Warren Buffett’s great friend and business partner Charlie Munger recently died a little short of his 100th birthday. Buffett has said that Munger made him a better investor — via advice such as: “Forget what you know about buying fair businesses at wonderful prices; instead, buy wonderful businesses at fair prices.” Here are more nuggets credited to Munger:
• On investing: “The world is full of foolish gamblers, and they will not do as well as the patient investor.” And: “Warren and I don’t focus on the froth of the market. We seek out good long-term investments and stubbornly hold them for a long time.”
• On risk: “When any guy offers you a chance to earn lots of money without risk, don’t listen to the rest of his sentence. Follow this, and you’ll save yourself a lot of misery.”
• On succeeding in life: “It’s so simple. You spend less than you earn. Invest shrewdly, and avoid toxic people and toxic activities, and try and keep learning all your life. … And do a lot of deferred gratification because you prefer life that way. And if you do all those things you are almost certain to succeed. And if you don’t, you’re gonna need a lot of luck.”
• On learning: “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.”
• On thinking: “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.”
Search for “Charlie Munger” online, and you’ll find much more Munger wisdom that might make you a better investor — or person.
