clayroad

From the 2016 Berkshire annual meeting:

Bonal International Inc.

I hope David Sokol will be one of the contestants.

In your attached argument, Greenblatt says "Mike sold some of his corporate CDSs a few weeks later to meet the redemptions and did not side-pocket the remaining corporate CDS portfolio." Seems like they both agree that corporate CDSs were not side-pocketed.

Incorrect. During partnership days, Buffett only used leverage in dealing in special situations. What our OP is doing is down right reckless. I don't exactly know WB's turnover back then... but if he used higher turnover when younger and then used less. Maybe you should assume that as he learned more about things he improved his method. Yes, as I said he used leverage. I prefer not to assume reasons for his lowered turnover. There is no fundamental reason why any amount of leverage is automatically bad. Appropriate level depends on various things, including personal risk tolerance.

Buffett used leverage in his partnership days, and at least anecdotal evidence suggests he had a bigger turnover than one might expect. Difficult to say what Buffett would have done with today's spreads and trading costs.

Is a high portfolio turnover as bad today as it used to be? Today's transaction costs are pretty low, at least for most stocks. With a small amount to invest, taking advantage of very short term mispricings might make sense. Taxes are a disadvantage, but I suppose most of us have ways to work around that problem for the most part.

So Benjamin Graham is a genius, as well as every other investor who tries to find undervalued securities.

As long as you take into consideration the leverage created from having short positions.

Are there any plausible explanations for poor management under RBS ownership? Optimistic plans to improve are not exactly uncommon, and the first question which comes to mind is "why now instead of years ago?"

I'd like to know which books are preferred by those who hate reading. Buffettology and Greenblatt's first book are couple of my favourites, and obviously Buffett's letters. Thousand page masterpieces taking 500 pages to explain one idea as cryptically as possible are not.

Its not necessarily market timing if one is simply unable to find undervalued stocks. I believe Seth Klarman does something like this, i.e. lets cash accumulate "naturally" (selling overvalued or fully valued stocks and buying nothing if he does not find compelling enough opportunities). At most one might call it market timing in the sense that it implies the expectation that there will be opportunities in the near future.

That's probably true but somewhat disappointing, considering what the leaked climatologists' emails revealed about their approach to science.

I've tried hand-held readers but nothing beats a good monitor mounted on a proper desk mount arm. Its easy to flip in portrait mode when necessary, and lift it higher so I can stand and move a bit while reading. Too much sitting and/or laying down would be my main concern when reading for hours and hours.