Charley is on the Costco board and Warren owns AMEX. Think it won't happen? Ask Coke why Pepsi is served at the Costco food courts. Could be interesting.

He only talks about his holdings after he sells, according to the book.

To gain experience, you have to have screw-ups as well as successes. That is why I liked Guy Spier's book,he admitted his screw-ups.

I really liked the book. It wasn't a how to book, but Mr. Spier's finding himself and learning to work off his strengths and protect himself from his weaknesses. How many people would admit to their mistakes and screw ups.

Thanks for posting