The video revolves around the influential perspectives of legendary investors Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. Highlighting their approach to business and investment, the two emphasize the importance of having directors who genuinely care about the business and shareholders, rather than just monetary gains or prestige. They prioritize investing in management that demonstrates a genuine passion for the company rather than those driven primarily by financial incentives.

Furthermore, the video presents Buffett and Munger's insights from the 2023 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting. The duo reflect on the benefits of working in a supportive and growth-oriented environment. They stress the perils of hoarding cash, suggesting instead that the best investments are in oneself and one's potential value within the community. The importance of financial prudence, avoiding debt especially high-interest credit card debt, and spending less than earnings is advised. They also underscore the significance of kindness and personal integrity in fostering genuine relationships.

Main takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. prestige [prɛˈstiːʒ] - (noun) - Reputation or influence arising from success, achievement, or rank. - Synonyms: (status, esteem, reputation)

And we're not interested in the ones who For whom it's a prestige item and who want to go and check boxes or that sort of thing.

2. motivator [ˈmoʊtɪveɪtər] - (noun) - A factor that encourages a person to do something or achieve a goal. - Synonyms: (incentive, catalyst, stimulus)

But it's very important for me to know which of the two is the primary motivator with them.

3. timeless [ˈtaɪmləs] - (adjective) - Not affected by the passage of time or changes in fashion. - Synonyms: (everlasting, ageless, eternal)

Warren and Charlie shared invaluable lessons and timeless wisdom.

4. derived [dɪˈraɪvd] - (verb) - Obtained or received something from a source; origin or extraction. - Synonyms: (obtained, acquired, gathered)

No individual, no corporation would ever pay any income tax, Social Security tax, gift tax, estate tax, anything else, 1000, like Berkshire Hathaway, would produce the revenue that's being produced by the federal government, that's being derived from the present tax code from everybody in the United States.

5. hoarding [ˈhɔːrdɪŋ] - (verb) - Accumulating or collecting resources or money excessively. - Synonyms: (accumulating, amassing, stockpiling)

But you won't succeed by hoarding dollars.

6. productive [prəˈdʌktɪv] - (adjective) - Achieving or producing a significant amount or result. - Synonyms: (efficient, fruitful, constructive)

The economy is productive, and you will succeed with your talents.

7. obituary [oʊˈbɪʧuˌɛri] - (noun) - A notice of a death, typically including a brief biography of the deceased person. - Synonyms: (death notice, obit, memorial)

You should write your obituary and try and figure out how to live up to it.

8. principled [ˈprɪnsəpəld] - (adjective) - Acting in accordance with morality and showing recognition of right and wrong. - Synonyms: (moral, ethical, virtuous)

The lessons from Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett continue to guide us towards smarter, more principled investing

9. manipulate [məˈnɪpjəˌleɪt] - (verb) - Control or influence someone or something in a skillful but sometimes unfair or deceitful way. - Synonyms: (influence, maneuver, control)

You need to know how people can manipulate other people, and you need to resist the temptation to do it yourself.

10. vilify [ˈvɪləˌfaɪ] - (verb) - Speak or write about someone in an abusively disparaging manner. - Synonyms: (slander, defame, malign)

And you don't need to vilify anybody to make your point on subjects of discussion.

Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger's Speech Will Change Your Financial Future

We're not interested in people that want to be on the board because they want to make two or $300,000 a year, you know, for 10% of their time. And we're not interested in the ones who. For whom it's a prestige item and who want to go and check boxes or that sort of thing. We want our shareholders to walk in the shoes, I mean, our directors to walk in the shoes of shareholders. We want to care a lot about the business, and we want to be smart enough so that they know enough about business that they know what they should get involved or what they shouldn't get involved in.

When we buy businesses, we don't have managers to put in them. I mean, we're not buying them that way. We don't have a lot of mbas around the office that we're. Thank God. Yeah, we need management with the businesses that we buy, three times out of four, thereabouts, the manager is the owner. And we have to decide in that time when we meet them whether they love the business or love money. And we're not making a moral judgment. Charlie may, but I'm not making a moral judgment about whether it's better to love the business or love money. But it's very important for me to know which of the two is the primary motivator with them.

It's no secret that Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger are two of the most legendary investors to have existed. Just in 2023, the iconic duo brought the cash pile they store at Berkshire Hathaway to a whopping $157.2 billion. What can these legends of industry teach us? In their 2023 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting, Warren and Charlie shared invaluable lessons and timeless wisdom.

I feel good. I don't know what's going to happen that day. Maybe nothing will happen, but maybe something will happen. And if nothing else, I'll roll some t bills or something. But I work with the greatest group of people you can imagine. We like each other, and nobody is after anybody else's job or anything of the sort. It's ideal working conditions, and it's five minutes from my home or thereabouts, so I haven't spent my life commuting. I just can't imagine having it, having anything better.

And Berkshire has been paying nobody else in the United States. No individual, no corporation would ever pay any income tax, Social Security tax, gift tax, estate tax, anything else, 1000, like Berkshire Hathaway, would produce the revenue that's being produced by the federal government, that's being derived from the present tax code from everybody in the United States. And I don't feel badly about that. And I'd love to get up to what if one 500th or something of the sort done.

We know how to do it. And we actually came from money printing economy in World War Two, which was required, and we suffered significant inflation. The price level, I mean, there are a million ways to judge it, but it's maybe ten times what it was then or something like that. Well, that's getting close to the edge of where you don't want to. You don't want to hold dollars anymore, you want to hold something else. You want to hold real estate, you want to hold an interest in a business. There's a lot of good. Your best defense is your own earning power. If you're the best doctor in town, if you're the best lawyer in town, if you're the best teacher in town, or even if you're the 10th investor, you're going to make a good living.

The economy is productive, and you will succeed with your talents, but you won't succeed by hoarding dollars. You'll just succeed by the fact that your value to the community, which is a rich community overall, is sustained. And so the best investment is always in yourself. You're lucky being in the United States. If you go around the world, you don't have a lot of choices in some places, but you should write your obituary and try and figure out how to live up to it. You know, that's.

That's something you get wiser on as you go along. The business mistakes. You just want to make sure you don't make any mistakes to take you out of the game or come close to taking out of your game. You should never have a night when you're worried about investing. I mean, assuming you have any money to invest at all, and you should spend a little bit less than you earn, and you can spend a little bit more than you earn, and then you've got debt. And the chances are you'll never get out of debt. I'll make an exception in terms of a mortgage on your house, but credit card debt, and we're in the credit card business big time, and the world will stay in the credit card business. But why get behind the game?

And if you're effectively paying twelve or 14 or whatever percent you're paying on a credit card, you know, you're saying, I'm going to earn more than twelve or 14% of money. And if you can do that, come to Berkshire Hathaway Tom Murphy, the first time I met him, said two things to me. He said, always tell someone to go to hell tomorrow. Well, that was great advice then. And think of what great advice it is when you sit down at a computer and screw your life up forever by telling somebody to go to hell or something else in 30 seconds and you can't erase it.

And you don't need to vilify anybody to make your point on subjects of discussion and then give you another general piece of advice. I've never known anybody that was basically kind that died without friends. And I've known plenty of people with money that died without friends, including their family.

I've seen a few people, including Tom Murphy Sr. I never saw him. I watched him for 50 years. I never saw him do an unkind act. I didn't seem to do very many stupid acts either. I mean, it wasn't that he was non discriminating. He just decided that there was no reason to do it. And wow, what a difference that makes in life, Charlie.

It's so simple. You spend less than you earn and invest shrewdly and avoid toxic people and toxic activities and try and keep learning all your life, et cetera, et cetera, and do a lot of deferred gratification because you prefer life that way. And if you do all those things, you are almost certain to succeed. And if you don't, you're going to need a lot of.

And you don't want to need a lot of luck. You want to go into a game where you're very likely to win without having any unusual luck. I'd add one more thought, too. You need to know how people can manipulate other people, and you need to resist the temptation to do it yourself. Oh, yes, the toxic people who are trying to fool you or lie to you, who aren't reliable, meeting their commitments. The great lesson of life is get the hell out of your life and do it fast.

We've done various deals various ways. The best way to do it is just write people a check and get the stock. But we did that with TTI. But you can't always make the same deal. If we like the business well enough and the people well enough, we will tailor it differently. But our preference is to write a check and on the whole place and keep the management in place.

So we are in the, the perfect sort of game and we both enjoy it and we have a lot of fun together and we don't have to do anything we don't really believe in doing. We are not dictated to by any group. And so we get to follow our own. We get to forge our own destiny and in a sense, forge the own principle by which we can run the company. And that's a huge luxury in life.

And we don't want to be president of any other company in the world, or CEO or anything else where we have to conform to certain things that we really don't want to conform to. The lessons from Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett continue to guide us towards smarter, more principled investing. Remember, it's not just about making money. It's about making informed, ethical, and sustainable choices that stand the test of time. With the passing of Charlie, the next year will be one to watch as Warren navigates the industry on his own.

Investment, Finance, Business, Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Berkshire Hathaway, Business Motiversity