Jurgis

I think there are two sources: be a good Amazon reviewer and they may put you into their whatever-it's-currently-called preview program; know the author and they may send you preview copies.

Right.

Let's have another thread about how true investors read over 1000 pages per day. 8) ::) ;D

Wonderful business that could and possibly should have died during the Great Recession. I'm somewhat surprised when MCO is quoted as an example of company to put into concentrated portfolios. What if US regulators had more teeth?

Just sayin' ;) But, yeah, any further BAM discussion probably should go to BAM thread. Peace.

Reasonably priced might be better description. I did not do a deep dive, not sure I could with their subs, investments, and corporate structure. Surface ratios look OK: P/E, P/B, P/S, but they are perhaps not great for evaluating company like BAM. Presumably good/great management. Cons: Not cheap based on AUM? Cycle? RE asset allocation high? May be lower in the future? This week's Barron's questions some of their accounting. FWIW. Another risk is that they are quite big now based on AUM. In summary, it might be a good company at OK price for some exposure to RE and alternative asset management if you trust the management. I won't pound on the table about it though, since it's rather complex.

Mike may have non-stock positions that are not reflected in 13-F. So your sizing from cloning 13-F may not reflect his thoughts. OTOH, he has some positions that are attractive (and widely discussed on this board). Disclosure: I hold AAPL, BAC from his list and IBM via BRK.

I thought it was normal for profs to have spring breaks... perk of the job ::)

Bump up in case anyone still wants to vote.

Bump up in case anyone still wants to vote.

To avoid future confusion, this was April Fool's

This chic rocks man! 8) Kim Kardashian would be like wow, def.

OK, I am lazy right now to read through their docs, so repeating Schwab711's question: how did they rack up 18%/20% annualized returns? Anyone has a short summary story for last 10 years or so? 8) Yeah, I'm aware that there's some apples to oranges when some people mention ROE and others mention returns (of their funds?). Thanks

That's correct. But you can also lever using options, so same argument applies, no?

Doh. Don't put Chevy Bolt into the water. Ruins the batteries. That's why it's dead.

Sardar Biglari to take over Pershing Square investments, selling Fannie/Freddie, buying ZINC bonds. Says "Pershing Square investment holdings mirror platform value I have built with Maxim. We have a long runway ahead of us".

I got tired typing "maybe", so all below are "maybe": BRK, FFH, EXOSF, BAM, BAC, JPM, AAPL, Liberties, CXRX, PSH ( I just had to add that for controversy 8) ) Yeah, but not tons. Some of these were 10-20% cheaper a month ago.

That's actually not quite true. There was IRS proposal in 2015 to deal exactly with hedge-funds-masquarading-as-insurance-companies. I did not find info if it went through or not.

I don't have a bear in this fight. Not even a polar one. As I said before in this thread, when I buy a house for consumption, I refuse to spend 1.X M because I might just as well use that money to retire. But I'm fine if people want to waste that money on houses in Silly Valley, NYC, Vancouver or North Pole. The views are great I hear. And the prices can never go south.

Why so patronizing? Especially coming from a guy who readily admits he doesn't have the talent to put his underwear on in the morning I'll have what she's having.

Since there was renewed interest, I'm gonna post the list of CoBF favorite possibly PFICs: Exor EXOSF - possibly Premier Diversified Holdings PRDGF - pretty definitely Clarke CLKFF - pretty definitely depending on year PSHZF - Pershing Square - definitely TPRE - possibly GLRE - possibly I'd like to hear any definite stories about clawbacks based on ERISA that Ham Hockers mentioned on page 1 of this thread. Any data? I did not find anything useful online regarding ERISA/PFICs.

I believe this is inaccurate. There are no tax issues with ERISA-qualified IRA accounts. There was a claim that the company may not allow its stock to be owned inside ERISA-qualified IRA accounts and may claw back gains. I don't know if that claim was ever shown to be true. See http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/general-discussion/pfic-classification-for-us-investors/ For tax treatment, see http://www.pwc.com/us/en/tax-services/publications/insights/assets/pwc-irs-treasury-clarify-ownership-pfic-stock.pdf referenced in that thread.

Hear, hear. He should do Mike Lewis ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Lewis_%28author%29 ) 8) Sorry Buffett_Groupie, this thread has taken a movie life of its own

A couple of days ago I was flipping through the FT property section when sitting in a plane. Yup, French and Spanish properties are dirt cheap. If you can think of a way to arbitrage, we can get rich. 1. Flip that 1.8M mobile home 2. Buy French/Spanish properties with the money 3. ... 4. Profit!!! Repeat as needed. 8)

This thread is shaping to be fun. Perhaps someone should make a movie about it. Hint, hint. ;D