Person

Charlie Munger

Charlie Munger

American investor, attorney, and philanthropist (1924–2023). Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett’s partner of over fifty years. Former chairman of Daily Journal Corporation. Known for the concept of mental models — applying ideas from multiple disciplines (psychology, economics, mathematics, physics) to business and investment decisions. Author, via transcriptions of his speeches, of Poor Charlie’s Almanack.

Key intellectual contributions: the importance of inverting problems (“tell me where I’m going to die, so I won’t go there”); the lollapalooza effect (multiple cognitive biases compounding); the win-win-win filter for evaluating any transaction or business; the critique of narrow academic economics in favour of elementary worldly wisdom; the principle that it is better to pay a fair price for a great business than a great price for a fair business (the key departure from Benjamin Graham that Munger transmitted to Buffett).

Wound up his investment partnership in 1974 and distributed holdings in kind; distributed in Berkshire stock, they became large home runs. Decided at that point he did not want to manage outside money. His own investment activity thereafter ran through his personal account (managed in part by Leelu Govindarajulu) and the Daily Journal portfolio.

At the end of his life, Munger set up in his home with a chair flanked by tables of unread books — estimated by Mohnish Pabrai at over 500 books per year across history, science, business, and current affairs. He played bridge every Friday at the LA Country Club with Rick Guerin and others; Pabrai served as a substitute partner.

In the wiki