Charlie Munger: Don't Follow My Path to Get Rich | Daily Journal 2017 【C:C.M Ep.259】

 

[Transcript]

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hello, Charlie. I used to work as a petroleum engineer and my perception is that as an industry itself it just continuously has gotten more and more complex and more technical, and that as the economy in general expands and you have more division of labor and specialization, it seems to me that it will be very hard, like it could be a challenge for investors unless there is some more specialization or something.

 

I guess my question is –

 

CHARLIE MUNGER: Of course.

 

AUDIENCE MEMBER: As it gets more – do you think that capital allocators are going to need to become more specialized going forward?

 

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, you petroleum people of course have to get more specialized because the oil is harder to get, and you have to learn new tricks to get it, and so you’re absolutely right.

 

Generally, specialization is the way to go for most people. It’s just I have an example of something different. It’s awkward for me because…but I don’t want to encourage people to do it the way I did because I don’t think it will work for most people.

 

I think the basic ideas of being rational and disciplined and deferring gratification, those will work good. If you want to get rich the way I did by learning a little bit about a hell of a lot, I don’t recommend it to others.

 

Now, I’ve get a story there that I tell. A young man comes to see Mozart and says, I want to compose symphonies. And Mozart says, you’re too young to compose symphonies. And he says, he’s 20 years old. He says, but you were composing symphonies when you were 10 years old and Mozart says, yeah, and he says, but I wasn’t running around asking other people how to do it. (Laughter)

 

(Inaudible) I don’t think I’m a good example to the young. I don’t want to encourage people to follow my particular path. I like all the general precepts, but I would not…if you’re a proctologist, I do not want a proctologist that knows Schopenhauer, or astrophysics, I want a man who’s specialized. (Laughter)

 

That’s the way the market is and you should never forget that. On the other hand, I don’t think you’d have much of a life if all you did was proctology. (Laughter)

 

(Source: https://youtu.be/BLctqhNClqY)

 

[YAPSS Takeaway]

Find your own path.