junto.investing

folks, thanks for all the solid suggestions. ev, i will certainly contact you with regards to RIA's in my state. really like the brk idea, especially with some sort of instructions/restrictions in place. finally, never really gave thought to insurance. always thoughts it'd make more sense once we started having kids. but i'll have to look into premiums, etc to see if it's something that makes sense. the way you've described it, certainly seems like a viable and prudent option. thanks again

Apologies in advance for the morbid subject, but unfortunately, death has become a common occurrence within the family in the past year. Naturally, it's got me thinking how to best prepare in the event that I pass. Some quick facts about me - in my early 30's, wife, no kids. In a perfect world, I'd simply have a close friend advise my wife, should something happen. But, my friends, much as I love them, don't have much interest in investing. I don't qualify as an accredited investor, so hedge funds are out. In terms of mutual funds, I like Fairholme and Wintergreen. And of course, there's always the S&P index. So for now, I'm thinking she could just dollar cost average into these, but I'd love to hear others thoughts/opinions on the matter. An ideal solution, would require little to no effort on her part - an automated plan, so to speak.

I would guess that most people on paypal use it with their credit card, no? I guess over time there could be a movement to direct account linking, but for that paypal would have to make people feel as safe as CCs which protect people from most forms of frauds right now. Liberty, this is a crucial point. V, MA, and AXP have all built global brands that are trusted and respected. This doesn't happen overnight. It will take a while for consumers and businesses to fully trust new mobile payment platforms.

Nice pick. Trader Joe's is a fascinating business. Extremely well run.

I attended the recent meeting for Sequoia fund. They made an interesting comment on Visa / Mastercard (they've owned MA, IIRC, for a long time and thier past bullish comments have been posted on this board). To paraphrase: "The mobile payment threat is potentially quite big to V and MA. Companies like Apple and Google have enormous networks of people that they could leverage to compete with V and MA. The risk of mobile payments is that they can use ACH (Automatic Clearing House) to get around the V and MA payment networks. To do so, however, they have to have bank account information and it is possible that people won't want their bank info. exposed. But, it is very possible. No one knows how it will shake out." -- Again, the above is a paraphrase. But, it got me thinking. Isn't something like American Express a much better option than V or MA. The standard -- recent -- counter argument is that Amex has credit risk. Not much...take a look at their numbers. And, importantly on the subject above, what Amex does have that (as I understand it, V and MA don't) is a very powerful rewards program that keeps customers using their card. Obviously, other card providers have rewards programs but those are mostly banks and the banks don't have the V / MA network. Amex has both and has the high-paying customers as well. Just a thought when comparing V / MA to Amex when considering the mobile payments threat. I believe mobile payments will either be their greatest threat or their greatest opportunity. Even as a threat though, I think people are often slow to change. For example, I'm stunned at the number of people that continue to use cash and checks. While the mobile payments industry holds great potential, I'm not sure people will adapt quickly enough to marginally affect V & MA's core business. While most of us no longer leave the house without a cell phone, there's still much to be said about the simplicity and usefulness of a debit/credit card. Completely agree about AMEX. In fact, I hate myself for not pulling the trigger on AMEX in 2009. I must admit, I got too caught up in the whole credit risk. But you're absolutely right - AMEX possesses the same toll-like network. And because it's a closed loop, they see all the benefits, can charge more, etc. Their rewards program is unrivaled. Best of all, aside from Discover, AMEX has the smallest percentage of the market. Not only will they benefit from the cash-to-plastic trend, but they will also be able to chip away at V & MA's market share. All in all, I'm a huge fan of this sector. Very difficult to replicate these networks.

MA & V would be my picks as well. They're essentially a small tax on global consumer spending. As stated above, the transition from cash to plastic will provide growth for years. Both companies will also be able to leverage their brands and technology towards mobile payments. This all requires very little in terms of capital. MA has taken advantage of this by regularly buying back shares. Eventually both will be able to pay out sizeable dividends.

Give this a shot: http://www.oldschoolvalue.com/blog/investment-tools/tutorial-to-quickly-detect-changes-in-the-footnotes/

care to share what your google search was? How about the obvious one "Margin of Safety pdf", I googled it and the first two hits had links to the book in a pdf format. Did you try searching at all? Clearly, I didn't. Plus, I'm not one to open up any PDF that google turns up, which is why I was asking.... but thank you for stating the obvious.

care to share what your google search was?

I'm curious what he means here...perhaps a gold miner? What long position would provide a hedge to a portfolio already so heavily tied to a healthy economy (sans FDO perhaps)? Can't figure that out either. However, I don't think it's a gold miner, as he's been pretty vocal against investing in gold. And from what I can remember, hasn't ever made an investment in commodities.

fannie / freddie prefs?

You mentioned several ways to play this one... do you mind me asking which option(s) you ultimately went with?

Do you know when the new shares will begin trading? And what will the new ticker be?

Plan, where can I find the POR? Is it only up on PACER?

Can someone remind me what happens to the value of a call option, post spinoff? I believe the price should reflect the market value of both companies, no?