No. of Recommendations: 39
Does that include Berkshire?
Honestly I'm not sure. I have not been net long for quite a while, so in that sense there's nothing to sell--it's more of a question of whether I'll buy any the next time it's cheap. I suppose it depends how my hunt elsewhere goes. There are other companies out there. Today I was reading up on Investor AB.
Can you please provide your reasoning?
...
Is this an act of protest, or a decision based on information you’ve obtained.
It's not an act of protest as such. Who cares if I storm off in a huff? : )
I don't want to start any flame wars, but two reasons:
(1) The US has moved too far along the spectrum of being uninvestable, like China. Not a stable regulatory/tax environment, capricious changes in the financial landscape, massive holes in the rule of law. (I suspect that the zone has been flooded sufficiently that some pretty dire developments have escaped the notice of many). That means an unacceptably high risk of unacceptably bad outcomes unrelated to the businesses themselves: wealth protection.
(2) The US is no longer an ally, but is now either adversary or enemy of Canada (where I'm from) and Europe (where I live). In the same way that I wouldn't invest in Russia, I no longer think it's honourable for me to invest in the US. I've done many dishonourable things in my life, but I'm trying to cut back. I don't think it's cool to fund one's adversary's government or economy.
Even US Treasuries? Seems rather dramatic…you must have concluded the US and its government are done for.
Not done for, that's a bit harsh. But for non-US-persons, the #1 risks are getting pretty plain. You may or may not be aware of moves to curtail inbound investment via taxation of portfolio flows, and (separately) talk of forcible conversion of US debt to non-redeemable perpetuals in some circumstances. Plus many things not already on the policy plate but all too plausible....For non Americans, is there a 1% chance of (say) a huge withholding tax on T-bill redemptions that are not rolled over, or withdrawals from US brokerage accounts, or punishing withholding tax on sales? Would a US brokerage one day be asked/forced to apply some rules that might not be lawful under US law? Note that there is already a rule that if a non-US-person sells shares of a listed LLP, the entire sale proceeds (not the profit) are subject to 10% withholding tax which is (in my case) non recoverable. Buy $100 worth of Sunoco, sell at $105, lose $5.50.
I think that is a wise move Jim.
Actually I expect to be poorer as a result with fairly high probability. But perhaps a small chance of avoiding greater disaster?
Would you be willing to share what brokerage you decided to use?
I'm looking at Saxo, HQ in Denmark. Looks pretty good. For expats, Perplexity recommended them as the best alternative to IB : )
...Financial Reasons:
+ Risk Assessment
+ Profit Taking
+ Currency Fluctuations
+ Investment Strategy Shift
Tax Considerations:
+ Monaco's Tax Environment
+ Estate Planning
Personal Factors:
+ Relocation or Lifestyle Changes
+ Liquidity Needs
+ Geopolitical Concerns
Not profit taking, currency fluctuations, investment strategy shift, Monaco tax environment, estate planning, relocation, liquidity. Leaves only risk assessment and geopolitical things. The latter is one inescapable factor in the former, in much the same way that growth is an inescapable factor in assessing value. Sometimes the key thing in assessing prospective return on capital is assessing return OF capital. And, like cigarette making, there are legal ways to make money which I choose not to avail myself of.
Jim
