dcollon

Partner, Good points. I'm glad you liked it as much as I did. I took a ton of notes while I was reading it and will definitely go back and re-read it at some point in the near future. Take care, David

A few smaller companies that I'm aware of that have done quite well are RLI & MKL. Although I think stock price compounding is a nice, I would use growth in book value over the long-term as a more important metric if I were the author of the note. I think the Davis Dynasty is one of the best books to read if you want to see how one individual compounded his weath by just owning insurance companies.

In case anyone wants the transcript from the interview here is the link: http://tinyurl.com/ljuphv

Rabbitisrich you're welcome. I can't take credit since I didn't know about them until Mohnish mentioned them during his presentation. I agree that the articles/comments are very interesting. Take care, David

I'm still working on my notes, but Mohnish mentioned the following article during his presentation. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/12/10/071210fa_fact_gawande?printable=true Some of you might already be familiar with it, but if not it's worth reading. Mohnish has actually spoken with Gawande and it has helped establish his checklist that he uses for investing. I also found this Gawande article to be interesting as well. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande?printable=true It was really nice having a chance to meet some members on this board and some new people as well.

See you guys tomorrow.

I thought the below commentary from Paul Krugman (NY Times Magazine) was interesting...regardless if you like him or not. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/magazine/06Economic-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

I wanted to say congratulations to the members of this board that benefited from this transaction. A lot of you were very early in suspecting/suggesting that something might be happening behind the scenes. I continue to think this type of analysis/discussion/insight is what makes this board so special. Great job to the posters and the "management" ;)

Thought some of you might enjoy this if you haven't read it already. http://media.pimco-global.com/pdfs/pdf/IO%20Sept%2009%20WEB.pdf?WT.cg_n=PIMCO-US&WT.ti=IO%20Sept%2009%20WEB.pdf

This came across this morning: Buffett to up stake in BYD Co ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ U.S. billionaire Warren Buffett intends to raise his stake in Chinese electric car and battery maker BYD Co Ltd <1211.HK>, BYD's chairman said on Monday. MidAmerican Energy Holdings, a unit of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway <BRKa.N>, bought 10 percent of BYD for $230 million or about HK$8 a share last September, sparking a massive rally in the stock.

I'm planning on being at the meeting as well and would look forward to grabbing a SNS burger before the event. Maybe this location http://www.steaknshakerosemont.com/ since it's right near the meeting.

I thought some of you might enjoy this Knowledge@Wharton discussing on real estate http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2318

Below is a link to a Harvard Business Review written by Peter Drucker in 2005. Obviously it's a little old, but I had never read it and thought it was well worth it. http://www.sld.cu/galerias/pdf/sitios/revsalud/managing_oneself.pdf

I always find something of interest in the publications Columbia produces. http://www4.gsb.columbia.edu/null/download?&exclusive=filemgr.download&file_id=722370

Here is a more recent video of Jamie Dimon at the Seattle Rotary. (Scroll to the bottom of page to Video Archives) http://www.seattlerotary.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=5&Itemid=29

Thanks for posting the article.

I thought this video was very worthwhile. I always enjoy listening to Jamie speak.

Yep, that's why I'm thinking about changing my settings on Edgar. Have a great weekend.

I know this is silly, but I'm getting tired of receiving Form 4 filings everyday telling me that the B&M Foundation is selling more BRK,B. I guess I could change my settings in Edgar and that would take care of my mental issues. ;)

That was pretty funny. Unfortunately it doesn't surprise me that Cramer had links to Dystra's option trading abilities all over their website, but since everything came apart there has been no mention. I guess the more people that follow Cramer and Dykstra the better, since they won't be trafficing in the areas that I care about.

I will be at the Chicago meeting. I would enjoy meeting up with anyone who is attending.

OEC I totally agree with you and after re-reading my post didn't want anyone to think I meant pathetic in the sense that I felt bad for Calpers or any of the others. In my opinion the CIO's and trustees that blindly followed Swenson's book and allocated the endowments that way should be fired. Many of them are completely incapable of allocating capital correctly. It is such a shame that schools, municipalities, unions, etc...have these individuals overseeing their retirement money. Each firm/fund is different so I realize that I am generalizing across many areas.

I'm thoroughly enjoying his newest edition. It should only take me until Christmas to finish the roughly 2,000 pages. :)

Actually many of the pension funds aren't that happy with Private Equity. Many of the trustees and CIO's signed up and committed to allocate more capital to the various funds/firms in which they invested when they funds/firms needed it. This was obviously pre the private equity bubble when all these guys thought they were going to be the next Yale. Now the pension funds are on the hook for continued capital calls to many of their funds. We have heard from a few that they have quite sternly asked the PE funds/firms to not invest the capital they have since the pension funds are having a tough time coming up with the money for the new capital calls. The pension funds are selling down equities and fixed to fund their terrible decision to commit a significant amount of money to PE at exactly the wrong time. Such a pathetic display for so many different reasons.

Taleb is playing the extremes. It's why he likes the Biotech model. It's a sector you can make many bets and lose a little money along the way, then one drug hits and you have a significant payoff that more than makes up for your other losses (at least that's the idea). In the Black Swan, he provides many examples. It's another reason he thinks the banks should be regulated like Utilities. In his mind they take all risk on the downside in lending with the upside being they hope to get paid back with a little interest.