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Charlie Munger has died

berkshirehathaway.com

261–270 of 454 posts

Re: Charlie Munger has died

#261
post #34

One of the greats of investing. And a value investor. It's all about the profits, not the growth. Munger is gone, Bogle is gone, Buffett is 93. Who takes up the mantle of value investing now?

I think Buffet has at least 7 more years, plenty of time for a successor to rise.

Wiki says:

    In the annual letter to shareholders on 2014, it was suggested that both [Ajit] Jain and Greg Abel could be appropriate successors for Warren Buffett as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajit_Jain

Re: Charlie Munger has died

#262
post #9

Everybody should read his speech, "The Psychology of Human Misjudgment": https://fs.blog/great-talks/psychology-human-misjudgment/ It's a fantastic read that can really help you understand why supposedly rational masses of people can end up being so wrong. In the tech world, it ends up being more relevant than one would like it to be.

That's referenced in this interesting blog post with some Munger quotes from ~10 years ago. For context Munger appears to have been centrally involved with Berkshire's various energy plays and investor-owned utility deals (a major fraction of their portfolio).

https://fs.blog/energy-independence-is-a-terribly-stupid-ide...

> "… running out of hydrocarbons is like running out of civilization. All this trade, all these drugs, fertilizers, fungicides, etc. … which China needs to eat with a population so much, they all come from hydrocarbons. And it is not at all clear that there is any substitute.

> "When the hydrocarbons are gone, I don’t think the chemists will be able to simply mix up a vat and there will be more hydrocarbons. It’s conceivable, of course, that they could but it’s not the way to bet."

That's in the context of his arguments about for ignoring any calls for 'energy independence' because it's better to preserve domestic resources for future emergencies.

Re: Charlie Munger has died

#263
post #116
post #9

Everybody should read his speech, "The Psychology of Human Misjudgment": https://fs.blog/great-talks/psychology-human-misjudgment/ It's a fantastic read that can really help you understand why supposedly rational masses of people can end up being so wrong. In the tech world, it ends up being more relevant than one would like it to be.

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Don’t know why but I am unable to make sense of anything from that summary.

Will try the original long form content.

Re: Charlie Munger has died

#264

In 1949, Charlie Munger was 25 years old. He was hired at the law firm of Wright & Garrett for $3,300 per year, or $42,000 in inflation-adjusted dollars. A few years later, in 1953, Charlie was 29 years old when he and his wife divorced. He had been married since he was 21. Charlie lost everything in the divorce, his wife keeping the family home in South Pasadena. Munger moved into “dreadful” conditions at the Univer…

Is this a copy paste of a blogger that wrote an article about why you shouldnt give up, because charlie didn't either. Are you the author? It feels weird to take 95% of someones article and just post it. https://www.joshuakennon.com/if-charlie-munger-didnt-quit-wh...

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Re: Charlie Munger has died

#265
post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

genetics. they matter a ton . read the bios of really old people (100+ yrs old) and nothing really stands out beyond having a lot of family member who also lived a long time. I think a low-stress lifestyle helps a lot too.

Not to downplay everything you said but you really think Charlie Munger led a low stress life?

This is a fair point. If you exclude the early part of his life, working as an asset manager is easy work. Most jobs are much more stressful. Basically, you sit around and read annual/quarterly reports and try to find the next company to buy. To be clear, this type of asset management is similar to private equity. They are buying whole companies. This business is much lower volatility than buying/selling stocks for fund management. Also: Fewer transactions. So I would say the 2nd half of his life was low stress (outsider's view, of course).

Re: Charlie Munger has died

#266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this a copy paste of a blogger that wrote an article about why you shouldnt give up, because charlie didn't either. Are you the author? It feels weird to take 95% of someones article and just post it. https://www.joshuakennon.com/if-charlie-munger-didnt-quit-wh...

This is a great point but given their comment history and 7000+ karma, my money is on this being the original author taking an opportunity to repost their own writing. Hopefully the benefit of the doubt is well offered here because obviously lifting 100+ words of someone else's writing is poor form.

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Re: Charlie Munger has died

#267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand the outrage over this. Are windows a major selling point of dorm rooms? When I was in college i don't recall dorm windows being that important. I was studying or elsewhere most of the time anyway.

I'm going to assume your comment is in good faith. In which case, yes, they are more important than almost anything else. Modern humans spend more and more time indoors, and this has catastrophic consequences on our mental and physical health. Even in properly sized apartments, most of us have too much CO2 in our rooms. But worse (and especially in the US), there is all manner of ghastly outgassing from furnitures, f…

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Re: Charlie Munger has died

#268

As billionaires go, he seemed unusually down to earth. I listen to his lecture on "The Psychology of Human Misjudgement" every few years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqzcCfUglws

What you mean is probably 'as far as public billionaires goes'. And with regards to 'down to earth' like anyone of prominence they don't care about you or wouldn't help you in any way (and couldn't possibly). So we are not talking about the guy next door who lends you his saw and is already around for advice and a helping hand.

Don't think for a second they aren't selfish in their own way they would have to be in order to be involved and run an enterprise of that magnitude.

What does down to earth mean anyway? Most people probably think that it means you appear to be more like the common man and don't have the typical trappings of wealth (or if you do nobody knows about them).

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