where do I/we go from here?

[KuberB]

Hi friends, about 4 months after coming out of VOO and QQQ ETFs in spring 2000 and taking a 30% loss I found TMF. With whatever money I was left with I bought multiple TMF stocks including lots of SA & RB stocks including lots of FVRR and LMND when they were recommended multiple times (you probably know how they have been doing in the past 18 months). About 6 -8 months after I found TMF I stumbled upon this board sometime during late spring of last year. I was amazed by the amount of stock analysis and discussion many do here and so gradually over the next 2-3 months moved all my money into the stocks discussed on this board.

Between May and mid Nov 2021 my stocks grew by whopping 55% (I know others did far better than that!). Long position in UPST and few options certainly helped. So life was great. In fact I even wrote to few in the board that I wished I invested in the stocks discussed on board earlier and had gains of 70%+ like many others. Then the selloff started in Nov 2021.
Fast forward 6 M, now my portfolio is about 25% of Nov 2021 ATH. Apart from UPST a list of other stocks like AMPL, MNDY, LSPD, BILL and few others seem to have contributed to the spectacular loss (some paper loss and some realized loss). Of course, again my position in options (which I should have never invested in) helped me reach there faster though!

So with 25% of value, for my portfolio to go back to it’s ATH again it requires 300% growth from here! which almost is impossible. It has to grow about 120% for me to even get back the capital I put in. So unfortunately, not left with much hope or much to show for the last 10 years of all the hard work and sacrifices I and my family have made in saving the money in order to invest and have a more secure future for my children.
I see many here are in by and large similar situation as myself (even though most seem to have lost somewhat to a lesser extent than me. Maybe they were not stupid enough like me to buy call options – that too call options of high growth stocks)

Panicking is easy. But the more important question we need to ask ourselves is - where do we go from here? To answer that I think we should approach it with the way we usually approach any other problem. 1st Analyse and understand the causes that created this problem in the first place. 2nd Try to find possible solutions to solve the problem (or at least minimise further damage)

Of course, if anyone else bought options like me – then I don’t think there is any better way to explain it other than it was due to getting infected with stupidity like me. Putting that aside, what were the other reasons that might have contributed to significant loss of value of our portfolios and how do we fix it (or at least try to fix it)?

a) We tend to buy shares of company A after lots and lots of discussion, but if we don’t like even one earnings report we sell A swiftly and buy stock of company B. If we don’t like what company B reports in 3 months then we sell Stock B and buy stock C, then stock D and so on. And sometimes we sell company D and buy back stock of company A again thus making a full circle. But the problem with that strategy (at least for me) has been whenever we were selling unfavourable stock and buying a more favourable stock I was losing more and more capital and by the time I reached Stock D I often times was left with not much capital to invest. Because we often seem to buy high when a particular stock is in favour and sell low when it falls out of favour only to use the money to buy another stock which is more expensive.
The situation is even worse for people like me who invest using taxable accounts as they incur significant tax liabilities if any of these stocks make little profit.

• How do we solve it?
  I don’t think there is any magical solution. Maybe we should just try to choose stocks that have a real chance of holding on to for at least few years. If there is no realistic chance of holding on to them for at least few years, then maybe we should just stay away from them rather than going in and out of them and often losing capital. Probably easier said than done to find such stocks consistently I guess!

b) We also should be bit more tolerant to criticism. We seem to shoot down any comments that go against popular opinions on the board. At times we delete messages, even block people from future commenting, other times we see a dozen replies but the original message deleted; which means people who were not quick enough to read won’t even get to know what the original deleted comment was about. I understand it’s sometimes is important to prevent people from criticizing just for the sake of criticizing or if we strongly believe someone has short selling interests. But we should be very careful in preventing people from freely expressing contrarian views. Simply because they can be useful in reviewing the theory about a stock we believe in even if we do not totally agree with their views. Otherwise we might just end up with a team of people who agree to everything we say. And that might not be good in protecting anyone’s interests.

How do we solve it?
If we feel having such comments on board clutters the board, then one idea is to have a parallel board for OT posts. May be name it “Saul’s Investing OT Discussions” with no censorship or minimal censorship so that we can get more opinions free of fear.

In summary, investing appears to be far more hard work than I used to think. Most of us seem to be going through tough times and none of us have crystal ball to look into the future to say what a particular stock will do in 1, 2… 5 yrs time. No strategy/solution can be perfect. But that shouldn’t stop us from brainstorming and think about strategies to minimise losses in the future. These are just my thoughts. You might agree or disagree; and that’s perfectly fine with me. Or you might have more ideas or better ideas than me that you might want to share to help us in these difficult times which is affecting all of us.

The tragedy is, all this money that I have saved all these years and invested was meant for my young children’s education of which I have lost almost 60% of the initial capital. That is depressing to say the least. Maybe I should sit tight and just ride this out (which also means potentially risking my remaining 40% capital)or maybe I should just sell everything, accept the losses, preserve whatever is left of my capital and go back to investing in plain vanilla ETFs like VOO/ QQQ. Not sure. Any advice from any of you (either on or off board) would be greatly appreciated.

Good weekend and Good luck to everyone (which we all need a lot at this juncture).
KuberB

[GolfCaddy4PLynch]

I haven’t posted here in a long time for a variety of reasons. I have been reading a lot of posts like this one and I get it. It’s tough. These are my thoughts about the current downturn.

Q: Will the market bounce big when investors understand that the tightening cycle is over?
A: It’s very likely.

Q: If you sell now will catch the bottom? And ride that wave back up?
A: Unlikely.

Q: If you sell now do you have a chance of recouping most of your losses if start indexing?
A: Data indicates this is highly unlikely.

Q: If you stick with stock picking, will you be able to make your losses back?
A: It’s possible. It may take a few years.

Q: Should I short the UPST ER next week?
A: Probably. (HAHA, I had to put a joke in here. We all need a break.)

Q: But I am scared and frustrated, I don’t know what to do?
A: Welcome to the club. Post here and get some feedback. There are a lot of brilliant people on this board.

Q: What if I need the money now?
A: No one I know recommends one to invest money in stocks that they might need in the next 5 years. If that’s the case, you might want to think really hard about how one builds a secure financial position first. That may very well not include stock picking. Half of my portfolio is invested with a financial advisor and I don’t allow him to let me touch it.

[gerrard87]

To be honest, I take a somewhat more critical view of the buy the dip issue of SaaS stocks here. As you can see so far, the market is sold off heavily with every interest rate increase. How many increases will there be in the next 12-18 months?!

Another problem. In theory, Saul and many other users hold the SaaS shares indefinitely long, as long as the story and growth numbers are very good. But the practice is different. The SaaS stocks are only held for 2 to a maximum of 5 quarters. Then the growth slows down and the stock collapses due the high valuation and the pump and dump scheme. So if we assume a recession of 1-2 years, then no stock here at the moment will be interesting because growth will be significantly weaker until then. They will benefit comparatively little from the market rebound. Look at all the older holding stocks here (last 3-4 years), hardly any make it back to old highs…and if they do, it’ll probably many years. So what to do? I honestly do not know! I’m thankfully not fully invested in SaaS stocks but also in boring stocks that are holding up well at the moment.So i can sleep very well at moment.

[Bovinecheese]

KuberB,

I’ll reply off-board later today to commiserate. I do think venting and processing loss with those who are dealing with similar difficulties is important for learning and to help people not make major shifts in strategy when under pressure. I would encourage others to do the same, who feel compelled to respond to KuberB’s post. Just unclick “post this reply to the boards” and click “email this reply to the author” before you send.

The powerful thing about Saul’s board, and what makes it so compelling for those who have been “here” for a minute (me only since April 2020, just after the pandemic crash, though I have been “aware” of Saul in the MF universe for many years and started paying real attention in 2018 or thereabouts), is the fact that the stated goal is to ONLY discuss high-growth companies and investing in them. As he says, it’s no more and no less than that.

Saul uses the “French cooking” analogy in the Knowledgebase. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, that’s part of the problem. Go read the Knowledgebase.

Your point about buying and holding quality companies long-term, through ups and downs, as long as the business remains intact, revenues up and to the right, customers up and to the right, decent margins, etc. is correct and very Fool-ish. It’s also Saul-ish. I don’t think Saul’s method is antithetical to that, but the standards for how much growth, how much margin is required to make the cut are different. And it requires a more hands-on approach.

I think your call-out for a board to be a designated “off-topic” Saul’s discussions is a good one. The fool has recently axed all non-investing boards, so not sure such a board would fly hosted at the Fool. Also, I’m confident Saul wouldn’t be remotely interested in managing it. But, if YOU want to host such a discussion board, KuberB, on another platform (there are many free ones) you could start it and be the moderator. You have a nice, sincere way of writing and I would welcome such a place to visit from time to time. I’m down huge, too, in the last 6 months - it’s no fun. But it’s where we are.

Hang in there folks. And read the knowledgebase again if this style of investing is still interesting to you.

B.C.

[BenSolar]

Another problem. In theory, Saul and many other users hold the SaaS shares indefinitely long, as long as the story and growth numbers are very good. But the practice is different…the growth slows down and the stock collapses due the high valuation…

Yep. A recent thread “Lessons For Us From Ron Baron Quarterly Letter” compares the great growth stocks now being mauled by the market to Amazon circa 2000. Fair enough, there may well be a future AMZN or two among them. But, as you note, if following the Saul method an investor would never hold AMZN from 2000 on to riches in later decades.

In 2000 AMZN was growing gangbusters and mid 2000 it was down ~65%, similar to many of the great companies in portfolios here. But, the economy turned south in 2001 for a recession and AMZN’s growth faltered along the way to bottoming at ~$6 (down from ~$106 at peak and ~$37 early July 2000). The rigorous pruning of companies that stop hyper-growth would have taken an investor out of Amazon after some massive losses, though avoiding riding it all the way to the bottom.

Then there’s certainly the possibility of getting back on board the train for some of the rocket ride back up as revenues powered forward again after the recession, but believing in the business and holding on through slow-downs is not part of Saul’s method for better or worse.

[cwg75]

I did enjoy the Barron letter but is Amazon a good comparison to what the majority hold here and the quality of companies?

Amazon’s GM’s in 2000 are nowhere near SAAS companies. 25% vs SAAS 75-90%

An online retail book store and expanding merchandise is pretty cool but is it really going to be some massive cash printing machine? Amazon is going to need massive investment into creating the infrastructure to realize it’s potential vs sell software and R&D.

I don’t think there was much recurring revenue at all.

The business was very sensitive to the state of the economy (remember, most SAAS companies save their customers $$ and improve the efficiency of the customers business). We just heard from the Hyperscale’s and cloud migration is still going strong. I’m sure if the economy gets bad some could hit the pause button for a bit like we saw during covid. What about the stickiness of Amazon’s customers vs SAAS…? Any comparison?

Right now everything is getting thrown out and obvious to us even amazing companies too. Ask yourself, where will these companies be; with durable Rev, with amazing gross margins, recurring rev, in the early stages of a decade long shift to the cloud, high growth, etc, etc… in a few years? We are all invested in the future and currently the future has some question marks. But I still believe these companies are winners. We invest in the best business’s with the longest brightest futures. If you don’t believe that then it’s time to put your $$ where your future is.

[TheMightyKhan]

“Another problem. In theory, Saul and many other users hold the SaaS shares indefinitely long, as long as the story and growth numbers are very good. But the practice is different. The SaaS stocks are only held for 2 to a maximum of 5 quarters.”

That’s certainly true for some companies but not all. Data dog has been held for a long time. Crowd was held for a long time and some of us are still in or reduced allocations. I believe Zoom would have been held to this day had the pandemic not accelerated it’s adoption to the point we had ten years worth of gains over a year’s time.

I do understand the sentiment though and it’s something I’ve been reflecting on even before November 8th when things started to go downhill.

Looking at hyper growers which do I believe have a reasonable chance to still be growing five years from now? Net, Datadog, and Snow have almost endless TAM’s as data itself is still in hyper growth and there’s no reason for that to stop. Upstart has a huge addressable market. Bill I’m not that confident in and I need to learn more about the company. Monday I have zero confidence in and I totally deserve the loss I took in that one because I blindly followed others. I sold out of it on Friday and used it to add to Snow and Net.

This last part is off topic but I think it’s important to remember. The market is forward looking. Many of the upcoming rate hikes are already priced in. If we enter a recession the plan for future rate hikes could easily reverse. If that happens, growth will no longer be out of favor. I think Saul’s approach of always being all in and not trying to predict the macro is the correct long term path.

[TMFMurph]

The tragedy is, all this money that I have saved all these years and invested was meant for my young children’s education of which I have lost almost 60% of the initial capital…

This post will probably be zapped by Saul or one of his moderators, but here goes (from a Blast Off board post : Most important parts for this board bolded).

From a Blast Off member:

… And I don’t understand why they don’t recommend selling positions that are positive from the beginning recommendations such as Monster Beverage, Zendesk, VeevaSystems or Globus Medical. To make purchases in other actions at more attractive prices…

Well, TomasKer, if you read the Blast Off strategy, the above is not consistent with it: the above says to sell your winners to buy stocks who are underperforming in terms of stock prices. The Blast Off strategy is to develop a portfolio of companies, and hold them for the long term…or until the original investment thesis is broken…knowing that roughly 4 of 10 will under-perform, and that a few companies will carry the long-term performance of the portfolio. No one knows up front which ones of the companies will be tomorrow’s superstars, so we hold them unless the business investing case is no longer valid. We don’t sell because the stock price is up…or because the stock price is down. We also add to our winners, if the business performance warrants, which is also consistent with that strategy.

Now, one can argue with that strategy (especially with recent stock-price hindsight), but one cannot say that it was not communicated upfront. Also, many folks paid no attention to Blast Off’s asset allocation guidance: 10-30% of investment assets in aggressive, high-growth stocks-- whether they are held in Blast Off or any other portfolio account. I have talked to many TMF investors who admit that they got “greedy” and put 50-100% in these types of stocks. Great if it works, but almost guaranteed major volatility, even in normal times…and huge volatility in corrections/bear markets.

During the early years when Blast Off was really over-performing, Aaron and Emily warned of the inevitable down years ahead…but no one can reliably forecast these years in advance.

So, years like we are having now are a “gut check” for investors; a way to REALLY gauge their risk tolerance. As Warren Buffett once said, if one can not stand the idea of their stocks losing 50% in a year, they should not be in the stock market…and he was speaking of all stocks, not just aggressive, higher-risk ones.

Here are some of the rules I use that have helped me weather many a market/company storm in my 50+ years of investing:

1. Never put any money in the market I will need in the next five years.
2. Never invest more than 5% in ANY one company, no matter how good.
3. Never invest more than 20% in any sector.
4. Always have at least a year’s worth of living expenses on hand as an emergency fund.
5. Never use margin to buy stocks, no matter how tempting.

Do these ( and other) rules limit my upside in good times? Sure!

Do these rules help lower risk during bad times? Yes!

Most Important: Do these rules fit my specific financial circumstances, goals and risk tolerances? Yes!

Would I modify some of these rules if I were 35 years old? Sure…more time to recover from bad markets.

Remember, there is no one “right way” to invest; there is only the right way…for YOU.

(Here is mine: https://discussion.fool.com/long-term-financial-plan-34745319.as…)

Cheers!
Murph
BL Home Fool
(who notes that Saul’s approach may be right for him, but not for others, as he has often said.)

[Willingham]

KuberB, I love the idea of an uncensored alternative “saul” board. I have caught several posts just before they were deleted that were very insightful. I wish I had seen counter-argument posts like those when I was buying into UPST at $320, and before I rode UPST all the way down. It makes me wonder how many other helpful posts I missed because of censorship.

Thanks for your suggestion.
If someone starts it, I will be there.
Willingham

[LuckyDog2002]

Murph, the link you posted about your own long term financial plan didn’t work.

[ImAGolfer]

I love the idea of an uncensored alternative “saul” board. I have caught several posts just before they were deleted that were very insightful. I wish I had seen counter-argument posts like those when I was buying into UPST at $320, and before I rode UPST all the way down. It makes me wonder how many other helpful posts I missed because of censorship.

Hey Willingham. I couldn’t agree with you more. Congratulations on being brave enough to make your post. I congratulate you.

Regards,

ImAGolfer

[stocknovice]

Go to pretty much any of the other boards with significant daily postings, search “Saul”, and you will find some potentially insightful criticisms. I would suggest starting with the Berkshire board. The Mechanical investing board has some interesting knowledge to share, as does the Macroeconomic Trends board.

For the first time in the history of this board, I 100% agree with Philip. You should definitely poke around those boards. I have over the years, and there are some truly talented posters (mungofitch is my favorite). I even owned BRK for a decade and tried a couple mechanical investing styles before discovering this board. It turns out Saul’s style is the best fit for MY thought process and temperament, which is ultimately what every investor should be looking for.

And I believe temperament is the key issue here. This downturn has made many realize the volatility of hypergrowth investing is simply too much to bear. That’s OK and always has been. Risk tolerance is a lesson every investor has to learn (and I’m relearning even now). It’s open knowledge this style isn’t for everyone. I passed on the BRK, mechanical, and macro styles because they just weren’t for me. There’s nothing that says anyone else can’t travel a reverse path.

As for “insightful criticisms”, that’s where I’d beg to differ. While every style has its flaws, most of these “criticisms” are nothing more than articulate whining about how hypergrowth is too risky and/or there’s not enough responsibility taken for readers’ results on this board. Well, Saul’s isn’t an investment service and doesn’t pretend to be. It’s repeated ad nauseam everyone is responsible for their own investing decisions. The links on the right make that plain to everyone. Frequent posters here are no more responsible for readers returns than frequent posters on any other boards, including the ones Philip mentions. I don’t see anyone blaming the BRK board when BRK underperforms the S&P for years at a stretch (which it certainly has).

One thing I’ve noticed over all these years is how many posters from other boards pop up here to say how terrible this style is or spread doom and gloom in down markets. At the same time, I can’t recall a single time a poster here ever visited those other boards during up markets asking why everyone there kept settling for lesser returns. My all-time favorite “criticism” here was a post authoritatively pointing out that growth had only “trounced” (OP’s word, not mine) value since 2006 or so. I have to ask: was 15+ years of opportunity cost worth it? Not for my portfolio it wasn’t. However, there’s no use arguing about it. Why? Because I wholeheartedly believe that person should be able to invest however he/she likes. I just wish he/she would return the favor.

As it is, most of these off-topic posts are nothing but noise, which is why this board has rules in the first place.

[PhoolishPhilip]

At the same time, I can’t recall a single time a poster here ever visited those other boards during up markets asking why everyone there kept settling for lesser returns.

I did come here during the ATHs last fall and was deleted for posting OT questions about valuation. My message was that the returns were not sustainable as they were detached from any rational valuation metrics. That message was considered OT and deleted. Seems pretty timely six months later.

That’s the problem with this board—-all cheerleading, and only censorship of serious questions about valuation or concentration risk. Maybe if those, and other posts, weren’t deleted, a few of the people lamenting the current state of their Saul portfolios might have considered alternatives. A recently deleted poll suggests that a majority of board followers are down significantly since starting to pursue the Saul method. This is not surprising given the cavalier attitude Saul takes to questions of valuation and entry pricing. Purchase price clearly matters. Any value investor would tell you that buying with a sizable margin of safety in your purchase price relative to your conservative estimate of intrinsic value is the key to outsized gains with minimal risk of permanent capital loss.

[said2]

I can’t recall a single time a poster here ever visited those other boards during up markets asking why everyone there kept settling for lesser returns.

Small correction: During last and the previous years up markets “Dividends20” who is regularly posting here, repeatedly visited the BRK board (less often lately), telling everybody there how old Warren and Charlie are, that Berkshire can’t even compete with the S&P, and that the future is Tesla, Tech and SaaS while Berkshire is doomed (his word, not mine).

[stocknovice]

That’s the problem with this board—-all cheerleading, and only censorship of serious questions about valuation or concentration risk. Maybe if those, and other posts, weren’t deleted, a few of the people lamenting the current state of their Saul portfolios might have considered alternatives.

OK Philip, I’ll keep playing. People have been shouting “OMG, something bad might happen!” for years. Well, duh, the market always has bad stretches. Tell us something we didn’t know. Well, now that we are in our most recent bad stretch (which will likely be long forgotten by the time the next cycle comes around) what concrete investment steps do you suggest? Not BS ramblings about interest rates, macro, recessions, valuation, diversification, blah, blah, blah. Where should everyone put their money on May 9, 2022 to generate the best future returns? Now that you’ve gotten your predicted downturn, would you be kind enough to share where you are placing your own money to beat the market going forward? I ask not only for myself but for all those readers you are so clearly trying to save.

And that’s been the problem with these types of criticisms all along. Your smart-sounding yet vague hypotheticals aren’t actually alternatives no matter how many times you label them as such. They are nothing more than academic garble with no practical application steps. If you have real-time links to your thinking, decisions, and returns the last few years, feel free to provide them. I’d love to be educated and am always looking for a better way. Otherwise, you’re just another all-talk-and-no-action blowhard (which is why so many of your off-topic comments seem to get deleted).

In the end, my condolences to everyone passing through this market. It sucks. For those that stick around, I can guarantee you will be a wiser investor on the other side no matter how much of your portfolio you allocate toward growth. You’ll have learned a great deal about your personal style which will help you greatly in the years ahead. Iron is forged in fire after all. The problem with commentary like Philip’s is he keeps stoking the fears of the fire without actually giving you anything to forge.*

*I’m totally prepared to eat those words when “Philip’s Investing Discussions” shows us all a better way. In fact, I’ll happily do it if Philip can make me money. I’m f’n greedy like that.

[stocknovice]

Small correction: During last and the previous years up markets “Dividends20” who is regularly posting here, repeatedly visited the BRK board (less often lately), telling everybody there how old Warren and Charlie are, that Berkshire can’t even compete with the S&P, and that the future is Tesla, Tech and SaaS while Berkshire is doomed (his word, not mine).

Thanks for the correction, said2. I clearly wasn’t following closely enough to notice those posts. At the risk of sounding personal, I recognize that name but wouldn’t consider it a “regular” I make sure to read. Regardless, it’s inconceivable to me that anyone would want to challenge Warren and Charlie. You shouldn’t have to put up with that.

Quick question if I may…how did you handle someone with a different philosophy and/or temperament coming in to denigrate a style with such a long track record of success for many who choose to practice it?*

• See what I did there?

[said2]

Quick question if I may…how did you handle someone with a different philosophy and/or temperament coming in to denigrate a style with such a long track record of success for many who choose to practice it?*

Wow! I am impressed. That’s a very good question!

And the honest answer unfortunately indeed has to be: He is seen as a, yes, “Troll” — and regularly called such by “us” Berkshire board members.

“We” think he deserves such and I could long elaborate about what exactly he posts and replies and that this “of course” absolutely justifies calling him a Troll — but this does not in the least change the fact that “we” treat him exactly the way “you” here treat what for you are Trolls.

Thanks for the (not so) “subtle” hint. Self-reflection is not easy, requires such an external mirror as you just provided

[TMFMurph]

Sorry for the bad link, LD 2002!

I’m out in the boonies camping out and am an iPhone dunce. Will repost the link when I get back home later this week.

Cheers!
Murph

[KuberB]

Hi Folks, wanted to send you all a quick message before I rush to work. Thanks for all your replies and ideas. Please lets not continue this thread any further. Feel free to send replies me or to individual contributors if you want to send them messages. This board has been functioning in a certain way and I think there are very good reasons why Saul and few others have been working hard to preserve it that way and we should respect it. Otherwise it can get cluttered very quickly and it will become impossible for any of us to go through thousands of messages every day.
Regarding opening a parallel board for OT posts, unfortunately I might not be able to run it (purely due to time constraints). But I really wish I could. If anyone else wants to start one, I can certainly contribute while running it as best as I can.
Catch up later, Have a nice day, KuberB

[stocknovice]

Wow! I am impressed. That’s a very good question!

Thank you, said2. In all sincerity, I appreciate the very good answer. You easily articulated why the “we/they” trap is so easy to fall into. I personally want my thought process challenged. However:

a) the challenge needs to make sense and
b) the challenge should suggest or lead to an alternative course of action.

Otherwise, it’s just noise. I’m not in this to fight for any particular style. I’m in this solely to secure and maintain my family’s financial independence. I’d drop SaaS in a heartbeat if I thought I could generate better returns elsewhere. But rarely do any critical posts present an alternative investment. Instead we get vague warnings about valuations, macro, or interest rates which most of us already recognize.

Yes, much of the crazy returns these past few years are from being in the right place at the right time. Even Saul has called them preposterous. However, there are plenty of SaaS clunkers as well. This board has done an excellent job avoiding those. These aren’t meme stocks. They are simply good businesses strongly out of favor right now. Heck, bonds are at record lows YTD and even a stalwart like Disney has fallen back to 0% (!!!) returns over the last five years. It’s that kind of sh*tshow right now.

The beauty of the Fool has always been investing doesn’t have to be a “we/they” game, yet we somehow keep making it one. It’s a terrible habit and why many posts that drift in that direction are rightfully deleted. Being honest, I frequented the BRK board religiously for well over a decade. I deleted the bookmark maybe 18-24 months ago when it seemed like one out of every four or five threads turned into potshots about the style practiced here. But maybe me doing that simply feeds the same beast I’m complaining about. Civil exchanges like this are part of what has made MF so enjoyable the last 25 years. Maybe I need to take another peek at the BRK board.

Thanks again for the response.