woltac

Try saving the 13f as a text file. Open the text file with Excel and the text import wizard should open automatically. In step one choose fixed width and click next. In step two you can select each column width. If you drop down into the body of the report it is easier to "surround" your data with a column. When you click next the import wizard skips over step three and the spread sheet opens. If you are careful when selecting your columns it will save editing time later. woltac

Up 2%. Largest position is BRKB.

Thanks Rabbit, That makes sense; the lease payments are similar to debt. I started reading Value Investing by Bruce Greenwald and he uses the cost of equity capital in a lot of his calculations. The calculations are very clean in the book, but I think they may be little harder to apply in practice. Substituting my expected return on the investment may be the answer. Woltac

Thanks bargainman, It seems even wikipedia has trouble with the equity portion of the cost of capital. Here is what they have to say: The cost of equity is more challenging to calculate as equity does not pay a set return to its investors. Similar to the cost of debt, the cost of equity is broadly defined as the risk-weighted projected return required by investors, where the return is largely unknown. The cost of equity is therefore inferred by comparing the investment to other investments (comparable) with similar risk profiles to determine the "market" cost of equity. It is commonly equated using the CAPM formula (below), although articles such as Stulz 1995 question the validity of using a local CAPM versus an international CAPM- also considering whether markets are fully integrated or segmented (if fully integrated, there would be no need for a local CAPM). So basically this is a theoretical number that cannot be calculated with any specificity. The company has no idea what their shareholders require as a return. If the return is high they will have one set of shareholders and if it is low there will be a different set of shareholders. I understood the concept this way but was sure I was missing something. Perhaps I am still missing something. woltac

I'm ambivalent on his ethics, but I don't see a reason for stockpickers to purchase the stock at this price. The restaurant operations are not particularly cheap, and BH's cost of capital isn't particularly low. Rabbit, Would you explain why BH’s cost of capital isn't particularly low? The concept of cost of capital has always eluded me. When we are referring to debt it is easily calculated, but what is the cost of capital for a company that is not using debt to finance operations? Certainly the debentures paid to the Western stockholders were expensive, but what if BH does not intend to issue debt? Perhaps your explanation will shed some light on this concept for me. Thanks, woltac

10 years of 20% compounding = 10x your money! That is far too much money to leave on the table. It's quite possible for someone to live to 80 (he's 70) and his partner is 65 and will be 75 in 10 years. I could not agree more. When BRK.B was at the low point in 2000 I bought some but did not load up because Buffett was about 65. I do not intend to make the same mistake with LUK. When someone loves what they do and stays active, they can work well in to their 80s. My parents are in their late 70s and remain very active and alert, although they are not compounding money at 20% per year.

Please let me know if there are any of these rent-free houses in the New England area. So far I have not been able to find one. If you cannot find one for me, then I think you have to include rent in your long-term return calculation.

Sanjeev, Thank you for providing this great value investing board! Although only a member for a few months, I have been reading the board since it began and probably have read the majority of the messages (with the exception of the LVLT thread and hopefully this will not be to my detriment). I have learned many things from each of the members you mentioned and appreciate their insights. It would be unfortunate to say the least to lose any of these board members. woltac

That one is a keeper. Thanks for the laugh!

Brilliant? What part?

Sokol's defense of his actions is laughable. He should cut a deal with the SEC now, pay a civil fine and be done with it. It is always amazing to me how human nature prevents even highly intelligent people from admitting when they are wrong. I am not a Sorkin fan, but if he did not ask any questions about this mess he would really be useless.

13 stock investments: BRK, AXP, WFC, LUK, FRFHF, DIS, ATUSF, JNJ, MKL, MTB, PFE, WPO, WASH. 8 mutual funds: LLPFX, LLSCX, 3 Vanguard Funds, 3 Fidelity sector funds that change annually. One 10% interest in an LLC with rights to intellectual property.

We sold our house on Marco Island in 2004 and can confirm the $35k amount to own a house on the island. Water is very expensive, sprinklers need to run in the winter or your lawn is toast, flood insurance, wind insurance, homeowners insurance, pool heater and the list goes on. You are definitely better off renting. We check the real estate prices on Marco occasionally and have found that two very similar houses will be on the market for very different prices. Sometimes one house will be half the price of the other. The lower priced house will usually sell after several months, but the higher price house seems to stay on the market forever. Actually, some homes on the island seem to be perpetually for sale.

If BNSF earned $2.5B in 2010 and Buffett expects to invest $2B in capex in excess of depreciation in 2011, BNSF will only contribute $.5B in actual free cash flow for 2011 (plus any increase in net income)? Am I missing something? Will the capex earn a decent return or is this the price to continue to operate?

Nassim Taleb's investment strategy is not that interesting to me. However, after reading his books it is much easier to totally disregard the "experts" and their financial predictions. He reminds me that the next Black Swan is right around the corner. If I am more prepared for the next calamity than I was for the last one, then the time it took to read the Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness was well worth it.

One of the reasons I purchased BRK is so that Warren could manage my cash (or the portion of BRK's cash that my ownership represents). I don't want him to give it back to me now and I certainly do not want to pay a tax now to get my money back.

Let me preface my question by saying I have no experience with options. I am thinking about placing a limit order to sell LUK at just over $30/share. Would it be better to sell a $30 call expiring in June at about $2/share (the last sale was at $2.11 or about 7% of $30)? Am I missing something or is the option sale a no brainer since I plan to sell the stock anyway? Thanks, Woltac

Interesting article on Sangart and MP4OX: Sangart Looks to Fund More Human Trials of its Oxygen-Carrying Blood Adjunct http://www.xconomy.com/san-diego/2010/11/17/sangart-looks-to-fund-more-human-trials-of-its-oxygen-carrying-blood-adjunct/