Phantasmix Stock Blog

2 shares.

Just posted that stock watchlist, but I feel like I’m lying to myself. I’ve been wanting to buy MKL for almost a year now. I started watching them since around $450.

This is the company that is supposedly the next Berkshire Hathaway, according to the Motley Fool. The similarities are:
- MKL is in the insurance business (in highly specialized area of it, where they command a higher premium)
- they’ve never split the stock, that’s why it’s now at around $500/share
- they pay no dividend (I wonder why Yahoo lists a dividend? They don’t pay one)
- apparently MKL is run by a guru-type of investor similar to Buffett, and they even played chess together (don’t quote me on this one)

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I’m planning to diversify into some stable large caps, with an initial US$2,000.

My current stock watch list:

ING (ING Group), $45.11 (45 shares )
Dividend & Yield 1.82 (4.02%)
Earnings/Share 5.30
Forward P/E 7.80
Market Cap. 100.37 Bil
fyi P/E 8.50

MCD (McDonald’s), $56.79 (35 shares)
Dividend & Yield 1.50 (2.63%)
Forward P/E 20.10
Market Cap. 67.68 Bil
P/E 44.50

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Interesting data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development as posted in the New York Times:

What’s even more interesting is the percentage-point change. Canadian, German, Dutch and British tax rates have basically remained the same since 1975. Seems to me there must be a relation to the stability of the economy somehow.

I’m not sure how “Tax revenue as a percentage of G.D.P.” translates into actual average tax rate, though. If Canada’s tax revenue is 33.4% of G.D.P. – is this percentage the average tax rate Canadian households pay?

Sources:
http://www.oecd.org/document/16/0,3343,en_2649_201185_39495248_1_1_1_1,00.html
http://www.oecd.org/document/16/0,3343,en_2649_201185_39495248_1_1_1_1,00.html

Held since August 22, 2005. Including dividends after commission total return is 9.21%.

Profit (ha ha): $32.00