Why would you want to invest with a guy whose thought process says, "If a second layer of fees is good, then… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Bull markets go to people's heads. If you're a duck on a pond, and it's rising due to a downpour, you start… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Using volatility as a measure of risk is nuts. Risk to us is 1) the risk of permanent loss of capital, or… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
After nearly making a terrible mistake not buying See's, we've made this mistake many times. We are apparently slow learners. These opportunity… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Accounting is a big subject and there are huge forces in play. The entire momentum of existing thinking and existing custom is… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Proper accounting is like engineering. You need a margin of safety. Thank God we don't design bridges and airplanes the way we… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
[With] closet indexing…you're paying a manager a fortune and he has 85% of his assets invested parallel to the indexes. If you… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Black-Scholes works for short-term options, but if it's a long-term option and you think you know something [about the underlying asset], it's… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Mutual funds charge 2% per year and then brokers switch people between funds, costing another 3-4 percentage points. The poor guy in… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
This is an amazingly sound place. We are more disaster-resistant than most other places. We haven't pushed it as hard as other… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Berkshire was built on the eternal verities: basic mathematics, basic horse sense, basic fear, and basic diagnosis of human nature to make… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Black-Scholes is a know-nothing system. If you know nothing about value - only price - then Black-Scholes is a pretty good guess… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
You can hire your advisor and then just apply a windage factor, like I used to do when I was a rifle… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
The Berkshire-style investors tend to be less diversified than other people. The academics have done a terrible disservice to intelligent investors by… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
The whole concept of dividing it up into 'value' and 'growth' strikes me as twaddle. It's convenient for a bunch of pension… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Our standard prescription for the know-nothing investor with a long-term time horizon is a no-load index fund. I think that works better… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
The beauty of a financial institution is that there are a lot of ways to go to hell in a bucket. You… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
I bet Richard Fuld doesn't have an ounce of contrition. It's just megalomania. When it's like that, you need rules to prevent… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
The basic concept of value to a private owner and being motivated when you're buying and selling securities by reference to intrinsic… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Common stock investors can make money by predicting the outcomes of practice evolution. You can't derive this by fundamental analysis - you… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
I think the notion...that liquidity is this - of tradable common stock - is a great contributor to capitalism - I think… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Wrigley is a great business, but that doesn't solve the problem. Buying great businesses at advantageous prices is very tough. — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Once you get into debt, it’s hell to get out. Don’t let credit card debt carry over. You can’t get ahead paying… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
To some extent, stocks are like Rembrandts. They sell based on what they've sold in the past. Bonds are much more rational.… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
It’s waiting that helps you as an investor, and a lot of people just can’t stand to wait. If you didn’t get… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Kellogg's and Campbell's moats have also shrunk due to the increased buying power of supermarkets and companies like Wal-Mart. The muscle power… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Like the stocks of both Berkshire and Wesco to trade within hailing distance of what we think of as intrinsic value. When… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Everyone has the idea of owning good companies. The problem is that they have high prices in relations to assets and earnings,… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Derivative trading with mark-to-market accounting degenerates into mark-to-model. Two firms make a big derivative trade and the accountants on both sides show… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
The world of derivatives is full of holes that very few people are really aware of. It's like hydrogen and oxygen sitting… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
The investment game always involves considering both quality and price, and the trick is to get more quality than you pay for… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
I remember the $0.05 hamburger and a $0.40-per-hour minimum wage, so I've seen a tremendous amount of inflation in my lifetime. Did… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
The SEC does way more good than harm - the last thing I would do is get rid of the SEC...if accounting… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Berkshire's past record has been almost ridiculous. If Berkshirehad used even half the leverage of, say, Rupert Murdoch, it would be five… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
The stupid and dishonest accountants allowed the genie of totally inappropriate accounting to descend on derivatives books. And once this has happened… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
One of the smartest things a person can do is dampen investment expectations, especially with Berkshire. That would be mature and responsible.… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
I’d say that Berkshire Hathaway’s system is adapting to the nature of the investment problem as it really is. We’ve really made… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Over many decades, our usual practice is that if something we like goes down, we buy more and more. Sometimes something happens,… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Everyone caved, adopted loose [accounting] standards, and created exotic derivatives linked to theoretical models. As a result, all kinds of earnings, blessed… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
It's hard to predict what will happen with two brands in a market. Sometimes they will behave in a gentlemanly way, and… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Almost all good businesses engage in 'pain today, gain tomorrow' activities. — Charlie Munger Copy Share
If you want good behavior, don't pay on a commission basis. Our judges aren't paid so much a case. We keep them pretty well… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
Acquire worldly wisdom and adjust your behavior accordingly. If your new behavior gives you a little temporary unpopularity with your peer group then to… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
I think time and time again, in reality, psychological notions and economic notions interplay, and the man who doesn't understand both is a damned… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
I have what I call an iron prescription that helps me keep sane when I naturally drift toward preferring one ideology over another and… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
The tax code gives you an enormous advantage if you can find some things you can just sit with. — Charlie Munger Copy Share
The great lesson in microeconomics is to discriminate between when technology is going to help you and when it's going to kill you. And… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
Some years ago one oil company bought a fertilizer company, and every other major oil company practically ran out and bought a fertilizer company.… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
They [Mc Donalds] take people and give them a first job, which enables them to get a second job. They do a very good… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
We believe that almost all really good investment records will involve relatively little diversification. The basic idea that it was hard to find good… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
It is way less certain to be a wonderful business in the future. The threat is alternative mediums of information. Every newspaper is scrambling… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
In the corporate world, if you have analysts, due diligence, and no horse sense, you've just described hell. — Charlie Munger Copy Share
We have to have a special insight, or we'll put it in the 'too tough' basket. All of you have to look for a… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
I've heard that one-half of the students at elite schools want to go into private equity or hedge funds. They want to keep up… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
![“[With] closet indexing…you're paying a manager a fortune and he has 85% of his assets invested parallel to the indexes. If you have such a system, you're being played for a sucker.” quote by Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/9d9/charlie-munger-458_assets_with-closet-indexing-you-re-paying-a-man_3084217.jpg)
![“Black-Scholes works for short-term options, but if it's a long-term option and you think you know something [about the underlying asset], it's insane to use Black-Scholes.” quote by Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/491/charlie-munger-458_assets_black-scholes-works-for-short-term-optio_947554.jpg)
![“The beauty of a financial institution is that there are a lot of ways to go to hell in a bucket. You can push credit too far, do a dumb acquisition, leverage yourself excessively - it's not just derivatives [that can bring about your downfall].” quote by Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/628/charlie-munger-458_acquisition_the-beauty-of-a-financial-institution-is_1034580.jpg)
![“Everyone caved, adopted loose [accounting] standards, and created exotic derivatives linked to theoretical models. As a result, all kinds of earnings, blessed by accountants, are not really being earned. When you reach for the money, it melts away. It was never there. It [accounting for…” quote by Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/3d3/charlie-munger-458_accountants_everyone-caved-adopted-loose-accounting_1383135.jpg)
