Charlie Munger Daily Journal Annual Meeting 2020 Full Video, Full Transcript, and Notes

If you like hearing Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger talk at the Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) annual meeting, you should also watch or listen to Charlie Munger at the Daily Journal (DJCO) annual meeting. DJCO is his personal pet project, and each year he does a Q&A session where he answers any questions by himself. CNBC recorded the full 2020 DJCO annual meeting live (embedded below). I watched the entire 2+ hour session – it’s good but long… might be better as a podcast (although I like to take notes too).

Adam Blum of ValueWalk has generously shared his full transcript as well. It’s very complete so I am too lazy to compete with that. Instead, here are my (often paraphrased) personal notes and highlights:

• Munger has no idea what the consequences will be that the biggest shareholder in all the biggest companies are index funds.
• Munger likes the Daily Journal and Costco because it they try to do right by their customers, as opposed to casinos for example that make money by tricking people. You should always take the high road if you can. It’s less crowded.
• Newspaper are going away, except for maybe the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. This is bad, as now you have misleading opinion media on both sides that just keep spewing hatred. Politics is even sillier than business.
• Chinese companies are stronger with better growth prospects than US companies. Munger is invested there (and he jokes that you aren’t). Fish where the fish are.
• Munger is partial to Canada and their working single-payer health care system, especially how they pay lower pharmaceutical prices.
• There is too much wretched excess in investment management. There are troubles coming.
• Index funds will still work best for most people, if you can be patient. He notes that the average holding period among Chinese investors is very short. This is not good. He is not a fan of the popularity of gambling among the Chinese.
• Be a survivor, not a victim. Advocating for reform is important, but on a personal level it is important to to keep plugging along. Munger doesn’t like politicians that get ahead by trying to make everyone feel like a victim. Recognize you are in a bad situation and work to make it better.
• Munger only knows enough about Crypto to know that he should avoid it. “Too hard” pile.
• Regarding inflation and interest rates, we should all be modest about our knowledge of economics.
• No new book recommendations.
• Munger does not have a hostile attitude towards China. The US should try to get along with China. China should try to get along with the US. As an aside, Munger has admiration for Japan during their 25 years of economic stasis.
• Learn to change your mind when you are wrong.
• Tesla – Munger will never buy it, but also never sell it short. Don’t underestimate a man that overestimates himself.
• We should appreciate our current living standards. What is extra money really going to do for you after you have enough to eat? Medicine has greatly improved. Even with more technological advances, will life be that much better?
• Munger has no secrets to share about his longevity.
• His only advice on parenting is to be a good example. Preaching to his kids never worked.
• On negative interest rates, having worked once, governments will of course try it again, likely to excess.
• The inversion process. Figure out the easiest ways to make yourself bankrupt, and then avoid them. (Consumer debt? Medical debt?)
• Munger is known for being rational, yet he 96 years old, enormously rich, and cares a lot about what happens to a little company called the Daily Journal. He calls it insane.
• Having a two-party political system is good. Power corrupts. It’s better when no one side gets too much power. The ebb and flow is good.
• American healthcare, in many ways it’s the best in the world. It is powered by a lot of smart hard-working people. However, there is a huge amount of totally unnecessary activity that costs a lot and does nothing or even causes harm. Why? There are big financial incentives to make money with unnecessary care. Change the incentives. The insurance reimbursement system is too opaque. Kaiser system is an example of doing less unnecessary care.
• People who are deferred gratifiers do better than the impulsive ones that demand immediate gratification. He is afraid the tendency towards one or the other might be genetic.

I actually appreciate when someone admits they don’t know something, as opposed to others who seem to form a strong opinion on everything under the sun. One of Munger’s lessons is that it is important to accept what you don’t know, and make strong bets only on what you do know. That’s the only way to get outsized results.