Investment Advice from an Old Bastard

I know a lot on here are interested in investment, inflation and interest rates, I was reading this today and the observations that Charlie Munger makes is something that many ....lets say older people feel with todays generation's and the ultimate advice they are given.

Take from it what you will but it is a good read regardless.

At 98-years-old, Charlie Munger still delivers the one-liners

Charlie Munger has been investing with Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway since 1978. While Warren hosts the company’s Annual Shareholder Meetings, answering questions for hours, it is Charlie who delivers the acerbic wit. Given his wealth and age, nobody and nothing is off limits, sometimes to Warren’s chagrin. It makes for fine entertainment when he is prepared to speak the truth that others avoid.

Charlie was born on 1 January 1924, and to mark his 98th birthday, some of his one-liners are collected on this video. As the introduction says:

“Charlie Munger isn't just one of the greatest investors who has ever lived, he is also one of the few brilliant minds who basically has no filter. When he sees something which he thinks is wrongdoing or stupid, he just can't help but being opinionated and speak up about it.”

Let ‘er rip, Charlie

“Those of you who are about to enter business school or are there, I recommend you learn to do it our way but at least until you're out of school, you have to pretend to do it their way.”

“Warren, if people weren't so often wrong, we wouldn't be so rich.”

“I think you would understand any presentation using the word EBITDA, if every time you saw that word, you just substituted the phrase ‘bullshit earnings’.”

“I'm optimistic about life. I can be optimistic when I’m nearly dead. Surely the rest of you can handle a little inflation.”

“The best way to get what you want in life is to deserve what you want. How could it be otherwise? It's not crazy enough so that the world is looking for a lot of undeserving people to reward.”

“Everybody wants fiscal virtue but not quite yet. They're like that guy who felt that way about sex. He’s willing to give it up but not quite yet.”

“Well, you don't want to be like the motion picture executive in California. They said the funeral was so large because everybody wanted to make sure he was dead.”

“It was investment banker-aided fraud. Not exactly novel.”

“Sure, there are a lot of things in life way more important than wealth. All that said, some people do get confused. I play golf with a man he says, ‘What good is health, you can't buy money with it.’"

“Well, there are a lot of things I don't think about and one of them is companies that are losing $2-3 billion a year and going public.”

“In accounting, you can do things like they do in Italy when they have trouble with the mail. It piles up and irritates the postal employees. They just throw away a few cartloads and everything flows smoothly.”

“The general system for money management requires people to pretend that they can do something that they can't do, and to pretend to like it when they really don't. I think that's a terrible way to spend your life, but it's very well paid.”

“I can't give you a formulaic approach because I don't use one. If you want a formula, you should go back to graduate school. They'll give you lots of formulas that won't work.”

“As Samuel Johnson said famously, ‘I can give you an argument, but I can't give you an understanding.’"

“It's perfectly obvious, at least to me, that to say that derivative accounting in America is a sewer is an insult to sewage.”

“Competency is a relative concept. And what a lot of us need, including the one speaking when I needed to get ahead, was to compete against idiots. And luckily, there's a large supply."

“I don't like multi-tasking. I see these people doing three things at once and I think, what a terrible way that is to think.”

“I like cryptocurrency currencies a lot less than you do. And I think that professional traders who go into trading cryptocurrencies, it's just disgusting. It's like somebody else is trading turds and you decide ‘I can't be left out.'"

“Once I asked a man who just left a large investment bank and I said, ‘How's your firm make its money?’ He said, 'Off the top, off the bottom, off both sides and in the middle.'"

“Well, I would rather throw a viper down my shirt front than hire a compensation consultant.”

“I think I'm offended enough.”

 

You need to be a member of 1Eyed Eel to add comments!

Join 1Eyed Eel

Votes: 0
Email me when people reply –

Replies

                  • You guys seen the old Fryers Club Roasts?

                  • She features in the roast that Krupty put up....legend comedian that everyone wanted to take the piss out of.

            • We know what drum you hold the beat to when you go to bed at night Seth.LOL

              I always remember Ava Gardner being interviewed after the film made in Mellbourne, "On the Beach" in 1959.....I was quiet young then so I must have read in a later book.....but her quote always stuck in my mind when she said if the end of the world was going to happen it would be most appropriately Melbourne, implying it was the arsehole of the world!

          • Thanks Pops I will put them on my watch list.I like historical war  films. This one is interesting Munich The Edge of War. The politics of war  and deception

             

        • Thought you would enjoy it Tad,

          I also stuffed the rest of the post trying to correct the date from 1983 to 1883 an old style western prequell to Kevin Costner's Yellowstone. Stars Sam Elliott.

          Also recommend Lucille Ball in Being the Ricardos (Kidman) is brilliant in it.

          Finally another show I really enjoyed was "Finch" a Tom hanks film about a guy dying and building a robot to look after his dog.....I cried unashamably at the end............. I read a review that said it lacked originality LOL

  • Charlie and Warren are legends, No doubt. From 1964 to 2020, Berkshire's stock delivered a compound annual growth rate of 20%. In comparison, the S&P 500 Index generated an annualized gain of 10.2% -- including dividends.

     Things are changing rapidly. If someone bragged they made 20% pa to the average Defi Degen they would be pretty unimpressed. That represents an OK week for the competent.

This reply was deleted.

Latest comments

Muttman replied to EelsAgeMe's discussion Ryles/Moses comments on Pezet
"That's the conundrum isn't it. We'll improve him to something near a legitimate FG 7 and he goes to the Broncos and we start again with a rookie. "
1 minute ago
Michael W. replied to Pato's discussion Xerri
"Seems strange, Tago to Dogs, where will he play if they are moving Burton to centre to accommodate Woods. And Xerri to Panthers to replace Tago, who is playing reserves. If they get Xerri and play him at right centre, we should make a play for…"
3 minutes ago
LB replied to Pato's discussion Xerri
"Blore is very likely to be the by product of Melbourne."
8 minutes ago
LB replied to Pato's discussion Xerri
"We wanted another back now, despite Kelly or not."
13 minutes ago
JC replied to EelsAgeMe's discussion Ryles/Moses comments on Pezet
"Pretty spot on, I'm not going to take anything away from the young man, he played well and created his own luck buy making the right plays even though his execution wasn't perfect. 
He seems a natural leader which is what you want from a 7, i can't…"
38 minutes ago
Muttman replied to EelsAgeMe's discussion Ryles/Moses comments on Pezet
"Pezet is miles away. His defense is very suspect. His 'try assists' were clumsy efforts from the Broncos or paper thin defense. I'm not writing the kid off. He's one of us but he most definitely is a work in progress. "
53 minutes ago
Hector Bob Down replied to Pato's discussion Xerri
"And whose place is he going to take Mclean or Alamoti . Idont think so and im sure he wont be going there to play cup"
1 hour ago
Offside replied to Pato's discussion Xerri
"If the timing was different ie before signing Kelly "
1 hour ago
Blue Eel replied to Pato's discussion Xerri
"haha just like Gould said they were pulling out of the race for Galvin, we are going in a different direction with our football, program. Watch his nose grow and grow and grow! ha"
1 hour ago
Prof. Daz replied to EelsAgeMe's discussion Ryles/Moses comments on Pezet
"The journos line of questioning was designed to get Ryles to gush about a future Bronco. Ryles saw it coming and diverted to "work in progress". "
1 hour ago
JC commented on JC’s status
"I accidentally followed the blogs, I think that was the issue"
1 hour ago
Mallee57 replied to Pato's discussion Xerri
"He will play for either the Storm, Roosters, Broncos or Penrith"
2 hours ago
Mallee57 replied to EelsAgeMe's discussion Ryles/Moses comments on Pezet
"Sounded ok to me. Just basically saying what we already know that he's a work in progress. Only 20 NRL games. Still not sure why they didn't stick with Papali seeing he's here more permanently than Pezet.."
2 hours ago
Zip zip replied to Pato's discussion Xerri
"Hearing that as well. I wouldn't be happy if I was Thomas Jenkins... either way MON and Ryles need to have their pulse on this. We are in desperate need of better centres. "
2 hours ago
LB replied to Pato's discussion Xerri
"Xerri-Tago swap deal between Penrith and Dogs."
2 hours ago
Adam Magrath replied to Pato's discussion Xerri
"They just said on fox footy Xerri/Tago swap"
2 hours ago
More…

Keaon done deal

As of Thursday, December 11, 2025, South Sydney Rabbitohs forwardKeaon Koloamatangi has reportedly agreed to a deal with the Parramatta Eels, but it is not yet officially announced by the clubs.  Soon to be announced.

Read more…
14 Replies · Reply by Poppa Jan 9
Views: 2194

 

Ryles/Moses comments on Pezet

Did anyone else notice in the post-game press conference that whenever the journos brought up Pezet, both Ryles and Moses seemed pretty reluctant to lean into the praise?Their body language was interesting. The vibe was basically, “he’s still a work…

Read more…
8 Replies · Reply by Muttman 1 minute ago
Views: 302

Xerri

Daily Telegraph reporting Xerri has asked for an immediate releasehttps://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/bulldogs-stunned-by-bronson-xerris-request-for-immediate-release/news-story/f5eea3cb8483e25f00580eae1fd61d8a

Read more…
35 Replies · Reply by Michael W. 3 minutes ago
Views: 920

<script src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>
<!-- Sidebar -->
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<script>// <![CDATA[
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
// ]]></script>