Charlie Munger Net Worth, Crypto and NFT Investments

Update: Charlie Munger is dead, leaving a big vacuum in Berkshire Hathaway.

Charlie Munger is a pragmatic investor whose entrepreneurship career has continued to serve as an inspiration to many. He’s the Vice Chairman of the prominent multinational holding company, Berkshire Hathaway. His noticeable contributions to the smooth running and success of the company earned him a reputable status in the media. He is being regarded as the “right-hand man” of Warren Buffett, the CEO of the firm.

Over the past few years, Munger’s cordial relationship with Buffett and his various donations to academia has ignited public interest in his financial standing. Surprisingly, the nonagenarian is not as wealthy as many feel he is due to his consistent commitment to charity. According to Forbes, Charlie Munger has a net worth of about $2.2 billion in 2023.

Meanwhile, in spite of his heavy investment in charitable initiatives, Munger refused to sign “The Giving Pledge.” This project was co-founded by Buffett, Bill Gates, and his ex-wife, Melinda to encourage their fellow billionaires to donate a sumptuous portion of their fortunes to charity. Nevertheless, Munger’s refusal to sign the pledge has not altered his status as a great philanthropist.

Munger is widely respected as a mentor to all aspiring investors and entrepreneurs. His investment philosophy has been adopted by many who aim to thrive in their various financial endeavors. He alongside his agelong ally, Buffett was featured in a book, titled “Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger.” The author, Peter Bevelin, in a 2007 interview, said the investment prowess of the duo inspired him to write the book.

In an unfortunate development, Charlie Munger passed away, leaving a big void at Berkshire Hathaway. In an official statement by Berkshire, Munger was said to have died peacefully at a hospital in California on November 28, 2023. Prior to his death, Munger was 99 years old and would have turned 100 on January 1, 2024.

Charlie Munger’s Net Worth Since 2019

Year	Net Worth
2019	$1.6 billion
2020	$1.6 billion
2021	$2 billion
2022	$2.5 billion
2023	$2.2 billion

Early Life

Charles Thomas Munger was born on January 1, 1924, in Omaha, Nebraska. While growing up, he worked at Buffett and Son; a grocery store owned by Warren Buffett’s grandfather. Munger’s father, Alfred, was a lawyer. Therefore, he was expected to follow the same path but decided otherwise.

During his childhood, Munger demonstrated a great passion for calculations. This interest propelled him to pursue a degree in mathematics at the University of Michigan. While at this institution, he joined the fraternity Sigma Phi Society. However, amid the intensity of World War II, he was forced to abandon his program so as to join the U.S. Army Air Corps. There, he trained as a meteorologist at Caltech in Pasadena, California, and was eventually promoted to the position of second lieutenant.

Shortly after the war, Munger returned to the academic world. He leveraged the opportunity provided in the GI bill, formerly referred to as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944. Before its discontinuation in 1956, this bill provided some benefits to returning World War II veterans. As one of the beneficiaries, Munger was able to apply to Harvard Law School, his father’s alma mater.

Initially, the dean of admissions at Harvard Law School declined his application because Munger didn’t complete his undergraduate program. Eventually, he was considered after Roscoe Pound, the former dean of Harvard Law school and a friend to the Munger family contacted the admission officer. Surprisingly, Munger performed well during the program and graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1948.

Berkshire Hathaway

Upon his graduation, Munger started to follow the footprint of his father. He joined a law firm, Wright and Garrett. The firm later transitioned into Musick, Peeler and Garrett. While trying to establish himself in the new field, Munger met Warren Buffett in 1959 through Dr. Edwin Davis and his wife, Dorothy. The duo; Munger and Buffett met at a dinner in Omaha, Nebraska.

Prior to their meeting, Dr. Edwin Davis had already mentioned Munger to Buffett. Davis told Buffett that he shared the same financial philosophy with Munger. With this, Buffett began to admire Munger and pleaded with Davis to meet him. The opportunity arrived in 1959 when Munger went to Omaha for his father’s burial.

Through the assistance of Davis and his wife, the duo met during the dinner. There, Buffett persuaded Munger to dump his career in law for investment management. At first, Munger refused Buffett’s advice and consequently co-founded a law firm; Munger, Tolles, and Olson LLP where he practiced as a real estate attorney.

Later, Munger began to reconsider the advice given to him by Buffett. Eventually, he gave up his career in the law field and decided to focus on investment management. He cut his teeth in the new sector by collaborating with newspaper billionaire, Frank Otis Booth. The duo focused on real estate development. Thereafter, he partnered with Jack Wheeler to establish Wheeler, Munger, and Company. The company is an investment firm with a seat on the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange.

Munger abandoned the company in 1974 after suffering a significant loss for two consecutive years. Therefore, he decided to join Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway. Four years later, he was appointed as the vice chair of the firm. The role positioned Munger as the right-hand man of Buffett.

Since his appointment, Berkshire Hathaway has continued to thrive. As its vice chair, Munger transformed the investment policies of the firm. He was the second-in-command of all the assets belonging to Berkshire Hathaway. These assets include what Buffett often refers to as Berkshire’s “Four Giants.” They are the four investments that constitute a significant portion of Berkshire’s value and are known as Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Apple, Insurance Float, and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation.

Likewise, Munger also served as the chairman of Wesco Financial Corporation, now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. Through Wesco, the former real-estate attorney managed an equity portfolio worth over $1.5 billion in top companies like Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo, Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods, US Bancorp, and Goldman Sachs. These investments were driven by his great belief in the potential of stocks to yield good returns.

With his wealth of experience in investment management, Munger transitioned Berkshire Hathaway from a textile-producing firm to a proper multinational holding company. He also changed Buffett’s investment philosophy for good. In a letter to shareholders in 1989, Buffett cited Munger as the brain behind the company’s decision to stop its “cigar-butt” approach to value investment. The cigar butt is a term used to describe the acquisition of a struggling company at a discounted rate in a bid to gain the little profit left in the business.

Before meeting Munger, Buffett commenced his investment career as a cigar-butt investor. He admitted that Munger was swift to understand the flaws in the investment approach. According to him, “Charlie understood this early; I was a slow learner.”

Philanthropy

Just like Buffett, Munger is a generous giver. He has been donating to various academic and development initiatives since the early 1990s. During this period, he built a $13 million Munger Science Center at Harvard-Westlake School. The building is a two-storey classroom and laboratory. Between 2006 to 2009, Munger also donated 108 shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock, worth $10 million to foster another construction in the same institution.

Apart from Harvard-Westlake School, Munger has also donated to Marlborough School in Los Angeles. He also supported the Polytechnic School in California. Stanford University is another institution that has also benefited from Munger’s benevolence. Around 2004, he donated 500 shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock to the institution. The shares were worth about $43.5 million at that time.

Three years later, he also committed $3 million to the law school of the University of Michigan. The donation helped the institution to improve some of its architecture. In 2011, he donated another $20 million to the institution. With the fund, the law school of the university was able to complete its $39 million renovation of the Lawyers Club housing complex. Munger’s donation to the institution didn’t end there as he also gave out $110 million to foster the building of its “state of the art” residence. This project was established so that graduates across various disciplines in the institution can live and interact seamlessly.

https://youtu.be/cxpFHjUawvQ?si=OvOO1meZSX7qsRmg

Although Munger did not have any professional training in architecture, he designed the layout of the residence himself. According to the layout, the residence consists 600 single bedrooms. His $110 million donation to the project was the highest-single donation ever received by the University. He also designed and funded the Munger Graduate Residence. This apartment accommodates about 600 law and graduate students.

Later in 2014, Munger attracted huge media attention after he donated $65 million to the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In an interview, the billionaire said the project was developed so as to gather physicists to generate problem-solving ideas. A few years later, he made another hefty donation to the institution. Then, he insisted that the university must commit the funds to the building of an undergraduate dormitory he designed. Munger’s insistence forced Dennis McFadden to resign from the University’s Design Review Committee.

Similarly, the billionaire, through his family, made a noticeable donation to Stanford’s Green Library restoration of the Bing Wing. Also, he contributed to the construction of a rotunda on the library’s second floor. Unlike his long-term partner, Warren Buffett, Munger has refused to sign “The Giving Pledge.” In a recent interview, he said he could not sign the pledge because he has given a significant portion of his wealth to his children.

Is Charlie Munger Pro Crypto?

Just like Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger is another hardened critic of crypto. The two billionaires maintain a deep hatred for crypto and are not ready to hide it. Over the years, they lashed out at crypto assets so badly, with Buffett labelling Bitcoin as a “rat poison squared.” Munger shares a similar view with Buffett. Therefore, his consistent outbursts against the crypto market does not come as a surprise. Recently, Munger likened crypto to a venereal disease, adding that it is “disgusting and contrary to the interests of civilization.” Driven by this perception, he called for the full ban of every crypto asset across the world, saying he does not “welcome a currency that’s so useful to kidnappers and extortionists and so forth.”

Munger’s stance is that no responsible government would incorporate cryptocurrencies into the existing financial system. He believes nothing drives the value of crypto except speculation, labelling investors as “idiots” who want to get rich quickly without engaging in real work. According to the Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman, crypto has no potential to attain the status of traditional currencies, which he claimed have helped man evolve “from a successful ape to a [successful] human.”

Meanwhile, despite the tough enforcement actions against crypto in the United States, Munger is still not satisfied. His position is that the government is still being lenient in its approach, thereby emphasizing his call for a total ban.

“It [crypto] isn’t even slightly stupid, it’s massively stupid, and of course it’s very dangerous; the governments were totally wrong to permit it. And of course, I am not proud of my country for allowing this crap — well, I call it crypto shit. It’s worthless, it’s crazy, it’s not good, it’ll do nothing but harm, and it’s antisocial to allow it. I don’t think there is a rational argument against my position,” the nonagenarian said.

To further justify his call for a full clampdown on crypto, the billionaire referenced the FTX-Alameda implosion and its devastating implication on investors. According to Munger, the industry is being regulated with kid gloves, thereby encouraging firms to create cryptocurrencies with predatory tokenomics. Don’t forget that FTX developed its native token, FTT, and leveraged it as collateral for Alameda’s loan. Both FTX and Alameda were founded by Sam Bankman-Fried. This development forced Binance, led by Changpeng Zhao to liquidate all its FTT holdings, which in turn plummeted the asset to its lowest low. Without any doubt, the crypto market is still yet to fully recover from the contagion caused by the implosion.

Therefore, Munger maintained that the crisis further reaffirmed his position that the industry is nothing but a gambling arena. In his op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, the nonagenarian argued that crypto does not meet the criteria to be identified as a security, commodity, or currency.

“A cryptocurrency is not a currency, not a commodity, and not a security. Instead, it’s a gambling contract with a nearly 100% edge for the house, entered into in a country where gambling contracts are traditionally regulated only by states that compete in laxity.”

However, the crypto community, particularly well-known Bitcoin investors are not losing sleep over Munger and Buffett’s discontent with digital assets. They have continued to make a mockery of the duo’s perspectives on crypto. Recently, Munger’s appeal for a total crypto ban in his op-ed article was mocked by a Twitter user. It is believed that Buffett and Munger are too old to understand the capabilities of crypto tech and should be forgiven for their rigid perceptions.

It’s sad that Charlie munger believes he’s doing something by calling for a ban. Doesn’t understand it’s math and can’t be banned. Old age deteriorates critical thinking skills.

— 941 (@level941) February 2, 2023

Crypto and NFT Holdings of Charlie Munger

Charlie Munger does not have a crypto portfolio and has vowed not to keep one till he leaves this world. This simply means the nonagenarian is not willing to change his harsh stance on crypto. During his interview with the Australian Financial Review, he said; “I think anybody that sells this stuff is either delusional or evil. I won’t touch the crypto.”

Munger insisted that “crypto is an investment in nothing, and the guy who’s trying to sell you an investment in nothing says, ‘I have a special kind of nothing that’s difficult to make more of.”

Likewise, the Berkshire Hathaway vice chair also advised investors to stop exposing their wealth to the industry. “Never touch it. Never buy it. Let it pass by,” he said, adding investments in shares of companies are better.

Crypto and NFT Projects Featuring Charlie Munger

Just like other crypto skeptics, Munger has also earned the attention of Wall Street Memes. Don’t forget that this project gained prominence after picking inspiration from the 2021 Wall Street Bets movement. Driven by this motivation, the project has been leveraging the powers of memes to taunt the activities of crypto enemies like Jerome Powell, Gary Gensler, Joe Biden, Warren Buffett, and many more. Therefore, its content about Munger didn’t come as a surprise.

Charlie Munger really waited until turning 98 to become a full blown wallstreetbets degen pic.twitter.com/EOIv2i0tj3

— Wall Street Memes (@wallstmemes) October 25, 2022

Apart from making a mockery of the traditional finance system and its promoters, Wall Street Memes is also seeking to attract more innovations into the crypto sphere. It strongly believes memes have the potential to advance the status quo in the industry. This explains why it has continued to drive its own memes towards building a vast community and creating a sense of belonging to investors.

To a great extent, Wall Street Memes has been able to achieve this ambition. Apart from enjoying the loyalty of over one million community members, the project has also secured the attention of influential personalities in the industry. Likewise, the great sensation around Wall Street Memes has also impacted its ongoing $WSM presale. Since making its market debut, the meme coin has been overwhelming every arena in the industry. The presale gives members of the community the opportunity to grab $WSM at affordable prices.

According to its team, the meme coin will attract multiple tier-1 CEX listings by September. Therefore, investors are thronging the ongoing presale to get exposed to it before the multiple listings. They understand that $WSM might be the next cryptocurrency to yield great returns.

You cannot afford to miss out on the hottest meme coin in the market. Visit wallstmemes.com to participate in the presale.

Charlie Munger’s Net Worth – Our Verdict

According to Forbes, Charlie Munger has a net worth of about $2.2 billion. He made this gigantic fortune through the prosperity of Berkshire Hathaway in the last few decades. As the vice chair of the firm, Munger is the right-hand man to Warren Buffett. The duo shares many things in common. They are both pragmatic investors and philanthropists. Similarly, Buffett and Munger hold the same stance on crypto and have, in recent years, been labelled as “anti-Bitcoin” billionaires by numerous publications.

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