{"id":517,"date":"2017-04-04T21:35:57","date_gmt":"2017-04-04T21:35:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/?p=517"},"modified":"2017-10-24T23:12:27","modified_gmt":"2017-10-24T23:12:27","slug":"72-wesco-financial-annual-meeting-2005-lessons-learned-part-5-points-25-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/2017\/04\/04\/72-wesco-financial-annual-meeting-2005-lessons-learned-part-5-points-25-30\/","title":{"rendered":"72. Wesco Financial Annual Meeting 2005: Lessons Learned – Part 5 – Points 25-30"},"content":{"rendered":"

Excellent Book: Charlie Munger For All Seasons<\/a><\/p>\n

Point 25. When you are 81, you\u2019ve got bigger problems than diminished returns.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Too high is a funny word \u2013 they are high to those of us who are accustomed to finding real bargains. But it\u2019s not a promise [that there will always be such bargains]. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s unfair; I don\u2019t think it\u2019s too high in the sense that we\u2019re being deprived. Our future prospects are way worse than what they used to be. But I\u2019m 81; I\u2019ve got bigger problems than diminished returns. (Laughter)<\/p>\n

Point 26. It\u2019s hard to spot bad people.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to judge the combination of character and intelligence and other things. It\u2019s not at all simple, which explains why we have so many divorces. (Laughter) Think about how much people know about the person they marry, yet so many break up. It\u2019s not easy, it is in some cases. If people are splashing around with money like Dennis Kozlowski, with vodka at parties coming out of some body part, and if it looks like Sodom and Gomorrah, then maybe this isn\u2019t what you\u2019re looking for. (Laughter) But beyond that, it\u2019s hard. If you have some unfortunate experiences while getting that knowledge, well, welcome to the human race. (Laughter)<\/p>\n

Point 27. It\u2019s Difficult to Make Money Investing in China<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s very tough to make money in China. A lot of terrible things can happen to you and you have no good antidote. China makes a lot of cheap well-made goods, but it could be that we won\u2019t have attractive investment opportunities in China even though the country may prosper.<\/p>\n

Point 28. We Want the Chinese to Get Richer<\/strong><\/p>\n

China is a nuclear power. We have no option but to have friendly relations with China \u2013 anything else would be really stupid. We want the Chinese to get richer and richer. I\u2019m not unhappy that Wal-Mart is expanding in China.<\/p>\n

Point 29: There Is Big Risk of a Calamity Investing in Currencies. Better Follow Warren Buffett Model.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I do think that it\u2019s conceivable that some enormously talented person that studied economics and relative value of currencies and devoted his life to it and only bet occasionally, that such a man could do very well [investing in currencies]. It\u2019s not my line of talent.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d rather do something that\u2019s not such a zero-sum game. If I invest in equities \u2013 the businesses are growing; for example, Wrigley\u2019s will make more gum. It\u2019s automatically working for me, even if I do nothing. But if I invest in currencies, it\u2019s not working for me.<\/p>\n

If I had to make a living outside of equities, it might be in currencies. But I don\u2019t have to do it. There\u2019s less chance of a big calamity in equities. The problem with currencies is that it sucks you into margin, and then if it moves against you but you\u2019re sure you\u2019re right, it sucks you in deeper. And then one more twist of the screw\u2026<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re already rich, why would you live under such conditions? I think more people will do well if they follow the Warren Buffett model.<\/p>\n

Point 30: I Think the Country Is Better Off for Having Wal-Mart. It\u2019s a fabulous enterprise that does a lot of good and delivers value to the customer and that\u2019s why it\u2019s successful.<\/strong><\/p>\n

With Wal-Mart and the like getting so powerful, have we made a pact with the devil? My answer is I think the country is better off for having Wal-Mart. It\u2019s a fabulous enterprise that does a lot of good and delivers value to the customer and that\u2019s why it\u2019s successful. I think the country is better off for having this system for distributing goods.<\/p>\n

When I go into Wal-Mart, I see elderly people as greeters \u2013 they\u2019re working part time and it gets them out of the house, but people say, \u201cIsn\u2019t Wal-Mart nasty [for exploiting the elderly]?\u201d<\/p>\n

As far as I\u2019m concerned, I think Wal-Mart does a lot of good with efficient distribution.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a director of Costco. Do we really want our entrepreneurs not to try very hard? Do we really want to wake and say, \u201cLet\u2019s stop competing so hard?\u201d I say, let winners run instead of investing in losers. I like Wal-Mart\u2019s culture. As far as I\u2019m concerned, Wal-Mart is one of the glories of civilization.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.valuewalk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Charlie-Munger-2005-2013-minus-Harvard-Westlake.pdf<\/p>\n

Notes from 2005 Wesco Financial Annual Meeting – May 4, 2005 – By Whitney Tilson<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/charliemungersays\/<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Excellent Book: Charlie Munger For All Seasons Point 25. When you are 81, you\u2019ve got bigger problems than diminished returns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-investment","category-wisdom"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":863,"href":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517\/revisions\/863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}