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George Acs

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  • I Don't Understand Dividends [View article]
    Thanks, nice examples.

    I asked about Socrates due to those differences in methodology. There's no doubt that selecting influences that approach issues from very different perspectives is a nice way to have a complete view and understanding of all that envelopes us.
    Nov 25 09:23 AM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Dividends? Forget DRIP And Go PRIP [View article]
    Thank you.

    Like Einstein did say, compounding really is a true miracle, but as long as one is buying stocks and presumably in good companies befitting a conservative investment temperament and fondness for dividend income, why not go PRIP and really enhance the compounding?

    I did write a couple of articles earlier this year that were focused on the use of covered calls in a retirement account, particularly emphasizing longer term options to minimize turnover, but still benefit from dividends and option premiums. There are so many ways to advance returns, but how many also reduce risk?
    Nov 25 09:12 AM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Tiring Of Turkeys [View article]
    Thank you, but some of the facial hairs were just shorn as a very inexpensive anniversary gift to my wife. She told me that if I shaved my beard it would make me look 10 years younger. After I did so, she told me it made me look 7 years younger.

    Somehow I feel both violated and lied to.
    Nov 25 09:05 AM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Tiring Of Turkeys [View article]
    A diamond studded turkey is pretty much what a Kosher turkey is worth.
    Nov 24 08:29 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Tiring Of Turkeys [View article]
    That gave me a smile. Goats/sheep, horses and cows on three sides and turkeys are on the fourth.

    The family that owns the turkey farm donated a large piece of land to the county that was used to build 4 schools (K-12 and a school for the developmentally disabled. In return the county redistricted a very large piece of their remaining property for mixed development, that despite the real estate bust sold like wild, despite the proximity to the distinctive odors and sounds. Almost as if they were a badge of honor.

    Based upon the manner in which farmers in my county have been selling portions of their land for very upscale development, I guess it's safe to say that the farming families are within the top 1% of the top 1%. With that possibility being of high probability, my second guess would be that they are on a lower marginal tax rate these days than am I, as they are less and less reliant on earned income.

    The monthly pancake breakfasts at the volunteer fireman's department has had an amazing evolution in the topics of discussion over the past 15 years. It's no longer about crops and equipment, it's all about investments and where they're deploying their funds.
    Nov 24 08:28 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Tiring Of Turkeys [View article]
    Oh, you're just trying to get me in trouble again. It's been nearly 6 hours since anyone has commented on the earlier dividend related article of the week, although the readership was split on my position of poisoning puppies in the park.

    Dividends are certainly a form of profit sharing, but their value is so much more tangible in the case of a closed corporation or business. I think that you may be correct in the belief that individual investors may have perceived the distribution of a dividend as being some kind of additional gift or reward. Certainly the level of sophistication is higher these days, as is access to information. It is entirely possible that even such basic information as closing price may not have been readily available to many investors, so the realization that a dividend was nothing more than a redistribution of value may not have been very evident.

    To me the idea of receiving dividends is not terribly different from the Christmas Club Savings accounts of an earlier era. Banks enticed people to set aside money for use during the holiday season, touting weekly deposits, but offering either no interest, below market interest rates or high fees.

    Depositors took their own money, put some of it aside and as a reward very often received less back as fees or inflation eroded their buying power. Substitute fees and inflation for taxes and the whole continues to be less than the sum of the parts
    Nov 24 01:50 PM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Tiring Of Turkeys [View article]
    Thank you. Old and wrinkled isn't all that bad, it definitely helps to put things into perspective whether you're at highs or lows. I don't think I could have handled some of the volatility, occasional setbacks and unpredictability had some of these wrinkles not slowly made my face their home.
    Nov 24 01:15 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • I Don't Understand Dividends [View article]
    You almost make it sound as if malicious ego trips were some sort of a bad thing.

    It's interesting that you referred to both Socrates and Buffett and then commented that you wished that you had more teachers suing the Buffett methodology.

    Do you feel the same way regarding the Socratic Technique?
    Nov 24 01:03 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Tiring Of Turkeys [View article]
    As a stock, I have happily owned Goldman shares repeatedly over the past 10 years or so. I can still recall trying to make the decision between buying shares of GS or SHLD, as being the first $100+ shares I was about to ever buy on my own. Somehow, I resisted getting the SHLD shares which had been on a sustained tea, riding the Eddie Lampert boy-genius wave. I haven't looked back, other than to be grateful.

    But when it comes to Goldman's track record on this one small issue, it hasn't exactly been stellar. If I were the kind that would take anyone's advice, I might even listen more closely to Eddie Lampert's opinion when it came to commodity pricing.
    Nov 24 12:57 PM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • I Don't Understand Dividends [View article]
    My guess is that Warren Buffett doesn't dwell on too many "what if" scenarios. He probably just moves onward and forward. I'd also like to think that in cases where the deal doesn't develop, he leaves the table wishing the other side the very best in the future.
    Nov 24 09:33 AM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • I Don't Understand Dividends [View article]
    That is quite a mix. Very hard to find fault with any of those role models.

    It's funny that you mention the ever-present smiles. I was thinking precisely the same thing the other day about Warren Buffett and the uniquely short laugh that he has that so often serves to punctuate his thoughts.

    I went to graduate school, lived and worked in MA for about 15 years. At this point I'm too old to be able to tolerate the winters and what I realize to be the incredibly early winter nightfall, by virtue of being so far to the east in its time zone. Take those two things away and I would be there is a heartbeat.
    Nov 24 09:30 AM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Tiring Of Turkeys [View article]
    So you mean that Dividend Reinvestment Plans don't count?

    Don't mean to re-stir up the pot, but earlier article this week, "I Don't Understand Dividends" suggested that dividends offer nothing for society (and anti-thetical to capitalism), was more or less received as sacrilege, so I guess I would need to use real cash and buy real goods.
    Nov 24 09:03 AM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Tiring Of Turkeys [View article]
    You know, that's an interesting question. We have plenty of those as well. Could literally kill two birds with one stone (or car)
    Nov 24 08:59 AM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Tiring Of Turkeys [View article]
    You know, she did have a heavy accent, now that you mention it.
    Nov 24 08:58 AM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Tiring Of Turkeys [View article]
    My mother said I was special, but I don't know if she was as sincere as you seem to be.
    Nov 23 05:59 PM | 2 Likes Like |Link to Comment
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