About
Charlie Munger was an American investor, businessman, and philosopher who served as Warren Buffett's longtime partner and vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. He was widely regarded as one of the most influential thinkers in investing and business. Here's who he was:
Charlie Munger was born in 1924 in Omaha, Nebraska, and passed away in 2023 at age 99. He began his partnership with Warren Buffett in the 1970s and helped transform Berkshire Hathaway from a struggling textile company into one of the world's most successful conglomerates. While Buffett focused on finding undervalued companies, Munger pushed the partnership toward buying "wonderful companies at fair prices" rather than "fair companies at wonderful prices."
Munger was known for his multidisciplinary approach to investing, drawing insights from psychology, physics, biology, history, and other fields to understand business and human behavior. He championed the concept of "mental models" - frameworks from various disciplines that could be applied to investment decisions. His philosophy emphasized the importance of avoiding stupidity rather than seeking brilliance, and he was famous for his concept of "inversion" - thinking about problems backwards.
Beyond investing, Munger was a voracious reader, a successful real estate developer, and chairman of the Daily Journal Corporation. He was known for his sharp wit, brutal honesty, and ability to distill complex ideas into memorable aphorisms. His annual meetings and speeches became legendary for their wisdom and entertainment value, making him one of the most quotable figures in finance.
Charlie Munger's Best Quotes
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"It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent."
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"The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the owning and holding and waiting."
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"I never allow myself to have an opinion on anything that I don't know the other side's argument better than they do."
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"Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome."
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"The first rule of compounding: Never interrupt it unnecessarily."
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"Invert, always invert: Turn a situation or problem upside down. Look at it backward."
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"It's better to be approximately right than precisely wrong."
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"The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more."
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"If you want to get smart, the question you have to keep asking is 'why, why, why?'"
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"All intelligent investing is value investing - acquiring more than you are paying for. You must value the business in order to value the stock."
Written Works
Poor Charlie's Almanack
This comprehensive collection, compiled by Peter Kaufman, is considered Munger's masterwork. It features his most important speeches, including "The Psychology of Human Misjudgment" and "A Lesson on Elementary, Worldly Wisdom." The book presents his multidisciplinary approach to thinking and investing, covering his famous mental models concept and how to apply insights from psychology, physics, biology, and other fields to business decisions. It's essentially Munger's complete philosophy in one volume.
The Complete Investor
Though written by Tren Griffin, this book extensively features Munger's teachings and methodology. It breaks down the Berkshire Hathaway approach to investing, heavily emphasizing Munger's contributions to their success, including his focus on quality businesses, mental models, and psychological understanding of markets.
Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger l
This book is heavily influenced by Munger's thinking and frequently quotes him. While not authored by Munger, it systematically presents his mental models approach and shows how insights from various disciplines can improve decision-making in investing and life.