“We both (Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett) insist on a lot of time being available almost every day to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business. We read and think.” ― Charles T. MungerThis further proves the point that reading is so fundamental to being an investor. Start with what you know and with what you love. If you don’t understand a business as if you owned the company, stop and move on to the next company. This is the most important, and perhaps the easiest to overlook, part of Rule #1 investing.When you think of buying stocks, think of it as purchasing the entire business. Once you find a business that you love, your next step is to research the company inside and out, by reading 10-K reports and any articles you can get your hands on.You can start by thinking about all of the things you are talented at, and make a list. This can be things like running, playing piano, creative writing, and more. Next, think about where your passions lie. Maybe you love reading, seeing new movies, or giving back to the community! Lastly, make a note of all the ways you’re already spending your money. Do you go out to eat? Do you buy new clothes regularly? Do you travel a lot? These are things you might want to consider when finding excellent companies to invest in.In this episode of the InvestED podcast, Phil and Danielle discuss more of their favorite Charlie Munger quotes, and explain why researching companies you already know and love is a critical step in investing.Learn how to pick Rule #1 approved stocks with this 3-Circles Guide. Click the link here to download: https://bit.ly/3x7ABcb Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

William Green is a journalist and author of Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life. Over the last quarter of a century, he has interviewed many of the world’s best investors, and has written for many leading publications in the US and Europe, including The New Yorker, Time, Fortune, Forbes, Barron’s, Fast Company, Money, Worth, Bloomberg Markets, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, The New York Observer, The (London) Spectator, The (London) Independent Magazine, and The Economist. In Richer, Wiser, Happier, William Green draws conclusions on interviews that he’s conducted over twenty-five years with many of the world’s greatest investors. As he discovered, their talents extend well beyond the financial realm and into practical philosophy.  The best investors in the world try to stay intensely rational. They try to get emotion out of their decisions and stick to the facts. As an investor, you must ask questions but also do the homework. You'll learn how to avoid emotion, how to be patient, how to properly research, and how to think like this business is the only one you'll ever get to own.  This week on InvestED, Phil and Danielle present the second half of their interview with William Green. They discuss investing, staying resilient, and why it’s important to be knowledgeable as an investor.Value Investing requires staying rational. Learn what it takes to be a successful value investor with Phil’s NEW Value Investing Cheat Sheet: https://bit.ly/3wNJ97UGet a copy of William Green’s Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life here: https://bit.ly/35kYlNK Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

William Green is a journalist and author of Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life. Over the last quarter of a century, he has interviewed many of the world’s best investors and has written for many leading publications in the US and Europe, including The New Yorker, Time, Fortune, Forbes, Barron’s, Fast Company, Money, Worth, Bloomberg Markets, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, The New York Observer, The (London) Spectator, The (London) Independent Magazine, and The Economist. In Richer, Wiser, Happier, William Green draws conclusions on interviews that he’s conducted over twenty-five years with many of the world’s greatest investors. As he discovered, their talents extend well beyond the financial realm and into practical philosophy.  The most successful investors are iconoclasts who question conventional wisdom and profit vastly from their ability to think more rationally, rigorously, and objectively. But this is easier said than done when you are investing real money. Money you can’t afford to lose tends to be ‘hot’ or emotional. Pro gamblers try to avoid sitting down with more than they can lose but anyone investing all of their own hard-earned money is always sitting down with more than they can lose. Fear of losing more than you can afford to lose tends to make the mind go irrational. You start guessing. You can’t tell the difference between a good idea and a bad idea. Investing decisions are not life and death decisions, but remaining rational in the face of intense emotions is an art that is learned in the trenches. This week on InvestED, Phil and Danielle sit down to speak to William Green about investing, staying rational, and why you don’t need to be an expert to invest successfully.Value investing requires staying rational. Learn what it takes to be a successful investor with Phil’s NEW Value Investing Cheat Sheet: https://bit.ly/3wpZKhFGet a copy of William Green’s Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life here: https://bit.ly/35kYlNK  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up.” — Charlie MungerThat assertion is so powerful, but it’s easy to overlook how critical it is. The whole idea of Rule #1 Investing is researching and learning about companies that you love, and buying stocks at attractive prices. Part of researching a company is ensuring it has a margin of safety, good management, meaning to you, and lastly, a moat — or competitive advantage.Let’s focus on moat, for example. Charlie Munger loves Coca-Cola. He said that “Coca-Cola is the perfect business because it has this gigantic durable competitive advantage, or moat, which gives it predictable cash flow.” This allows us to figure out what the future cash flow will be and value the company today, so we know whether we can buy it on sale or not.Your job as an investor is to research industries you already understand, so you can recognize companies with strong moats. An example of a brand moat is Harley-Davidson’s notorious lifestyle branding. This approach has huge potential for brand building, and Harley is brilliant at it. They’ve built a lifestyle around the Harley-Davidson culture which will always be tough for competitors to compete with. These companies don’t come around often.Charlie Munger believes there are only a small number of real opportunities to get very high returns with very low risk. Maybe 20 in a lifetime. He said that if you remove the 10 best deals Warren and he ever did, Berkshire would have average market level performance. The only way to get those kinds of returns is to wait for the right opportunity to come along.In this episode of the InvestED podcast, Phil and Danielle discuss more of their favorite Charlie Munger quotes.Learn how to pick Rule #1 approved stocks with my Four Ms of Successful Investing Guide! Click the link here to download: https://bit.ly/3puoNO4  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“We recognized early on that very smart people do very dumb things, and we wanted to know why and who, so we could avoid them.” — Charlie MungerThe best investors in the world use the same principles. They have been around since the 1930s and they are still practiced today by the best investors in the world, including Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett, David Einhorn, and Mohnish Pabrai.One of those principles includes staying intently rational. But this is easier said than done when you are investing real money. Money you can’t afford to lose tends to be “hot” or emotional. Pro gamblers try to avoid sitting down with more than they can lose, but anyone investing all of their own hard-earned money is always sitting down with more than they can lose. Fear of losing more than you can afford to lose tends to make the mind go irrational. You start guessing.A way you can stay rational in uncertain times is to understand what companies you’re buying as if they were your own. Stick with what you know, and realize what you don’t know. Focus your attention on industries that you’re already comfortable with, and love what you own. Put your money where your values are. Most of us have the intention to make the world a better place, but seem to forget that the businesses that we invest in have a direct impact on what is going to exist in the world in 20 years.In this episode of the InvestED podcast, Phil and Danielle discuss more of their favorite Charlie Munger quotes, and how they impact their investing decisions. Learn more about investing like Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett with this FREE Investing for Beginners in 2021 Guide. Click here to download: https://bit.ly/3wJHj7m Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Inflation is the devaluation of a currency’s buying power. It occurs over time as the government pumps money into the economy and there’s a larger money supply buying a relatively fixed amount of stuff.Let’s say you’re 50 years old. You want to retire in 10 years at age 60 - we’ll figure 30 years in retirement and you’re putting money into a 401(k). Let’s assume you started with $100,000 today in your 401(k) and then contributed $2,000 a year into it because you’re putting your kids through college and that’s all you can put away.In 10 years, you would expect to make around 6% in your 401(k) (if your employer isn’t matching your money). A reasonable inflation rate is probably going to be about 3%. What this means is that in 10 years, when you’re ready to retire, at 6% with an inflation rate of 3%, you end up with $205,000 to retire on.Let’s assume that you’re going to live on $50,000 a year. You’ve got $205,000 right now, but 10 years from now it won’t be worth that at all. Inflation affects everything including the costs of living, so your $50,000 is going to be $67,000 a year to live that same basic $50,000 a year lifestyle. Even if you keep investing the money at 5% or 6%, inflation continues at 3%.How many years will you be able to live in retirement before you completely run out of money, spending only $50,000 a year in today’s dollars? The answer is 3 years. If you were to not learn how to invest, you’d need to come up with another $1.3 million to live on for 30 years.If you change your 6% return to 15%, you’re going to make a lot more money. 15% is in the range of a return that’s doable for any investor. What happens then? We’re going to keep all the things the same, but we’re going to increase the rate of return to 15%. At that point, your number becomes $540,000 and you’re only short about $96,000 to make it all the way through those 30 years of retirement.This week, Danielle and Phil discuss the impact inflation has on our investing practice. They also talk about Buffett’s solutions for “little guy” investors, and how we can set ourselves apart from others through our investing education. Learn how to invest with more confidence and less risk with this free Investing for Beginners in 2021 guide. Click here to download: https://bit.ly/3urGezS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 “It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.” — Charlie MungerMunger is the Vice Chairman of the world’s greatest compound interest machine: Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. In the time of his and Warren Buffett’s reign as the leaders of Berkshire, the company has returned roughly 2,000,000% on its initial value. We can learn a lot from Charlie Munger!Charlie Munger once said that “Coca-Cola is the perfect business because it has this gigantic durable competitive advantage, or moat, which gives it predictable cash flow.” This allows us to figure out what the future cash flow will be and value the company today, so we know whether we can buy it on sale or not.Charlie Munger also once stated that “You don’t make money when you buy and you don’t make money when you sell. You make money when you wait.” That assertion is so powerful that it is easy to overlook how critical it is. The whole idea of Rule #1 Investing is buying a stock low, and selling it high. But, the key here is that you’re doing nothing most of the time.When Charlie says, “Wait” he means, “Wait for 5 years if necessary”. If you’ve been given serious money to invest, waiting five years in cash is not a plan; it is a recipe for disaster.Charlie believes there are only a small number of real opportunities to get very high returns with very low risk. Maybe 20 in a lifetime. He said that if you remove the 10 best deals Warren and he ever did, Berkshire would have average market level performance. The only way to get those kinds of returns is to wait and wait for the right opportunity to come along.In today’s podcast, Phil and Danielle explain some of their favorite Charlie Munger quotes, and cover how many of the Rule #1 Investing principles are based on his teachings.Get inspired to invest like the world's greatest investors like Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett with this free guide: https://bit.ly/3fr7VmB Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Meeting took place on Saturday, May 1, featuring Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. In this episode, Phil and Danielle discuss more of the major highlights from the meeting.In the meeting, Buffett discussed his significant investment in Chevron."I think Chevron has benefited society in all kinds of ways, and I think it continues to do so," said Buffett. "We're going to need a lot of hydrocarbons for a long time, and we'll be very glad we've got them."While Buffett also stated, "Chevron is not an evil company in the least and I have no compunction about owning Chevron. If we owned the entire business, I would not feel uncomfortable about being in that business."This poses the question regarding investing with your values. Our personal values are incredibly important to successful investing. Almost no one talks about how to connect your values or your heart to where your money is going.Remember that wherever you’re putting your money is what is going to grow in the world. And by making the decision to invest based on our personal values, we can change the world radically. Probably faster than any single thing we could do is to put our money where our values are.Rule #1 investors only buy companies that we really want to see in the world. Now, how do you know what your values are? Your values are what you do. Your values are not what you say you’re going to do. Learn how to invest with your values first with my 3-Circles Guide. You’ll discover how to use what you know and love to find businesses that match your values and lifestyle. Click here to get started: https://bit.ly/3ofTar7 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Meeting took place on Saturday, May 1, featuring Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. In this episode, Phil and Danielle discuss some of the major highlights from the meeting.Munger took an aim at bitcoin and cryptocurrencies during the conglomerate’s annual meeting on Saturday, stating “I think the whole damn development is disgusting and contrary to the interests of civilization.”Buffett and Munger also discussed potential tax hikes from the Biden administration, and expressed not being concerned about them. Buffett mentioned that some companies try to fear-monger by saying the tax rates will be passed through to customers.“It's corporate fiction when they put out statements about the fact that it will be terrible for all of you people,” Buffett said.Buffett also stated that there is a lot more to investing than picking a budding or trending industry. Buffett warned newbie investors, and Phil and Danielle have always agreed with this take on smart investing. Listen to this InvestED podcast today to hear more highlights, and Phil and Danielle’s takeaways on the topics discussed in the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Meeting. Rule #1 has been built on the principles of a proven investing method used for the last 80 years by successful investors like Buffett. To invest the Rule #1 way means to “Never Lose Money,” but what it means in practical terms is to invest with certainty. Certainty comes from this: buying a wonderful business at an attractive price. The word wonderful actually encompasses three out of four elements in the Four Ms: Meaning, Moat, Management, and Margin of Safety. Learn more about the Four Ms with this free guide: https://bit.ly/3tjv2ED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The stock market crash of 2020 began on Monday, March 9, with history’s largest point plunge for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) up to that date. Some investors were scared or nervous but Rule #1 investors, like Danielle, were actually excited about the drop. She is confident in her investing decisions and realized it was an excellent opportunity to load up on more great companies.The market runs in cycles. It goes up, it goes down. But we have to look beyond the charts. While the cycles give us warning signs of potential crashes, predicting the market is not an exact science. The economy reacts to more than just the market cycles. You need to have the perfect storm — many events and economic conditions coming together — for a drop to happen. The important thing is to be prepared for whatever may happen in the market. Keep on saving for retirement and keep on making good investment decisions. Rule #1 investors know how to take advantage of all kinds of economic conditions, including market drops.If you understand the principles of Rule #1 investing, you will find opportunities to increase your long-term wealth. Rule #1 investors do not fear market crashes. They know that downturns provide the best buying opportunities.Today, Phil and Danielle discuss how to look at the market objectively so you have an advantage over other investors during a market drop. Learn how to pick stocks with this free guide I’ve created for you and be ready when your chosen companies go on sale. Preparation plus opportunity equals success. Click here to download: https://bit.ly/3nrRyKq Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices