Charlie Munger - a wise man & great teacher

[ksir]

Can't really hold my tears when saw the news of his passing this morning.
He likely would have rolled his eye on my surprise to the obvious likelihood of his passing (looking at his age and high possibility of the event).

Charles Thomas Munger (January 1, 1924 – November 28, 2023)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Munger
Someone said his age is 99.9, which reflect the imperfection of the world that he sometimes advocate. There is no need to be precise but rather, approximate is enough.

A great teacher, the light in the dark tunnel and a calming voice in the turbulence market, world and life.

I was still listening to his perhaps last conversation in the acquired podcast for the past few days:
https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/charlie-munger

He was as sharp and humorous as ever.
His peacefully passing is very Munger style.

RIP great teacher.

[weijian]

A little while ago, Munger was lamenting that he has been immobile on a wheelchair for some time and dependent on someone to take care of most of his needs. Putting on his rational lens, he is probably better now.

Munger was the one who instilled the ethos that it was ok to strive just to get a little better every day, not necessarily in fast spurts but faithfully repeating the little feats of getting less ignorant and less irrational.

So while Munger passes on. The little bit of him lives on in me (and hopefully in my future generations) and that is probably the closest thing to immortality.

[ksir]

Until his passing, I didn't even manage to finish his Poor Charlie's almanack after holding it for 10+ years.

Several of his talks that I keep reading over the years are:
A Lesson on Elementary Worldly Wisdom : https://fs.blog/great-talks/a-lesson-on-worldly-wisdom/
The Psychology of Human Misjudgment: https://fs.blog/great-talks/psychology-h...sjudgment/
Academic Economics — Strengths and Weaknesses, after Considering Interdisciplinary Needs:
https://fs.blog/great-talks/academic-eco...ie-munger/

Have been reading below for the past months, his wits & wisdom in Wesco & Daily Journal AGM's Q&A:
https://weread.qq.com/web/bookDetail/881...eeag012b8d

[touzi]

RIP Charlie Munger. Great Investor, Polymath and Wonderful man (although blunt and politically incorrect at times) !

Will miss reading his speech ( I always having difficulty understanding his accent so have to depend on transcripts).

[Choon]

RIP Charlie Munger. The world lost another wise, objective and unbiased voice.

Those who enjoy reading his writings can also check out the writings of Li Lu (in Chinese)

I find both to be very similar and inspiring. Both espoused worldly wisdom, intellectual honesty, reading widely and value investing. 

I read that they have dinner weekly.

文明、现代化、价值投资与中国, a very good book by Li Lu.

[weijian]

I had thought that the acquired podcast would be his final lengthy interview. It seems like CNBC managed to record an interview with him 2 weeks ago. Looking forward to that in time to come.

Snippet of it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj9sRI5lofM

[ksir]

I had thought that the acquired podcast would be his final lengthy interview. It seems like CNBC managed to record an interview with him 2 weeks ago. Looking forward to that in time to come.

Snippet of it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj9sRI5lofM

Thanks Weijian, amazing Becky Quek, just just in time.
Looking forward to that.

Hi Choon,
I managed to force myself to read through the entire Li Lu book.
Struggled with those non-investment chapters esp on the human history, but his message on China & Investment just light up my thinking on those topics. Simple & clear!

[weijian]

We, OPMIs are not going to run big businesses. We are atmost just going to partake in one, as OPMIs.

But OPMIs can have that "second banana" in our learning journey - An "alter ego" which questions your own assumptions (System 2 vs System 1). Or a real human partner of equals who "agree to disagree" and commit to learn from each other.

The worst thing that can happen to normal OPMIs like us, is to dismiss people (that we think are not as good/experienced as us), OR blindly listen to our cult leaders/heroes.

Commentary: If you want to succeed like Warren Buffett, find a 'second banana' like Charlie Munger

In it, Huey lays out what it means to be one of the “Great Second Bananas of US Business”: “Strong-willed, independent operating executives who passed up the glories of the top job - each has turned down other offers to be CEO somewhere else - and instead pursued the hands-on running of some of the best-performing, most challenging big companies around.”

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commenta...er-3959121

[weijian]

Remembering My Teacher Charlie Munger - Li Lu

Charlie had largely lost consciousness, but still I could clearly hear him trying to make a sound to acknowledge he had heard me.

https://assets-global.website-files.com/...202023.pdf

[dreamybear]

From the article, it seems the investing track record is not as good as Berkshire ?

-------------

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/charlie-m...37307.html
"....It's worth noting that Munger's hands-off approach wasn't a winner across the board. The value of Daily Journal's Wells Fargo and US Bancorp positions rose by less than 10% in a decade, while the S&P 500 surged by over 150% in the same timeframe. The company's Bank of America stake did better, rising by almost 120% in that period.

Munger's record appears to have been saved by an early bet on Chinese EV maker BYD. The wager likely made up the lion's share of Daily Journal's $138 million in unrealized gains on September 30, and allowed it to realize a 15-fold return on a $3.3 million wager in late 2021....."