Shane

The problem with FRFHF for me is that the returns are lumpy and the underwriting is poor. I believe they have made some statements to the effect that they want to improve underwriting and I have no mistrust of Watsa, but it is a riskier company IMO. I dont argue that FRFHF won't return more, I just dont have that confidence that some board members do. Maybe if I met Watsa that would change!

It's no surprise that many board members here own BRK, but there doesn't seem to be nearly as many who own MKL. Given that the two companies are similar in strategy & that MKL is working on building a private equity business, why are people not interested in the company? Currently berkshire is more than 50x the size of MKL and both are trading at the same multiple to BV. MKL has a higher normalized ROE over the past 10 years and I think it is easy to assume they will keep this up as BRK is a mammoth already. MKL has more investment opportunities than BRK & is more of an insurance company, which may benefit from the suggested hardening market. On a long-term basis (10+ years) I assume that MKL will continue to compound BV faster than BRK & will not pay dividends, heir runway for growth is much longer. Thoughts?

I think he is trying to point out that Clinton's plan not only didn't work, but we have gone the exact opposite route....

Our results seems to be much more skewed towards Google, the opposite of what would be expected. To be honest the difference is very marginal and I dont see anyone switching their habits just because of this advertising scheme.

Liberty - your preaching to the choir. Miners were my first investment (I was in college still). It has really taught me the importance of staying in industries with good economics & places where I can actually predict the future with some reasonable success rate!

Great Idea with this. Speaking as someone who does not have a 10 year track record, I think you should ask people not to vote if you don't have 10 years. If you havea concentrated portfolio your probably pretty likely to deviate from a benchmark quite a bit so there is no real practical way of annualizing a 3-4 year into a 10 year... especially with a phenominal bull rally underway...

well I haven't sold out yet, I'll probably not start unloading for a few weeks. Capex and mining costs rose much quicker than I anticipated, rookie mistake I guess...

In 2009 I started buying gold miners and continued to add over time, I am finally prepared to let them go with this rally. II haven't really made or lost much money on this investment but I can say that I've learned a tremendous amount. It has taught me how I want to invest and how difficult it is not to become emotionally involved. I find myself actually hating these miners lol. I think from this point onward I'll focus much more on quality businesses.

I honestly don't see a need to look at microcaps right now, world class businesses were available a year ago at great prices and I filled up. I've sold some off but am still focusing on world class businesses because I pray they will get cheaper again.

West - My bad, it was Fundfire not IGNITES. Here is a link (May require subscription) http://www.fundfire.com/c/354802/40812/inst_asset_mgmt_pros_boost?referrer_module=mostPopularRead&module_order=0 Just don't take the point of view that its worthless. Maybe you'll get something out of it. If nothing else you'll be a charterholder (Assuming work experience) and that is worth the effort IMO.

Question wasn't directed toward me but, why would you put so much work into something to not finish it? IGNITES came out with a recent study that found that the when asking money managers what helped them get promoted the most (CFA vs MBA) they ranked the CFA 4 and MBA 3.7.

Ed - ALWAYS building in that margin of safety haha

Taking Level 1 in June, I'm using Schweser and am now getting in the mid 70's on practice exams. I hopeful that I'll pass. I studied for 4 months, my background is in soil & water chemistry & plant science. Seems to me the material is relatively easy, its just the volume of info. I wish I was more motivated early on, this would be much easier if I had been.

I didn't find a quick google search very helpful, what is the story in regards to Dalal street?

In the Snowball it explains that he put 75% of his money into 340 some odd shares of geico. I think this was before his partnerships.

That's fair Tariq. I was just pointing out a high level overview of the attractive attributes. On an assets basis do you not agree it is cheap? I view replacement value as kind of a floor on realized loss if you have a long time span.

Posco is selling at a discount to replacement cost & a P/E of 7. I don't have a strong opinion of if it has bottomed or not but it is definitely cheap. In the long term a crash in steel prices would be good for Posco as it's competitors would be hurt worse. This is a tough one to time though. The dividend makes it easier to stomach maybe.

South Florida.

Little late but I'll give you my 2 cents. Don't worry about networking, meet people who share your interests. Talk about companies you like and companies you want to learn about. I've been told by friends I have a 1 track mind, finance all the time... however I really enjoy the topic and just sharing my enthusiasm has served me well.

Thanks for the list, not very long!

I'm not religious in the least. Having said that I do find that people who are deeply religious are often those I would depend on the most, that I trust the most, because they have acted in a virtuous manner in the past. I recently got in a little bit of a spat with my roommate, who is very liberal, about Mitt Romney. He laughed at the thought of Romney as an attractive candidate because of how 'stupid' mormonism was. Although I haven't ever found a religion I believed in, I found it attractive that at least he was raised to have a sense of right or wrong. BTW I think Obama has done a good job and I feel like we have two great candidates as of right now. Something that I wouldn't be able to say in the past 3 elections. Just something I thought would be thought provoking, don't jump on me like you did Moore.

How feasible would it be for Buffett to take a major company in the U.S. from public to private? For instance ADM is roughly $22 Bln and he has mentioned them as attractive before. However, that would require board approval... correct?

Thanks for the post, I've been watching some interviews on CNBC throughout the day and it is great to see the CEO perspective.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_records 60 seems entirely doable.

Can you give me a little bit of color on why you think the RBI has chosen to do this? I can't imagine them trying to call a bubble, has the number of lenders that are backed by gold grown extremely rapidly?