Charlie Munger, el socio y vicepresidente de Berkshire Hathaway, es para muchos un señor mayor algo arisco, reservado e incluso borde. Los que hemos leído mucho sobre él comprendemos el por qué de su forma de ser y pasamos por alto esas pequeñeces para centrarnos en admirar lo más valioso de este auténtico genio de los negocios: su cerebro.
El responsable en gran parte del éxito de Berkshire Hathaway (fue él quien insistió a Buffett durante años en que se centrase en negocios de calidad con menor margen de seguridad por considerar que eran una mejor inversión) pasa lamentablemente muy desapercibido para el gran público por su carácter reservado. Por eso es imperativo para los que apreciamos su intelecto dar a conocer un poco más a esta máquina de aprender, como él mismo se define.
Basicamente, Munger es una de las mentes más preclaras y cultas que hay sobre la faz de la tierra. Para aquellos que conocemos su forma de pensar, es una auténtica gozada leer todo aquello que escribe y escuchar sus charlas, siempre que están disponibles.
El este post quiero hacer una pequeña recopilación de algunas de sus charlas, varios libros escritos sobre él y algún que otro artículo del propio Munger.
Charlas:
The Psychology of Human Misjudgement:
USC, Parte 1:
USC, Parte 2:
USC, Parte 3:
USC, Parte 4:
USC, Parte 5:
Universidad de Michigan:
Mesa redonda en un panel de China-EEUU:
Discurso transcrito en Harvard-Westlake School:
http://es.scribd.com/doc/110302239/Munger-Talk-at-Harvard-Westlake
Entrevistas:
CNBC, 3 de mayo de 2013:
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000166059
CNBC, abril de 2013:
Stanford University:
Libros:
Poor Charlie´s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charlie Munger de Charlie Munger y editado por Peter Kaufman.
Damn Right: Behind the scenes with Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger de Janet Lowe.
The Four Filters Invention of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger de Bud Labitan.
Libros recomendados por Munger: http://www.amazon.com/Books-Recommended-by-Charlie-Munger/lm/SP7BNI47VM8O
Artículos:
The Art of Stockpicking.
Basically, It´s Over.
Wantmore, Tweakmore, Totalscum, and The Tragedy of Boneheadia.
Algunas de sus citas más célebres:
"I never get tired of Munger. Not always politically correct but a wealth of knowledge if we pay attention. If I read this list to start every day I'd make a lot fewer investing mistakes. I guarantee it."
"Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up."
"In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time — none, zero."
"Choose clients as you would friends."
"The best armour of 0ld age is a well-spent life preceding it."
"When you borrow a man’s car, always return it with a tank of gas."
"If only I had the influence with my wife and children that I have in some other quarters!"
"Take a simple idea and take it seriously."
"In business we often find that the winning system goes almost ridiculously far in maximizing and or minimizing one or a few variables — like the discount warehouses of Costco."
"Don’t do cocaine. Don’t race trains. And avoid AIDS situations."
"We look for a horse with one chance in two of winning and which pays you three to one."
"You’re looking for a mispriced gamble. That’s what investing is. And you have to know enough to know whether the gamble is mispriced. That’s value investing."
"It takes character to sit there with all that cash and do nothing. I didn’t get to where I am by going after mediocre opportunities."
"A great business at a fair price is superior to a fair business at a great price."
"All intelligent investing is value investing — acquiring more than you are paying for."
"You must value the business in order to value you the stock."
"No wise pilot, no matter how great his talent and experience, fails to use his checklist."
"There are worse situations than drowning in cash and sitting, sitting, sitting. I remember when I wasn’t awash in cash — and I don’t want to go back."
"…it never ceases to amaze me to see how much territory can be grasped if one merely masters and consistently uses all the obvious and easily learned principles."
"Once you get into debt, it’s hell to get out. Don’t let credit card debt carry over. You can’t get ahead paying eighteen percent."
"If you always tell people why, they’ll understand it better, they’ll consider it more important, and they’ll be more likely to comply."
"Spend less than you make; always be saving something. Put it into a tax-deferred account. Over time, it will begin to amount to something. This is such a no-brainer."
"You don’t have to be brilliant, only a little bit wiser than the other guys, on average, for a long, long time."
"Three rules for a career: 1) Don’t sell anything you wouldn’t buy yourself; 2) Don’t work for anyone you don’t respect and admire; and 3) Work only with people you enjoy."
"I won’t bet $100 against house odds between now and the grave."
"I try to get rid of people who always confidently answer questions about which they don’t have any real knowledge."
"…being an effective teacher is a high calling."
"I believe in the discipline of mastering the best that other people have ever figured out. I don’t believe in just sitting down and trying to dream it all up yourself. Nobody’s that smart…"
"Without numerical fluency, in the part of life most of us inhibit, you are like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest."
"In my life there are not that many questions I can’t properly deal with using my $40 adding machine and dog-eared compound interest table."
Si esto se les ha hecho poco, pueden intentar colmar su curiosidad con este blog dedicado a Munger y llamado Mungerismsy editado por Shane Parrish, el editor del imprescindible blog Farnam Street, que toma su nombre de la calle en la que vive Warren Buffett en Omaha. Y si aún quieren más recursos valiosos, en este link encontraran una recopilación extensa (más de 300 páginas) de algunos de sus discursos y notas de las conferencias de Wesco Financial Corp., empresa que fue absorbida por Berkshire Hathaway y de la que Munger era su Presidente.
Que lo disfruten.
Puedes seguirme en twitter: @_PabloMB
