Ross812

Bought BH. Sold all of my BAC '16 Leaps.

I bet there's hardwood under that carpet...

I have a gtc buy order in for 17.5 on CHEF. Rinse and repeat on this one. The $23 month out options were going for $1.3 in March. I couldn't resist... http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/investment-ideas/chef-the-chefs'-warehouse/ There is quite a bit in there. I'm pretty comfortable with food distribution and I think CHEF is in an great niche market. I'm not as excited with their center of plate purchases (i.e. beef - too cyclical), but we are definitely on an upswing of cycle right now. They should make money on the next down swing.

I have a gtc buy order in for 17.5 on CHEF. Rinse and repeat on this one. The $23 month out options were going for $1.3 in March. I couldn't resist...

Why HOG? It seems a dying business. Younger people dont buy HOG and current fans are retiring. HOG sells ~40% of their bikes overseas and the strong dollar is hurting their foreign business right now. International growth is still intact and their domestic growth, though slow, is positive. This has been the case since 2005. Q1 '15 was weak and the stock sold off. The market is taking Q1 as the start of the real decline of the brand and is pricing it at a PE and P/FCF lower than any period over the last ten years aside from 2009. As for the future of the brand: I'm not sure HOG doesn't have young fans. Their bikes are expensive and young people cannot afford to buy them. The 20 and 30 somethings zipping around on crotch rockets are going to trade them in one day for something comfortable. The 20-30 somethings that give up their bikes will still have a midlife crisis in their 50's and go out and buy a bike. I really cannot think of a brand with a stronger following. I wonder how many hippies in the 60 and 70's were buying hogs? A bunch of those hippies own Harleys now...

Added to Altius and Amex. Bought a new position: HOG

Yeah, I think the impending doom of cable has spread a flue to all the content companies. I really do not see the problem though. Cable will die a slow death. Cable cos will supplement triple play with expensive internet. Content companies still produce content people want. They will have decaying legacy cable bundle revenue along with new revenue from selling ala carte packages. I envision these ala carte packages coming in two forms. I think advertising revenue will actually increase because adds can be directed more toward their audience and will be more effective. I wish Disney was having the same issues right now too.

More Amex and two small positions in FOX and DISCK

Schwab, I agree with you on American Express. I started adding it yesterday. I had sold a lot of options on Fiat, KMI, Chef, and AL and I'm looking for somewhere to put the money. I'll have a chance to buy back KMI soon I'm sure but the other three are pretty rich right now.

I like to invest in companies that are the sole-source or the best source of a product as well. Spices - MKC Salvage Parts - LKQ High fulfillment auto parts - ORLY Fasteners - FAST This thread will probably end up one of those "companies with a moat" threads... Not to highjack the thread.... Ross812 Im going to take advantage of your suggestion to ask about your holdings. ;) I have been looking at FAST and going to initiate a position this week. Near a 52 week low it seems to offer value relative to other multiples it has traded. The business seems intact and historically has had great ROE/ROIC which I think it can continue as the business grows, are we just seeing a repricing of the business multiple wise in your opinion? If anything the dividend looks pretty attractive as that should increase nicely in the future. Thanks. Orthopa, I think Fastenal is nearing store saturation in the US market. They have stated 3500 is about the limit and they have 2700 right now. They are increasing sales staff and I expect same store sales to tick up from 5% growth to 7% growth. Add to this a 2%-3% bump in store count for the next 7-10 years and I think you easily get 10% growth. Any efficiency gains and expansion of Fastenal branded fasteners is just icing. At 25x is expensive for 10% growth, but this company has a huge moat and slow high quality growth adds up if you are counting your investment horizon by decades and not months or years.

Bought a little AXP.

I like to invest in companies that are the sole-source or the best source of a product as well. Spices - MKC Salvage Parts - LKQ High fulfillment auto parts - ORLY Fasteners - FAST This thread will probably end up one of those "companies with a moat" threads...

Bought some Fastenal and a little more Gilead yesterday.

I think weight problems all stem from is eating what is convenient, tastes good, and not exercising. Everyone here loves checklists: If it comes out of a box and goes into and oven - don't eat it. If it is sugary - don't eat it If it is white - don't eat it Drink lots of water. Exercise 3-4 times a week for at least 30 minutes. At some point in your routine, you should feel exhausted. It's not fun or easy. Only eat meat on the days you exercise. Walk everywhere you could get to if you were to spend a couple minutes in the car.

More GILD

The best value (if you intend on driving the car 10+ years until it dies) is to buy something with a salvage title at 40-50% off of blue book. Search on craigslist for rebuilt titles, there are a dozen people around me that buy wrecked cars and do the body work to fix them up. A lot of times, the damage is not extensive for a car to be totaled (needs a new bumper, trunk, head/tail lights, hail damage). The guy I met only buys Lexus and Acuras that are around 4-7 years old without frame/mechanical damage and repairs them. He had great looking '09 Lexus RX350 for 11.5k. I believe the KBB was about 20k for the vehicle.

Willis Group. Wide moat, asset light (insurance broker), growing revenues in the high teens. Jeffrey Ubben pick.

Thanks. The Barclay's Arrival is definitely on my short list of CC. It seems the annual fees are well covered by the rewards. Any thoughts on the Capital One Venture CC? It looks about the same as the Arrival, except for a lower annual fee. http://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/venture/?Log=1&EventType=Link&ComponentType=T&LOB=MTS%253A%253ALCTMMQC4S&PageName=travel+and+miles&PortletLocation=4%253B16-col%253B2-1-1&ComponentName=suiteTable&ContentElement=2%253BVenture%253Csup%253E%2526reg%253B%253C%252Fsup%253E+Rewards&TargetLob=MTS%253A%253ALCTMMQC4S&TargetPageName=Venture+Card+Details&referer=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.capitalone.com%252Fcredit-cards%252Ftravel-and-miles&external_id=CJA_ZZ11412970_USCCJ_K7247714_1032211_F529620919 I actually have the ventureone rewards card (the one without the annual fee). I've had it since 2010. I would say the big difference is Chip+Pin (Barcklays) vs Chip+Signature (Capital One). Last time I was in Europe (a couple of years ago) the card only had the magnetic strip and only worked about 30% of the time. I mostly used cash. My parents have the same card and got the new chip for a trip to northern Europe (Russia, Scandinavia) a couple of months ago. I asked them how it worked. They said the chip and signature worked at retail stores because the readers were set up to accept both signature and pins, but automated payment systems and a lot of restaurants only use chip & pin. They said the most irritating time was buying train tickets, they had to wait in a long line to pay for tickets in cash while there were several automated machines at the station. They said there were automated machines at some museums too that only accepted chip+pin. The difference in the annual fee is $30 so the extra 0.2% cash back takes 15k of spending to recoup. I pretty easily spend ~30k-40k on cards per year so this isn't that big of a deal for me. If you are only using it when you travel, then you have to realize you are paying for the convenience of a Chip and Pin. I will say I prefer Amex to any other card because their customer service is so good. I use my Amex to rent cars even when charged the 3% foreign transaction fee because its worth it to not have to fight with them if something happens. They are also good about helping you out if something goes wrong (i.e. you need a tow). We had a fender bender in Costa Rica in this November and it took me about 15 mins to file the claim. Amex paid it no questions asked. This was their standard free insurance. Their premium insurance, ($19 or $29 depending on limits per rental agreement) is primary insurance. This means if you wreck a rental car, your personal insurance is left out of the claim. With Mastercard or Visa, they will pay for the rental car damage and the deductible for damage to the car/property you hit, but your personal insurance picks up everything else (property damage above the deductible, liability and medical).

If you are doing international travel, I would get the Barclay's Arrival card: http://www.barclaycardarrival.com/arrival-plus/?campaignId=1729&od=bcarrival&cellNumber=24 It is a true chip and pin card so it will work everywhere in Europe and no foreign transaction fees. Its a Mastercard too, so you should have no problem with the network. It is a points type card, but it's not hard to keep up with. 40,000 points when you spend $3k in the first 3 months. 2% back on all spending and a 10% bonus if you use your points to pay for travel (becoming 2.2% cash back on all purchases. Use the card for most everything, then book a few airline tickets for free each year. Fee is $89/year waived for the first year. You don't need a Barclays bank account.

Get a quote from Geico. My wife and I both drive older Honda (Civics '01 and '07) and pay $470/6mos for full coverage, comprehensive, and roadside assistance. I have no justification for full coverage other than it makes my wife happy which is well worth the extra $260/year. For homeowners check out Amica. Amica was 40% cheaper than Liberty Mutual (even with bundled with Geico). I shop around every year for insurance and have found no savings from bundling insurance. The insurance companies that stress bundling seem to have terrible rates until you bundle. Not good rates then even better rates.

PCLN and GOOG

I voted 50-59k (apparently we are at 60k). I use Personal Capital to track expenses and haven't looked at all of 2014 yet. I thought this was a good opportunity to take a look. This is just for my wife and I. It's our first year in our fixer upper so hopefully the Home Improvement, General, and Maintenance will fall quite a bit in a couple more years. Mortgage Taxes and Insurance - 14k Groceries/Liquor Store - 7.5k Travel - 5k General - 4.1k <- Mostly house stuff Amazon/Target Restaurants - 4.5k Utilities/Gasoline - 4.4k Clothing - 2.6k Education - 2k Health (deferred HSA) 1.5k Gym - 1.2k Car Insurance - 1k Gifts - 900 Automotive Repairs and Tags - 900 Cable - 500 Movies/Concerts - 500 Pets - 300 Cell Phones - 200 Home Improvement - 5k Home Maintenance - 3.5k

I didn't know WD-40 was a company! To add my list of good retailers, distributors, and toll roads: Costco MCK Kroger CHRW TJX KMI VRSN

Amex Blue Cash Preferred: 6% cash back for grocery stores up to 6k a year (8% at wholefoods) 3% cash back at gas stations 3% cash back at department stores 1% everywhere else Citi Double Cash: 2% on everything and its Master Card, so its more widely accepted than Amex.

I would stick to Vanguard index funds. Spread your money to hit all the market caps equally to try and get away from Vanguard's cap weighting system. You just cannot beat the low expense ratios with active mutual funds.