In this holiday-week episode of Fundamentals Unfiltered, Matt reflects on the life and legacy of Charlie Munger—Warren Buffett’s longtime partner and Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, who died at age 99 in late November 2023.

We walk through Munger’s path from Omaha to University of Michigan, Caltech (studying meteorology during WWII), Harvard Law School, and eventually into law, real estate development, and investing. Matt explains how Munger and Buffett used Blue Chip Stamps, See’s Candies, and the power of financial float to build Berkshire’s capital base.

Then we dig into Munger’s biggest intellectual contributions:

• Latticework of mental models – the idea that decision-makers should draw on big ideas from multiple disciplines (math, physics, biology, history, psychology, economics, and more).
• Multidisciplinary learning – why students of finance who only learn formulas and spreadsheets risk becoming “second-rate algorithms,” and how pairing quantitative skills with history, psychology, and real-world context leads to better judgment.

Book recommendation:

Poor Charlie’s Almanack – a compendium of Munger’s talks and writings, compiled by Peter Kaufman and inspired by Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack.

Poor Charles Almanack - https://amzn.to/4pmBpV2

(As an Amazon Affiliate, I can earn from qualifying purchases)

We close with a quick note on the ongoing Bitcoin sell-off and a Thanksgiving message for listeners.

Timestamps:

00:00 – Intro & Thanksgiving recording week

00:25 – Bitcoin sell-off and why we’re waiting a week

01:00 – Who was Charlie Munger? Background & early life

03:14 – From law and real estate to investing

04:48 – Blue Chip Stamps, See’s Candies & financial float

06:18 – How See’s changed Buffett’s view on value

09:01 – Poor Charlie’s Almanack and Peter Kaufman

10:26 – Two of Munger’s Biggest Contributions

#investing #finance #CharlieMunger #WarrenBuffett #BerkshireHathaway #valueinvesting #mentalmodels #FundamentalsUnfiltered