Munger-isms

The term ‘down home billionaire’ would seem contradictory, unless you were familiar with Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s right-hand man at Berkshire Hathaway since 1978 and friend since 1959. Charlie Munger passed this week at age 99, just a few weeks short of his 100^th birthday. Warren Buffett once said of Charlie” “Marches to the beat of his own music, and it’s music like virtually no one else is listening to.” As you might expect, it is probably worth listening to a man of that age, accomplishment and temperament. As a tribute, we present some of our favorite bits of advice from Charlie. His wit and wisdom will be missed.

• “We all are learning, modifying, or destroying ideas all the time. Rapid destruction of your ideas when the time is right is one of the most valuable qualities you can acquire. You must force yourself to consider arguments on the other side.”
• “In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time — none, zero. You’d be amazed at how much Warren reads — and at how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I’m a book with a couple of legs sticking out.”
• “People calculate too much and think too little.”
• “Envy is a really stupid sin because it’s the only one you could never possibly have any fun at. There’s a lot of pain and no fun. Why would you want to get on that trolley?”
• “Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Discharge your duties faithfully and well. Systematically you get ahead, but not necessarily in fast spurts. Nevertheless, 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.”
• “If you don’t get this elementary, but mildly unnatural, mathematics of elementary probability into your repertoire, then you go through a long life like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.”
• “The iron rule of nature is: You get what you reward for. If you want ants to come, you put sugar on the floor.“
• “We both (Munger and Buffett) 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.”
• “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.”
• “Life will have terrible blows, horrible blows, unfair blows. Doesn’t matter. And some people recover and others don’t. And there I think the attitude of Epictetus is the best. He thought that every mischance in life was an opportunity to behave well. Every mischance in life was an opportunity to learn something and your duty was not to be submerged in self-pity, but to utilize the terrible blow in a constructive fashion. That is a very good idea.”
• “If you’re going to invest in stocks for the long term or real estate, of course there are going to be periods when there’s a lot of agony and other periods when there’s a boom. And I think you just have to learn to live through them.”
• “I think the reason why we got into such idiocy in investment management is best illustrated by a story that I tell about the guy who sold fishing tackle. I asked him, ‘My God, they’re purple and green. Do fish really take these lures?’ And he said, ‘Mister, I don’t sell to fish.'”
• “The world is full of foolish gamblers and they will not do as well as the patient investors.”
• “It takes character to sit with all that cash and to do nothing. I didn’t get to be where I am by going after mediocre opportunities.”

What We’re Reading

Looking Back at the Life and Legacy of Investing Legend Charlie Munger (7 min video)

Fed Chair Powell calls talk of cutting rates ‘premature’ and says more hikes could happen

Curt Brubaker Tells Us If His 78 Concept Is Tesla Cybertruck’s Father

Fewer students are enrolling in college, questioning the return on investment

Palumbo Wealth Management (PWM) is a registered investment advisor. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where PWM and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. For additional information, please visit our website at www.palumbowm.com.

The information provided is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice and it should not be relied on as such. It should not be considered a solicitation to buy or an offer to sell a security. It does not take into account any investor’s particular investment objectives, strategies, tax status or investment horizon. You should consult your attorney or tax advisor.

The views expressed in this commentary are subject to change based on market and other conditions. These documents may contain certain statements that may be deemed forward‐looking statements. Please note that any such statements are not guarantees of any future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected. Any projections, market outlooks, or estimates are based upon certain assumptions and should not be construed as indicative of actual events that will occur.

All information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy is not guaranteed. There is no representation or warranty as to the current accuracy, reliability or completeness of, nor liability for, decisions based on such information and it should not be relied on as such.

General News

By: thinkhouse