Highlights from Poor Charlie's Almanack
Chapter 1 - A Portrait of Charles T. Munger
Charlie learned that by supporting each other, the Mungers weathered the worst economic collapse in the nation’s history.
He has often stated that anyone who wants to be successful should study Physics because its concepts and formulas so beautifully demonstrate the powers of sound theory.
With Nancy’s support, he turned to outside ventures and alternative ways to generate income. However, he never forgot the sound principles taught by his grandfather: to concentrate on the task immediately in front of him and to control spending
He sharpened his business acumen by handling the negotiations and contracts. In all cases, he left all of his profits in real estate ventures so that bigger and bigger projects became possible.
At about the time he was planning to launch his new law firm, he was carefully crafting his exit plan.
As the evening progressed, the two young men - Warren was 29 and Charlie 35 - became engrossed in a wide-ranging dialogue covering many aspects of business, finance and history. Where one was knowledgeable, the other was just as excited to learn.
Warren was unenthusiastic about Charlie’s continued practice of law. he said that while law might be a good hobby for Charlie, it was a far less promising business than what Warren was doing. Warren’t logic helped Charlie to decide to quit law practice at the earlies point he could afford to do so.
There were many benefits to their partnership: friendship, investment opportunities, and the unique ability to grasp each other’s ideas and observations. Later, the two organizations they headed were also beneficiaries.
Munger, Tolles is not just about money, though. Mirroring the way Charlie conducts his personal life, the firm has an enviable record of providing pro bono assistane to support groups for impoverished and disadvantaged people in the Los Angeles community. To this day, Charlie continues to influence the firm’s attorneys, reminding them: "You don't need to take the last dollar" and "Choose clients as you would friends."
At the 75th anniversary of See’s Candies, Charlie said:
“I am a biography nut myself. And I think when you’re trying to teach the great concepts that work, it helps to tie them into the lives and personalities of the people who developed them. I think you learn economics better if you make Adam Smith your friend. That sounds funny, making friends among the ‘eminent dead’, but if you go through life making friends with the eminent dead who had the right ideas, I think it will work better for you in life and work better in education. It’s way better than just giving the basic concepts.”
Chapter 2 - Remembering: The Children on Charlie
From Charles T. Munger Jr.
After Stanford, I learned that on that vacation we had been staying at Rick Guerin’s house and driving Rick Guerin’s Jeep. Rick is one of my dad’s friends who, on his return to Sun Valley, certainly wouldn’t have been troubled, and was unlikely even to notice, if his Jeep had had less gas than when he left it. My dad still didn’t skip a point of fairness and consideration. So I was taught that day not only how to get a good friend but also how to keep one.
From Wendy Munger
His favorite educational tools were the Morality Tale, in which someone faced an ethical problem and chose the correct path, and the Downward Spiral Tale, in which someone made the wrong choice and suffered an inevitable series of catastrophic personal and professional losses.
His Morality Tales were more straightforward. I remember the story my dad told his kids, then ranging from age 5 to 25, about a financial officer at one of his companies who made a mistake that resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars to the company. As soon as this officer realized his mistake, he went to the president of the company and told him about it. My dad told us that the president then said,
“This was a terrible mistake, and we don’t want you ever to make another one like it. But people make mistakes, and we can forgive that. You did the right thing, which was to admit your mistake. If you had tried to hide the mistake, or cover it up for even a short time, you would be out of this company. As it is, we’d like you to stay.”
From William H. (Hal) Borthwick
Do the job right the first time
Be responsible
From David Borthwick
By working on the tennis version of golf’s short game, which few others could be bothered to practice, Father, as he’s done throughout his life, gave himself a fair if maddening competitive advantage.
Father’s ability to Chinese wall off the most intrusive distractions from whatever mental task he was engaged in—a practice alternately amusing and irritating if you were trying to get his attention—accounts as much as anything else for his success.
From Molly Munger
Daddy raised us to be skeptical, even contrarian, and that was a particularly helpful way of thinking to carry into the maelstrom of the late ʼ60s. Over many years, sitting in the library at our house on June Street, he had told us often funny stories of people who either followed the group too blindly or lashed out too reflexively.
But he saw these were unhinged times. He sent me the allowance of a much richer father, keeping me in professionally ironed shirts and making me feel sharp as a bandbox. From 3,000 miles away, he continued to help me keep my balance.
From Emilie Ogden
No matter where he is, his hands are always holding open a volume, typically a Ben Franklin biography or the latest treatise on genetics.
From Barry Munger
Abe Trillin regarded thrift as a moral virtue, paid his bills the day they arrived, and got up at 4 in the morning, six days a week, to pick the produce for his stores. A man of few words, he was nevertheless convivial, trenchantly funny, and spoke naturally to small children. He was skilled at cards. He was sardonic but had an underlying optimism that one could get along in the world with the proper outlook and character.
From Philip Munger
He admired both stores because they were durable institutions and because their merchandise was too, and fairly priced. Durability has always been a first-rate virtue in my father’s view, along with ritual and tradition. He never had a desire to change his primary habits, sartorial or otherwise, once he had, like Franklin, acquired them.