Buffett on Charlie Munger: Work For Yourself An Hour Each Day
I’ve gotten to the part in The Snowball that involves Charlie Munger. A very interesting person, although probably not someone I’d like to have a beer with (I’d feel stupid), he is probably best known as Buffett’s long-time friend, business partner, and vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.
Even before meeting Warren Buffett, Munger was wealthy according to most standards from real estate investing. Here is a quote from a Buffett interview in the book:
Charlie, as a very young lawyer, was probably getting $20 an hour. He thought to himself, ‘Who’s my most valuable client?’ And he decided it was himself. So he decided to sell himself an hour each day. He did it early in the morning, working on these construction projects and real estate deals. Everybody should do this, be the client, and then work for other people, too, and sell yourself an hour a day.
Now, I’m sure just being a successful lawyer would be plenty for many people. But if you aren’t satisfied with your current situation, why not work for yourself an hour each day? Instead of just idle dreaming, set aside specific time for action. Perhaps the key is small chunks of time, but at regular intervals.
Example. If you’re an administrative assistant making $10 an hour and you don’t want to be, don’t just sign up to work another hour for $10. Working longer is not necessarily the best idea. Instead, give up the $10 (or $8 after taxes), and improve yourself in some way or create something so you’ll be making a lot more. There is no one solution, look into yourself. Nursing school? Investment books? Finding a mentor?
Finally, another quote from Charlie Munger about the desire for independence:
I had a considerable passion to get rich. Not because I wanted Ferraris - I wanted the independence. I desperately wanted it. I thought it was undignified to have to send invoices to other people. I don’t where I got that notion from, but I had it.
I think I’ll be buying a copy of Poor Charlie’s Almanack the next time I run low on things to read, even though it costs fifty bucks.
Find more in Entrepreneurial | 5/27/09, 2:28am | Trackback
May 27th, 2009 at 2:48 am
So true! A little bit here and there will always add up - for anything.
In my case, I spent an extra hour or two each day last year writing an eBook (a study guide actually), and have since sold it for over $100,000 in sales. I was working at the time, but was able to quite my job because of the 1 or 2 hours a day I sold to myself.
Great post!
May 27th, 2009 at 7:42 am
Thanks for sharing: I did not know Charlie got up one hour earlier to work on his real estate project. For me I got up earlier to watch TV: that’s the difference
Charlie Munger is quite a character. I borrowed his Poor Charile’s Almanack from local library (twice) to read it. Actually I think you can find some of his speeches (his book is a collection of speeches) online (just do a google search).
May 27th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Most people spend more time watching TV than working. That’s why the U S is in deep trouble.
May 27th, 2009 at 10:00 am
I wonder how widespread his sentiment about independence over Ferraris is. (Not to get too political, but) Dreams From My Father talks a bit about this, and I thought it did so eloquently. Reflecting on the awkwardness of his station in life vis-a-vis his relatives, he feels the “crude freedom of wealth.” Or something like that, I can’t find the exact quote again, but it resonates really strongly.
May 27th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Awesome idea. I have started doing and am working on a book. It’s exciting!
May 27th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
What am I supposed to do for myself? Clean my own house? IT support? start some side business? I don’t understand…
May 27th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Create an opportunity for good things to happen for you, because it is unlikely others will do it for you.
Learn a new skill. Improve yourself.
Go out and visit some foreclosures and do a cash-flow analysis.
Start a blog for fun about your passion (skiing? collecting gold coin? parenting? gadgets?) and see what happens.
Read about investing and see what your knowledge brings. My findings keep my portfolio low in costs, tax-efficient, and passively managed. Charlie’s and Warren’s did not, but I am not either of those guys.
I think most of us have an idea of what we’d like to try or what we’d like to become.
May 27th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
@ JoetheBankgeek
United States worker hours rank among the top 3 in the world.
May 27th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Number of hours worked doesn’t mean anything, its efficiency that matters. Say if we ranked #1 in hours and #26 in efficiency that would be very bad indeed despite our #1 ranking.
May 27th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
i run.
i figure the savings of a few pairs of shoes vs heart disease, diabetes, etc will be substantial.
an hour, 4 days a week.
money saved is as good as money earned.
May 27th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
IJustin and Mike, think the point Charlie Munger was trying to make is that you should set aside some time to work on something for yourself as opposed to working only for the man. Its true working more hours doesn’t mean you are efficient. But if you set aside some time to work on something you love (or think could make you some $$) rather than just going to your day job that gives you a steady paycheck, then you’ll reap benefits in the long run. He wasn’t trying to say work an extra hour just to work an extra hour
May 27th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Exactly auntie-green. If you’re an administrative assistant making $10 an hour and you don’t want to be, don’t just sign up to work another hour for $10.
Work for *yourself*, give up the $10 (or $8 after taxes), and improve yourself in some way so you’ll be making a lot more.
May 28th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Great! Problem is that by the time I’m done putting in 12 hour days at my low paying job and then am finished with my 1 hour (each way - that includes the bus) commute, I’m too tired to do much of anything except cook dinner and tend to the house. My days off are taken up spending a little time with the family and taking care of household chores and grocery shopping. Some of the free time is spent looking for another job, but then I realize the wages on IT professionals (server administration/etc) have bottomed out. I’ve seen sysadmin job postings that pay $12/hr now, and they expect you to also function as desktop support and the DBA. I applied anyway but never heard back.
Anyway, maybe I should start a lemonade stand.. but right now I have to get back to work, breaktime is over.
May 28th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
[...] saw this post about Charlie Munger linked on the [...]
May 29th, 2009 at 9:54 am
You are amazing and awesome. I’m really in awe at the books you read and the information you’re sharing with us.
I just took a basic excel class as a refresher through the SBA. I’ve had classes before but wanted to see what else I could learn. And for $30 I met other SBA people who told me about their free counseling services on starting a business. I’ve noted these things in my notebook as an ongoing idea of where I want to be.
Thank you!
May 29th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Your reading suggestions and reviews are always invaluable. Thanks for sharing with us. I’m going to get the Almanack as soon as the one copy in my statewide library system gets back; perhaps you should consider trying the same, unless you prefer to own your books.
May 29th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Not one copy of Poor Charlie’s Almanack available in my city! Apparently they are stolen very often due to their scarcity.
May 30th, 2009 at 1:52 am
Try getting hold of Poor Charlie’s Almanack here in the UK if you think you’ve got problems…
Re: The hour a day strategy, the best hour both Charlie and Warren Buffett every spent was surely when they first agreed to meet up properly!
May 30th, 2009 at 2:26 am
[...] My Money Blog recalls how Charlie Munger decided to work for himself for an hour each day. [...]
May 30th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
[...] that vein, check out this short article on taking 1 hour for yourself each day. What would you do with an hour? Sometimes I think I would just sleep an extra hour, but [...]
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:41 am
Number of hours worked doesn’t mean anything, its efficiency that matters. Say if we ranked #1 in hours and #26 in efficiency that would be very bad indeed despite our #1 ranking.
No, efficiency matters to the business owner, but number of hours worked matters very much to the worker, in that the more hours worked, the less time the worker has to devote to the rest of her life, whether that’s spending time with her family, exercising, educating herself, or starting a side business.
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:54 am
Workers in emerging markets like India and China work more hours than those in developed countires but unfortunately they are advised against entering more than 8 hours in their timesheets. That is the reason countries like USA show up as top #3 in the number of hours worked. I am saying this from experience.
June 14th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
[...] month, Todd and I ran across this article (via Consumerist) about how Charlie Munger, the Vice-Chairman of Warren Buffett’s investment [...]