I have been reading "Damn Right!" by Janet Lowe. Some interesting tidbits from the book :

Charlie did not share the special admiration ?Buffett felt for Graham. Munger said "Graham had blind spots.He had too low an appreciation of the fact that some businesses were worth paying big premiums for".

Yet Charlie agreed with his most fundamental teachings and they have been part of the Buffett-Munger success formula from the start. "The basic concept of value to a private owner and beig motivated when you're buying and selling securities by reference to intrinsic value instead of price momentum-I don't think that will ever be outdated", said Munger.

I never want to overpay for an asset i.e pay more than its intrinsic value. Howeverthere are very rare exceptions for whom it is worth paying up a bit to get in with for the long term advantage.

Buffett : Charlie shoved me in the direction of not just buying bargains, as Graham had taught me. It took a powerful force to move me on from Graham's limiting view. It was the power of Charlie's mind. He expanded my horizons. Boy, if I had listened only to Ben, would I have been a lot poorer. Now I became interested in buying a wonderful business at a moderate price".

Charlie to his daughter when she was rebellious "I see you've decided to raise yourself, I hope you'll do a good job".

It was a relief to Munger to quit the law. I preferred making my own decisions and gambling my own money. I usually thought I knew better than the client anyway, so why should I have to do it his way? So partly, it was having an opinionated personality and partly it was a desire to get resources permitting independence". Munger came to understand that to be truly wealthy, a person needed to build up an ownership in a business.


By the time he quit law in 1965, " I had more confidence that Wheeler, Munger would work out, and I had much greater wealth" - Munger. I was not very surprised when he gave up the law said Munger's sister Carol, "That'swhat happens when someone finds something that is his real love".

What Charlie finds interesting is how few big decisions were involved in creating billions of dollars, fewer than one every three years. "I think the record shows the advantage of a particular mind-set-not seeking action for its ow sake, but instead combining extreme patience with extreme decisiveness".

The lesson of his business life is that you don't want to do business with people you can't trust. The economis are irrelevant if yoo don't have trust.

When See's turned out to be an excellent ongoing business, M & B realized how much easier and pleasanter it was t obuy a good business and just let it roll along, than to buy a deeply discounted but struggling business and spend time, energy and more money to set it straight.

Munger says he and Buffett should have seen the advantages of paying for quality much earlier.
"IF we hadn't bought See's, we wouldn't have bought Coke", says Buffett, "I've had windmills and second rate department stores, pumps and textile mills and all these were as problematic as windmills".

Munger told Berkshire that there are a lot of companies in America that throw off a lot of cash but which can't be expanded very much. To try and expand would be to throw money down a rat hole. Such businesses don't stir acquisition desires but they are welcome at Berkshire because he and Buffett can take the capital and invest it elsewhere.