Source: https://behavioralvalueinvestor.com/blog/charlie-munger-2019

Charlie Munger turns 99 January 1st 2023 here are 99 quotes with lessons and take aways. Lets see what lessons we can take away from this increasable Investor!

Special thanks to @InvestmentKage who pulled all these quotes together and wrote an excellent twitter thread on this topic. This blog post is an adaption of his original research & post.

Table of Contents (Jump Links…)

Who is Charlie Munger?

Charlie Munger is most famous for being the vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway with his partner Warren Buffet. While his NW is significantly less than that of Mr. Buffests ($2.2 Billion vs $100+ Billion) he is by all measures an incredibly successful and wise man. There are many who would argue that Berkshire would not be where it is today without the wise guidance of Mr. Munger.

Munger Quotes: 1-10

1. “It’s not supposed to be easy. Anyone who finds it easy is stupid.”

Lesson: living below your means is often difficult but in the long run it’s worth it.

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

3. “The desire to get rich fast is pretty dangerous.”

Lesson: Most struggle to think long term. While taking small consistent steps often leads to better success.

4. “If investing wasn’t hard, everyone would be rich.”

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

Lesson: People think things are hard because they lack commitment.

6. “Some people are extraordinarily good at knowing the limits of their knowledge because they have to be.”

7. “Opportunity comes to the prepared mind.”

Lesson: Understand your strengths and weaknesses. Focus on your strengths but do not neglect your weaknesses.

8. “Investing is where you find a few great companies and then sit on your ass.”

9. “The big money is not in buying or selling, but in the waiting.”

Lesson: If you buy great companies history has shown wealth transfers from the impatient to the patient.

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

Munger Quotes: 11-20

11. “All intelligent investing is value investing, acquiring more than you are paying for.

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

Lesson: Invest in what you know and look for deals.

13. “A great business at a fair price is superior to a fair business at a great price."

14. “The way to get rich is to keep $10 million in your checking account in case a good deal comes along."

Lesson: It’s wise to DCA (Dollar Cost Average) but you always want cash for big opportunities

15. “Invert, always invert: Turn a situation or problem upside down. Look at it backward.”

16. “I try to get rid of people who confidently answer questions about which they don’t have any real knowledge.”

Lesson: Find something positive, and if you can’t get rid of it.

17. “Own your work and compound credibility.”

18. “The best armor of old age is a well-spent life perfecting it.”

19. “How to find a good spouse? The best single way is to deserve a good spouse.”

Lesson: Be the best person you can be!

20. “The most extreme mistakes in Berkshire’s history have been mistakes of omission.”

Munger Quotes: 21-30

21. “Mimicking the herd invites regression to the mean.”

Lesson: Do your own research and due diligence.

22. “Your rate of return is less important than not getting wiped out”

23 "The idea that it is hard to find good investments, so concentrate in a few, seems to me to be an obviously good idea.”

24. “Live within your income and save so you can invest. Learn what you need to learn."

Lesson: A good investment thats safe will do far more for your future than a risky one.

25. “The liabilities are always 100 percent good. It’s the assets you have to worry about.”

26. “Understand the power of compound interest” (paraphrased)

Lesson: Like anything assets and liabilities have pros and cons. It’s up to you to weigh those options.

27. "Remember that reputation and integrity are your most valuable assets and can be lost in a heartbeat."

28. “Take a simple idea, and take it seriously."

Lesson: Honesty is important and simple. Do your best to maintain good integrity and lean on others when needed.

29. "I would argue that passion is more important than brainpower."

30. I paid no attention to the territorial boundaries of academic disciplines and I just grabbed all the big ideas that I could.

Lesson: Your passions and grit will likely lead you to success.

Munger Quotes: 31-40

31. “Our game is to recognize a big idea when it comes along when one doesn’t come along very often.”

32. "It's waiting that helps you as an investor and a lot of people just can't stand to wait.”

Lesson: You may find something great but it may take years to make money.

33. "You don't have to be brilliant, only a little bit wiser than the other guys, on average, for a long, long time."

34. “If you didn't get the deferred gratification gene, you've got to work very hard to overcome that."

Lesson: The best investors are always learning

35. "It takes character to sit with all that cash and to do nothing”

36. “I didn't get to the top where I am by going after mediocre opportunities."

Lesson: If you want to be better than average you have to do what most aren’t willing to do.

37. “Sit on your ass investing”

38. “A lot of people with high IQs are terrible investors”

39. “The world is full of foolish gamblers and they will not do as well as the patient investors.”

Lesson: Time in the market often beats timing the market.

40. "People calculate too much and think too little."

Munger Quotes: 41-50

41. “Capitalism without failure is like religion without hell."

42. “In my whole life, I have known no wise people...who didn't read all the time”

Lesson: Research is just as important as thinking critically.

43. “Acknowledging what you don't know is the dawning of wisdom.”

44. “Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up.”

45. “Those who keep learning will keep rising in life."

Lesson: No matter how much you know you can always learn more.

46. “You should avoid sloth and unreliability.”

47. “You must force yourself to consider opposing arguments.”

48. “strive to become a little wiser every day.”

Lesson: Always be a learner. You can often learn a lot from people with different views.

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

50. “I always say I want to know where I would die so I can never go there.”

Munger Quotes: 51-60

51. “It is in the nature of stock markets that they go down.”

Lesson: Invest in what you know. Stocks don’t always go up.

52. “Ninety-nine percent of the troubles that threaten our civilization come from being too optimistic”

53. “Warren talks about these discounted cash flows. I’ve never seen him do one.”

Lesson: Sometimes looking at things to much can be a

54. "If you don’t keep learning, other people will pass you by."

55. “If you keep learning all the time you have a huge advantage."

56. “There is no way you can live an adequate life without making mistakes."

Lesson: Be a sponge and learn from your mistakes.

57. “find it much easier to find four or five investments where I have a pretty reasonable chance of being right”

58. “I think Warren and I know the edge of our competency better than other people do."

Lesson: Over diversification can be dangerous invest in what you know.

59. "I did not succeed in life by intelligence.”

60. “You must force yourself to consider opposing arguments.”

Munger Quotes: 61-70

61. “What is the secret of success? I’m rational. That’s the answer.”

Lesson: Control your emotions and listen to others. You might learn something important.

62. “We should have a system where the accounting is a way more conservative.”

63. “Just because you like it does not mean that the world will necessarily give it to you.”

Lesson: if you want something you have to work for it. And always prepare for a bad senecio.

64. “Two thirds of acquisitions don’t work.”

65. “The iron rule of nature is: you get what you reward for.”

66. “The first rule of compounding, never interrupt it unnecessarily.”

Lesson: Work hard, don’t follow the heard and be wary about acquisitions.

67. “I succeeded because I have a long attention span."

68. "The best armor of old age is a well-spent life perfecting it."

69. “A majority of life's errors are caused by forgetting what one is really trying to do."

Lesson: Think long term and learn from your mistakes.

70. "Don't drift into self-pity because it doesn't solve any problems."

Munger Quotes: 71-80

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

Lesson: Stop letting excuses rule your life and be disciplined.

72. “No wise pilot, no matter how great his talent and experience, fails to use a checklist.”

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

Lesson: Have a checklist. If it doesn’t check all the boxes then move on.

74. “Conservative investing and steady saving without expecting miracles is the way to go.”

75. “We don’t care about quarterly earnings and are unwilling to manipulate in any way”

Lesson: Sometimes you have a bad quarter but you can’t let that stop you.

The next 6 quotes are Charlie’s thoughts on bitcoin.

76. "I hate the bitcoin success."

77. “It’s like someone else is trading turds and you decide I can’t be left out.”

78. “It’s too volatile...to serve well as a medium of exchange.”

79. “It’s really kind of an artificial substitute for gold”

80. I think that one should recognize the reality even when one doesn’t like it; indeed, especially when one doesn’t like it.

Munger Quotes: 81-90

81. 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 intelligent.

82. A majority of life’s errors are caused by forgetting what one is really trying to do. Just the discipline of having to put your thoughts in order with somebody else is very useful.

83. We say that having a certain kind of temperament is more important than brains. You need to keep raw irrational emotion under control.

84. The great algorithm to remember in dealing with this tendency is simple: an idea or a fact is not worth more merely because it’s easily available to you.

85. I’ve seen so much folly and stupidity on the part of our major philanthropic groups, including the world bank. I really have more confidence in building up the more capitalistic ventures like Costco.

86. I’m rational. It’s not possible for investors to consistently outperform the market. Therefore you’re best served investing in a diversified portfolio of low-cost index funds [or exchange-traded funds].

87. A lot of people think if you just had more process and more compliance- checks and double-checks and so forth-you could create a better world. We just try to operate in a seamless web of deserved trust and be careful of whom we trust.

88. 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.

89. “Since I never buy gold, I never buy any bitcoin, and I recommend other people follow my practice”

90. “The Chinese made the correct decision, which is just to simply ban them”

Lesson: Charlie hates bitcoin, he’s also called them rat poison squared

Munger Quotes: 91-99

91. “Most people are too fretful, they worry too much”

92. “You have to be very patient, you have to wait until something comes along, which, at the price you’re paying, is easy”

Lesson: Stop thinking so emotionally and start thinking rationally.

93. “I think we have some special talents. That being said, I think it’s dangerous to rely on special talents”

94. “Is there such a thing as a cheerful pessimist? That’s what I am.”

Lesson: Own what you are but don’t rely on yourself.

95. “Envy is a really stupid sin because it’s the only one you could never possibly have fun at. There’s a lot of pain and no fun. Why would you want that?”

96. “Generally speaking, envy, resentment, and self-pity are disastrous modes of thoughts.”

Lesson: We rise by lifting others.

97. “To this day, I have never taken a course anywhere, in chemistry, economics, psychology, or business.

98. “You just have to know a few simple things and really know them.”

Lesson: Self education is powerful

99. “When you borrow a man’s car, always return it with a tank of gas.”

Lesson: Be an outstanding person and always leave things better than when you got them.