{"id":51362,"date":"2023-11-29T18:24:56","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T18:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/finance\/wealth\/charlie-munger-died-at-99-here-are-his-5-most-important-pieces-of-advice\/"},"modified":"2023-11-29T18:24:57","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T18:24:57","slug":"charlie-munger-died-at-99-here-are-his-5-most-important-pieces-of-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=51362","title":{"rendered":"Charlie Munger Died At 99 – Here Are His 5 Most Important Pieces Of Advice"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Charlie Munger, the Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway\ufeff and Warren Buffett’s business partner, died yesterday, less than a month short of his 100th birthday. He was known for his dry wit and the depth of his wisdom. He was instrumental in Berkshire Hathaway’s success, which has been substantial as the company\u2019s stock return of 19.8% annually from 1965 -2022 trounced the S&P 500\u2019s 9.9% return.<\/p>\n

Over the years, volumes of Munger’s thoughts have been collected (see here and here), and those in the investment world revere his advice. Like others, Charlie’s sage insights have shaped my worldview. Below are the five Mungerisms that have impacted my thinking the most.<\/p>\n

To Make Good Decisions, You Need a Latticework of Mental Models<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Charlie Munger pioneered the concept of mental models, which are conceptual structures that help us understand how the world works. They are bits of knowledge or wisdom we file away in our heads to help us make decisions. Here\u2019s how he described mental models in a 1994 speech at USC\u2019s business school:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is elementary, worldly wisdom? Well, the first rule is that you can\u2019t really know anything if you just remember isolated facts and try to bang \u2019em back. If the facts don\u2019t hang together on a latticework of theory, you don\u2019t have them in a usable form. You\u2019ve got to have models in your head . . . You\u2019ve got to have multiple models\u2014because if you just have one or two that you\u2019re using, the nature of human psychology is such that you\u2019ll torture reality so that it fits your models, or at least you\u2019ll think it does . . . 80 or 90 important models will carry about 90 percent of the freight in making you a world-wise person.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Creating a latticework of mental models requires study across various branches of knowledge. Munger considered himself a generalist and studied various disciplines beyond investing, including architecture, philosophy, physics, philanthropy, investing, and engineering. In Munger\u2019s view, to make good decisions, you need to be able to draw on mental models developed from different disciplines. He knew how a lawyer approached an issue would differ from how an engineer or artist would approach it, so it made sense to develop mental models that span different specialties.<\/p>\n

Developing a latticework of mental models is especially applicable to investing. This concept of mental models affected me so much that I recently published a book, The Uncertainty Solution: How to Invest With Confidence in the Face of the Unknown<\/em>, which contains 35 mental models essential for successful investing. I\u2019ve learned through over 25 years in the wealth management industry that when faced with uncertainty, great investors use mental models they\u2019ve developed to help them maintain composure and avoid making decisions rooted in emotion.<\/p>\n

Invert, Always Invert<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cInvert, always invert.\u201d \u2013 Carl Jacobi, 19<\/em>th<\/em><\/sup> Century Mathematician<\/em><\/p>\n

A compelling mental model Munger espoused is inversion, based on mathematician Carl Jacobi\u2019s belief that a powerful way to solve math problems is to restate them in inverse form. Munger\u2019s insight is that inversion is robust beyond mathematics; thinking is clarified by considering issues both forward and backward.<\/p>\n

Most of us think of our goals in a forward direction, as in, \u201cWhat do I need to do to accomplish my goal?\u201d But it can be powerful to look at it backward by thinking about what we should do to ensure we won\u2019t<\/em> meet our objective. For example, if you want to lose weight, instead of just thinking about what you need to do to lose weight, it\u2019s also instructive to ask yourself, \u201cWhat would I do if I didn\u2019t want to lose weight?\u201d Those things might include not exercising, overeating, avoiding fruits and vegetables, and consuming many highly processed foods loaded with sugar. That inverted list can help you decide how to behave to achieve your goals.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve previously written about how to use the concept of inversion to be a better investor in my article titled \u201cFive Ways to Be a Terrible Investor<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Know the Other Side\u2019s Arguments<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Munger cautioned against having an opinion unless you are fully educated on all sides of the issue, which is a specific application of the concept of inversion.<\/p>\n

In 2007, he gave the commencement speech at the USC School of Law, and in his talk, he warned of \u201cextremely intense ideology because it cabbages up one\u2019s mind.\u201d Whenever he \u201cdrifts toward preferring one ideology over another\u201d he forces himself to consider the other side by telling himself, \u201cI\u2019m not entitled to have an opinion on this subject unless I can state the arguments against my position better than the people do who are supporting it. I think only when I reach that stage am I qualified to speak.\u201d<\/p>\n

The underlying concept is that it takes work to have an informed opinion, and ideological thinking is lazy thinking. Instead of looking for facts that support your ideological leanings, having a valid opinion involves the often-painful task of researching facts that support the other side.<\/p>\n

Beware of Making Decisions Based on Predictions of the Future<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Given Berkshire Hathaway\u2019s great success, you\u2019d think that Munger and Buffett have an uncanny ability to predict the future. The opposite is true: a pillar of their success is their ability to admit they cannot predict the future.<\/p>\n

Munger has noted that he\u2019s \u201cnever been able to predict accurately. I don\u2019t make money predicting accurately. We just tend to get into good businesses and stay there.\u201d Moreover, Munger didn\u2019t place much stock in experts’ predictions either: \u201cPeople have always had this craving to have someone tell them the future. Long ago, kings would hire people to read sheep guts. There\u2019s always been a market for people who pretend to know the future. Listening to today\u2019s forecasters is just as crazy as when the king hired the guy to look at the sheep guts. It happens over and over and over.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think about Munger\u2019s perspective whenever I\u2019m tempted to click on some investment guru\u2019s prediction about what the stock market will return or the path of interest rates. If Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett, two of the greatest investors of all time, don\u2019t think they can predict the future or listen to expert predictions, why should I behave any differently?<\/p>\n

To Be Wise, You Must Be a Reader<\/strong><\/h2>\n

How did Charlie Munger become the sage that he was? Being a voracious reader played a significant role. Munger views reading as necessary for developing wisdom: \u201cIn my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn\u2019t read all the time\u2014none, zero. You\u2019d be amazed at how much Warren reads\u2014and how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I\u2019m a book with a couple of legs sticking out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Munger thought reading beyond just one discipline was necessary to become a world-wise person. He noted, \u201cYou must know the big ideas in the big disciplines and use them routinely \u2014 all of them, not just a few. Most people are trained in one model \u2014 economics, for example \u2014 and try to solve all problems in one way. You know the old saying: to the man with a hammer, the world looks like a nail. This is a dumb way of handling problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Munger\u2019s view, to be a great investor, you\u2019d be better off reading 100 biographies than 100 books about how to invest. The key is to immerse yourself in ideas across disciplines to create your latticework of mental models. He admonished people to \u201cDevelop into a lifelong self-learner through voracious reading; cultivate curiosity and strive to become a little wiser every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll miss you Charlie!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charlie Munger, the Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway\ufeff and Warren Buffett’s business partner, died yesterday, less than a month short of his 100th birthday. He was known for his dry wit and the depth of his wisdom. He was instrumental in Berkshire Hathaway’s success, which has been substantial as the company\u2019s stock return of 19.8% […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-51362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wealth"},"yoast_head":"\nCharlie Munger Died At 99 - Here Are His 5 Most Important Pieces Of Advice | Prosfunds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Charlie Munger, the Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway\ufeff and Warren Buffett's business partner, died yesterday, less than a month short of his 100th\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=51362\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Charlie Munger Died At 99 - 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