How can one care about someone he never met? I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately as we all learned about the passing of Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s long-time friend, business partner, and huge influence and mentor to many people, including me.
I “discovered” Charlie almost a quarter of a century ago; that’s a quarter of his life, almost half of mine, and most of my adult life.
I was still a college student with big dreams and an appetite for knowledge when I heard about Warren Buffett in a life-changing book, One Up on Wall Street, by Peter Lynch. Through Buffett, I quickly found my way to Charlie. Thanks to his biography, Janet Lowe’s Damn Right, and Peter Kaufman’s Charlie’s Almanack, Berkshire meetings, interviews, and talks, I felt I got to know him well.
Asking a question to both Charlie and Warren at this year’s Berkshire Annual Meeting in Omaha was as close as I have ever gotten to meeting him. I never shook his hand, but I spent countless hours in his presence, either reading or listening to what he had to share.
In a recent interview on Acquired Podcast that I listened to only a week or two ago, he said with his usual disarming humility:
“I don't want to be more of a guru to young people than I already am.” (Link here, if you missed it).
Judging from all the calls, emails, messages, posts, and Tweets spanning around the globe that came my way these last few days, he has had a massive impact on not just me but many people I know and I’m close with in the field of investing, and beyond.
Charlie taught me patience, integrity, and curiosity. He liked to say:
“Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up.”
He was so much more than an investor and business person. In a distracted, confusing world, he was blunt, honest, and always to the point. He knew how to find inspiration in any field while keeping his thinking focused and clear.
Only this week, I shared an episode I recorded with Mary Buffett and Chloe Lin, where we talked about Charlie. Only this week, I took a call from a reader of my essays to whom I recommend one of the books about Charlie (Damn Right - the biography).
The world needs more Charlies, I thought to myself this week. I find it very encouraging that many fellow investors and thinkers aspire to emulate the life he has lived. I got to know many of them over the years. I think that’s the least we can do to commemorate and celebrate his century-long life.
Thinking of Charlie, I can’t help but reminisce about my two late grandfathers — his contemporaries. They were two very different but incorrigible optimists who lived through hard times in the part of the world where I grew up - Poland. They taught me work ethic, kindness, and a sense of adventure.
I heard them say that even if you lost all, education is one thing no one can take away from you, and they knew that education doesn’t start and end with the degrees you get.
Writing down some thoughts for this article, I remembered how I opened and closed my first book - Outsmarting the Crowd, with two quotes by no one other than Charlie himself. First, I shared his words:
“The best thing a human being can do is help another human being know more.” — this has been a driving force behind all my writing, public speaking, and, most recently, podcasting; all three changed my life.
I concluded the book with the following:
Let me end with Charlie Munger’s words: “After all, how much good would we do in the world if all we did was buy some securities, kept them in a safe deposit, and they went up in value? It wouldn’t be enough for a life.”
As much as investing and stocks are my first true professional and intellectual passion, I’m reminded daily that there is so much more to life. I like to think that we can give money meaning and see it in a broader, more nuanced context. That’s true, but I’d like to remember how all of the most valuable treasures in life prove to be priceless.
Charlie knew that well, as he saw clearly the distinction between price and value both in life and in investing.
In our conversation this summer, William Green reminded me of the words of Albert Einstein:
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
We reflect today on how Charlie has lived his life, and it’s up to us how we will live ours. In moments of doubt, I know I’ll ask myself — what would Charlie do?