" I've got to wonder why anyone would pay a 1.6% expense ratio for someone to buy them things like Berkshire, JPM, Microsoft, etc."

Good question. The unpopularity of this ETF makes for an intriguing situation. It's a CEF that sells for a 22% discount to NAV, so you're effectively buying Berkshire for $350 a share. And nearly 40% of the entire fund is BRKA or BRKB. And the NAV discount makes the payout rate 3.60%. They fund the payout it appears largely through LT cap gains almost all of which have come from their massive Berkshire holdings.

I'm not saying that justifies the 1.6% expense ratio-but it's interesting. They're also regularly buying back shares and raising the payout. I think the play here is the discount narrows--it's about 5 points or so higher than average...