Warren: I’m Sorry
June 29th, 2010 by PotatoSold my BRK.B today. Not that I don’t like Berkshire, I think it’s a great long-term hold, but I needed to raise some cash and it has been defying the downturn of the last few weeks so it looked like the least under-valued thing to sell. Plus, when I bought it in January, it had been underperforming the S&P500 for a few months; now, it’s been outperforming by an even wider spread than I had anticipated. Plus, the Canadian dollar’s down almost 2% today, making selling something in USD slightly more attractive (though my effective transaction costs on selling US equities is 3-4X higher than the effective commissions on Canadian stocks due to the hefty exchange fees TD charges).
Sorry Warren, it’s nothing personal, and I’ll probably be an owner again in the future…
Questrade: ETFs are free to trade, and if you sign up with my link you'll get $50 cash back (must fund your account with at least $250 within 90 days). 
Passiv is a tool that can connect to your Questrade account and make it easier to track and rebalance your portfolio, including sending you an email reminder when new cash arrives and is ready to be invested.
July 12th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
[…] Blessed by Potato sells his shares in Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway […]
July 12th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
On exchange rates… Consider Norbert’s Gambit if you’re exchanging more than $10,000.
July 13th, 2010 at 1:54 am
I’m definitely not exchanging that much (I originally bought one B-class share, before the split). Even for that amount though, it may be worthwhile (an extra ~$20 in commissions + the spread to save ~$60-75 in forex fees).