Tim Travis'  Instablog

Gurufocus posted a recent interview with Bruce Berkowitz at the University of Miami. The questions weren't too hard hitting, but I always find him interesting to listen too. It was interesting to hear that he may be considering sources of long-term capital. I think he would be a great manager of an insurance company portfolio similar to how Buffett and Einhorn have structured things. Enjoy.

http://www.gurufocus.com/news/199277/bruce-berkowitz-talks-about-investing-at-university-of-miami

For those who have followed us for some time, you know that we are big fans of Bruce Berkowitz and his investment style. He is probably the guy we have the most in common with in terms of our stock selection process. Last year was a tough year for him, but while investors in his fund were leaving in droves, we believed and said they were making a bad decision. This year he has rewarded those that were patient with upper 30% returns. The best part is there is still a lot of upside in the large financials. At TTCM we have large positions in AIG, C, BAC, MS and we prefer AGO over MBIA. We also utilize put options to get in at cheaper prices than what would be available if we just bought the stock outright. This helped us in 2011 when financial stocks were extremely weak, and we've been able to ride the climb thus far this year. I still believe most of these stocks are at least 50% undervalued. Below is a link to the article.

http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/11/26/bruce-berkowitz-fairholme/

Disclosure: I am long C, BAC, AGO, AIG, MS.

I feel that Howard Marks is one of the most intelligent and thoughtful people that I've read and I regularly enjoy his commentary. Below is his most recent commentary, which is political yet right on in my estimation. Hopefully our politicians realize that compromise is the only way to solve some of these problems that we face as a nation. Enjoy!

http://www.oaktreecapital.com/MemoTree/A%20Fresh%20Start%20(Hopefully)%2011_19_2012.pdf