Born in 1924, Charlie Munger serves as the vice chairman and right-hand man to Warren Buffett, the renowned investor and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, a massive conglomerate valued at $354.6 billion and headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.
Munger has helped to transform Berkshire into a diverse holding company with interests spanning insurance, rail transportation, energy, manufacturing, and retail. For over four decades, he has been Buffett’s closest business partner, playing a vital role in the company’s growth.
Besides his role at Berkshire, Munger is an independent director at Costco Wholesale Corporation and the board chairman at Daily Journal Corporation, a legal publishing and software company in Los Angeles.
He also served as chairman and CEO of Wesco Financial Corporation, a Berkshire subsidiary, from 1984 until 2011. Keep reading to learn more about Charlie Munger’s net worth.
According to estimates, Charlie Munger’s net worth was $2.6 billion in 2024.
On January 1, 1924, Munger was born to lawyers Alfred Case Munger and Florence Munger in Omaha, Nebraska. He started in the grocery business, working for Warren Buffett’s grandfather at Buffett & Son. In due time, Munger and Buffett bonded as close friends.
While attending the University of Michigan, Munger majored in mathematics and joined the fraternity Sigma Phi, which is still mostly invisible to the public.
Upon turning 19, Munger dropped out of college and enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1943. He worked his way through the ranks and is now a second lieutenant. He did quite well on the Army’s General Classification Exam.
Pasadena, California’s Institute of Technology mandated that he study meteorology there, so that’s where he ended up settling.
Before marrying Nancy Barry Borthwick from 1956 until she died in 2010, Munger married Nancy Jean Huggins from 1945 to 1953. He’s the proud father of six little ones.
Charlie Munger became wealthy by investing and compounding interest. Before forming his own real estate LLP in 1962, he was an attorney for Wright & Garret from 1952 until that year. At last, he focused only on the field of investment management.
Before starting Wheeler, Munger & Company, he worked in real estate development with Otis Booth. His firm had invested in the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange, but he was forced to close it in 1974 due to heavy losses.
When his investing firm was thriving, he generated returns of over 20%, which was far more than the 5% average annual return of the Dow Jones.
Wesco Financial Corporation was founded as a savings and loan institution and is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, where Munger served as chairman.
Over time, the corporation grew by acquiring other businesses. Wesco bought a $1.5 billion portfolio in the end.
Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Coca-Cola, and Kraft Foods are just a few of the well-known companies that Munger owns as part of his investment strategy.
Warren Buffett, another successful businessman and childhood friend of Munger’s, has said on the record that the two never had any disagreements.
Now serving as Berkshire Hathaway’s vice chairman and largely seen as Buffett’s successor, Munger was formerly Buffett’s right-hand man.
He also oversees operations at the California-based publishing company, Daily Journal Corporation, where he serves as chairman.
Munger and Buffett met for the first time at a dinner in Omaha in 1959, and they kept in touch over the years while Munger continued to practice real estate law and Buffett grew his investment firm.
At Buffett’s urging, Munger abandoned his legal career in the 1960s to devote himself full-time to asset management. He worked on real estate projects with the rich newspaper mogul Franklin Otis Booth during that time.
According to Buffett’s essay in 1984, “The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville,” the investment firm owned by Munger before he joined Berkshire rendered 19.8% of annual returns between 1962 and 75, outperforming the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s growth rate of 5% annually.
In 1962, Buffett began buying shares of Berkshire Hathaway; by 1965, he had become the company’s chair and CEO, and by 1978, Munger had been named the company’s vice chair.
Buffett has always followed the strategy of his mentor, Benjamin Graham, and invested in firms selling at a discount to their true value.
Although Buffett recognized Munger’s correction, he continued to advocate for the “cigar-butt” notion of value investing, in which investors pay $0.75 for a firm worth $1 to “capture the $0.25 of free puff” that the company has left.
Buffett, who started out as a “cigar-butt” investor, admits that he was a “late learner” compared to Munger, who realized the folly of it early on: “Charlie saw this early; I was a late learner.”
Working with Munger helped him see that the cheap pricing of a failing firm was usually a fake deal and that poor returns would quickly wipe out any gains.
Munger and Buffett prefer spending $1.25 on a fantastic company now worth $1 and will undoubtedly be worth $15 in 10 years.
By sticking to Munger’s adage, the Berkshire version of value investing had remarkable success: “Forget everything you know about purchasing fair firms at amazing prices; instead, purchase wonderful enterprises at fair prices.”
Charlie and Warren Buffett grew up together in Omaha, where they remained lifelong friends. As young adults, they were both working at Warren’s grandfather’s grocery store.
Charlie and Warren had dinner together again in Omaha in 1959. At this time, Charlie had already moved his family from California to Omaha so that he could take over the law practice of his late father.
Following Warren’s lead, he began making investments and immediately realized he had a knack for it. For close to a decade, Charlie handled his own investments. His fund did quite well, returning an annualized 19%.
Charlie has been Warren’s vice chairman at Berkshire Hathaway since 1978 when Warren hired him for the position.
Charlie Munger led Wesco Financial Corporation from its inception in 1984 until 2011. In addition to his work at Costco Wholesale, he was formerly the Daily Journal Corporation chairman.
Near the late 1880s, Charlie constructed a posh seaside neighborhood in Montecito named Sea Meadow. Sea Meadow is a guarded community that spans 22 acres.
The current market value of a home in Sea Meadow is $10 million to $20 million, and homeowners association fees are $2,700 per month.
In December 2021, Charlie paid his own money (about $11 million) to purchase a house in the new community he had developed.
Charlie Munger is a generous benefactor who has given away hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Berkshire Hathaway class A shares.
He has donated significantly to several universities, including the University of Michigan, the University of Michigan Law School, the Polytechnic School in Pasadena, Stanford University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
In March 2016, he pledged $200 million to the University of California, Santa Barbara, marking one of his largest donations. His gift was contingent on the hostel being constructed according to Munger’s elaborate and original plans.
After seeing Munger’s plan for windowless dorms, the school’s long-time architectural designer quit.
In his role as vice chair, Munger is second in command over Berkshire’s holdings, including the four investments Buffett calls the “Four Giants,” accounting for the vast bulk of Berkshire’s net wealth.
All the money made from insurance premiums that Berkshire may retain in reserve for years and invest for its own advantage before releasing it to policyholders in the form of claims puts Berkshire at the top of the list internationally in terms of insurance float in 2021.
According to Charlie Munger’s net worth research, Berkshire’s insurance float has grown from $19 million in 2022 to $147 billion under Munger’s leadership.
Insurance float, the biggest of Berkshire’s four titans, remains at the top because of its massive, long-term wealth growth despite recurrent underwriting catastrophic losses (such as the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001).
Investment in Apple Inc. by Berkshire ranks second only to its insurance float. Berkshire’s 5.55 percent stake in Apple as of the end of 2021 was relatively small compared to the company’s other wholly-owned holdings.
However, Apple meets the extremely high Munger-Buffett investing criteria for the simple reason that their ownership position, which increased to 5.55% from 5.39% the year before owing entirely to Apple’s stock repurchases, from 5.39% to 5.55%.
Berkshire received an additional $100,000,000 spending no more capital because of increasing its stake from 5.39% to 5.55% of Apple, given the high value of Apple.
The third behemoth of Berkshire, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (BNSF), operates one of the largest freight railroad networks in North America, with 32,500 miles of track and 8,000 locomotives serving the western two-thirds of the continent.
One that has an integrated competitive edge that protects long-term profits and market share from rivals, as advocated by Munger and Buffett.
Like a medieval fortress protected by a moat, the railroad industry in the United States is mostly untouchable by rivals due to the enormous initial investment required to construct railway lines throughout the country. As of 2021, BNSF has earned a record $6 billion for Berkshire.
The fourth utility sector behemoth is BHE (Berkshire Hathaway Energy), a conglomerate of independently operated companies.
Due to its significant investment in constructing electricity lines throughout the United States, BHE is a classic illustration of the Munger-Buffett preference for enterprises with a competitive edge.
Berkshire paid $122 million in 2000 for its first stake in BHE.
BHE, which Munger oversaw, not only raked in $4 billion that year, an all-time high, but also set several other records (up from that amount, but also from zero to a major participant in wind, solar, and hydro transmission throughout the U.S.). As of the end of the year 2021, 91.1% of BHE was owned by Berkshire.
Munger is well-known for his expertise and integrity. When Buffett respectfully avoided questions about cryptocurrencies at a shareholder meeting in 2021, Munger spoke out against bitcoin “being little more than hot air and being the “preferred method of payment for criminals.”
To him, it was disturbing that “someone who just manufactured a new financial product out of thin air” was rewarded with billions. According to Charlie Munger’s net worth research, he has praised China’s ban on cryptocurrencies and criticized the widespread use of such technologies in the United States.
To that end, Munger has donated significant amounts to the University of Michigan Law School ($20 million for housing improvements in 2011 and $3 million for lighting upgrades in 2007).
He has also donated to the graduate student housing complex at Stanford University ($43.5 million in Berkshire Hathaway shares in 2004) and the student housing complex at the University of California, Santa Barbara ($200 million in 2016).
Warren Buffett claims that he and Charlie Munger never looked for financial gain. Instead, they desired the freedom to pick and choose the people with whom they engaged in social and professional settings.
They learned that freedom is worth more than material possessions.
Like his old friend, Munger has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to charity. Conversely, Munger has not backed Buffet and Gates’s “The Donating Vow” effort, arguing that he has already violated the pledge by donating most of his wealth to his children.
Not that we’re not trying to imply anything negative about his life. Munger’s $11 million beachfront residence in Montecito is far from Buffet’s modest suburban home.
Let’s finish off with some common questions regarding Charlie Munger’s net worth.
Charlie Munger is a billionaire with an estimated wealth of $2.6 billion.
No. The Munger family was not affluent when Charlie Munger was a child. His wealth was the result of years of careful investing on his part.
Munger is often regarded as Buffett’s “right-hand man,” with his role in transforming Berkshire Hathaway from a modest investment firm into a $700 billion powerhouse well recognized.
As Vice Chairman, Munger holds the second most important position in overseeing Berkshire’s vast portfolio, including what Buffett calls the company’s “four giants”: Apple Inc., the “insurance float” from its insurance operations, BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation), and BHE (Berkshire Hathaway Energy).
Munger has been key in maintaining Buffett’s principle of “buying great companies at fair prices” rather than focusing on acquiring “fair companies at terrific prices.”
Munger has often emphasized that his success and outlook are firmly rooted in maintaining the highest ethical standards throughout his career, reflected in his net worth and reputation.
Judith Harvey is a seasoned finance editor with over two decades of experience in the financial journalism industry. Her analytical skills and keen insight into market trends quickly made her a sought-after expert in financial reporting.
