Geoffrey Lordi

Will Berkshire Lose Its Triple-A?

Few are excellent market timers, and those who time well find replicating that ability difficult indeed. The majority of WB's investments are for the very long term - so positions he might have taken recently do not easily convert to investing advice for folks pouring through articles, hoping to replicate even a portion of positive performance with a shorter time horizon in mind. At this point, an investment in BRK is still beating the S&P for the year, if not by much. I am long BRKB, am and considering purchasing more.

5 Tactics for 2008

Ellen,

Indeed, you are correct. We have owned both - Singapore (EWS) and Sweden (EWD) - concurrently, and separately, over the last few years.

Best,
GL

5 Tactics for 2008

User 114747,

Thanks for reading my article.

As I noted, a very high r^2 does not offer a traditional hedge, per say. Still, my investment return, including dividends, in EFA last year was more than triple that in our holdings of VTI.

While much of that gain multiple was due to the favorable currency denominations of many of EFA's tracked holdings, that (circularly) was *the* reason that EFA does provide a type of hedge - while many companies in the VTI might garner a reasonable percentage of their earnings from international business, nearly all of EFA's constituents do so. My sincerest apologies if I wasn't clear enough in my explanation.

And regarding my other hedges - consider them, or don't. I know what works for me, and as long as I am further building our funds (I am), then we should each take whichever path best works for us.

Best,
GL

5 Tactics for 2008

Hello, NARSpin,

Thanks for your comments.

I have used SKF before, and feel it is a good tool. It certainly provided some ballast during the steepest declines in banking, though I haven't been recently inclined to use it, caring to put together some cases for other investment possibilities instead.

Best,
GL

5 Tactics for 2008

Hello, NoFate,

Thanks for your comments.

Yes, I am holding IYR, even as I consider a moderate position in SRS. The reasoning behind it is this long/short strategy has worked for me in the past with other tracking etfs as a sort of counterbalance. If I implement correctly, I should see some dampened volatility.

Another reason is that I've been long IYR for a considerable period of time, and although I suppose I could have sold some as long term gains prior to December 31, I didn't really have many losses to offset this year.

Best,
GL

5 Tactics for 2008

Hey, folks,

Regarding the currency hedge section above...I meant that we already have exposure to the Euro (FXE) through our holdings such as Unilever, and to the Yuan through some of our PRC holdings. Although the FXY does indicate the CurrencyShares offering for Yen investing, I'm not sure how FXY got attached above to the China side of things...

Thanks for reading!
Geoff

Barron's Blunder: Berkshire Is Fairly Valued, With or Without Buffett

Seconded: a fantastic article.