Poor Charlie’s Almanac

Key Themes

Mental Models & Learning

The foundation emphasizes building knowledge through interconnected frameworks rather than isolated facts. Munger advocates learning roughly 80-90 fundamental concepts across disciplines (mathematics, physics, biology, psychology, engineering) to develop worldly wisdom.

Investment Philosophy

Core principles include:

• Exercising patience while making decisive moves
• Concentrating investments in quality companies
• Waiting for obvious opportunities (“fat pitches”)
• Avoiding overextension into unfamiliar territory

Personal Development

Success stems from:

• Continuous learning (especially through reading and history)
• Understanding personal competencies
• Aligning incentives properly
• Developing psychological resilience against cognitive biases

Decision-Making

Key approaches include:

• Inverting problems to identify what to avoid
• Recognizing psychological misjudgments
• Avoiding blind reliance on expert credentials when incentive misalignment exists

Core Philosophy

The notes present Munger’s practical wisdom on wealth-building through disciplined thinking, long-term patience, and systematic self-improvement.