Charles Thomas Munger, a 97 years old man, best known as the Vice Chairman of one of the world’s greatest company; Berkshire Hathaway Inc. He is well known for his long-term role as the right hand of the world’s most famous investing legend, “Warren Buffett”.

He is the man behind the success of Berkshire Hathaway, as often said by Mr. Buffett. His life journey has been full of turmoil and tragedy, but his persistence, grit and ability to fight back and move ahead has turned him into one of the most iconic investor legends in today’s world.

Charles Thomas Munger, born on January 1, 1924 in Omaha, Nebraska, is an American billionaire investor, businessman, former real estate attorney, architectural designer, and philanthropist. Presently serving as the Vice Chairman at Berkshire, he also served as chairman of Wesco Financial Corporation from 1984 through 2011.

He is also chairman of the Daily Journal Corporation, based in Los Angeles, California, and a director of Costco Wholesale Corporation. In the five decade plus of his journey with Buffett, at Berkshire, the company had returned 2,000,000% on its initial value only through investing capital at enterprises, for a right duration. Few of their investments together, which turned out to be gold were, Apple, Coca Cola, Walt Disney, Amex, Gillette, Goldman Sachs etc.

Life Journey

Very less is known about his early childhood days. He was raised in Omaha and while he enrolled at the University of Michigan for his graduation, the US declared war, and he dropped out to enrol himself at the US ARmy Air Corps. It was the time when Pearl Harbour was attacked. While at the army he became an officer and started dating Nancy Huggings whom he married and had three children.

Few years later they got himself enrolled at the Harvard Law School for graduation. After 8 years of marriage, he got divorced and lost all his savings to his wife. He was running through his tough days, which became even worse after the demise of his 8 years son Teddy. He was completely devastated and shattered, but he never thought of giving up and continued to fight to regain in his life.

He then met Nancy Barry who had two children, and soon he married her. After the death of his father, he moved back to Nebraska to support his family. That phase became his turning point as he met Warren there and continued to be in touch after he returned to California. 

In California, he opened his own law firm focused on real estate. Since he had an inclination towards playing cards from his college and army days, he tried using this to develop and polish his investing skills. And soon he stopped law and focused entirely on investment, where he was making good money and profits. He opened an investment firm, “Wheeler, Munger and Company” with Jack Wheeler.

He made big losses during the years 1973 and 1974 which forced him to completely stop his investment partnership in 1976. Few years later he had another health hazard waiting for him, he developed cataract and went on to be bling in one eye after surgery. He again gave a good fight and returned back to investing after gaining knowledge of being calm and patient.

He mastered his investing skills and soon started investing with Buffett and gradually landed up becoming his investment advisor. Both Munger and Buffett realised that they both had been employed as teenagers by Buffett’s grandfather at his grocery store. And in 1978 he became the Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.

Munger’s Piece of Wisdom

Charlie Munger, a well known investor, businessman and a renowned author is popularly known to be Warren Buffett’s partner. With his long experience in investing and wealth creation, he has written several books which have proven to be great learnings for aspiring investors and successful wealth creators.

Let us see few of his valuable and incredible wisdom which he shared with his investors. The valuable advice of the legendary investors can be utilized by new investors for value investing and wealth creation. 

At the Daily Journal annual meeting in Los Angeles, California, Munger was asked to reflect on his journey. People were trying to figure out “what the secret to life is, to a long and happy life,” CNBC’s Becky Quick said to Munger.

The secret is “easy, because it’s so simple,” he replied quickly….

We get these questions a lot from the enterprising young. It’s a very intelligent question: You look at some old guy who is rich and you ask:

“How can I become like you, except faster?”

“Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Discharge your duties faithfully and well. Step by step you get ahead but not necessarily in fast spurts. But you build discipline by preparing for fast spurts… Slug it out one inch at a time, day by day…at the end of the day…..if you live long enough…..most people get what they deserve…” 

Munger’s Outstanding Piece of Wisdom to Inspire Successful Investing

• “You don’t have to be brilliant, only a little bit wiser than the other guys, on average, for a long, long time.”

• “The big money is not in the buying and the selling, but in the waiting.”

• “It takes the character to sit with all that cash and to do nothing. I didn’t get to where I am by going after mediocre opportunities.”

• “You need patience, discipline, and an agility to take losses and adversity without going crazy.”

• “We both (Warren Buf.”fett) insist on a lot of time being available almost every day to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business. We read and think.”

• “We have three baskets for investing: yes, no, and too tough to understand.”

• “People calculate too much and think too little.” 

• “A great business at a fair price is superior to a fair business at a great price”

• “Success means being very patient, but aggressive when it’s time.” 

• “Knowing what you don’t know is more useful than being brilliant.” 

• “A majority of life’s errors are caused by forgetting what one is really trying to do.”

• “This habit of committing far more time to learning and thinking than to doing is no accident.”

• “Everywhere there is a large commission, there is a high probability of a rip-off.”

• “Acknowledging what you don’t know is the dawning of wisdom.”

• “Mimicking the herd invites regression to the man.”

• “A lot of people with high IQs are terrible investors because they’ve got terrible temperaments.”

• “All intelligent investing is value investing, acquiring more than you are paying for. You must value the business in order to value the stock.”

Munger’s Quote to Inspire Living

• “Don’t drift into self-pity because it doesn’t solve any problems. Generally speaking, envy, resentment, revenge and self-pity are disastrous modes of thoughts.”

• “A majority of life’s errors are caused by forgetting what one is really trying to do.”

• “If you keep learning all the time you have a huge advantage.”

• “Knowing what you don’t know is more useful than being brilliant.”

• “If something is too hard, we move on to something else. What could be simpler than that?

• “You must force yourself to consider opposing arguments. Especially when they challenge your best-loved ideas.”

• “Live within your income and save so that you can invest. Learn what you need to learn.”

• “Quickly identify mistakes and take action.”

• “Most people are too fretful, they worry too much. Success means being very patient, but aggressive when it’s time.”

• “This habit of committing far more time to learning and thinking than to doing is no accident.” 

• “Acquire worldly wisdom and adjust your behaviour accordingly.” Charlie Munger

• “There is no way you can live an adequate life without making many mistakes.”

• “Do the best you can do. Never tell a lie. If you say you’re going to do it, get it done. Nobody cares about an excuse.” 

• “We have a passion for keeping things simple.”

• If your new behaviour gives you a little temporary unpopularity with your peer group, then to hell with them.”

• “Invert, always invert.”  – It can often be useful to look at a problem in reverse. What do you want to avoid? Act in a manner that reduces your chances of failure, and you’ll find your path to success.

• “Simplicity has a way of improving performance by enabling us to better understand what we are doing.”
• “I met the towering intellectuals in books, not in the classroom, which is natural. I can’t remember when I first read Ben Franklin. I had Thomas Jefferson over my bed at seven or eight. My family was into all that stuff, getting ahead through discipline, knowledge, and self-control.” Charlie Munger

A Legendary Person and a great Philanthropist

There are many valuable lessons that one can learn from the legendary investor, businessman and a great author, Charlie Munger. We hope we have been able to highlight a few of his best wisdom that can be taken from his life journey. These may give an insight to good investing decisions and also a way to successful living with honesty and pride.

Charlie Munger like Warren Buffett, is a great philanthropist and is a major donor to the University of Michigan, his former school. For over more than 40 years, he has served as a trustee of the Harvard-Westlake School.

In 2014, he revealed that he was making a donation of $65 million to the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 2016, he also revealed that he was donating a further $200 million to the institution.

He is a man with simplicity and honesty and lives a life free of envy, resentment and jealousy. He prefers to be cheerful in all adverse situations. 

His prescription is logical, he says. “Staying cheerful” is “a wise thing to do,” Munger told, adding that in order to do so, you have to let go of negative feelings. 

“And can you be cheerful when you’re absolutely mired in deep hatred and resentment? Of course you can’t. So why would you take it on?” Munger said.

He is often credited to be the lead behind the successful journey of Berkshire Hathaway as added by Buffett. “Consequently, Berkshire has been built to Charlie’s blueprint. My role has been that of general contractor, with the CEOs of Berkshire’s subsidiaries doing the real work as sub-contractors,” Buffett says.