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Charlie Munger on competence and rare opportunities: interview summary

Watch Legendary Investor Charlie Munger's Final Interview With CNBC

CNBC · Dec 6, 2023 · about 102 min

Uploaded Dec 6, 2023 · 675K views (as of Oct 30, 2026)

Good value given

He learned from many fields on purpose because he could see how powerful that was.
Stay out of businesses where you'd compete with people in their strong suit.
He says it's very hard to be excellent enough at anything to make real money.
Berkshire used less borrowed money than it could have, to protect shareholders who trusted them.
Everyone has bad days, even the best tennis players, so don't live as if you never will.

What did Charlie Munger say was the key to his success?

Knowing his own competencies and staying out of games where others were stronger. He tells how watching family friends with great mechanical skill taught him he'd never beat them at their strong suit, so he stayed away from those fields. He also credits being cautious with shareholders' money and learning from many fields at once.

Worth watching?Good value given. Munger at 99, sharp and funny with Becky Quick. The stories about his early life and how he learned to stay inside his strengths are the best parts.

ActionableLessons

Actionable

Write down three things you're unusually good at and three you're not.
Read one book this month outside your field.
Before taking on debt, ask what happens to the people who trusted you if it goes wrong.
After your next bad day, write what you learned from it.

Lessons

Your edge comes from knowing your limits.
Mental models from many fields make better decisions.
Good opportunities are rare, so be ready when they show up.
Caution with other people's money is a form of integrity.

Quick answer

Charlie Munger sat down with CNBC for this interview, published Dec 6, 2023. Here's our summary in our own words: a verdict, the answer to the big question, 5 takeaways, Actionable and Lessons tabs, then the stories, frameworks and how to use them.

What 125x is: 125x is a web app at 125x.app. You connect your YouTube subscriptions, and it gives you a feed of the latest videos from the channels you follow, each with a summary: a verdict, the 5 key takeaways, and the spoiler, plus Actionable and Lessons tabs with more tips. You read that and decide what's actually worth opening.

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Watch the interview

Watch on YouTube: Watch Legendary Investor Charlie Munger's Final Interview With CNBC

Channel: CNBC. Published Dec 6, 2023. About 102 minutes.

Who is Charlie Munger?

Charlie Munger was Warren Buffett's partner at Berkshire Hathaway for decades. He died in November 2023, weeks after this interview was recorded.

Becky Quick of CNBC spoke with him at his home in this final long interview.

Key stories from the interview

Becky jokes about the time she called him a lawyer and he was irritated.
He tells how his father's friend Eddie Davis, a leading doctor, and his family showed him what real talent looks like.
He explains how Ben Graham's style worked for decades until everyone copied it.
He talks about BYD and Costco, crediting Li Lu with finding BYD.

Frameworks and ideas

Circle of competence: know what you're good at and stay inside it.
Latticework of mental models: borrow ideas from many fields.
Avoid leverage when others depend on you.

In their words (paraphrased)

It came naturally to him to study ideas from different fields.
He decided to stay out of businesses where he'd compete with people in their strong suit.
People sometimes learn more from their mistakes than from their wins.

How to apply this

Pick one mental model from another field and use it on a decision this week.
Turn down one opportunity that sits outside your strengths.
Keep cash ready for a rare chance.

Read the biography

Want the longer story? Read our The Snowball summary.

A note on this summary

This page reports what was said in the interview, in our own words. Lines under 'In their words' are paraphrased from the transcript, so check the video for exact wording.

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FAQ: questions people ask

What was Charlie Munger's final interview?

A long conversation with CNBC's Becky Quick, aired after his death in late 2023.

What did Munger say about circle of competence?

Know your competencies and stay out of fields where you'd compete against people in their strong suit.

Is Charlie Munger's last interview worth watching?

Good value given. It's long but full of stories and plain advice.