9 of Charlie Munger's best investing lessons and words of wisdom

By Nicole Lyn Pesce

People have been honoring the iconic investor by passing around their favorite Charlie Munger quotes following news of his death. Here are a few.

"If I can be optimistic when I'm nearly dead, surely the rest of you can handle a little inflation."

That was just one of Charlie Munger's many memorable one-liners (circa 2010) being passed around on social media upon the news of the investing icon's death.

The vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) (BRK.B), and Warren Buffett's right-hand man, died Tuesday at age 99. But the prolific author and investor will live on through the reams of financial advice and pearls of everyday wisdom that he's put on the page or made during Berkshire Hathaway's annual meetings for the past several decades.

So here's a look at several of his best quotes about making money -- as well as making the most out of life. Or share your favorites in the comments.

1. "Lifelong learning is paramount to long-term success."

2. "If I can be optimistic when I'm nearly dead, surely the rest of you can handle a little inflation" -- drawn from the 2010 annual Berkshire Hathaway meeting.

3. "Every time you hear EBITDA, just substitute it with bulls--."

4. "If you're not willing to react with equanimity to a market price decline of 50% two or three times a century, you're not fit to be a common shareholder and you deserve the mediocre result you're going to get."

5. Or this one clip which lays out Munger's formula for success: "It's so simple. You spend less than you earn. Invest shrewdly, and avoid toxic people and toxic activities, and try and keep learning all your life, etcetera etcetera. And do a lot of deferred gratification because you prefer life that way. And if you do all those things you are almost certain to succeed. And if you don't, you're gonna need a lot of luck."

6. Or as Buffett wrote in 2015: "From my perspective, though, Charlie's most important architectural feat was the design of today's Berkshire. The blueprint he gave me was simple: 'Forget what you know about buying fair businesses at wonderful prices; instead, buy wonderful businesses at fair prices.'"

7. "The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more."

8. "The world is not driven by greed. It's driven by envy," he said last year while speaking at the annual meeting of the Daily Journal, the newspaper company where he is a director. "I have conquered envy in my own life. I don't envy anybody. I don't give a damn what someone else has. But other people are driven crazy by it."

9. "The best armor of old age is a well spent life preceding it." Taken from the book "Tao of Charlie Munger: A Compilation of Quotes from Berkshire Hathaway's Vice Chairman on Life, Business, and the Pursuit of Wealth With Commentary" by David Clarkhis.

-Nicole Lyn Pesce

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-28-23 1748ET

Copyright (c) 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.