Liberty

Thanks for the link. He seems to basically agree with Buffett and Munger that most of the finance industry adds very little value.

A lot changed this year, but I'm ready to keep what I'm holding now for a long time. Not sure yet what a typical year would be like for me, so I won't vote, but I suspect it would be <25%.

I'm not sure I understand. Where does the NYT article talks about investing and luck? In any case, the NYT piece is pretty superficial and that writer isn't known for his accuracy about scientific matters. I recommend reading the source material.

My copy has been pre-ordered for a few weeks. Can't wait! Another good one by Isaacson is his bio of Ben Franklin. I also have the one he wrote about Einstein, but haven't read it yet.

The damage you describe is very real, but I'm not convinced that the alternative is less damage, both in the short and long term.

I looked up that photo. Hilarious! 8)

YES!!!! Honest question: And after that, what would have happened..?

[amazonsearch]Thinking, Fast and Slow[/amazonsearch] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/21/opinion/brooks-who-you-are.html?_r=1 Coming out soon. His research into cognitive biases and heuristics is very helpful to any value investor who tries to have an edge by being more rational than the market. I also recommend: [amazonsearch]Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases[/amazonsearch] [amazonsearch]Heuristics Biases: The Psychology of Intuitive Judgment[/amazonsearch]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204618704576644632834963512.html

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-20/jobs-regretted-not-getting-cancer-surgery-sooner-biographer-isaacson-says.html

The way I look at it, there are three levers you can pull to increase your net worth. 1) Increase income/revenue 2) Decrease expenses 3) Make good capital allocation decisions It seems obvious that a combination of the three will give better results than just pulling one or two.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/buffett-returns-to-cartoonland-joined-by-jay-z/

Thanks for posting, I appreciate it!

I guess that in the end, all of this depends on the "why" you want to have money. If it's to have a nice car and party all night and buy nice things, then don't wait too long, do it now and enjoy life. But for me, I wouldn't live much differently if I had a few millions. I'd have a nice house and a few more electronic gadgets, but that's not why I do it. I do it for the security. To know that I can do whatever I want, and it's ok. I can work on my projects all day and read my books and listen to my music and explore whatever piques my interest and never be forced to do stuff I don't want to do just for money. That's the end goal for me. So being a bit frugal doesn't feel like a sacrifice to me because saving the money is helping me get something that is worth so much more. I don't want a ferrari or a yacht, I want personal independence.

People looking for tips to save money should check out: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Tightwad-Gazette-Amy-Dacyczyn/dp/0375752250/ It's from the early 90s, so some of it is dated. But there's so much stuff that even if you use only 5% of the tips, you'll probably end up paying for the book dozens of times over. That book, please a few blogs that I read for a while, have no doubt saved me thousands of dollars at not real cost to me life enjoyment. But more importantly, they helped change my mindset a bit, and after a while I didn't need any reinforcement to stick to it. None of it feels like a sacrifice, it feels like finding bargains, and that's fun!

Agreed. I'd rather enjoy life. He's the only one who can decide if what he does gives him more satisfaction than what he's giving up, in the same way that Buffett's frugal ways are obviously giving him more satisfaction than he would get out of a bigger house and all kinds of bling. There's a lot of things that I want but I delay getting them because to me it's better to own a few more shares of the businesses that I like, and it's better to be financially independent a bit sooner, etc. There's such a thing as going too far - ie. if Buffett didn't buy the coke and burgers that he loves so much to save money - but it's up to each person to decide what that is for themselves. I'm saying this because people tend to project their tastes and needs and limits on other people way too much, and that's a flaw in their mental models, as Munger would say.

Financial independence is a huge turn on, don't you know? ;) 8)

Looks like he has the discipline to achieve his goals. Hopefully he has the same discipline on the investment side as on the saving side :)

Thanks AZ, you beat me to it! :)

[amazonsearch]Quality of Earnings[/amazonsearch] Anyone has read this one? would you recommend it? In confidence Game, Bill Ackman sends a box of books to someone else, and out of the 5, I have read 4. This is the fifth one, so I'm thinking of getting it.

Hey. I was wondering if there's a more high-tech alternative to SEDAR.com to get filings from Canadian companies. SEC.gov has a RSS feed for each company page so that you can easily track new filings. Anything equivalent for Canada, either on SEDAR or on another site? SEDAR.com looks like it was made in 1996 and never updated...

I've been to Mikes and Scores and they're decent. Usually pretty full of customers, so at least there's that.

Thanks for posting that!

2 people, renting a 1.2k sq/feet apartment, no kids, late 20s. $40k last year, but we got married. In the $30k range this year, but we moved and bought a bunch of appliances and furniture. As long as I have books and a computer I'm happy, and my wife doesn't spend much either, so we're living pretty frugally. I'd rather save what I earn now and invest it since I'm pretty young and time will help with the compounding.

[amazonsearch]Confidence Game[/amazonsearch] Just started reading this and it's very interesting so far.