[HN Gopher] Charlie Munger has died
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Charlie Munger has died
        
       Author : mfiguiere
       Score  : 554 points
       Date   : 2023-11-28 21:03 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.berkshirehathaway.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.berkshirehathaway.com)
        
       | brian_herman wrote:
       | :(
        
         | morelisp wrote:
         | :/
        
           | justinzollars wrote:
           | :{
        
       | GenerWork wrote:
       | Wow, I knew he was old, but had no idea he wasn't well.
       | Aftermarket movement of BRK.A/BRK.B seems to be muted, so I guess
       | right now investors aren't too worried about the future of
       | Berkshire.
        
         | bboygravity wrote:
         | Most of the trades in that stock have been routed through dark
         | pools (they don't hit lit exchanges), so even if there are
         | (huge) trades you wouldn't necessarily see the price move.
        
           | jjtheblunt wrote:
           | Do you have a citation with statistics for this?
           | 
           | I don't know if it's right or wrong but regardless, it's
           | extremely interesting as far as assertions go.
        
             | jjtheblunt wrote:
             | Pertinent: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/05
             | 0614/introdu...
        
           | scott00 wrote:
           | Dark pool trades are reported to the FINRA TRF within at most
           | 10 seconds and appear on the consolidated market data feed.
        
           | nabla9 wrote:
           | bboygravity is right.
           | 
           | >BRK.A Off Exchange & Dark Pool Summary
           | 
           | >Today's Off Exchange & Dark Pool volume is 6,792, which is
           | 98.11% of today's total volume. Today's Lit volume is 131,
           | which is 1.89%. Over the past 30 days, the average Off
           | Exchange & Dark Pool volume has been 97.51%. The average Lit
           | volume has been 2.49%.
           | 
           | https://chartexchange.com/symbol/nyse-brk.a/exchange-volume/
        
             | qwytw wrote:
             | > bboygravity is right.
             | 
             | So you're saying I (or whoever) can can buy shares for less
             | in one of the "dark pools" and sell them on the market and
             | make free money?
        
             | zie wrote:
             | They still show up in the market price, even if they are
             | traded off exchange.
        
           | qwytw wrote:
           | > so even if there are (huge) trades you wouldn't necessarily
           | see the price move.
           | 
           | So you're saying there is an arbitrage opportunity and you
           | can literally make free money? Because that doesen't make
           | much sense..
           | 
           | You might not see all the trades immediately, but they are
           | still reflected in the price with minimal delay.
        
         | mkl wrote:
         | No 99-year-old is "well" in absolute terms. A 99-year-old US
         | man has only about a 66% chance of reaching 100:
         | https://www.finder.com/life-insurance/odds-of-dying. A 95-year-
         | old man has about a 16.5% chance of reaching 100, so he'd
         | already done pretty well.
        
       | loganfrederick wrote:
       | A legend of the business and investing world.
       | 
       | Acquired podcast got to do one of (possible the) last interviews
       | with him a month ago for anyone looking for recent content from
       | him: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/charlie-munger
       | 
       | Also Stripe Press is releasing just next week a book (technically
       | re-release of an older book) on his collected thoughts:
       | https://press.stripe.com/poor-charlies-almanack
        
         | abhayhegde wrote:
         | Remotely related, but that site of Stripe Press is great!
         | Thanks for linking.
        
         | divbzero wrote:
         | I highly recommend listening to the _Acquired_ interview. At
         | age 99 he was still remarkably sharp and up-to-date.
        
       | epiccoleman wrote:
       | I have a Munger quote on my corkboard behind my monitor, which I
       | read every so often and try to embody:
       | 
       | > Feeling like a victim is a perfectly disastrous way to go
       | through life... self-pity is not going to improve the
       | situation... If you just take the attitude that, however bad it
       | is in any way, it's always your fault and you just fix it as best
       | you can, I think that works
        
         | bmitc wrote:
         | To be honest, that's pretty easy to say when you're a
         | billionaire and can make other people your victims. See
         | Munger's dorm buildings that he pushed upon universities that
         | make prisons look like hotels.
        
           | pastor_bob wrote:
           | Nobody ever made a billion dollars being generous
        
             | Nullabillity wrote:
             | Exactly. So maybe we shouldn't be celebrating billionaires.
        
           | xboxnolifes wrote:
           | > See Munger's dorm buildings that he pushed upon
           | universities that make prisons look like hotels.
           | 
           | I've seen them, and they look preferable to the dorms I
           | actually lived in. Getting a room to myself instead of 2-4
           | people sharing a (what felt like) 100sqft space.
        
             | bmitc wrote:
             | Were your dorm rooms brand new and cost hundreds of
             | millions of dollars to build and forced upon the university
             | and city via throwing money around?
             | 
             | Also, there are plenty of reports of just how bad his
             | designs are:
             | https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/02/business/munger-
             | residence...
        
               | arcticbull wrote:
               | > Also, there are plenty of reports of just how bad his
               | designs are.
               | 
               | There's also plenty of great reviews of it. [1] 8.3/10
               | seems hardly catastrophic, especially if it gives people
               | an affordable place to live.
               | 
               | I feel like the vast majority of the criticisms come from
               | people who definitely didn't live in them.
               | 
               | [1] https://www.veryapt.com/ApartmentReview-a7222-munger-
               | graduat...
        
               | alayne wrote:
               | the bad ones are in Santa Barbara
        
               | spiderice wrote:
               | The "bad ones" in Santa Barbara never got built, no? So
               | people definitely didn't live in them.
        
               | xboxnolifes wrote:
               | > Were your dorm rooms brand new and cost hundreds of
               | millions of dollars to build and forced upon the
               | university and city via throwing money around?
               | 
               | Irrelevant to whether or not I would enjoy being in them.
        
               | bmitc wrote:
               | It's not really irrelevant. If someone spent all that
               | money and effort on a building and you had no windows or
               | exposure to outside light until you left the building,
               | you don't think that would affect your enjoyment of the
               | building? Especially knowing that perfectly serviceable
               | and better alternatives exist but that's what they went
               | with?
        
               | infecto wrote:
               | So I take it you lived here?
        
             | fossuser wrote:
             | +1 these looked great, I would have much rather lived in
             | this than the triple with zero privacy I lived in during
             | school.
        
               | bmitc wrote:
               | I lived in my own room with a shared living room in a
               | dorm room decades ago. And it had a window and opened to
               | the outside. The point is that better designs exist, but
               | _people will defend Munger just because his design could
               | be worse_.
               | 
               | I think my opinion and reaction is based upon _his_
               | reaction. He rejected all criticism outright and refused
               | to listen to anyone. It was his design, or he would take
               | his money away.
        
               | decafninja wrote:
               | Better designs exist, but they are rare, often due to
               | circumstances like costs.
               | 
               | I too would have welcomed a private windowless dorm room
               | versus having a forced roommate with no privacy. I
               | specifically chose to commute an hour+ from my parents
               | home because I couldn't stand the lack of privacy offered
               | by any of my school's dorm options.
        
               | qwytw wrote:
               | It could be worse, sure. But those rooms (at least some
               | of them) don't have any windows. Why would you build
               | something like that?
        
           | psunavy03 wrote:
           | That's like every university dorm building built before 2010.
        
           | KerryJones wrote:
           | This is a pretty narrow look at his life, I'd encourage
           | looking more deeply before pointing fingers. I am not
           | defending his dorm buildings, but this feels misplaced.
           | Especially today.
        
             | bmitc wrote:
             | It is indeed misplaced, and I apologize about that, as I
             | mentioned in another comment elsewhere. I have looked into
             | Munger at various times, but I can withhold.
        
           | bloodyplonker22 wrote:
           | It's easy to make a pithy observation that he's a billionaire
           | and then proceed to spew hate while thinking everything is a
           | zero sum game. When Charlie was in his 30s, he was broke, his
           | 9 year old son died, and he had a divorce. He was never a
           | victim that blames others for their misfortunes though.
        
             | bmitc wrote:
             | So it's his fault that all that happened to him?
             | 
             | I am sorry that someone has died, and I regret making a
             | comment on this particular post before realizing the actual
             | post topic too late, but I am not too keen on living my
             | life based upon how billionaires think. Munger, like many
             | billionaires and as the above quote and his dorm designs
             | showcase, liked to speak about things he didn't know
             | anything about, and people like to idolize billionaires in
             | hope that they will someday be one too.
             | 
             | Self-pity is a natural human emotion. Rejecting it outright
             | and replacing it with self-blame seems beyond strange. I
             | would recommend people to sign up for a therapist and have
             | a professional help them work through life rather than a
             | person only well known for hoarding capital and opining on
             | things he isn't educated in.
        
               | megaman821 wrote:
               | He is sharing what worked for him. Sorry it does not
               | conform to your world view.
        
               | bmitc wrote:
               | It's not my world view. I prefer to listen to
               | professionals.
        
               | megaman821 wrote:
               | Maybe you need a professional to tell you to stop
               | worrying about what other people find inspiring.
        
               | bmitc wrote:
               | I didn't realize this wasn't a discussion forum.
               | 
               | Although, I am indeed sorry for posting under this
               | specific topic.
        
               | boeingUH60 wrote:
               | How much do you pay them to tell you that?
        
               | wwtrv wrote:
               | > professionals
               | 
               | On what human psychology? Name any random opinion, I'll
               | find you a professional who supports it? It's not a field
               | (unless you're dealing with individuals and their
               | specific issues) where being a "professional" matters
               | much...
        
               | ghufran_syed wrote:
               | "So it's his fault that all that happened to him?" No -
               | he's saying that _acting_ like everything is his
               | responsibility and that _believing_ that only _his_
               | actions care improve things is much more likely to lead
               | to actual improvement than feeling like a victim.
        
               | nradov wrote:
               | Could you point us towards some evidence-based clinical
               | practice guidelines that would support your point? Have
               | there been any large scale studies which show that
               | following Charlie Munger's approach produces worse
               | outcomes than the alternatives?
        
               | sethammons wrote:
               | self-blame is not the same as taking responsibility. Only
               | one person can change you: you. Taking responsibility for
               | yourself is the only way I know how that works.
        
               | tqi wrote:
               | > I am not too keen on living my life based upon how
               | billionaires think
               | 
               | Yeah I mean, it's just a thought he expressed once. I
               | don't think OP is saying Munger invented or owns the
               | concept, just that it encapsulated a view that they
               | liked. That doesn't strike me as "living life based upon
               | how billionaires think."
        
           | alliao wrote:
           | maybe he's discouraging university education...
        
           | endtime wrote:
           | I lived in the Munger building at Stanford for a year and it
           | was amazing. Maybe the other buildings aren't like that? But
           | it was the best dorm I ever lived in, by far.
        
             | patmorgan23 wrote:
             | The proposed Munger Hall at UC Sana Barbra is what is being
             | referenced. The building does not currently exist. The
             | University Architect resigned in protest over it's design.
             | I don't think the Munger designed the other buildings that
             | bare his name.
             | 
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munger_Hall
        
           | adventured wrote:
           | It's very easy to say even when you're poor.
           | 
           | I grew up relatively poor. I spent numerous years of my adult
           | life poor.
           | 
           | It was easy to say regardless of how much money I had.
           | 
           | In fact, I hate the opposite premise: everything that happens
           | to me is out of my control, my choices are out of my control,
           | my mindset is out of my control. I'd rather own 100% of the
           | blame for my circumstances than wallow in victimhood forever.
           | Wallowing gets you nowhere, it won't actually get you out of
           | the situation; taking responsibility in one way or another
           | (either for your present mindset, or for choices you made
           | that got you there), is the required minimum to get out.
           | 
           | This is a choice you get to make. How much willpower do you
           | possess? How much discipline do you possess? What are you
           | willing to do about your circumstances? More money doesn't
           | dictate willpower or discipline, if anything it makes you
           | soft, gelatinous.
        
           | sethammons wrote:
           | I grew up poor. Something I realized early on is I had a lot
           | of victim-mentality people around me. The world happened to
           | them. I decided at an early age (like, under 10) that
           | everyone is 100% responsible for everything that happens to
           | them, including by chance. You get hit by a car? You were
           | standing there. In this world view, you can have more than
           | 100% responsibility because the driver that hit you is also
           | 100% responsible.
           | 
           | Armed with that, instead of accepting and complaining about
           | my situation, I worked my ass off to change it. And I did. By
           | a lot. When I had kids, I tried to teach them the same thing.
           | '"She made me sooooo mad" -- no, you are mad because you.
           | Yes, your sister should not have pushed you. Yes, it is also
           | on you to control your emotions. Let's go talk with your
           | sister about pushing you.'
           | 
           | I expect there will be people who downvote this. Keep looking
           | for others to blame and see how that works out. Take
           | responsibility. Fix a thing.
           | 
           | This also leads to another of my early discoveries (also,
           | under 10): if you can't do something about a situation, don't
           | -- and don't worry. If you can, do -- and don't worry.
           | 
           | These have served me well, even if "wrong."
        
           | anonuser123456 wrote:
           | >See Munger's dorm buildings that he pushed upon universities
           | that make prisons look like hotels.
           | 
           | Do you mean the highest rated campus housing on University of
           | Michigans campus? Yeah. He sure victimized students there.
        
         | mritchie712 wrote:
         | I try my best to do this. When I find myself blaming person X
         | for thing Y, it's pretty easy to come up with a way to blame
         | myself instead (e.g. I shouldn't have involved person X in
         | thing Y to begin with).
         | 
         | It oddly makes me feel better and move on with a solution
         | instead of stewing over person X's blunders.
        
           | JohnMakin wrote:
           | Predators take advantage of this quality to gaslight/scam
           | people, FYI.
        
             | hotsauceror wrote:
             | Yeah. "He wouldn't have hit me if I had just kept my mouth
             | shut, I know how angry it makes him when I ask about
             | money."
             | 
             | I want to say this position is despicable, but that's not a
             | very charitable reading. But I fail to see how 'making
             | everything your own fault' is in any way a healthy
             | mechanism for dealing with others. Other people DO make
             | mistakes. Other people have loads that they ARE expected to
             | carry. Other people ARE expected to comport themselves a
             | certain way. This not only absolves anyone but yourself of
             | any responsibility to do anything, but it also offers
             | yourself up as a scapegoat to anyone who needs one.
        
               | boeingUH60 wrote:
               | Personally, I don't make bad things my own fault. But I
               | consider them my _responsibility to fix._
        
               | blooalien wrote:
               | > "I don't make bad things my own fault. But I consider
               | them my responsibility to fix."
               | 
               | ^^^ This! It's only your fault if it's _actually your
               | fault_ - If the blame genuinely lies with someone else,
               | there 's nothing left to do but take actions to a) fix
               | it, and b) ensure that it never happens again. Can't rely
               | on others to fix things, because the fact is that most
               | people simply won't even try.
        
               | hotsauceror wrote:
               | "Can't rely on others to fix things, because the fact is
               | that most people simply won't even try."
               | 
               | That is a much more charitable interpretation of this
               | idea, and when I look at my own life that's pretty much
               | where I am at. The bar for everyone else is zero. There
               | never seem to be any consequences for others' laziness or
               | stupidity, and the expectation is always that I will fix
               | it. It's not fair of me to expect them to know or care
               | what they're doing, or to fix what they've done, and it's
               | unseemly to complain about it.
        
               | graeme wrote:
               | I would read it as "My choices have caused me to be here,
               | and I must rely on my choices not to keep me here"
               | 
               | That obviously has limits; anything taken literally to an
               | extreme does. For instance, Munger lost a nine year old
               | son to cancer; I doubt he thought "This is my fault, I
               | did this, if only I had acted differently".
               | 
               | The central point of the quote is to believe you have
               | agency. That if you are in a situation you do not like,
               | you can act to get out of it. There are times when this
               | isn't true, but if you act as if it is you'll be more
               | likely to get out of such situations.
               | 
               | And then you have to use human common sense to know when
               | something is literally impossible.
               | 
               | So, back to the example of someone abusive, you might
               | think "it is my fault I am dealing with this
               | person/situation" and consider what actions can get you
               | out. I would distinguish this from victim blaming: First,
               | you are doing it, not an outsider. Second, the point is
               | not to feel shame for yourself, but consider positive
               | actions.
        
               | mritchie712 wrote:
               | I'm talking strictly in a work setting.
               | 
               | I don't absolve people, I just don't let myself stew over
               | how it's their fault.
        
               | hotsauceror wrote:
               | So now you have two workloads, and they have half a
               | workload, and there are differing standards to which you
               | and they are held?
               | 
               | I admit that I come at this question from a very bitter
               | place. I have been woken up many, many, many times at 3
               | AM to deal with a problem that someone else caused, out
               | of sheer laziness or incompetence. Those people suffered
               | no consequences. Had I applied the same level of due care
               | to my own duties in fixing the problem, however, the
               | consequences would have been different, and significant.
               | It is difficult, in such circumstances, not to stew over
               | things a bit.
        
               | ls612 wrote:
               | The more charitable reading is that either you do have
               | agency over how you got to where you are and how you can
               | get out of it, in which case it is better to focus on
               | believing what you do matters, or you don't, in which
               | case it doesn't matter either way. That is why it's
               | better to have a mindset of "I can change my situaion for
               | the better" instead of "Life sucks I'm a victim".
        
               | hotsauceror wrote:
               | If one person on a team consistently does poor quality
               | work, and the others do not, I do not see the utility in
               | blaming the high performing team members for not doing
               | more to prevent the poor performer from making a mess, or
               | in convincing them that the fault is theirs and that they
               | should look inward to better understand what they did
               | wrong. Each person is carrying their own part of the
               | total load. That person has a duty of care, and is not
               | exercising it. It's not about agency or helplessness.
        
             | wyldberry wrote:
             | Certainly, but in every aspect of life, bad people try to
             | take advantage through a variety of tactics. Checking
             | inward for responsibility, accountability, and improvement
             | first is a fine tactic, especially in leadership. Over
             | time, and likely through experience, you'll learn how to
             | sniff out the bad actors.
             | 
             | This is of course, harder to achieve when you have
             | significant emotional investment in the conflict at hand.
             | Detaching and analyzing yourself, and the situation can be
             | a super power here.
        
         | jrflowers wrote:
         | > If you just take the attitude that, however bad it is in any
         | way, it's always your fault
         | 
         | I like the idea of having an inspirational quote that shares a
         | premise with a suicide note pinned to the wall, it is very
         | motivating
        
           | epiccoleman wrote:
           | Eh, I don't read it like that, but that's the cool thing
           | about words and individuals I guess. You can view it as a
           | fatalistic acceptance of too much responsibility for one's
           | own suffering or a motivating reminder of your agency. Or
           | somewhere in between. I often find it inspirational when I'm
           | stuck in a self pitying mode.
        
         | pjmorris wrote:
         | This reminds me of something a friend said that's stuck with me
         | for ~30 years: 'The bad news about taking responsibility is now
         | it's your fault. The good news about taking responsibility is
         | now you can do something about it.'
        
         | jay-barronville wrote:
         | I love it. Without even knowing about this particular quote,
         | this has been my standard for myself for some years now. The
         | "it's always your fault" concept is scary to some folks--and I
         | understand why--but it's changed my life since I adopted it
         | years ago.
         | 
         | Generally speaking, my framework is:
         | 
         | 1. I'm NOT a victim.
         | 
         | 2. I accept that everything that happens in my life is my
         | fault.
         | 
         | 3. I control the controllables; I can't fix what I can't
         | control.
         | 
         | 4. I must be a problem solver rather than a complainer.
         | 
         | 5. Whatever happens in life, I give myself a cap of 48 hours to
         | get over it--this includes being sad, grieving, being
         | unproductive, etc.
         | 
         | I have a few more points in my framework, but these are the key
         | ones.
         | 
         | Now, I want to be clear that you can, in fact, be a victim and
         | things can happen in your life that isn't your fault, which
         | makes #3 seem a bit contradictory. But if you're thinking like
         | this, you're missing the point.
         | 
         | The point is to have a framework that allows you to progress in
         | life without allowing room for excuses.
         | 
         | When my wife first started dating me, she was skeptical of my
         | framework--she said it seemed a bit too robotic. As we've gone
         | through stuff life has thrown at us and she watches me fight
         | through it all without ever curling up in a ball, she's fully
         | on board now.
         | 
         | I say all of this to say: Take control of your life. You can do
         | it and it works.
        
           | nickjj wrote:
           | Oftentimes 3 and 4 can lead to you escaping everything which
           | may make your big picture situation worse.
           | 
           | "It's becoming miserable to work at X because so-and-so is
           | very challenging to work with".
           | 
           | You can't control so-and-so and stewing in this environment
           | while complaining isn't going to help the situation so the
           | only choices are to never bring them up again and be
           | internally miserable or leave. If you leave, the outcome of
           | that might mean you can't pay your bills.
        
           | matteoraso wrote:
           | >1. I'm NOT a victim.
           | 
           | >Now, I want to be clear that you can, in fact, be a victim
           | and things can happen in your life that isn't your fault
           | 
           | Going to be honest here, I have no idea what you're talking
           | about. Are you saying that people should go through life
           | never feeling like a victim, even if they are one? I don't
           | see how that would be helpful.
           | 
           | >5. Whatever happens in life, I give myself a cap of 48 hours
           | to get over it--this includes being sad, grieving, being
           | unproductive, etc.
           | 
           | You must seriously loathe yourself or live an incredibly
           | sheltered life if you actually follow this (e.g. not just
           | bottling up your emotions and pretending that you're okay).
           | If your dad died, are you seriously just going to take a
           | weekend to try and power through the grieving process?
           | Actually, if you think spending more than 48 hours being
           | unproductive is something that you have to "get over", do you
           | even let yourself have weekends off from work? This is the
           | kind of mindset that leads to people committing suicide.
        
             | ethanbond wrote:
             | I think they're saying that you can use belief as a tool in
             | your thinking, even if you know intellectually it's not
             | true now and certainly won't be true always.
             | 
             | The belief that you are not a victim is (often) a very
             | useful belief because it prompts change in the only place
             | you're reliably able to produce it: your own decisions.
             | This is true _irrespective_ of whether you 're actually a
             | victim today or tomorrow. Obviously if your "I am not a
             | victim" mentality is prompting you not to leave a situation
             | you really should be leaving, then that's a bad
             | application. Note what happened here though: it's not the
             | _truthfulness_ of the belief that changed, it 's the
             | _usefulness_ of the belief.
             | 
             | > This is the kind of mindset that leads to people
             | committing suicide.
             | 
             | Citation please? That's an extremely bold claim to be
             | throwing out as established fact.
        
         | SoftTalker wrote:
         | Personally, thinking "it's always your fault" is as not nearly
         | as important as thinking "I am the only one who can do anything
         | (or cares) to make this better."
         | 
         | Misfortune isn't always our fault. How we respond to it is.
        
           | toss1 wrote:
           | Yup. I heard once a great way of putting it:
           | 
           | It may or may not be your fault, but it is now your problem
           | to fix.
           | 
           | Whether it's a problem you made so can fix by adjusting your
           | attitude/behavior/skills/etc., or a problem that someone else
           | made, or the universe made, and requires some other fix,
           | focusing _not_ on how things got worse, and actually focusing
           | on how to make things better, is the only way to make things
           | better.
        
           | epiccoleman wrote:
           | The "your fault" part of the quote isn't something I take
           | literally, just a pithy way of saying what you said in your
           | post - that I'm the only one who's going to take
           | responsibility for making it better. I also often remember a
           | quote from Unsong - "somebody has to, and no one else will".
           | 
           | I will say, though, that often things I don't like in my life
           | _are_ my fault, and being willing to honestly assess those
           | things is an important razor to cut through the bullshit of
           | self pity.
           | 
           | It's a quote best taken with a slight grain of salt, a lens
           | for looking at a problem which you might not always want to
           | wear. But I like it.
        
         | faeriechangling wrote:
         | I've never been fond of this line of reasoning because some
         | people actually are victims and deluding yourself rarely has
         | great outcomes. I think a truthful and accurate self-perception
         | is loads better than just insisting you are never a victim.
        
         | jancsika wrote:
         | I recently watched a coworker lose a job by embodying this very
         | logic.
         | 
         | I think the problem comes from the conflict between
         | denying/rejecting victimhood, on the one hand, and realizing
         | that one must _get the fuck out of a very, very bad situation
         | immediately, by any means_ on the other. From what I could tell
         | it quickly becomes an inescapable cycle between  "it's always
         | my fault and I'll fix it"-- which implies leaving-- and "I've
         | always been a victim and will always be one"-- which implies
         | staying.
         | 
         | There has to be a big enough window when the person admits to
         | themselves and others that they are unable to get out of the
         | conundrum on their own. And, ironically, that's the the moment
         | when they start to accept help and start living without feeling
         | like such a victim. But that window of opportunity is at odds
         | with "it's always your fault and you just fix it," which
         | strongly implies you _and only you_ fix it. That doesn 't leave
         | much/any room to realize just how much you must rely on outside
         | help to get out.
         | 
         | Edit: added to the fact that apparently a lot of people also
         | cycle between getting out of and _going back to_ a bad
         | situation. That makes me think it 's less like flipping a bit
         | and more like designing a high-pass filter to attenuate the
         | victimhood frequencies.
        
         | bena wrote:
         | Most philosophies come to this realization. Buddhism and
         | Stoicism kind of center this whole ethos: If you can't do
         | anything about it, you don't have to worry about it.
         | 
         | Same thing is going on here. Munger is saying essentially that
         | the past doesn't matter. The situation is what it is and the
         | only thing that matters is what you can do to change it.
        
         | stillwithit wrote:
         | "Self-pity doesn't work, but if you hallucinate the pitiful
         | state of things is your fault, it works."
         | 
         | Self pity and self blame are just euphemisms for the same
         | emotional context of being down on yourself.
         | 
         | Not really sure he says anything here, leverages swapping one
         | term for another.
         | 
         | It may be consistent within the context of human language but
         | human feelings? How does "self pity" feel different from
         | blaming myself for pitiful state of things as motivation to fix
         | them.
         | 
         | I'm not so sure last century's rent seeker investors who worm
         | tongued politicians into propping them up are dropping novel
         | nuggets of philosophy.
        
       | pepy wrote:
       | Farewell Charlie. Thanks for all the wisdom.We will miss your
       | witty remarks.
        
       | cainxinth wrote:
       | As billionaires go, he seemed unusually down to earth. I listen
       | to his lecture on "The Psychology of Human Misjudgement" every
       | few years:
       | 
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqzcCfUglws
        
       | alexb_ wrote:
       | Everybody should read his speech, "The Psychology of Human
       | Misjudgment": https://fs.blog/great-talks/psychology-human-
       | misjudgment/
       | 
       | It's a fantastic read that can really help you understand why
       | supposedly rational masses of people can end up being so wrong.
       | In the tech world, it ends up being more relevant than one would
       | like it to be.
        
         | mdp2021 wrote:
         | That linked is the revised version
         | 
         | A transcript of the original speech at Harvard, June 1995,
         | should be e.g. at
         | 
         | https://jamesclear.com/great-speeches/psychology-of-human-mi...
         | 
         | A recording of the original speech is at
         | 
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv7sLrON7QY
        
           | Almondsetat wrote:
           | The funny thing is that since this guy died at 99yo it means
           | that 30 years ago he was still an old 70yo man. Screws with
           | my brain sometimes
        
             | schnebbau wrote:
             | 30 years ago I was in diapers and barely aware of what was
             | going on around me. This old man was still an old man.
             | 
             | Youth really is fleeting.
        
           | alexb_ wrote:
           | It was revised and updated by Munger - it's better than the
           | original because it has more experience and information. The
           | old one is fine too, but is harder to read and a bit more
           | dated.
        
         | garlandkey wrote:
         | Wow, what a fantastic read. Thanks for sharing that! Now I'm
         | questioning the foundation of my career. :-S
        
       | auchenberg wrote:
       | RIP Charlie
        
       | Astronaut3315 wrote:
       | Genuinely sad to hear. His wit and sage advice will be missed.
       | For anyone who has the means to visit a Berkshire Hathaway annual
       | shareholder meeting, it's worth it at least once.
        
         | KerryJones wrote:
         | Started going 2 years ago, also made it to DJCO meeting. So
         | happy I did.
        
       | pastor_bob wrote:
       | Pretty Sharp til the end. The fact that people were still
       | listening to what he has to say about investing in Alibaba as
       | recently as this month is actually pretty nuts (in an impressive
       | way).
        
         | peterfirefly wrote:
         | Was he? I listened to an interview of his a year or two ago and
         | he didn't seem to be all that sharp at point. Amazingly sharp
         | for a guy who was almost a hundred, sure, but not relative to a
         | typical 80-year-old. He must have been amazing when he was
         | younger, though.
        
           | KerryJones wrote:
           | I think it depends on what you mean by sharp. Quick? No,
           | physical capabilities. His understanding of
           | companies/markets/etc still were considered quite sharp by
           | most investors I know.
        
       | madspindel wrote:
       | I'll miss his wisdom: https://youtu.be/tGmhFx_7w4I
        
         | WinstonSmith84 wrote:
         | "wisdom"... It's a really great video, to illustrate something
         | else. Humanity continues to progress and evolve, as time is the
         | ultimate boundary to those in power - time empowers new
         | generations to perceive the world from a fresh perspective.
        
       | artursapek wrote:
       | Oh was that the guy who designed the windowless dorms?
        
         | scrlk wrote:
         | Yeah: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munger_Hall
        
           | artursapek wrote:
           | I guess he's on his way to a windowless dorm now aha
        
           | paxys wrote:
           | > Munger donated $200 million to the project on the condition
           | that the university follow his design exactly.
           | 
           | Multibillionaire hubris is truly something else.
        
             | graphe wrote:
             | What do you think of Steve Jobs?
        
               | bagful wrote:
               | A man who fell to his own hubris?
        
               | graphe wrote:
               | Would you say that about Stanley Kubrick who died even
               | younger and wanted exacting specs? https://old.reddit.com
               | /r/StanleyKubrick/comments/11dqr7m/_/j...
               | 
               | If it's from rich people it's hubris. If someone less
               | famous who got what they wanted it's cool.
        
               | paxys wrote:
               | What do _you_ think of Steve Jobs?
        
               | graphe wrote:
               | I expected a non answer and I got it. Bye!
        
           | divbzero wrote:
           | ... at least the halls were wide and the ceilings high.
        
         | yonran wrote:
         | Every plan should be on the table to provide more safe,
         | affordable, community-oriented housing than is available today.
         | Artificial light and ventilation in bedrooms are routine (e.g.,
         | every skyscraper in the winter) and should not have been a
         | dealbreaker, especially if this is one choice out of many for
         | the students.
        
           | Waterluvian wrote:
           | I'd support excluding windows in dorms if we've already
           | checked the cushions for other possible cuts around campus
           | and couldn't come up with any.
        
             | artursapek wrote:
             | Imagine taking on $50k in student loans to live in a
             | windowless room
        
               | rrrrrrrrrrrryan wrote:
               | "Imagine taking out much smaller student loans, to live
               | in a space with vastly improved common areas, and having
               | your own isolated space to sleep instead of having to
               | share it with 1-2 others."
               | 
               | To be clear, I think the building is awful and fails at
               | most of its stated goals, but I think the goals
               | themselves were solid.
        
           | divbzero wrote:
           | I am not a fan of windowless but, to be fair, Munger himself
           | mentioned this as the underlying rationale: having fewer
           | windows flows logically from maximizing interior space.
        
       | lenerdenator wrote:
       | Elon Musk is a case study in why you need a Charlie Munger to
       | every Warren Buffet.
        
         | paxys wrote:
         | Something happens.
         | 
         | Internet: "how fast can I make this about Elon Musk?"
        
           | mhh__ wrote:
           | Could have been worded differently but it is good to note
           | that Munger and Buffett were different men that complimented
           | eachother.
        
           | lenerdenator wrote:
           | Munger was the guy who kept Buffet at least somewhat
           | grounded. It's relevant because it's true.
           | 
           | Or Peter Thiel. Or Larry Ellison. Or Jack Dorsey. Musk is
           | just the most relevant example.
           | 
           | We've taken the mahogany-and-tweed businessmen who realized
           | that at some level they had a responsibility to not be
           | _complete_ assholes to the society and systems that created
           | them, and replaced them with business cult figures.
           | 
           | Would Munger and Buffet make layoffs despite having billions?
           | Sure. But they actually _believed_ in the system and would
           | work to protect it in a way that protected their interests as
           | well as the interests of others. See how BH handled Goldman
           | Sachs vs. how Peter Thiel handled SVB, or how Musk handled
           | the takeover of Twitter.
        
             | graphe wrote:
             | How was buffet ungrounded? If anything he was too
             | conservative and his real estate still has predatory loans.
             | The recent gains from BH are due to new management to the
             | tech industry from other managers.
        
         | DoesntMatter22 wrote:
         | To illustrate that even good investors miss huge opportunities
        
       | KerryJones wrote:
       | Charlie Munger is one of the closest things to a "hero" I've ever
       | had. Others have named them, but Poor Charlie's Alamanack or his
       | Psychology of Human Misjudgement are both incredible.
       | 
       | I've made a point of seeing him at Berkshire Hathaway's annual
       | meeting every last few years. He had many trials in his life but
       | lived it well. His wit and wisdom will be missed.
        
       | ChrisArchitect wrote:
       | Related:
       | 
       | the recent Stripe Press release-
       | 
       |  _Poor Charlie 's Almanack: The Essential Wit and Wisdom of
       | Charles T. Munger_
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38384587
       | 
       | RIP
        
       | boeingUH60 wrote:
       | Whenever I want to give an example about American capitalism...I
       | always look to Buffett and Munger as examples. These are people
       | who invested and created long-term value for shareholders,
       | building up economies along the way.
       | 
       | The antithesis of crypto bros selling tulip bubbles and some tech
       | companies selling overpriced stocks based on hype. We need more
       | Mungers in the world as the current gen die of old age.
        
         | bakul wrote:
         | More Mungers, fewer punters?
        
       | nonethewiser wrote:
       | Oh man. Very sad news. Rest in peace Mr. Munger. Prayers for him
       | and his family.
        
       | paxys wrote:
       | Missed his century by one month (born 1/1/1924). RIP Charlie.
        
         | bloodyplonker22 wrote:
         | That is very unfortunate. I saw an interview with Charlie
         | recently and he was talking about what he had planned for his
         | 100th birthday party.
        
       | Animats wrote:
       | One of the greats of investing. And a value investor. It's all
       | about the profits, not the growth.
       | 
       | Munger is gone, Bogle is gone, Buffett is 93. Who takes up the
       | mantle of value investing now?
        
         | bloodyplonker22 wrote:
         | That is a good question. With Gen Z being trained to only be
         | interested in get rich quick schemes and having a TikTok
         | attention span, we may never see another great pure
         | fundamentals investor for a long time.
        
           | sfsylvester wrote:
           | "The youth of today love luxury; they have bad manners,
           | contempt for authority, disrespect for elders, and love
           | talking" ~ Socrates, 432 BC.
           | 
           | The only older than elders writing off the youth is the youth
           | proving them wrong. Let's hope some follow Charlie's quote
           | instead: "If you've got anything you really want to do, don't
           | wait until you're 93. Start now, and don't stop!"
        
           | jeffreyrogers wrote:
           | Gen Z has fat tails, it will produce both great investors and
           | great traders of all types.
        
         | paxys wrote:
         | You have to remember that Bogle/Munger/Buffet all gained
         | prominence when value investing wasn't a thing and investing of
         | any kind was wildly out of reach for the common man. Today
         | anyone can go online and buy VTI in minutes. Every financial
         | advisor and 401k plan recommends index funds by default, and it
         | is how the vast majority of people and organizations store
         | their wealth. It doesn't need any more cheerleaders or icons.
         | It had simply become synonymous with investing at large.
        
           | axlee wrote:
           | Value investing has very little to do with investing in
           | ETFs/indexes. By definition, investing in an ETF can't be
           | value investing, because value investing is about picking
           | (yes, picking) stocks that are undervalued. And that implies
           | going against the market. The complete opposite in buying
           | into the market through an ETF.
        
             | intotheabyss wrote:
             | Value investing is being right when everyone else is wrong,
             | and waiting until everyone realizes you were right all
             | along.
        
           | truculent wrote:
           | Value investing is "an investment paradigm that involves
           | investing in stocks that are overlooked by the market and are
           | being traded below their true worth".
           | 
           | Correct me if wrong, but I don't think index funds come under
           | that paradigm.
        
             | sokoloff wrote:
             | It depends on how the index is constructed. A market cap
             | index cannot be value investing. A market sector index is
             | almost surely not value investing (unless that entire
             | sector is undervalued).
             | 
             | An index constructed specifically using value measures as
             | the criteria for inclusion can be (at least arguably so).
             | 
             | Click on "value indexes" here:
             | https://www.crsp.org/indexes/ to see some underlying value
             | indexes, and funds like this one track the Large Cap
             | version of it: https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-
             | funds/summary/92290... (perhaps not surprising, the fund's
             | largest holding is Berkshire B shares)
        
           | chollida1 wrote:
           | > Every financial advisor and 401k plan recommends index
           | funds by default, and it is how the vast majority of people
           | and organizations store their wealth. It doesn't need any
           | more cheerleaders or icons. It had simply become synonymous
           | with investing at large.
           | 
           | This is passive investing, not value investing.
           | 
           | Value investing is very much active investing, otherwise how
           | would you select the undervalued assets?
           | 
           | Value investing is about finding undervalued companies and
           | buying them while avoiding the properly valued or over valued
           | companies. It has nothing to do with ETF's or index funds.
        
             | diarrhea wrote:
             | How is that different from just... normal investing?
        
         | chollida1 wrote:
         | I mean,
         | 
         | Seth Klarman
         | 
         | David Einhorn
         | 
         | Howard S. Marks
         | 
         | Joel Greenblatt
         | 
         | There are alot of famous and very good value investors who are
         | at the top of their game right now.
        
         | voisin wrote:
         | Prem Watsa, the Buffett of Canada. Also, I'd suggest Sardar
         | Biglari - check out his letters.
        
           | christophilus wrote:
           | Mohnish Pabrai is another good candidate.
        
         | throw0101b wrote:
         | > _Munger is gone, Bogle is gone, Buffett is 93. Who takes up
         | the mantle of value investing now?_
         | 
         | Bogle was not a value investor. He was a _low(er)-costs
         | advocate_ (and not even necessarily passive /index investing:
         | e.g., Vanguard has active funds).
        
       | hintymad wrote:
       | He did an interview with the Acquired Podcast a few weeks ago.
       | Sharp as a whip. I wish I could be like him when I get old.
        
         | swyx wrote:
         | did he ever coment on his longevity and health practices?
        
           | qd011 wrote:
           | Diet of coca-cola, sweets and dry humor.
        
       | pashariger wrote:
       | He was a titan and a gentleman. RIP.
        
       | jwmoz wrote:
       | Damn, time gets us all.
        
       | chaostheory wrote:
       | _"Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome."_
        
       | ra wrote:
       | Can we show the black banner, please?
        
         | davidivadavid wrote:
         | When is it that "hackers" and people into doing risky
         | businesses started getting so into in the most boring, most
         | conservative investor of all time?
         | 
         | That tells you enough about how this whole segment of the
         | population jumped the shark and just started worshiping the
         | same version of success as Wall Street.
         | 
         | The day HN shows a black banner for him, that site is
         | officially over.
        
       | carabiner wrote:
       | Also responsible for the windowless college dorm:
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29038356
        
         | bagful wrote:
         | May his afterlife be exactly as comfortable as his idea of a
         | dorm room
        
       | bobberkarl wrote:
       | Taught many with few words.
        
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