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@frommi - I took the leap the invested $22 in Evan's book. I better change my life. LOL

I'm assuming people would put down the classics from Ben Graham, Peter Lynch, Seth Klarman, and Joel Greenblatt. But, I'm alway open to suggestions from this forum. A long time ago, someone recommended Capital Accounts and Capital Returns by Edward Chancellor and those really opened up my eyes. Inside baseball, actually Nick Sleep wrote some of those MAM letters. I like Howard Marks' first book - The Most Important Thing.

@73 Reds - Congrats on the first post and limited use of debt. Why is your retirement account so small relative to your total holdings? Pretty impressive how you have purchase real estate without debt. How did you go about that? I know you are super conservative, but it's hard to get good returns without a bit of leverage there, isn't it? It doesn't look like you'r doing fixer uppers or large apt complexes that might take more money on top of acq. Again, interesting and just wanting to learn more.

Yes, I think counterparty risk is a huge risk with swaps, options, CDO, etc. They're just embedded leverage. I do not know who the CEO gamblers in Wall Street nowadays... I feel Jaime Dimon, Brian M, Christian Sewing as super conservative and not coming from a marketing/sales background. I'm reading books about DB, ABN Amro, BAC's histories and it seems when an overly ambitious IBanker runs the show bad things happen. If the CEO comes from the retail banking or risk management side of things, it's run more conservatively and things don't blow up. When they want to scale or be a Global XYZ or they need to make 15%+ ROIC.... risks are taken and leverage is added. I believe banks are prone to boom and bust cycles. It's when there is growth at all costs is when things go bad. I worry this whole ESG trend will go towards that. As for AI, it's going to be a black box... so, it's like the conventional wisdom in 2008 that housing prices have never gone down... and then, Housing boom burst... and breaks the 1000 year old rule. AI is going to lead into overconfidence. And it'll create this "mark-to-model" versus "mark-to-market" problem..... AI is not going to save the world.... If it's trained on aggressive techniques, it'll over leverage. Think Long-Term Capital and all these flash crashes on steroids.

It's crazy how much they raved about each other and Warren backpedalling from Bill like he and David Sokol.

Never been to a McConnells...but, collaborations are generally good. Broadens the customer base by a little bit. I'm surprised See's didn't do a collaboration with Dairy Queen..... keep it in the family.

@thowed - I am inching into the position. In the last conference call, they mentioned they are comfortable with 18/sh of earning... Trading at 130/sh now..that's a sub 10 P/E.... with limited debt... Even if they are over-earning, the products are tangible and not vaporware... and if they are overearning, they are NOT over leveraging... which is a recipe for disaster. They are making investments in plants in America and not an Asian plant that might not exist. The workflow is not streamlined, but they acknowledge it's a work in progress. If you goto their website, the jobs they are hiring for...are very blue collar... which is not bad or good, per se... just they don't get blackmailed by hiring AI engineers and IT staff at premiums.

@giulio - It's amazing how UniCredit had the worst credit risks of European Banks and now, it's one of the most profitable and under appreciated. I like the capital returns, but it was a quick turn from worst to first.

I have recently found Atkore Inc - ATKR. I think it checks all the cannibal boxes.

I am a bit shocked he doesn't have any Harry Potter Books or Danielle Steele novels....

@Saluki - So, what is the final line between this pump and dump and what they do in the movie "Boiler Room" or early "Wolf of Wall Street" staff? That's crazy. It just promotes bad behavior.

@Gamecock-YT - How does Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering play into low volume stocks with large spreads in HK?

It's disingenuous, but I guess not illegal.. He's a self-promoter and knows just mentioning it would be a catalyst. I guess he has the Warren Buffett affect on stocks (like Chubb), but Warren holds long term.... They can sell short term since they don't have insider information.. but, someone else is holding the bag... but, the others have to take ownership of being lemming I guess.

@wescobrk - I know he has a CFA and was working in the industry (insurance?). But, again, his brilliance last time was to identify a highly shorted stock and use social media to rally a "commoners" mob mentally movement. If anything, he was a brilliant sociologist. There was no fundamentals then and there are none now. If you tell me, he used his CFA/finance background to find a stock with a high short ratio... I guess that's the brilliance...but, he is not the best stock analyst out there. Again, he won the game last time ... and got out... I don't know why he had to come back with this BS. I guess he's bored.. but, he was a one-trick wonder.... He didn't get a fund from it last time. He didn't get invited to ValueX. He didn't get called from Warren Buffett to be part of the Ted and Todd investment team. He got money that was more than he should have expected. He didn't get any creds other than being the king of the stock retards.

Buffett was right that luck of being born in the right country or migrating to the right country is a huge factor. In terms of saving, it's almost like playing a video game and your power level is low. You try to find some power-up or something to get more time. I know it's not always easy, but I would assume most people would have that same feeling of nervousness without a buffer. I either have to work harder or take on more shifts...Or make sacrifices to start the snowball again. I know someone will point out the extreme cases of large families out of wedlock or mentally challenged, homeless people... but, that must be 10% of that 78%. For most people in the 78%, are they really focused on needs versus wants (frivolous consumption) that they can control?

Good for you. I feel there are certain projects/companies that are toxic. I had projects like that. I challenged some friends and ask them if you would goto an insane asylum for 1 year... and you cannot get out.. because you will scream that they are insane..... But, so does everyone else.

@muscleman - So, did it get you closer to financial freedom? Can you not have a job again or did you get a more reasonable job and can focus on family and hobbies again? What was the inflection point that 2 years was enough? What happened?

@Luca - I like what you have to say.. what is your TikTok or Insta? I will heart your posts! LOL.

Uh.. maybe... but, I think the cultural revolution will have a lot do with it.. US and the Great Generation had that trauma of the Great Depression... and the Chinese had the Cultural Revolution and communism -- which was the buzzkill. One could only control their cost... China had their version of the Roaring 20s..... and then, WW1, WW2, and the Cultural Revolution kinda put everything into perspective....

@Saluki - It's a really hard to find book to find. It's worth something. You should keep it.

I don't know how Nubank (black) can have data in 2015, when it didn't IPO until December 2021. Apple is Warren's pick... If he is doing so great, I think Warren should tout their records.

@MCR - I see the vote of confidence for Greg Abel, but I have no clue how he would perform on stock purchases. He's an operator and can talk to their sub's CEOs on amount of capital to give them, but I have no clue what he would buy. I've seen Greg by Warren's side on the Japanese investments..but, did he bring in Chubb? Did Greg advise on the OXY purchase? He's more of a black box than Ted and Todd.

Strange -- I did a broccoli experiment with kids and they didn't eat it when I left and when I gave them twice as much afterward, they passed.. hmmm...

Maybe, that the natural order and balance in life. Most people will not get it. Thoreau's quote is spot on: "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation" I keep telling my friend, I wasn't born to be a feeder fish.....

@DooDiligence - LOL. It's all about when you hit your peak. For some, it's living their best life in high school.... you don't want to be the richest person in the cemetery. George Best was epic.