Liberty

The Goldilocks argument. Where have we heard this one before? :P http://business.financialpost.com/2013/12/13/canadian-housing-market-not-too-hot-not-too-cold/

http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/827306195.png?1386939707

http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/12/11/a-worldwide-ranking-of-the-most-over-and-undervalued-housing/ http://online.wsj.com/media/1211PeteChart.png

Edit: remove off-topic message as it seems to have killed the conversation about the Schroeder interview. If anyone has anything to say about Asperger's, send me a private message.

Asperger's is not a disability, just a different way of seeing the world. I'm pretty sure Buffett wouldn't be where he is today if he wasn't (most probably) an aspie; all these anecdote about him locking himself in a room to read annual reports during parties at his house, etc. Very typical. It comes with pros and cons, and there are ways to overcome many of the problems if you are aware of them (ie. many social skills can be learned with conscious practice - like learning a second language vs. other people learning them as a native tongue). With your scores, I'd definitely look deeper into it. http://www.amazon.ca/The-Complete-Guide-Aspergers-Syndrome/dp/1843106698 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger%27s_syndrome http://www.aspergersyndrome.org/ http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/ei_quiz/ (body language/facial expression recognition quiz, also telling)

I hear he started out as a fetus! ;)

If you want to do a bit of light reading... :) http://www.amazon.ca/The-Complete-Guide-Aspergers-Syndrome/dp/1843106698

For those who suspect they might not be neurotypical, this can give you an idea: http://rdos.net/eng/Aspie-quiz.php I won't tell you my score.. :)

Sanjeev, you truly rock. On so many levels. Keep being the beam of light that you are 8)

That was interesting, though not always the best-written book. For those who want most of the ideas in a different format, there's this great podcast by the Manual of Ideas: http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/315877-the-manual-of-ideas/30189-the-manual-of-ideas-on-business-leader-henry-singleton-founder-of-teledyne-audio

Thanks, nice mellow interview.

:'(

How do you like it?

Thanks, I'm adding it to the (long) list! :)

http://philebersole.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/riseofteddyroosevelt2.jpg

One thing I've found out the more I learned about Canadian RE is that there's little you can trust. No third party, transparent body is keeping track of sales. You get stats from realtors, who mutilate the numbers so much you don't know what they mean anymore. They silently go back and revise past year numbers so the YoY comparisons look better, some houses listed in 2-3 systems get reported as 2-3 sales when they are sold, they throw out data arbitrarily, etc. And then they play the media little a fiddle most of the time, with realtor press releases reprinted as news and even going as far as having realtors of asian origin pose as wealthy chinese buyers for TV crews in Vancouver (in a now infamous yellow helicopter ride), with bankers being cited as sources for most RE articles (as if big banks were unbiased parties in this). It's all about sentiment. Everybody thinks prices are very high, and the only thing that can make them buy is if they're sure they'll keep going up and that waiting will price them out (fear) and cost them more. When sentiment turns, it'll get interesting, because it's not as if most people think that prices are reasonable and growth is just a nice bonus; they feel like they need it both to justify buying and to feel like it'll help them carry all that debt later later thanks to capital gains, and of course they don't want to miss out on all the profits everybody are making on their houses (greed). So it's very possible that some area of Montreal is very hot. Things might even keep going across the country for years. But I'm certain it's not sustainable, and what can't keep going won't. In the meantime, I'm happy renting and I take what I read about RE with a big grain of salt.

Not sure. It's from the Economist, so I'd guess it was in an article about that and they also included some other countries as comparison points.

Via many people on Twitter lately: http://i.imgur.com/YBqsya1.jpg

I'm not expert on REITs, but when Garth Turner mentions them, he seems to think that they'll do ok because the renting market isn't nearly as bubbly as the buying one (and many REITs are heavy or exclusively in the commercial sector).

Wow, that's novella-length. I'm digging in, thanks! Update: I think I already read this one, but it was probably around the time it was released in 2010, so I've forgotten many of the details and flavor of it. Good to revisit.

My favorite is the SENS Research Foundation: http://www.sens.org

Thanks ajc. I came here to post that but you beat me to it. Good read. Nothing totally new, but well argued. The argument about put-backs to the banks from CHMC is particularly interesting, though it's hard to know how that would play out.

Thought this paragraph in the Economist was interesting. Wanted to share it with you all: http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21590589-germans-are-avid-savers-they-do-not-invest-under-mattress

Tyler Cowen has a theory that Bitcoin's high prices are in good part a result of capital controls in China (and probably other countries): http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2013/11/china-and-the-soaring-price-of-bitcoin.html

Happy thanksgiving to those of you in the US! :)