What Charlie Munger learned from his grandfather? | Redlands Forum 2020【C:C.M Ep.183】

 

[Transcript]

AUDIENCE MEMBER: I wonder if I could ask you to go back to maybe your 20s or something, of what got you really excited when you began seeing what you might do, and what your future could be or what you seem to be especially enthusiastic about that led you down this path?

What turns you on first? Young, you know, you could –

 

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, I came from a conventional family, happy marriage, good siblings, etc. My parents friends were wonderful people. So I had just fabulous people. In fact, I used to say, I have a great trouble in Los Angeles finding people as fine as the people I used to know in Omaha.

And I had a very unusual desirable situation as a young boy. And so did Warren. And well, he was more unhappy when he was younger than I was. And – it just happened. And I think a lot of it was, what was born in and a lot of it was the proper training and proper background.

My grandfather Munger was – had been born in extreme poverty, his two parents were school teachers, a little town in Nebraska. And two school teachers income enabled him to buy the meat for dinner every night at the butcher shop in the little town he lived in Nebraska.

He went to the butcher shop with a nickel and he bought the parts of the animal nobody else would eat. Now, if you start life that poor and make your own way which my grandfather did, you're quite a fellow. And he was self-educated and not self educating [inaudible], I mean, he spoke Greek and Latin self-educated.

And so I had a very interesting people as my examples and my grandfather Munger believe down to the soles of his feet in being rational. And he worked at it and I watched it and of course, it worked well for him. It made him district attorney and President of the Bar Association, and finally, a very young federal judge and he served as the only federal judge in his capital city for almost 40 years.

I mean, he had a splendid life and he'll always lived way below his income and was able to help other people when they needed help. He was a very good example and he was kind of firm about it.

He never took a drop of liquor in his whole life, somebody asked him once, why don't you drink? He says, why would I take money out of my pocket and put something in my mouth that would make my head work less well. (Laughter)

Well, you can see why I like my grandfather and he was politically incorrect when my parents got married. He came, he looked around the congregation and he came time for him to make a toast.

He said, well, he says, I'm always particularly optimistic at a wedding when I see the same kind of people on both sides of the aisle. Well, that's not politically correct, but it's a very understandable sentiment. (Laughs)

And so anyway, I had these good people around me and a very interesting time of peace and so forth.

(Source: https://youtu.be/Rh1WCzfCP24)

 

[YAPSS Takeaway]

1. Find a role model and copy the traits that you like.

2. Be a learning machine, education doesn't only happen in the classroom.

3. Never overspend your income.

4. Be rational.