Phantasmix Stock Market Blog

Someone over at Kiplinger agrees with me that Markel (MKL) is a little like a mutual fund, but better.

You can think of Berkshire, Markel and Alleghany as a little like well run mutual funds. But for people who invest in taxable accounts, these diversified financial companies offer a big advantage over funds.

Funds must distribute net realized taxable gains to shareholders. They will be distributing billions of dollars in these gains to millions of shareholders come December. Structured as holding companies, corporations like Berkshire Hathaway and Alleghany are not required to distribute capital gains.

Source: http://www.kiplinger.com/columns/picks/archive/2007/pick1120.htm

So, this type of companies is perfect for buy-and-holding in taxable accounts. I also like that they don’t pay any dividends. Dealing with American div’s is such a pain: there’s usually not much of them but they still still have to be declared; plus a portion is withdrawn before payout in favor of Uncle Sam.

I’m going to predict that we’re going up from here. Check out the insider buying vs. selling. It’s at the highest – most bullish – level this year.

Also found some interesting info on market seasonality which reinforces my belief that the market is going up, and will continue going up until at least April. Yes, despite all the negative sentiment.

And, I happen to know that at least one of the big Canadian banks will soon probably, possibly, … start promoting the natural resources (aluminum, nickel, oil, zinc, nat. gas and more). Theoretically this should be very good for those invested in mining companies. If a lot of new retail investors become interested, we may get some “fresh blood”, which is very needed at this point. Everyone has been focused on staples stocks in case of recession, and on the banks due to all the problems. Natural resources sort of lost their momentum with prices going down across the board on LME. Only oil, gold and silver are at the forefront.

I’m digesting everything I read about market seasonality and will post about it this week.

Another 2 shares, for a total of 4. Average cost $492.71 which is about 1.9 times Markel’s book value.