Legendary Investor Charlie Munger Passes Away at the Age of 99
Dear Investors,
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Myth of Money. If you would like to keep in closer touch, please reach out on X (formerly Twitter) below.
This week marks a sad time for the investment world as Charlie Munger, the influential vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, passed away at the age of 99. His impact on the company and Warren Buffett, the renowned investor, is monumental. Munger was integral in shifting Buffett's investment strategy from solely focusing on undervalued stocks to embracing long-term investments in high-value companies. This approach led Berkshire Hathaway to invest in enduring franchises like Coca-Cola and American Express, transforming them into compound interest machines.
Munger's influence extended to leveraging the “float” from Berkshire’s insurance operations, like GEICO, to amplify portfolio returns. His unique investment philosophy, combining Ben Graham's value investing with a long-term growth approach, significantly shaped Berkshire's success. Munger's partnership with Buffett was characterized by their complementary personalities and shared investment ethos. Together, they made decisions based on rigorous analysis and foresight, often looking beyond short-term market fluctuations.
Despite their distance, with Munger in Los Angeles and Buffett in Omaha, their collaboration was seamless, often involving in-depth discussions and a mutual understanding of complex investment scenarios. Munger's legacy also includes his philanthropic efforts and his distinct views on investing, where he emphasized the importance of compound interest and objective decision-making. His approach to investing was marked by a skepticism of short-term market trends and a focus on long-term value creation.
Charles Munger's death marks the end of an era for Berkshire Hathaway and the investment world. His profound influence on Warren Buffett and the company's investment strategy will continue to be felt for years to come. Munger's philosophy of thoughtful, long-term investing and his unique approach to business management remain as guiding principles for investors worldwide.
8 Key Lessons From Charlie Munger:
On Investment Philosophy: "The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting."
On Rationality: "I think the human race does not have a very good record of intelligent behavior."
On Opportunity: "Opportunity comes to the prepared mind."
On Learning: "Go to bed smarter than when you woke up."
On Problem-Solving: "Invert, always invert: Turn a situation or problem upside down. Look at it backward."
On Ethics: "Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome."
On Simplicity: "It’s amazing how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent."
On Acknowledging Errors: "It’s good to learn from your mistakes. It’s better to learn from other people’s mistakes."
This Week By the Numbers 📈
Quick Facts:
Bitcoin Reaches 2023 Peak as Over $1 Billion Withdrawn from Exchanges
MicroStrategy Expands Bitcoin Holdings with Additional $600 Million Purchase
Record High Bitcoin Long Positions Held by Asset Managers at CME
Financial Experts Anticipate Approval of Bitcoin ETF
Standard Chartered Predicts Bitcoin Value to Surge to $100k by 2024
$TAO Stock Surges by 10%, Leading the AI Sector Rally
November Marks the Strongest Month for Stock Market Since 2022
Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Inflation Meets Expectations
US Sees Unprecedented Decline in Pending Home Sales
Billionaire Investor Ackman Predicts Interest Rate Cuts Starting Q1 2024
Mark Cuban Divests Majority Stake in Dallas Mavericks
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Until next week,
Tatiana Koffman
About the Author: Tatiana Koffman
Hi there and thanks for reading! If you stumble upon my newsletter, you will notice that I write about money, economics, and technology. I hold a JD/MBA and spent my career in Capital Markets working across Mergers & Acquisitions, Derivatives, Venture Capital, and Cryptocurrencies. I write to make financial topics more accessible and create equal opportunity for the next generation of investors. I have personally invested in 20+ companies and funds (👉 my portfolio).
The big money is in the waiting.
This dude lived to be 99. He could wait, but the rest of us can't. Anyone not a boomer will not likely live to 99.
He funded the worst companies, that have raped and robbed us of our future. No one else will get the time to wait like he and his cronies did.
Why are we celebrating the environmental and economical destruction people like this have caused. They were set up for success by their era. I know so many stupid boomers with money, it's incredible. If they were truly exceptional they would have saved the world for others because they could see how important it was to not be a greedy f**k.
But they didn't. They served themselves. I am not sorry he died. I am sorry he wasn't a better, more humane person who left a legacy that should be celebrated. I never met the guy. I wasn't impressed by his TV appearances or actions. I was waiting for him to do something more and he didn't.