Convincing Comcast to let us cancel our service was a lot more difficult; I ended up doing it in two stages. One, when I got my TV setup installed (more on that in a minute), I called and cancelled two-thirds of the "triple play" as the cable and phone services were now completely useless. We literally never received a phone call for us, only telemarketers and  people looking for whomever had that phone number last.

First they tried to sell me upgrades to my service, which was annoying, but a few minutes later I only had  internet service. I called Verizon for a Fios quote, and at $78 a month I scheduled an install date. I called Comcast back and asked them to beat the Fios price which shockingly, even when I said I was going to cancel as soon as Fios had been installed, they refused to do. I took the 67% discount to my Comcast triple play and moved on to next steps.

Fios was installed seamlessly the tech,  using the modem I purchased. For a short amount of time I had both services. So I ran some speed tests, and guess what? Fios was twice as fast, for at a lower cost.  So eventually I called Comcast to cancel, which was easier said than done since their cancelling office closes at 5pm. Really useful when you work full time, cheers again Comcast… When I finally got them on the phone, I gave them the straight story. Fios is faster and cheaper. You refused to price match. I want out. When I put it that bluntly, they didn’t have much to say. Returning the equipment this time was really easy, just lug that black box to any UPS store and drop it off. No box needed. They scanned the bar code on the back and shipped it back to Comcast at no charge.

My new setup

As mentioned above, my ISP is now Verizon, using my own cable modem. Buying your own saves you $120 a year for no more hassle. This was recommended to me by the Fios guy on the phone, really simple.

TV wise, Roku is the hub of everything. I have the Roku 3 which works great, the Roku 4 has since been released and as it supports the faster wifi speeds, I will probably upgrade at some point. The main apps we use are Netflix (which needs no introduction) and SlingTV (not to be confused with a SlingBox). SlingTV gives you access to 25 live cable channels for $20 a month, so I can still watch football and the Walking Dead with everyone else and not have to risk seeing spoilers. You can also add on extra packages for $5 such as kids, sports etc so it is completely customizable and you only pay for what you use. Below is a list of the SlingTV channels.

​I also have an HD antenna. Like I said it’s a cheap one from Walmart, and looks like a pair of bunny ears. However, I put it behind some pictures on top of the tv cabinet and you can’t see it at all, which is just as well as it’s pretty ugly. If I were doing this again today I would buy the Leaf Antenna, as it looks cool and gets great reviews. I get loads of channels, and most importantly I get great HD Steelers games, with a better picture than Comcast ever delivered.

I also have Tablo box, which provides a digital TV guide, and also works as a DVR. The menus are lovely, but I found set up a little difficult, and the live TV can be a little glitchy. However, without it you are using your TV to change channels, and you won’t have a menu to tell you what’s on. You also have to buy a hard drive in addition to the Tablo box to store your recorded shows on, but you can pick these up fairly cheaply now. All in, I'd say the Tablo wasnt worth it for the amount of broadcast television I want, but your mileage may vary. Below is a Tablo screenshot:

Back in January of 2015, I landed a meeting with a well-known value investor. While I won't name-drop him on this blog, I will say he has a career measured in decades, and should be familiar to most of my readers.

How did I land the meeting? Via cold letter, in a textbook application of "The Tim Ferriss Method" outlined in The 4-Hour Workweek. The section is called"How to Get George Bush Sr. of the CEO of Google on the Phone" (Thanks, Tim!)

And it Worked.

So there I was sitting in his conference room, waiting for him arrive. The purpose of the meeting was to learn more about value investing with an earnings power approach, rather than asset-based value investing. 

I noticed on his bookshelf: ​

• Value Investing: Graham to Buffett and Beyond
• The Warren Buffett CEO: Secrets from the Berkshire Hathaway Managers
• The Little Book that Beats the Market
• The Most Important Thing

And then the man walked in and started lecturing right away. I shut up and started taking notes:

Earnings power vs. asset-based: Asset-based investing is higher turnover, and less efficient from a tax perspective.

I was surprised; I had never given much thought to the tax implication of various value investing strategies.

He continued: Imagine that you buy a company, watch earnings power grow, and never sell. And then toward the end of your life,  you give it to charity.

How much tax will you pay? 

Me: "None", mentally noting he made no mention of dividends.

That's right; taxes will never be paid on it.

[Pause for effect]

This is essentially what [Warren Buffett]  has done. Of course, Berkshire Hathaway subsidiaries pay taxes, but shareholders do not unless they sell.

There you have it, the most tax-efficient investment strategy of all time. Total taxes paid: zero. No retirement account needed.

Our conversation meandered from there. He asked me if I'd read The Outsiders. He shared his thoughts on who are some current outsider CEOs.

​He also told me about a company he was currently buying. He wouldn't share the name, but said it had a pre-announced bad quarter with some weakness in its energy related divisions. He believed the news immaterial, and he had been researching the company and its competitors for over one year.

Based on the fact pattern, I pieced together a guess on which company he was referring to, and his 13F filing confirmed it a few months later. Less than a year later the company was acquired. 

His admin walked into the conference room exactly 30 minutes after our meeting began. My allotted time was up. I thanked him and went home to review my notes.

Not investment advice. Not a solicitation to invest. Don't take candy from strangers. The links above are affiliate links, if you were to click on one and then buy something Amazon would pay me several cents.