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Eddie Willers

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Posts posted by Eddie Willers

    AltaRock?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    You can't talk about Altarock and Mark without mentioning his partner Scott Bradford.  He's the nicest guy you'll ever meet and is as sharp as a tack!  He attended the FFH AGM a few years back when Altarock held Fairfax.  You can find him in Omaha at the extracurricular Brk events.

     

    Its always a pleasure speaking with Scott as he freely shares his ideas - all of which are excellent!  Over the years, I've learned an awful lot from speaking with him and reading Altarock's newsletters.  They just have a great way thinking about investing.

     

    LOL - Look up a gentleman and scholar in the dictionary and you might find his picture there!  ;)

     

    Best wishes-

     

    Eddie

     

     

     

    Annual Meeting Schedule of Events?

    in Fairfax Financial

    Posted

    Hi Everybody -

     

    In years past we've had some some terrific mini-events scheduled around the dinner and the AGM.  What do we have planned this year?   

     

    Is there going to be a "dinner the night before the dinner"?  How about the happy hour the afternoon of the dinner?  Last year's happy hour was excellent.

     

    Any bus trips to William Ashley?

     

    Everyone chime in!

     

    Best wishes,

     

    Eddie

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Playing Ping Pong with Ariel Hsing at Berkshire's AGM

    in Berkshire Hathaway

    Posted

     

    Let's get Warren and Prem to play.  It would be the epic battle of the century!  The "Canadian Warren Buffet" V. The "American Prem Watsa".  What a tag line!!

     

    We can set up some sort of dueling website where folks could place bets in the form of donations.  If you think Buffet is going to win, you pledge money to The Glide Foundation.  If you think Watsa is going to win, you pledge money to The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of Canada or the Dakshana Foundation.  Undecided 'bets' go into a pool and the winners charity takes that pool of cash! 

     

    Alan, Sanjeev  - Pick up the phone and pitch it to these two Ping Pong Legends!    :)

     

    New Ajit Jain Signals in The Tea Leaves

    in Berkshire Hathaway

    Posted

    I'm with Dazel.  It's going to be Gates. 

     

    Jain would be excellent, (Everything from here on in is speculation)  he probably doesn't want to leave NYC.  I'm sure he would willing do the CEO job if he had to, but I think he'd rather keep his current job.   

     

    It's not hard to image Warren telling Bill, I'll give you everything but you have to run BRK after I'm gone.  Gates is the person that Buffet admires most.  Warren once said "he's the smartest guy I know".  They are like father and son.  Melinda can run the foundation exceptionally well - she's razor sharp too. 

     

    Imagine Bill Gates and with all his intelligence and competitive drive at the helm of Berkshire.  I think we'll do just find for another 25 years.

     

    Best regards,

     

    Eddie

     

     

     

    Thank You Corner of Berkshire & Fairfax Community

    in Fairfax Financial

    Posted

    Hey Shawn -

     

    Frame that picture and put it up on your mantle.  In a couple years when your ridiculously rich and famous people will say "It's no wonder he's so awesome - He met with Prem at such a young age!"

     

    I'm sure Prem, Frances and all the other stars in the Fairfax galaxy enjoyed meeting you as much as I did.  It's such a pleasure to meet a bright young man with a great future ahead of him.

     

    Good luck in life's adventure and we'll see you again next year,

     

    Best regards,

     

    Jack

     

     

    Carol Loomis

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Arbcon,

     

    Please ask her when she started editing / writing Berkshire's annual letter.  Ask her if she and Warren discuss the content back and forth or if she just edits it after he has completed his thoughts.  What percentage of the content is hers V. his?  Do they have an outline for the next 5-10 years of letters and the topics they want to discuss in each, or is each one spontaneously generated based on the past years events?

     

    It would be wonderful to learn as much as we could about this process.  Thanks for posting.

     

    Best regards,

     

    Eddie

    Sanjeev Parsad is AWESOME!!!!!

    in Fairfax Financial

    Posted

    Three cheers for Sanjeev!

     

    This year’s Fairfax dinner was beyond fantastic!  It will go down in history as “THE” investment event of 2012!

     

    Is it humanly possible for one man to bring together so much investing greatness in one room?  Sanjeev can!  He's a super hero without a cape!

     

    In a word – Outstanding!  Year after year, Sanjeev out does himself and exceeds everyone's expectations! 

     

    Words can not begin to express my gratitude!

     

    Thank you Sanjeev – sign me up for dinner for life!

     

    The very best regards,

    Eddie

     

    Convicted Felon Sam Antar Goes After Francis Chou

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I'm with you Parsad, I can't say enough good things about Francis.  We'd be hard pressed to find a man more capable, honest and honorable.  His character is beyond reproach and he's a role model for all fund managers. 

     

    In case some of our readers don't know, Francis immigrated to Canada at age 20 with $200 dollars in his pocket.  He worked as a lineman for Bell Canada and became a disciple of Ben Graham.  Prem granted him a courtesy interview and Francis just blew him away with his knowledge.

     

    His life, like Prem's, is the classic Canadian (American) dream.  What he accomplished though his hard work can never be taken away or disparaged by any man.   

     

    I'll go out on a limb here and predict zero redemptions related to this article!

     

    Best regards,

     

    Eddie 

    Partnership - Money Management

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    OK, so say you just set up a GP, LP, fund, etc....

     

    Who do you use as the custodian / brokerage firm?  What software or methodolgy do you use to track the unit holders entries, exits and account balances?

     

    What are the accounting nuts and bolts of running such an enterprise?  What should we do to ensure that deposits and redemptions are all recorded correctly?

     

    Advice here would be greatly appreciated.

     

    Thanks all and best regards,

     

    Eddie

    Fairfax Financial 2012 Shareholder's Dinner Update

    in Fairfax Financial

    Posted

    Thank you Sanjeev-  We all greatly appreciate you for doing this.  This is the best event in the history of the investing world.  Some day soon books will be written about Fairfax and these dinners will become legendary.  There's nothing in the world that even comes close to how great these dinners are.

     

    Hat's off to you and the Fairfax team that attends this wonderful event. 

     

    Best wishes and kind regards,

     

    Eddie

    Who are the other nine?

    in Fairfax Financial

    Posted

    Thanks for the ideas everyone –

     

    I found the following article from MarketWatch dated 2-14-2005:

     

    After Eaton Vance, the best-performing stocks for the 25-year period in order of returns were Kansas City Southern  (KSU 53.95, -0.11, -0.20%) , Countrywide Financial Corp. , Progressive Corp.  (PGR 20.88, +0.19, +0.92%) , Stryker Corp.  (SYK 63.67, -0.89, -1.38%) , National Technical Systems  (NTSC 7.34, +0.10, +1.38%) , Forest Laboratories  (FRX 32.47, -0.28, -0.85%) , Wal-Mart, State Street Corp.  (STT 43.81, -0.35, -0.79%) , Mylan Laboratories  (MYL 22.74, -0.36, -1.55%) , M&T Bank, Leucadia National Corp.  (LUK 32.40, -0.28, -0.86%) , Allete Inc.  (ALE 38.88, +0.05, +0.13%) , Dollar General Corp  (DG 28.47, +0.49, +1.75%) . and Berkshire, according to FactSet Research.

     

    This is turning out to be a tough one to answer.  I can’t seem to find any articles about book value growth over a 25 year period. 

     

    If we can’t come up with the top 10, I’ll ask Prem about it at the AGM….

     

    My question will go something like this… “What are top 10 companies?....Now that we're considering companies outside of the insurance industry, will Fairfax acquire them all?  ;D

     

    Thanks all and best regards.

     

    Who are the other nine?

    in Fairfax Financial

    Posted

    In the letter to shareholders, Prem said the following:

     

    Book value per share has compounded at 25% per year to $379 per share while Fairfax’s stock price has compounded at 21% per year. By the way, this rate of compounding in our stock price over the past 25 years is the best in the property and casualty business (there are only nine public companies with a 25-year track record), second best among all companies in Canada and in the top ten companies in the S&P 500.

     

    Does anyone know who the nine public companies are that have a better 25 year track record than Fairfax? 

     

    Thanks and best regards,

     

    Eddie

     

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