Time to be greedy?

Warren Buffett is buying American. Are you?
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Relections on Value Investing

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2008 Berkshire Hathaway and Wesco Annual Shareholder Meetings

Click below links for transcripts of Q&A sessions at the 2008 meetings

Wesco meeting
Berkshire meeting

The Intelligent Investor by Sham Gad

Sham Gad is a managing partner of Gad Capital Management and runs the Gad Partners Fund, an investment partnership modeled after the 1950's Buffett Partnerships. He is also a regular contributor to the Motley Fool.

On April 10, 2008, Sham presented a talk titled "The Intelligent Investor: A Practical Approach to Investing." This was part of the Financial Fitness seminar series sponsored by the Chelmsford Public Library.

Click here to see his entire presentation.

How to spot a market bubble

I found this interesting chart by Yale Professor, Roobert Shiller, showing the rise in home values over the last century. Look at the jump in prices during the last decade and you can understand what's going on right now. It also means that it may take some time for this mess to clear out...

housing bubble

Dan Caplinger on Investor Behavior

Dan Caplinger, estate-planning attorney, CFP, and writer for the Motley Fool, spoke at the Chelmsford library's Financial Fitness seminar series, and offered tips on staying clam and focused during these turbulent times. He also recapped the estate-planning series with some practical insights on different types of trusts.

Click here to view Dan's latest presentation.

The next presentation will be by Sham Gad, managing partner of Gad Capital Management. He runs the Gad Partners Fund, an investment partnership modeled after the 1950's Buffett Partnerships.

More details on his presentation to follow.

Warren Buffett's answers emails

Download the full transcript of Warren Buffett's Q&A session on CNBC's Squawk Box show.
Click here for the transcript.

March 13 Financial Fitness seminar

Back by popular demand!

As you may remember, we had a tremendous turnout for the November 2007 session with Dan Caplinger, estate-planning attorney, CFP, and writer for The Motley Fool. Several of you requested that we invite him for an encore presentation. So, it is my pleasure to announce that Dan will be back next week for a review of estate-planning basics and talk about investor behavior. More details, along with an agenda for the talk, will be listed on the library website soon.


Venue: Chelmsford Public Library, MA
When: March 13 (Thursday), 2008 at 7 PM
Title: Trusts & Estate Planning Part II, and Tips on Staying Calm In Turbulent Markets

See you there!

Retirement Planning Seminar

Here is a link to my last seminar at the Chelmsford Public Library titled "Retirement Planning".
http://rishisondhi.googlepages.com/RetirementplanningseminarCPL1-10-08.pdf

Note that a DVD of the presentation is also available at the library - search for personal finance or retirement planning or Financial Fitness in the library catalog.

I will posting details of the March 13 seminar soon.

Rishi

Retirement Time Bomb?

In 2006, the oldest of the baby boomers, the generation born between 1946 and 1964, turned 60 years old. About 80 million Americans, or over one-quarter of the U.S. population, fall in this age group. On the one hand, this group of people has participated in a remarkable period of growth and prosperity. Unlike previous generations, the baby boomers are known to have an active lifestyle and are unwilling to "downsize" their living and entertainment options.

On the other hand, due to advances in medical science and healthcare, people are expected to have a longer life expectancy. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there will be about 60 million baby boomers living in 2030. This means that future retirees will need their nest egg to last through a longer retirement.

Additionally, it is predicted that the national healthcare expenditure will increase significantly in the next decade. One estimate puts the nationwide annual medical costs at $4 trillion by 2016 – double the current level.

The increasing population size and the longer life expectancy will strain the Social Security system and threaten the plan’s solvency. Already the system requires seniors to retire at age 66 or 67 to get their full benefits. Also, traditional pension plans are being increasingly revoked or reconfigured, so they cannot be relied upon as before. As people retire, they will need to plan for a longer retirement and take care of their loved ones at a time when traditional pension plans and Social Security benefits are diminishing.

Please join me in discussing these retirement issues and in finding ways to address them.

Venue: Chelmsford Public Library, MA
When: January 10 (Thursday), 2008 at 7 PM

Agenda

• Retirement concerns
• Different retirement plans
• Investment options
• Asset Allocation
• Preserving your nest egg

Please note that these sessions are free and open to the public.
Click here for the Financial Fitness seminars web site.