Money and Finance
- Learning From Mistakes...
From Tren Griffin in his book Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor: Buffett has said that if you cannot explain why you failed after you have made a mistake, the business was too complex for you. In other words, Munger and Buffett like to understand...
- Charlie Munger And Learning
From Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor: It is clear that Munger loves to learn. He actually has fun when he is learning, and that makes the worldly wisdom investing process enjoyable for him. This is important because many people do not find...
- Charlie Munger On Cnnmoney
Links to videos: Charlie Munger: 'I'm not the only wise ass in the world' Munger on politicians: 'They're all flawed' Charlie Munger defends Clayton Homes Charlie Munger on what's going on in Baltimore ...
- Buffett, Munger, And Gates On Fox Business
Link to videos: Buffett on Performance of Berkshire, Future Leadership Buffett : Agree With Administration’s Use of Buffett Rule Buffett: Euro Idea Was a Mistake Buffett and Gates on Tech Investing Munger: I Plan to Be at Berkshire Meeting Next Year...
- Berkshire's No. 2 Man Helps From The Background
Buffett's No. 2 man Charlie Munger plays his role at Berkshire mostly in private The two men who run Berkshire Hathaway Inc. have an arrangement: Warren Buffett is the face of the company and Charlie Munger stays mainly in the shadows. That works...
Money and Finance
Buffett's Best Man
IN CONTRAST TO THE showman-like Buffett, Munger shuns the spotlight. But he draws a smaller, more fanatical cult that seeks inspiration from his intellectual omnivorousness. "There are few people who consider acquiring knowledge their life's study -- he's an exemplar," says Chris Davis, of the $65 billion Davis Funds. "Buffett will understand something on a micro level," adds hedge fund star Mohnish Pabrai, "but Munger will understand how it fits into the world looking a decade out." Pabrai suggests that if you gave an IQ test to their respective fan clubs, Munger's would beat Buffett's "by quite a few points." Whoever would win, with the market choppy and both partners getting up in years, investing acolytes were eager to catch Munger on one of his rare public appearances -- and we were glad to catch him for an even rarer interview.
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When he spoke with SmartMoney, Munger was relatively humble; he brushed aside the idea that he's the man behind Buffett, allowing only that "my utility was not zero." That utility may be more important than ever if Munger's gloomy outlook turns out to be correct. "Even with the market down, every investment class, on average, is liberally priced," Munger says, and the prospects for good returns are "modest" at best. His formula for success in a tough market (or any market) flies in the face of conventional wisdom: "Load up" by making big bets on the handful of businesses that could be winners. "People say the whole secret of investing is diversification," Munger told Berkshire investors earlier this year, but that idea is "ass-backwards."
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When picking winners out of the herd, of course, it helps to have Buffett- or Munger-caliber acumen. Munger insists that involves little more than common sense -- the kind that comes from educating yourself broadly across multiple disciplines. Unlike other investors, Munger says, he and Buffett are careful not to overestimate what they know: "It's a disaster if you don't know the edge of your competency." They work hard at avoiding investing "asininities" and "possess a vast ability to dis-learn" when their assumptions prove false. And they keep enough cash on hand to act quickly -- since good investments don't swim by that often, Munger explains, "you have to be the man standing by a river with a spear." How to recognize those opportunities? That's where omnivorousness comes in. "Learn your gaps, and fill them," he says. "If you get three textbooks on a subject and skim them, it's a good start. That's what I do."
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Sadly enough, that's not what most investors do, so it's little wonder that a certain world-weariness is one of Munger's hallmarks in his fifth decade at Buffett's side. "If Aristotle were alive today, he'd be a grumpy old man," Munger sighs, explaining that the Greek philosopher would be seeing the same mistakes made over and over. "Maybe that's some of the problem with me."
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To view Mr. Munger's Caltech appearance, see this post: Video: A Conversation with Charlie Munger
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The best way to learn more about Mr. Munger and the 'Latticework of Mental Models Approach' to life and learning: Poor Charlie's Almanack
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- Learning From Mistakes...
From Tren Griffin in his book Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor: Buffett has said that if you cannot explain why you failed after you have made a mistake, the business was too complex for you. In other words, Munger and Buffett like to understand...
- Charlie Munger And Learning
From Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor: It is clear that Munger loves to learn. He actually has fun when he is learning, and that makes the worldly wisdom investing process enjoyable for him. This is important because many people do not find...
- Charlie Munger On Cnnmoney
Links to videos: Charlie Munger: 'I'm not the only wise ass in the world' Munger on politicians: 'They're all flawed' Charlie Munger defends Clayton Homes Charlie Munger on what's going on in Baltimore ...
- Buffett, Munger, And Gates On Fox Business
Link to videos: Buffett on Performance of Berkshire, Future Leadership Buffett : Agree With Administration’s Use of Buffett Rule Buffett: Euro Idea Was a Mistake Buffett and Gates on Tech Investing Munger: I Plan to Be at Berkshire Meeting Next Year...
- Berkshire's No. 2 Man Helps From The Background
Buffett's No. 2 man Charlie Munger plays his role at Berkshire mostly in private The two men who run Berkshire Hathaway Inc. have an arrangement: Warren Buffett is the face of the company and Charlie Munger stays mainly in the shadows. That works...