Berkshire Insurance Sub Acquires Business From Berkshire Insurance Sub!

[Parsad]

Berkshire insurance subsidiary Pacific Gateway, which is under the National Indemnity umbrella, has acquired a book of business from Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies.  What an easy way to know that you are acquiring a quality book of business with legitimate underwriting!  Cheers!

 

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2010/04/15/109025.htm

[Guest Bronco]

Parsad - this is a little random, but can you disclose your main sources of info (maybe the top 3 - 5 that you look at daily)?

[Parsad]

Parsad - this is a little random, but can you disclose your main sources of info (maybe the top 3 - 5 that you look at daily)?

 

Oh boy, that's not easy!  I'll give you the ones I go to everytime I turn on the computer each morning and I resurf them at least four-five times a day until I go to sleep around 12-1am:

 

Yahoo Finance - U.S. site

Google Finance

CNN

Bloomberg

CNBC

Globeinvestor.com

FT.com

EDGAR (filings & annual reports for various other companies)

SEDAR (filings & annual reports for various other companies)

The Corner of Berkshire & Fairfax Message Board (of course!)

 

During the rest of the day and evening, I read the Vancouver Sun & Globe & Mail.  I also read the National Post & Washinton Post online and Business In Vancouver.  When I read the paper, I read every page other than certain portions of the classifieds.  I'm a newspaper junkie!  I can easily consume 3-4 a day.  Surprisingly, I don't read the WSJ unless I'm at the airport...go figure!  I'm cheap and for the price of the WSJ, I can get the other four papers I like.  I also like to read on all sorts of subjects not just business.

 

In between and weekends, I view various other sites...too many to name...but I stay away from any other message board sites - too much group think even if they are value investors.  Any other chance I get, I re-read all the foundation books - Securities Analysis, Intelligent Investor, Common Stocks & Uncommon Profits, Of Permanent Value, Old Buffett Partnership Letters, Old Berkshire Annual Reports, Old Fairfax Annual Reports and any other books I want to read.  Throw in there any other business magazine I find lying around at the office.  I also read all the community papers, flyers, etc.  It gives me a perspective on what happens with business and pricing of goods locally.  Cheers!

[Guest Bronco]

Thanks - great feedback.

 

I believe there is an old man in Omaha that is also a newspaper junkie!

[Parsad]

It will be a sad day in hell for me if newspapers are ever completely discarded for electronic media.  I like receiving the paper every day.  It's the first thing I do in the morning when I wake up...get the paper. 

 

I like the feel of the paper between my fingers, being able to skim two broad pages at a time for articles that peak my interest...hard to do that on a laptop!  I like keeping old articles or entire papers for posterity.  The broad base of information that it provides is unique.  A dying business, but one that I find extremely valuable and nostalgic...kind of like hardcopy annual reports. 

 

I like the feel of an old annual report...gently opening the cover and paging through it...imagining the time when the individual wrote it.  A very kind individual gave me all the Fairfax Financial annual reports...thought I would find it more useful than he...I love paging through all of them.  I can imagine what was going through Prem's head when he wrote the first one after acquiring Markel.  I do it now just before I start writing our own annual report for our funds.  Cheers! 

[Myth465]

I am 27 and hate news papers. They are annoying and cumber-sum. I like annual reports.

[Parsad]

I think it is most definitely a generational thing.  I would be surprised if newspapers are around three generations from now in their current format.    Cheers!

[Parsad]

The other thing is that I don't see myself ever carrying a Kindle or IPad into the washroom!  ;D  Cheers!

[rmitz]

The other thing is that I don't see myself ever carrying a Kindle or IPad into the washroom!   ;D  Cheers!

 

Heh, whereas, I've been doing that with laptops for over a decade.  (You should follow a strict "bathroom sanitary protocol", though.)

 

Note on the earlier post; skimming becomes much more possible on the computer when you use the right software.  I accomplish similar newspaper-style skimming by using an RSS reader, for example.  Everyone will have their own preferred interface; I'm sure the newspaper-copycat interfaces will have a lot of adherents in the future.

 

[Parsad]

Heh, whereas, I've been doing that with laptops for over a decade.  (You should follow a strict "bathroom sanitary protocol", though.)

 

How exactly do you do that?  Put it on your lap?  My legs would go numb!  ;D  Or do you keep a folding table tray in there?  Cheers!

[beerbaron]

RSS feed is the way to go to get 95% of the stock update you want. Google reader does a good job with RSS feeds.

 

You can even set Edgar to RSS feed. Very usefull to keep an eye on new filings.

 

BeerBaron

[jjlin]

Sanjeev,

 

What's interesting is to add "Google Reader" to the list -- and, to set-up the Google Reader with the various keywords

 

a)  Companies:  "Berkshire Hathaway" / "Fairfax" / etc.

b)  Subjects:  "going private" / "BYD e6" / "pulp price"

 

And now, there's essentially a personalized newspaper, waiting for the person, each morning...

 

(And, maybe, one day... you'll even fall in love with the Kindle... which, of course, has Google Reader access)

 

JD

 

I would highly, highly recommend the iPad and the Instapaper app -- fantastic reading experience with offline access. Plus full access to Google Reader at fast speeds  ;D