Ep 175 | A Tribute to Charlie Munger

Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Let's get into it. Today is a special episode because, well, it's Tuesday, November 28th, when I'm recording. Normally I do not record, uh, just before airing an episode. Uh, usually it's a few days at least in advance, but today's a special episode because today, unfortunately, one of the greatest business minds of all time, Charlie Munger, passed away. Charlie Munger, as many of you know, um, is or was Warren Buffett's partner in Berkshire Hathaway. For decades upon decades. He's a resident of California, but he's best known as the vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, which is one of the world's greatest investment firms of all time. As a co-leader of Berkshire Hathaway with Warren Buffett, the two of them brought the company a return over the course of its history of 2 million percent on its initial value. That's 20,000 to 1. This was accomplished in the lifetime of these two men by just investing the capital of the company in a number of, of great, great businesses, prosperous businesses with very limited borrowing. Very calculated investments, value investing, and the success they've had over the course of 60 or 70 years together is amazing. Charlie died at 99, but he was working till his final days. As a matter of fact, I just listened to an interview he did just recently where he was as sharp as he's ever been. Many talk about Charlie as Warren's sidekick, but if you got to understand him, you would know that he was just so much more than that. About 6 or 7 years ago, I went to the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting for the first time. And to be candid, I'd always known of Warren Buffett, but I, you know, I knew Charlie Munger's name, but I didn't know, you know, a whole lot about him, his history, his wit, And it was at that Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting as I was sitting in the Omaha Convention Center where I learned that this guy is arguably the most brilliant human being I've ever heard speak in person. And from that day forth, I was just mesmerized by Charlie and his thoughts and his quotes, his thinking models. I remember buying at the shareholder conference the Charlie Munger's Almanac. It's called Poor Charlie's Almanac. And it's just a massive book of all of his thoughts and quotes. And it's one of the cooler things, cooler things I own. And it actually sits in my office here today. Charlie, though, you know, as an incredibly intelligent person, he also had a lot of great quotes, a lot of great ways to simplify complex scenarios. What I'd like to do in this episode is share my favorite Charlie quotes that I think you all will draw something from. Here are some of my favorite Charlie quotes, and I bet you if you ask me 2 or 3 weeks from now, I probably have a whole nother list because he's got so many of them, but every one of them is so meaningful. Here's my first quote: Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Discharge your duties faithfully and well. Systematically, you get ahead, but not necessarily in fast spurts. Nevertheless, you just— you build discipline by preparing for fast spurts. Slug it out one inch at a time, day by day. At the end of the day, if you live long enough, most people get what they deserve. What a great quote. Probably one to listen to again. Charlie being 99 years young, uh, he, he lived long enough. He lived a great life. And I think he certainly got what he deserved, you know, which was an absolute amazing life. And, and one that he's going to be incredibly remembered for, you know, very much remembered for. Next quote. 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 very intelligent. It's remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid instead of trying to be very intelligent. That one kind of speaks for itself. Charlie's strategy: make fewer errors as opposed to making great decisions. In other words, play the game long enough and don't be stupid. And you'll come out ahead. Now, the Charlie quote that I love: I try to get rid of people who always confidently answer questions about which they don't have any real knowledge. And it— that was true. He honored that. He did not associate with anybody that was giving confident answers to things they just didn't know about. Charlie consulted with, and more specifically read books by, those that he considered experts in specific niches or areas. And that's where he focused his attention. The guy read probably more books than anybody. Maybe, maybe, you know, he may have just passed his partner. I don't know, Warren, but the two of those guys, I think I remember reading once Charlie's kids described him as a book with two legs. 'cause he always was walking around with a book in his hands. Couple more quotes from Charlie. In 2010, he said this. He said, "If I can be optimistic when I'm nearly dead, surely the rest of you can handle a little inflation." He was responding, I think, at the shareholder meeting to a question around inflation. And he says, "If I can be optimistic when I'm nearly dead." Now granted, this was 13 years ago. So he had a lot more time there. But if I could be optimistic when I'm nearly dead, surely the rest of you can handle a little inflation. Next quote, then I've got one final. Uh, this next quote, it's so simple. You spend less than you earn, invest shrewdly, and avoid toxic people and toxic activities, and try and keep learning all your life, et cetera, et cetera. And do a lot of deferred gratification because you prefer life that way. And if you do all of those things, you're almost certain to succeed. And if you don't, you're going to need a lot of luck. It's so simple. The equation: spend less than you earn, invest shrewdly, avoid toxic people, toxic activities, deferred gratification. Prefer that way of life. And if you do all of these things, you're almost certain to succeed. And the last quote I have for you, which is for some reason just my favorite. It's so simple. And Charlie said it at the first shareholder meeting I went to that I referenced earlier. I remember him sitting on stage. He was eating See's Candy, the peanut brittle. See's Candy, Berkshire Hathaway owns See's Candy. It's actually Charlie's favorite deal of all of them that they did. And he loved the family, he loved the business, and that business has done amazing for them. But he's sitting there eating the peanut brittle and it's crackling all throughout the convention center. And I think that at 93 years old at the time, he probably really didn't care. And I remember him saying, Charlie's first rule of investing: fish where the fish are. It's kind of funny. First rule of investing: fish where the fish are. As simple as that sounds, it's also quite brilliant. I think that Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett, you know, they've, they've practiced what they've preached. They've been patient. They've been rather calculated and conservative. They'd rather limit the number of errors as opposed to hit home runs. And over the course of decades in partnership, they've created multi-billion dollar company, multi-billion dollars of net worth for themselves, billionaires in their respective circles, multimillionaires for their investors that have been with them for years. And most importantly, have left an incredible legacy, an incredible mark on the, not just the business community or business world, but the world at large. On that note, that's all we have for today. The No Days Off podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And remember every single day, brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it.