Charlie Munger Says People Could Be Happier If They Did This

Thanks to his years of leadership at Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK-A)(NYSE: BRK-B) and investing, Charlie Munger is a billionaire. Munger is well-known for not shying away from offering up opinions on a variety of topics, including cryptocurrency and retail investors.

Munger drew parallels between life today and life centuries ago to offer a deeper understanding of our present circumstances.

What Happened: As the long-serving vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Munger is known for his decades of friendship with legendary investor Warren Buffett.

Munger is also known for sharing words of wisdom and looking at things through a different lens.

In 2022, Munger shared his thoughts on the current state of the world, noting that people aren’t as happy as they should be.

“People are less happy about the state of affairs than they were when things were way tougher,” Munger said at the Daily Journal annual meeting.

Munger, who is a director at the Daily Journal, shared that people should be happy with what they have and how much the world has improved.

“It’s weird for somebody my age, because I was in the middle of the Great Depression, when the hardship was unbelievable.”

Munger recalled growing up in the 1930s and also the previous factors that people went through in the 1800s.

“Life was pretty brutal, short, limited and what have you. (There was) no printing press, no air conditioning, no modern medicine.”

Related Link: Charlie Munger's 3 Word Piece Of Advice Helped Warren Buffett And Could Help You Too

Why It’s Important: The speech at the Daily Journal meeting comes as Munger has downplayed the impact of wealth and income inequality.

Munger said that politicians who attribute wealth inequality as a contributing factor to happiness are “idiots,” as reported by CNBC.

The Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman has previously stated that some degree of wealth and income disparity is requisite for the functioning of a free market economy.

“I can’t change the fact that a lot of people are very unhappy and feel very abused after everything’s improved by about 600%, because there’s still somebody else who has more.”

Munger also pointed out that factors such as increased life expectancy and diminished global poverty indicate that the world could be in a better state today than it was hundreds of years ago.

The billionaire underscored that people's happiness could be increased if they focused on positive aspects, and appreciated how much better life is today compared to what it could have been if they existed in a different era.

As he has done in the past, Munger's insightful words encourage a shift in perspective.

Read Next: Billionaire Charlie Munger Reveals Key To Wealth, Health And Happiness 

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