ourkid8

How about BYD? This was #2 for me!

You cannot say it was a mistake as prior to the financial crisis, this was the premium companies were paying for high quality assets. What do you mean trying to be a hero? You do not agree with their US strategy which is a low risk retail-focused business model. Their goal was to build the critical mass to succeed in the states as they saw other Canadian banks try and eventually fail. Commerce Bancorp came on the market as a surprise since the CEO (Vernon Hill) had issues with the regulators and the BOD asked him to step down otherwise this bank would not have been in play. TD essentially purchased Commerce for it's best in class strategy at deposit gathering, not asset generation as is the case with most commercial banks. (Deposit growth of 28% annual clip which is absolutely unheard of) This essentially changed TD Banknorth from a company who consistently grew via acquisition to more of an organic growth focused company. Thanks, S Could you elaborate a bit on why you think TD is different? It's not a sector I know much about, but I'm always trying to learn :) TD made some large acquisitions of US regional banks in the 2006 2008 period paid > 2.5 times book and clearly this was a mistake which is not reflected in their income statement or mkt price. BMO has large US exposure but they were have been much more circumspect in when they bought and what they paid. CIBC which was the bank which had the gunslingers in charge changed mgmt in 2007 and the CEO who I have known for 30 years as we both started our careers 30 years ago @ Merrill is determined to have the strongest balance sheet in the industry. The CDN banking industry is in an very interesting position if they could create firewalls between their CDN operations and their foreign subs they could become world leaders and replace the Swiss. The govt. is rightfully afraid of the CDN banks becoming too large as any failure of a CDN bank would be of the too big to bail category if their foreign exposures are not ring fenced.

Parsad, how about companies like PM who consistently repurchase their stock at any price. The debt they issue to fund the repurchase is lower then the dividend yield of the shares they are repurchasing. Doesn't that make good financial sense to continue to repurchase those shares under that scenario even if the stock is selling above its intrinsic value? S

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Prime-Restaurants-Inc-ccn-4078176496.html?x=0&l=1 -Fairfax offer of $71 million which is equivalent to $7.75/share in cash (7.50 /share in cash from Fairfax + .25 /share in a special dividend which may or may not be paid)

CN is a very large position in my portfolio and I know that CN is goverened by the CN Commercialization Act which has 2 key provisions, 1. No individual shareholder can own more than 15% of CN 2. CN's headquarters must remain in Montreal thus maintaining CN as a "Canadian corporation". I am not sure if there are any acts around CP Rail, is there any shareholders on the board that care to elaborate? With the recent backlash around BHP trying to acquire POT, I highly doubt the government will allow CP Rail to be acquired. (The most likely acquirer is Burlington Northern) CP has been extremely badly managed and requires new management but this has played into the benefit of CN Rail shareholders! :) Thanks, S

What do you consider very small?

I am up YTD around 15-17% (using leverage) with my two core positions CN Rail and Philip Morris International leading the charge! My portfolio continues to beat the market and I have no doubt long term it will continue to do so... During the whole debt ceiling issue, I was able to start/add to the following positions: Berkshire, Inter Pipeline, Sandridge and Frontier Communications. Thanks, S

Absolutely wonderful interview...

Good for you for having your expenses around $9,000/year!!! I pay $600/week in mortgage payments + just under $700/month to our lovely town of Richmond Hill in property taxes. Just on those 2 items alone, I hit about $9,000 in under 3 months! Shahed Stanley you are my new role model. BeerBaron hahaha. thanks, man! 8) Wow! $6-9k a year?! That's impressive. Are you currently incarcerated? That's the only way I could see expenses being that low. Pretty much! Well, my electricity is about $50-$100 a month. My food is $100 or less (i would guess probably closer to $50). Gas is about $100. My insurance (car, home, health) is around $200 or so a month. My property taxes are around $2000 per year. My internet is about $35 or so. Hmmm...if we say $80 for misc stuff (gifts, dates, etc)....that's about $9,000 or so a year.

I am in the same situation since that would be Utopia! I am only 30 but my goal is to fully retire at the age of 45 and live off my dividend income. In the next couple of years I will be earning close to $1,000/month from dividends (before taxes) and my ultimate goal is for the dividend distribution to replace my income.

I am a bit confused as what is the difference between both examples? They both returned 30% in 2010 either though capital gains or dividends. It will be significantly difficult for scenario #1 to outperform scenario #2 over the long term especially since KO is able to increase it's dividend 7-10% YoY over the long term. Scenario #1 You have a portfolio that returned 30% in 2010 Scenario #2 I am holding KO with a dividend yield based on initial cost of 30% in 2010

That is exactly how I have tailored the majority of my portfolio. (54.15% as of Sept 30, 2011) My primary focus is on safe and stable companies that pay a large and growing dividend which I can leave on cruise control. This strategy allows me to build cash to invest in other opportunities which may arise that does not pay a constant stable and growing dividend (ie. Fairfax, Berkshire Hathaway, Sandridge, etc) I am also able to use leverage as I have strong cashflow coming in from my core dividend paying positions. In case of an emergency, the dividend payment easily covers the interest. -Philip Morris International - yield: 6.82% -TD bank - yield: 5.05% -Johnson & Johnson - yield: 3.69% -KFT - yield: 4.39% (We have not seen dividend increases in a couple of years which has been disapointing as they have been digesting Carbury but large stable dividend growth is very soon) -CNR.to - yield: 3.08% Over the last 3-4 years, I have focused on this strategy mainly because of Mr. Buffett's investment in KO and See's candy. His dividend yield on KO is well over 30%+ on his initial investment. For See's it is over 100%!!! In the example of KO, if the stock does not move that year, he made over a 30%+ return which is unbelivable! (and that yield grows YoY) Thanks, S

http://choufunds.com/europe.html I definitely recommend Chou Europe if you are looking for a European focused fund with one of the best value fund manager (Francis Chou) at the helm. I currently hold 2 of his funds, Chou Associates and Chou Asia and what impresses me is his honesty, integrity and focus on long term value. Thanks, S

I have made a few changes to my portfolio: PM, FFH.to, TD.to, CNR.to, JNJ, Chou Associates, BRK.B, KFT, Chou Asia, WFC, USB, FTR, SD, CASH, IPL-UN.to and ATPG. (My top 4 positions is about 54% of my portfolio - PM, FFH.to, TD.to and CNR.to) I am actually surprised that there are hardly any individuals who hold Tobacco companies in their portfolio. Tobacco companies in general have long term track record of delivering above average returns while being dedicated to creating shareholder value by distributing a large portion of their earnings via Dividends and share buy-backs. Thanks, S

This is the generic press release they always announce around this time...

I would like to add Philip Morris International (PM) as very shareholder friendly in returning cash in the form of a large dividend and a very large share repurchase program. Since the March 08' spin-off from Altria until the end of June 11' Philip Morris International spent $18.9B to purchase 378.4 million shares, representing 17.9% of the shares outstanding at that time. The average price of the stock repurchased was $50/share and at current price of $69.08 represents a 38% RoR on their investment. PM also pays a very generous dividend of $3.08/share and since retiring 378.4 million shares since the spin-off saves annually $1.1B in dividend payments! This is my largest portfolio holding and I plan to hold this investment for life! :) Thanks, S

I am the same, I stay away from shorting and using options as well. Leverage is my only vice and I am trying to kick the habbit. I have a 3-4 year plan to be debt free as I do allocate the majority of my salary towards debt repayment or investments. Thanks, S I'm 29, but was never attracted by leverage. I also don't short or use options. Guess it's a "keep it simple" thing.

Huge improvement! Great job guys...

I have a Debt / Equity (asset) ratio of approximately 0.38. I know it's rather high but I am a 30 year old who used a lot of leverage when I first started investing about 5 years ago and then doubled my leverage during Feb / March 09' crash to juice my returns! My goal is to reach zero leverage (In 3-4 years) as well but I honestly cannot help myself during these sell-offs! ;D Thanks, S Out of curiosity, how much leverage do you have? Having zero leverage is one of my risk control methods, and sometimes if feels like I'm in a minority around here doing that.

Same. :'( I was considering using some more leverage but decided against it.

During today's bloodbath I purchased the following: -Added to my stake in brk.b @ $66.98 -Initiated a stake in Inter Pipeline fund (ipl-un.to) @ $14.44 for my RRSP account Thanks, S

I think this will definitely create tremendous shareholder value as the Global snack business will definitely command a higher multiple then the grocery division based on their growth profiles. The global snacks business (Oreo, Lu, Cadbury, Milka, Chocolates, Trident gum) is growing at a much faster clip globally then the grocery division (Kraft macaroni and cheese, Oscar Mayer meats, Philadelphia cream cheese, maxwell house coffee) which is predominately in North America. This is a 'similar' move that Altria recently did by spinning off Philip Morris International... Thanks, S

I just put all my cash to work and bought a position yesterday in Berkshire, it's way to cheap to ignore. I now have 0% of my portfolio in cash...

I agree, 5-7 years...

For everyone with high cash balances in your portfolio, what are you waiting for?