Farewell to Charlie Munger
The outspoken polymath will be dearly missed.
When Charlie Munger passed away this week, Twitter was absolutely flooded with grief, gratitude, quotes, and anecdotes. I felt a similar reaction as in 2009, when I attended Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting for the first time and found myself surrounded by 30,000 other visitors. My contrarian instinct kicked in. Clearly, I was late to this party. Even though I never returned1, the question remained lodged in my mind: why had Buffett and Munger become such a big deal?
At first glance it was about the money. Stock markets of the mid and late 20th century turned out to be a gold mine for people who adopted the value strategy and dug through piles of financial statements, like ambitious accountants, in search of treasure.2 But the annual pilgrimage to Omaha was about more than an investment philosophy. No, there was something unique happening at the intersection of finance, business, and life.
What made Munger so unique was a combination of wisdom, values, action, and authenticity.
Sure, Munger was wise. His lasting contribution was the latticework of mental models which I won’t get into because it’s long been beaten into a meme. But what made Munger compelling and credible as a teacher was his attitude to life. He embodied his values.
Munger was resilient. He bounced back and carried on after the death of his young child, after divorce, after steep drawdowns in his fund, after losing one of his eyes.
You can't bring back the dead, you can't cure the dying child. You can't do all kinds of things. You have to soldier through it. You just somehow soldier through.
If you have to walk through the streets crying for a few hours a day as part of the soldiering, go ahead and cry away. But you have to — you can't quit. You can cry all right, but you can't quit. Lots of hardship will come and you gotta handle it well by soldiering through.
When Munger talked about the danger of self-pity and called the “iron rule of life” that “everybody struggles,” he spoke from the heart and from experience. Munger soldiered on, avoided “all standard ways of failing,” and created a life filled with abundance — an abundance of family, friends, wealth, learning, and work he enjoyed. He walked the invisible path.
And even that does not explain his popularity. No, Munger could have remained invisible. Instead, he chose to share and it’s the people who touch others by sharing who are remembered. Twitter was flooded with an outpouring of countless anecdotes of encounters, phone calls, and letters. Munger shared his wisdom as well as his time.
Finally, what made him stand out beyond the personal interactions was his candor. Munger nahm kein Blatt vor den Mund, he spoke his mind. But authenticity can come at a price — and Munger’s rested on a foundation of financial independence.
The following exchange occurs in the movie The Gambler when gambling addict Jim Bennett tries to borrow money from Frank (played by the inimitable John Goodman).
Jim Bennett: I've been up two and a half million dollars.
Frank: What you got on you?
Jim Bennett: Nothing.
Frank: What you put away?
Jim Bennett: Nothing.
Frank: You get up two and a half million dollars, any asshole in the world knows what to do. You get a house with a 25 year roof, an indestructible Jap-economy shitbox, you put the rest into the system at three to five percent to pay your taxes and that's your base, get me? That's your fortress of fucking solitude.
That puts you, for the rest of your life, at a level of fuck you. Somebody wants you to do something, fuck you. Boss pisses you off, fuck you! Own your house. Have a couple bucks in the bank. Don't drink. That's all I have to say to anybody on any social level.
Berkshire had been built, first and foremost, to survive and preserve the capital of its shareholders. It was this fortress of solitude that allowed Munger, together with a handful of other investments, to speak his mind without hesitation.
Munger was not infallible, but he was genuine. And in a public sphere drowning in signaling, his authentic wisdom and acerbic wit stood out like a lighthouse in the storm. People listened not just because of the wisdom offered, but because Munger was the rare person who could afford to speak without an agenda.
I think it’s fair to ask whether Munger’s popularity says more about his life or about our society. Was he exceptional or just exceptionally rare? I think the answer is both. His popularity reflects a yearning for authentic role models in an age of attention merchants, shameless grifters, and rampant ego inflation.
Here’s what worries me.
Munger and Buffett became teachers at scale by accident. Had they remained in the business of investing, rather than leading public companies, much of their work would have disappeared behind the gates of compliance. The Berkshire and Wesco annual meetings offered a ‘third place’ for professionals in the worlds of money and business to bond outside the familiar competitive and closed-off atmosphere that permeates many industry gatherings.
Yes, people were intrigued by the wealth, but they stuck around, and returned, for the wisdom and relationships. I wonder if the following generations will produce any comparable combinations of wisdom, action, and connection — or if they will find a way to create a similar third space. I hope so. Sadly, I wouldn’t bet on it.
Thank you for everything, Charlie Munger. You will be dearly missed.
Frederik
Some Charlie Munger Reading
Drop your favorite resources in the comments and I will add them here.
A life properly lived is just learn, learn, learn all the time.
New: Charlie Munger: These ‘basic rules’ made me successful in life—‘with Warren Buffett, I had all 3’
New: Full Transcript from CNBC's “Charlie Munger: A Life of Wit and Wisdom”
Speeches collected by James Clear (“2007 USC Law School Commencement Address”, “A Lesson on Elementary, Worldly Wisdom”, “How to Guarantee a Life of Misery”, “The Psychology of Human Misjudgment”)
2022: Highlights from Charlie Munger's Conversation with Todd Combs
Obituaries
Related writings:
I never returned but I did listen to all the recordings which were made available online and offer a tremendous education. It might be time to revisit those notes.
Among investors, Buffett and Munger seem to trigger a nostalgia for an era of less efficient and slower paced markets, a time when investors built partnerships rather than develop products for faceless institutions, and an age when generalists followed their curiosity rather than being constantly pushed to specialize.
"Among investors, Buffett and Munger seem to trigger a nostalgia for an era of less efficient and slower paced markets...an age when generalists followed their curiosity rather than being constantly pushed to specialize"
Absolutely. I wonder if we can find space for this approach, it has an adventurous and rewarding spirit that I think many people would like to experience in their careers and life.
I admire the way your post beautifully captures the essence of a remarkable personality and their enduring wisdom. Charlie's passing inspired me to craft a piece highlighting his profound impact on the realm of value investing. It's easy to overlook the profound influence he had until we recognize that his insights will remain timeless, continuing to shape future generations.