I just recently found out that Charlie Munger was interviewed by Ruth Porat, CFO Alphabet Inc. I found a set of notes from this blog: http://d0j.blogspot.com/2016/09/notes-from-charlie-munger-talk.html. The notes are from 2016. Despite the weird formatting, it looks legit and it’s Charlie in the picture. However I can’t find any video evidence of this. Usually Google Talks are recorded, available on Youtube with 40 views. There’s nothing on Google either (I even tried Bing in case Google was suppressing results). It appears to be a private talk. If anybody know more about this feel free to share.
Q1 hedge fund letters, conference, scoops etc
Other business: I got back from the Fairfax AGM and have a ideas for a couple new posts in the coming weeks.
I made a copy of the notes below just in case they get lost on the Internet. It seems to be the only copy I could find.
Charlie Munger notes from Alphabet interview. Sorry for the formatting. It’s straight copy and paste from the website.
Reposted from d0j.blogspot.com
By thus spake hareesh nagarajan
Notes from the Charlie Munger Talk
Charlie Munger was interviewed by Ruth Porat, CFO Alphabet Inc earlier in the Mountain View campus today. Here are some (unedited) notes I jotted down:
Munger: “What you have to learn is to fold early when the odds are against you, or if you have a big edge, back it heavily because you don’t get a big edge often. Opportunity comes, but it doesn’t come often, so seize it when it does come.”
take a simple idea and take it seriously
to get a good spouse, you need to deserve a good spouse
the google culture is unique
what do you like about google culture?
you got more brain power
Larry created a different culture
Ruth “incrementalism leads to irrelevance”
charlie: not all companies keep growing. you cannot compound infinitely
Berkshire Hathaway is decentralized
we are similar to google in how to accumulate money. we don’t know what to do with it.
investing money is difficult
professional investment used to be simple and stupid in old days
when u compete with idiots you can do well
Ruth “competition is one click away”
audience “which sectors are attractive to you”
folks that have momentum
if i had to buy one tech stock id buy google
the Chinese are hungry. the engineers are coming out of poverty
Berkshire is like a swimmer that keeps swimming with or without the tide. we don’t anticipate swings in the tide.
VC in 2000 took 100B
Sam Goldwyn – “Gentlemen, You May Include Me Out “
we own the biggest carbide cutting tools company
these Israeli guys run it as fanatics
we don’t know anything about carbide cutting tools.
but these Israeli guys are winning
the culture they’ve created fosters winning
Berkshire avoids mistakes by continuous learning
judging people has been crucial
our philosophy: if a guy can juggle 20 milk bottles, then why would we interfere?
a mistake we learned from:
guy we had from beginning from Berkshire had cancer. we kept him. but he signed bad contracts. we learned from that. you don’t want wrong compassion
advice for the young:
underspend your income.
you may not get rich but you won’t do badly.
keep at it.
investing money is harder TODAY
world today is radically different
you don’t have the time to find value stocks like warren used to.
ibm let gates put out software on their hardware. they lost.
“it’s never going to be easy”
avoid the craziness
crazy bubbles should be avoided.
“i want a fair advantage”
you have to specialize to succeed
specialization works
5-10% time to think of your hobbies
what i learned from other fields:
psychology was most important. “why is everyone so crazy”
i was going to synthesize psychology with everything else i do.
psychologists on the other hand just focus on psychology.
but i’m trying to figure out how to use psychology in investing and everything else i do .
you have to be alert when the rare opportunity comes by. u have to have patience.
‘your opportunities are rare but you have to move’ said his great grandfather
few decisions get to be very important
venture capital is a bubble. there has been overpaying.
i dont understand computer software. i don’t understand your culture.
but it can’t be easy
what we are good at: “we know how to buy businesses”
you need to be able to destroy your own idea.
you should be OK with making a dumb mistake
everyone is useful. he can always be used as a bad example
Article by Brian Langis
