woltac

+1. To quote Warren Buffett "I think it is true, but I'm happy he said it"

I also use quicken to track everything including my investment accounts. You can download brokerage activity from your TD Waterhouse account directly into the program. Not sure how far back the activity at TD Waterhouse would be available though.

I read it twice and may go for a third reading soon. A very good book.

+1!

Parsad, congratulations on 11 years! The investment ideas and positive approach you and the board provided over the past eleven years (as well as on the old msn board) have been delightful. I only hope that I can provide the same quality of ideas to the board in the future. Thank you to every member of the board!

19.66% per Quicken with some cd interest that has yet to be entered. Very good year for me. Thank you to everyone on the board for the help. BRK.B, BAC/BAC.WSA, AMX & LUK are the largest positions. Smaller positions in MTB, MKL & Altius. Also have some money in mutual funds (Longleaf & Fidelity Selects).

Happy New Year to all! Thank you to Parsad for hosting this excellent board and to everyone that shares their investment thoughts so freely. I have been a beneficiary of the content since the board was hosted on MSN and was planning to move to full time investor, which would allow me to post more often in 2013. It looks like that will not happen and I will be relegated to newbie status for another year. Who knows, if BAC continues its climb maybe it will happen after all. Go BAC!

You can split the gift over 2 or more years if necessary. A family limited partnership may also be appropriate. Here is a link to an explanation of the FLP from legalzoom: http://www.legalzoom.com/planning-your-estate/estate-planning-basics/flp-what-is-family

Merry Christmas and a healthy prosperous New Year to all!

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Thank you for the link. I listened to the whole presentation. It was excellent! I hope he is correct about the US becoming a manufacturing powerhouse again.

Are you serious? You really don't see what's wrong with going to the casino and it being rigged or not against you even if you don't know and would have played there anyway? That is such bull****. The other side would have made the trade ANYWAYS. They have not been harmed in any way, yet at the same time you seriously think that it's just as bad as a child rapist? Really? I hope you don't have kids! Many factors are considered when a person is sentenced for committing a crime. Raj maintained his innocence, put the government (the taxpayers) through a two month trial and has not accepted responsibility for his actions. The rapist you refer to plead out to the crime in a negotiated plea that "considered the wishes of the victim." Victims in violent crimes are put under enormous strain and this works in the defendant's favor at times. In order to enter into the plea, the defendant was required to admit to his actions and thus save the state and the victim from a trial. A true comparison between the Raj sentence and the rapist's sentence is very complicated. Perhaps the rapist sentence was too lenient rather that Raj's sentence being too harsh.

I can't believe that one would consider this a benign crime although it is considered that way when the politicians do it. I guess it's okay how the securities commission looks the other way on the rest of the things going on with wall street. It's all benign anyway. If this is so harmful, want to tell me who was exactly harmed by Rajaratnam trading on info that Goldman was about to get an investment from Buffett? Then once you've identified the victimized party, explain to me how that deserves ten years in prison. $75.00 fine, payable by mail. ;)

Low or no cost non-callable leverage + High quality businesses purchased at reasonable or bargain prices = Good returns

Pretty basic article from The Economist: http://www.economist.com/node/21563735 Discusses Buffett's preference for "low beta" stocks and attributes 1/3 of the historic return to the insurance float. Nothing new here. I am a little disappointed for an article in The Economist.

Rough numbers: 5% Cash 15% Real Estate 80% Equities

I read the same book a while back and initially thought the stop loss concept would help my returns. I have yet to find a situation where I wanted to use a stop loss. Of course, I don't sell very often and when I do it is usually to reinvest in something else, so maybe the concept does not fit my investment style. The flash crash issue also scares me. woltac

Looks like a very disciplined business. Positves: • Long term debt paid off • Buying in shares • No defined benefit pension plan • Steady gross & net profit margin • Steady increase in Sales/share & EPS Would like to see the cash flow statement.

If buying under 1.1 times book is important to you, sell the Dec12 $80 puts at $4.30 (Friday's close) and either have BRKB put to you at a cost of $76.64 or earn 9.6% annualized on the money you tie up until December. Not a bad result either way. Of course if BRKB is substantially below $76.64 or substantially above $85.24 you will not be a happy camper. Crystal ball anyone?

I agree with dcollon. Although the quotes in the article sound accurate, the discussion was much longer than the three quotes cited would lead one to believe. I got the impression that the purchase did not work out for other reasons.

Don't forget Omaha's nationally renowned Henry Doorly Zoo.

Down 1% with some mutual fund distributions that need to be recorded. No spectacular gains or losses Largest $ gains from AXP, WASH, Vanguard Healthcare Largest $ losses from ALS.TO, BRK.B, LUK

A Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year to everyone on the board.

Jacob, Thank you for the notes. I stumbled across this interview with Seth Klarman on your site that was excellent also: http://www.valuewalk.com/value-investing-reports/seth-klarman-interview-jason-zweig/ woltac

Gentlemen, Thank you for the lively debate. A platitude is a trite, meaningless, biased, or prosaic statement, often presented as if it were significant and original. Perhaps the bulls are relying to some extent on audited financial statements, a CEO with a past history of integrity who appears to be doing the right things, a change in the Fed's attitude about worst case results of the failure of large financial institutions, etc. rather than platitudes. I have no stake in this fight at the moment, but thanks to this thread I will do some research to determine if I should. Thanks again, woltac