Charlie Munger Life and Investing Lessons

Charlie Munger, the longtime vice chairman and second-in-command to Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway, passed away in November. Munger was 99, and would have turned 100 on Jan. 1. He died peacefully, Berkshire said. No cause was given.

“Berkshire Hathaway could not have been built to its present status without Charlie’s inspiration, wisdom and participation,” Buffett, Berkshire’s chairman and chief executive said in a statement.

Munger had been a Berkshire vice chairman since 1978, working closely with Buffett on allocating the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate’s capital, and being quick to tell him when he was making a mistake.

My favorite Charlie Munger life and investing lessons:

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

2. Like Warren, I had a considerable passion to get rich, not because I wanted Ferrari's - I wanted the independence.

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

4. One of the greatest ways to avoid trouble is to keep it simple... the system often goes out of control.

5. A lot of people with high IQs are terrible investors because they've got terrible temperaments.

6. Knowing what you don't know is more useful than being brilliant.

7. If a business earns 18% on capital over 20 or 30 years, even if you pay an expensive looking price, you’ll end up with a fine result.

8. A great business at a fair price is superior to a fair business at a great price.

9. You'd be amazed at how much Warren reads -at how much I read. They think I'm a book with a couple of legs sticking out.

10. The best thing a human can do is to help another human being know more.

11. To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want. The world is not yet a crazy enough place to reward a whole bunch of undeserving people.

12. Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Day by day, and at the end of the day-if you live long enough-like most people, you will get out of life what you deserve.

13. How to find a good spouse? The best single way is to deserve a good spouse.

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

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

16. 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.

17. It’s the work on your desk. Do well with what you already have and more will come in.

18. Mimicking the herd invites regression to the mean.

19. Always take the high road, it’s far less crowded.

20. Every time you hear EBITDA, just substitute it with bullshit

Source: Reuters