Charlie Munger Revealed Why He Lived in Same House for Decades

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• Seven faculty elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences
• Start generating passive income through real estate.
• Where Does Charlie Munger Live?
• Stagecoach 2024: Post Malone, Miranda Lambert and the best, the worst and the weird of Day 2
• Architect Lorcan O’Herlihy designs intimate spaces for a denser L.A.

But the gift that most significantly changed the Stanford landscape was the Munger Graduate Residence, a five-building complex that houses more than 600 graduate students across disciplines adjacent to the law school’s campus. The objective was to build “a community that doesn’t exist yet in American education,” Charlie Munger said at the time. It did so by attracting graduate students from different fields of study – law, business, medicine, education, engineering, the sciences, and others – and promoting their interactions. “The education these students will give each other is probably every bit as important as the education the professors will give them,” he said.

Seven faculty elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Munger, echoing his colleague Warren Buffett’s sentiments, observed that grandeur often failed to enhance happiness, reinforcing his commitment to simplicity. Stuff more than 4,500 students into an 11-story warehouse-size building in which the overwhelming majority of the units — about 94% — do not have access to natural light or fresh air. Known for his sharp wit and wise investment strategies, Munger amassed a fortune but remained dedicated to a remarkably modest lifestyle. For over 70 years, he lived in the same understated home, avoiding the lavish living standards that often accompany financial success.

Charlie Munger warns Gen Z investors: It's 'way harder' for recent college graduates 'to get rich and stay rich' - CNBC

Charlie Munger warns Gen Z investors: It's 'way harder' for recent college graduates 'to get rich and stay rich'.

Posted: Thu, 31 Mar 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]

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That takeaway seems wildly optimistic given some reviews of the building on websites like Yelp and the apartment site VeryApt. While some students are OK with sacrificing windows in the interest of having centrally located housing, many were suffocated by the lack of daylight. He also expressed concern about the impact of visible wealth on his children, suggesting that an extravagant lifestyle might encourage them to “live grandly” in ways that were not wholesome or beneficial.

Where Does Charlie Munger Live?

A "basic house" has utility, said Munger, noting that a larger home could help you entertain more people — but that's about it. "It's a very expensive thing to do, and it doesn't do you that much good." In October, a 15-year member of the school’s design committee resigned over the university’s plan to follow through with the design.

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The design suffers from a pile-on of deficiencies — among them, a willful, warehouse blandness, limited egress and an extreme density that McFadden likens in his letter to parts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. But the lack of windows in the residential units is perhaps the most glaring problem — especially in light of the pandemic. Charlie Munger, who passed away this week at age 99, could have afforded a mega-mansion—or several of them. Instead, the legendary investor stayed put in the same relatively modest home (by billionaire standards) in Los Angeles for seven decades.

Charlie Munger, the venerable billionaire and right-hand man of Warren Buffett, was famous for his sharp wit as he was for his wealth. Over the years, Munger shared plenty of eyebrow-raising opinions on financial matters, sparking discussions and debates among investors and the public alike. Let's dive into some of his most controversial takes on money and investing.

Stagecoach 2024: Post Malone, Miranda Lambert and the best, the worst and the weird of Day 2

One reason is that he worried that an overly opulent lifestyle would spoil his children. Instead, the billionaire investor stayed put in the same relatively modest home in Los Angeles for seven decades. Munger’s lifestyle was grounded in a philosophy that valued utility over extravagance.

He noted that while a larger home might increase one’s ability to host gatherings, it brings little else of value and is costly. The late Charlie Munger, the esteemed investor and vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., chose a path less traveled by those of immense wealth. Munger’s design for the 11-story dorm complex omits windows from nearly all dorm rooms. Munger argues this was necessary to allow for individual bedrooms and better common spaces.

By now, many, if not most, investors are aware of Charlie Munger, longtime business partner of Warren Buffett, who credited him with being the "architect" of Berkshire Hathaway (with Buffett considering himself merely the general contractor). Munger passed away in November 2023 at the age of 99, leaving an enormously impressive legacy, not just via Berkshire Hathaway, which has grown to be one of America's biggest companies, but also via countless brilliant things he said. Munger was much in the news recently because of his role instigating UCSB Chancellor Henry Yang’s ill-fated proposal to build an 11-story dorm capable of housing 4,500 students dubbed “Dormzilla” because 94 percent of the rooms had no real windows.

CNBC shared clips of the interview, in which the former vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway discussed his life and regrets. In an interview with CNBC, before he died at age 99, Munger discussed his choice to maintain a simple life despite his wealth. He and Warren Buffett observed many wealthy friends who opted for luxurious, expansive homes only to find their happiness didn’t increase.

Lottery winners often quickly buy many fancy homes, which financial advisors warn is a mistake. Buffett wrote in 2010 that while it’s easy to feel pressured to buy a home, it can be smarter to rent, depending on one’s personal finances. Munger told The Real Deal shortly after that there was “no real controversy” and that a “couple of nutcases… went off half-cocked,” over the project. The quarter-acre property packs in a full-size tennis court, a dining terrace and some gardens. There is also access to the community’s private beach and swimming pool.

Munger had reportedly pledged to donate $200 million for a structure estimated to cost in excess of $1 billion to build. Charlie Munger, the outspokenly plainspoken billionaire and sometime Montecito resident who helped propel Warren Buffett and the investment firm Berkshire Hathaway into the outer stratosphere of financial success, died this week at the age of 99. I have sympathy for UC Santa Barbara administrators contending with a housing crunch that has stranded students in hotels. But a windowless warehouse that doesn’t have the architectural charm of even a Comfort Inn is not the solution.

Munger, the billionaire investor and longtime business partner to Warren Buffett, died on Tuesday at the age of 99. He'd previously filmed a wide-ranging interview with CNBC's Becky Quick, which aired on Thursday evening, and discussed his rationale for living in the same California home over the past 70 years. Nancy Munger, who died in 2010, devoted more than 30 years to volunteer leadership at Stanford and became one of few alumni to hold the Gold Spike Award, which honors distinguished longtime service to the university. Much of the couple’s philanthropy at Stanford was directed to the law school, where they created the Nancy and Charles Munger Professorship in Business. Other gifts were directed to Hoover Institution, Stanford Medicine, and the School of Humanities and Sciences. The Munger Rotunda in the Bing Wing of Green Library is also named for their generosity.

Carolina A. Miranda is a former Los Angeles Times columnist who focused on art and design, with regular forays into other areas of culture, including performance, books and digital life. “The lack of windows is very depressing,” wrote one student in an evaluation posted late last month. Late last week, a university spokesperson confirmed to The Times that “this transformational project” would be moving forward as planned. And then there is whatever is happening at UC Santa Barbara in the planning and design of a new student dorm — which takes dumb and multiplies it by a factor of willful ignorance squared. In May, when visitors descended upon Omaha for the annual Berkshire shareholder meeting, many Buffett fans snapped photos in front of his relatively unremarkable home, as local TV station WOWT reported.