Warren Buffett comes out swinging at economic illiterates and demagogues who insist on mischaracterizing stock repurchases. and will be of interest to readers who follow the company. He started his career as a lawyer but moved gradually into the life of an investor. In 1945, while studying at Caltech, Munger married Nancy Huggins, daughter of Frederick R. Huggins and Edith M. Huggins. Whenever you think that some situation or some person is ruining your life, its actually you who are ruining your life. Most intriguingly, Mr. Munger has been very active at Daily Journal Corporation, a company unrelated to Berkshire Hathaway that Iwrote about recently. The only real criticism ofDamn Right! The Rational Walk is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising andlinkingtoAmazon.com. These questions are difficult to answer. ", "I've got some advice for the young," Munger added. He used this in his approach to business. : Behind the Scenes with Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger. In addition, he served as Chairman of Wesco Financial until Berkshire acquired the remaining minority interests in Wesco in 2011. All rights reserved. American entrepreneur best known as the Vice-Chairman of the Berkshire Hathaway Corporation and one . Billionaire investor Charlie Munger still isn't a fan of cryptocurrency. It makes no sense to engage in short term relationships with investments, but it is also hazardous to fall in love with a company or its management. Charlie Munger was married to his first wife, Nancy Huggins, from 1945 to 1953. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) Vice Chairman Charlie Munger has boosted his personal stake in Chinese internet giant Alibaba (BABA), buying an additional 300,000 shares, according to. You should never, when facing some unbelievable tragedy, let one tragedy increase to two or three through your failure of will.. Even after all this time, Munger and Buffett genuinely enjoy each other's company. FamousKin.com cannot and does not guarantee the accuracy and reliability of these sources. Copyright Joshua Kennon. That is, on the relatively few occasions when he had something to add to Mr. Buffetts commentary. Our First Child, Dorian Alexander Kennon-Green, Was Born! "[21] During an interview and Q&A session at Harvard-Westlake School on January 19, 2010, Munger referred to American philosopher Charles Frankel in his discussion on the financial crisis of 200708 and the philosophy of responsibility. In fact, he is scheduled to hold court at theDaily Journal annual meetingon February 15, 2023. At 31 years old, Charlie Munger was divorced, broke, and burying his 9 year old son, who had died from cancer. Charlie Munger. I had Thomas Jefferson over my bed at seven or eight. In 1973, Wesco announced plans to merge with another savings and loan on terms that appeared to be unfavorable. "There were a lot of questions today people trying to figure out what the secret to life is, to a long and happy life," CNBC's Becky Quick said to Munger when they talked in the middle of February. How Tall is Charlie Munger? However, after many years, the web of ownership interests became extremely complex and this resulted in trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1974. It is always preferable to locate primary records where possible. I read this book several years ago although I have not yet written a book review. . [66], On July 22, 2002, Munger's first wife Nancy Huggins Freeman died of cancer at age 76. Whatever it is, get over it. The latter is an individual's sense of loss of what he or she believes should be (or is) his or hers. In 1736, Benjamin Franklins four year old son died of smallpox, an event that Franklinforever regrettedsince he could have given his son an early version of smallpox inoculation. Why do you drive it? The broke Munger replied: To discourage gold diggers.. Well-managed expectations, according to Berkshire Hathaway ( BRK-A, BRK-B) Vice Chairman Charlie Munger. Charlie Munger has had the kind of career people dream of. The Rational Walk is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising andlinkingtoAmazon.com. Per records, Munger doled out $11 million for a French Normandy-esque mansion in the oceanfront enclave, a guard-gated community known for its 22-acre collection of luxury estates, all of them . [46][47] He has donated to universities on the precondition that the universities follow his architectural blueprints exactly. After decades of strict family planning policies, including its one-child policy, which started in 1980 and lasted 35 years, China is now trying to stave off a demographic crisis marked by too. He is often referred to as Buffetts right-hand man. Buffet has described Munger as " [his] partner." Munger served as chairman of Wesco Financial Corporation from 1984 through 2011. He is vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate controlled by Warren Buffett; Buffett has described Munger as his closest partner and right-hand man. sense of loss. I read this book several years ago although I have not yet written a book review. Pasadena was also the site of the company's annual shareholders' meeting, which were typically held on the Wednesday or Thursday after the more famous Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. Through entities such as Diversified Retailing, Blue Chip Stamps, and Berkshire Hathaway itself, deals were structured in ways that appeared to make the most sense at the time. Feeling like a victim is a perfectly disastrous way to go through life. 2. A summary of checklists in the appendix is also useful. [11], Munger moved with his family to California, where he joined the law firm Wright & Garrett (later Musick, Peeler & Garrett). Between 1962 and 1975, he operated an investment partnership of his own. At the time, the combined assets of both firms was just $1.6 billion. The renovated portion of the Lawyers Club will be renamed the Charles T. Munger Residences in the Lawyers Club in his honor. Warren Buffett has demonstrated how shareholders can generate income from their Berkshire shares but investor psychology can be a major impediment. "You stay cheerful in spite of your troubles. [46] In each case, Munger promotes key architectural concepts of his own liking, and cedes professional architectural responsibility to a licensed architect of record, e.g., Hartman-Cox Architects in the case of the dormitory at UMichigan, and the firm of VTBS for the U.C. Thoughts on Business, Politics, and Life from a Private Investor. The massive 11-story, 1.68 . The final piece of the puzzle was put into place in June 1983 when Blue Chips minority shareholders agreed to exchange each share of Blue Chip for 0.077 of a share of Berkshire Hathaway. He's been Warren Buffett 's right-hand man for the last 40 years, and is more formally known as vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. Munger's meetings were nearly as legendary in the investment community as those he co-hosts with Buffett in Omaha. Klicken Sie auf Einstellungen verwalten um weitere Informationen zu erhalten und Ihre Einstellungen zu verwalten. The six of them became family and things started looking up. In 1955, Teddy died at the age of nine leaving Mr. Munger devastated by his loss. While Mr. Munger saw a great deal of merit in Grahams value-oriented approach, he recognized that there are situations where it makes sense to pay a significant premium to book value when a business has proven superior economics. In time, Charlie Munger bounced back from tragedy, remarried, and ended up raising six children and two stepchildren. Charlie Munger's family tree includes a number of presidential kin including, but not limited to, Warren G. Harding, William Taft, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, and James Madison. At 95, Charlie Munger is best known for his steady role as the right-hand man of investing legend Warren Buffett. [17] Meeting notes have been posted on the Futile Finance? Read Joshuas Investing for Beginners Site at About.com, Creed Is Sending Me a Free Bottle of Creed Aventus. Headquartered in Pasadena, it was active in three primary categories: insurance, furniture rental, and steel service. It is tempting to emulate investors who we admire but it is unwise to blindly follow any investor into a stock. The Omaha connection and shared background no doubt had a role in the two hitting it off immediately and talking for hours at the dinner party. Their three children were Wendy, Molly, and Teddy. The Omaha connection and shared background no doubt had a role in the two hitting it off immediately and talking for hours at the dinner party. The meeting will not have an in-person audience and will bewebcastby CNBC with questions asked by Becky Quick. Careers, People, Three. Charlie was 31 years old, divorced, broke, and burying his 9 year old son. After working with Buffett for more than 40 years, Munger still respects and admires him. Like this story? I highly recommend reading Charlie Mungersletters to Blue Chip Stamps shareholders. By 1953, he had three children and was going through a divorce. Some of his curiosity must be innate, but the environment cultivated by Mr. Mungers parents no doubt set him on the right path. [6] After receiving a high score on the Army General Classification Test, he was ordered to study meteorology at Caltech in Pasadena, California,[7] the town he was to make his home. [71][72], In his 50s, after a failed eye cataract surgery that rendered his left eye blind, Munger had his left eye removed due to severe pain. Happy New Year! in 1948. The final piece of the puzzle was put into place in June 1983 when Blue Chips minority shareholders agreed to exchange each share of Blue Chip for 0.077 of a share of Berkshire Hathaway. A Division of NBC Universal. [4], In October 2014, Munger announced that he would donate $65 million to the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Who could have known that he would still be active in business and philanthropy nearly a quarter century later? By now, his stake has reached a value of $71,500,000. is not among the hundred-plusbook reviewsI have written since 2009 so it seemed appropriate to re-read the book and share a few thoughts on Charlie Mungers 99th birthday. Charlie Munger's family tree includes a number of presidential kin including, but not limited to, Warren G. Harding, William Taft, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, and James Madison. In 1972, a block of stock in Wesco Financial, the parent company of Mutual Savings and Loan, was offered to Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger at fifty percent of book value. An 85-year Harvard study found the No. ", "Being surrounded by the right values from the beginning is an immense treasure.". They had three children, Wendy Munger (a former corporate lawyer, trustee of Stanford University, and trustee of The Huntington Library[61][62]), Molly Munger (a civil rights attorney and funder of a ballot initiative to raise California taxes for public education[63]) and Teddy Munger (deceased, leukemia, age 9). My Amazon history says that I purchased a copy in December 2000 and I remember that it left an impression.1However, this was before I got over my aversion to writing in books so I do not have any notes of my thoughts. Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. A Look Inside Our Life as We Set Out to Make 2021 Incredible. I suspect that both men would be very rich today, but not nearly as rich as they became due to combining their intellects and efforts over six decades. [35], Munger is a major benefactor of the University of Michigan. Munger exchanged wedding vows with Nancy Barry in 1956. One suchexemplaris Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger who turns ninety-nine years old today. Like this story? Poor Charlies Almanack. After posting a 73.2% return in 1975, the partnership shut down. Charlie Munger is determined to complete the transformation of a small newspaper publisher into a significant software company. In the decades since the publication of the book, Charlie Munger has remained active at Berkshire Hathaway. Using a continuous glucose monitor for two weeks made me think about the pros and cons of instant feedback in life and in markets. Charles Thomas Munger (born January 1, 1924) is an American billionaire investor, businessman, and former real estate attorney. However, readers ofDamn Right! The combination of real estate activities and his investment partnership3allowed Mr. Munger to give up the practice of law in 1965 after starting a firm that still bears his name today.4. 1. In 1955, Teddy died at the age of nine leaving Mr. Munger devastated by his loss. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice| Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information| Ad Choices One cannot blame Janet Lowe for setting out to write a biography of Charlie Munger in the late 1990s. Don't miss: The best credit cards for building credit. I cant remember when I first read Ben Franklin. Introduction In 1949, Charlie Munger was 25 years old. Both Nancy and Wendy Munger served as members of the Stanford board of trustees. 6, has never met her in person and didn't know anything about her family history. [56], In March 2016, Munger announced a further $200 million gift to UC Santa Barbara, conditioned on the university's commitment to spend it on an undergraduate dormitory of Munger's own unconventional design preferences, notably windowless bedrooms and common areas, while tripling the record gift he gave for the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics. Recently, I realized thatDamn Right! "While no real money came down, my family gave me a good education and a marvelous example of how people should behave, and in the end that was more valuable than money," Munger told author Janet Lowe in her book "Damn Right! Psychological and social factors serve as complications for investors seeking to invest in declining companies, often referred to as "cigar butts". He had $1,500 in savings, equal to $13,570 now. His desire to arrange financial affairs so as to never go back to go has depression-era roots.2 In those days, there was no health insurance, you just paid everything out of pocket and the death rate was near 100% since there was nothing doctors could do. Charlie Munger made headlines last year when news broke that he had designed a massive dorm building with almost no windows that could house 4,500 students. The Rational Walkwebsite was founded by Ravi Nagarajan in 2009 who is the author of all its content. In 1999, Mr. Buffett noted that Sees Candies had earned a cumulative $857 million pre-tax since its 1972 acquisition while requiring very little incremental capital investment.6In 2011, Sees had sales of $376 million and $83 million of pre-tax profit.7 He got his start as an investor in the early 1960s and is mostly known for his association with Buffett. In the open outcry auction, there is social proof of others bidding, reciprocation tendency, commitment to buying the item, and deprivation super-reaction syndrome, i.e. All Rights Reserved. [3], He enrolled in the University of Michigan, where he studied mathematics. By 1953, he had three children and was going through a divorce. He was hired at the law firm of Wright & Garrett for $3,300 per year, or $29,851 in inflation-adjusted dollars as of 2010. [6][10], In college and the Army, he developed "an important skill": card playing. Wesco Financial also held a concentrated equity portfolio of over US$1.5 billion in companies such as Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo, Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods, US Bancorp, and Goldman Sachs. Some thoughts on Berkshire Hathaway's long term future twelve years after writing a comprehensive report on the company. Edited by Peter Kaufman. The Wheeler, Munger investment partnership operated from 1962 to 1975 and posted an average annual return of 24.3% vs. 6.4% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Munger explained that Frankel believed: the system is responsible in proportion to the degree that the people who make the decisions bear the consequences. Munger believes that by coping as best he could with the tragedy of Teddys death, he was doing the only rational thing. That was certainly true of Sees Candies at the time and proved to be even more true as time went on. Buffett gives Munger credit for much of the success of Berkshire Hathaway. Durch Klicken auf Alle akzeptieren erklren Sie sich damit einverstanden, dass Yahoo und unsere Partner Ihre personenbezogenen Daten verarbeiten und Technologien wie Cookies nutzen, um personalisierte Anzeigen und Inhalte zu zeigen, zur Messung von Anzeigen und Inhalten, um mehr ber die Zielgruppe zu erfahren sowie fr die Entwicklung von Produkten. The only real criticism ofDamn Right! The next year, Mr. Mungers son, Teddy, was diagnosed with leukemia, a disease that had no treatment at the time. The seven year age difference between the two men left them growing up in different social circles despite Charlie Munger working at the Buffett family grocery store during the 1930s. Those include: adding operable windows to each multi-bedroom suite and as many bedrooms as possible, increasing the size of single bedrooms to match their current size of other singles within the universitys existing housing, and reducing the building mass and population density. "And can you be cheerful when you're absolutely mired in deep hatred and resentment? He remained in college through 1942 and then enlisted in the military where he scored highly on aptitude tests and was sent to Cal Tech to study meteorology before being assigned to a weather station in Alaska. [59][60] That was not to be for too long though. One year after the diagnosis, in 1955, Teddy Munger died. In addition, he went into real estate development in the Los Angeles area with Otis Booth, an endeavor that required personal attention but proved to be highly remunerative. "[4] He also used a card analogy to explain an approach to stock trading. The eye condition has since receded and he still has sight in his right eye.[73]. Its such a simple idea. After the war, a family friend helped Mr. Munger gain admittance to Harvard Law School even though he did not have a college degree. The broad contours of this part of the story are quite well known. He's been Warren Buffett's right-hand man for the last 40 years, and is more formally known as vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. Charlie Munger photo by Nick Webb (CC BY 2.0). Elon Musk has suggested Warren Buffett should buy Tesla stock, and revealed Charlie Munger had the chance to invest in the automaker at less than 0.1% . With a current net worth of $1.8 billion, Munger, 95, is a source of wisdom in business and investing, and he has some tips for young people just beginning their careers and starting their lives. "When you go out in the world, look for the job you would take if you didn't need the money," Buffett said. In 2009, Munger donated eight shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock, worth nearly $800,000, to Harvard-Westlake. Janet Lowes access to the Munger family provided much insight into Charlie Mungers personality from the perspective of his wife, children, grandchildren, and friends. S&P Index data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. The 11-story, 1.68-million-square-foot building, made up of eight-person living units, would house 4,500 students, 94 percent of whom would not have windows in their compact single-occupancy bedrooms. A better approach is to seek wisdom from those who have been successful in businessandin life so we can emulate what has already worked for others. Though Munger has no formal architectural training, he has contributed heavily to numerous building designs, including dormitories at Stanford University and the University of Michigan, as well as his current home. As Mr. Munger enters his one hundredth year, his amazing story is still not complete. This proved to be a problem when he attempted to enrol at the Harvard Law School. After the war, a family friend helped Mr. Munger gain admittance to Harvard Law School even though he did not have a college degree. The meeting will not have an in-person audience and will bewebcastby CNBC with questions asked by Becky Quick. In fact, he is scheduled to hold court at theDaily Journal annual meetingon February 15, 2023. Munger was born in Omaha, Nebraska. Charles Thomas Munger (born January 1, 1924) is an American investor, businessman, and philanthropist. By 1959, Mr. Munger was back on his feet but had significant expenses given his large and growing family. How did Charlie Munger lose an eye? "Nevertheless, it was 1959 before I met Charlie, long after he had left Omaha to make Los Angeles his home. [18], Munger is also the chairman of the Daily Journal Corporation. The two friends began speaking for hours every week discussing potential investment . Related Fr nhere Informationen zur Nutzung Ihrer Daten lesen Sie bitte unsere Datenschutzerklrung und Cookie-Richtlinie. Like Warren, I had a considerable passion to get rich. Or would he have remained in the legal profession, perhaps with a few real estate side projects? 1999 was the last year that Berkshire disclosed Sees results as a separate business segment. He regards all eight as simply his children without making any distinctions. He married Nancy Barry in his second marriage. He maintained that treating the shares of a company like baseball cards is a losing strategy because it requires one to predict the behavior of often irrational and emotional human beings. Great investing requires a lot of delayed gratification. This is the largest gift in the history of the school. He regards all eight as simply his children without making any distinctions. Berkshire Hathaways 1999 annual report, page 14. Leo Tolstoy advocated serious efforts to leverage what we learn from others. One of Charlie Mungers goals was to have a large family and he married very young at the age of 21.