Charlie Munger Gave His No. 1 Tip For A Long and Happy Life — 'Avoid Crazy at All Costs' But Watch Out, 'Crazy Is Way More Common Than You Think'

If Warren Buffett was the voice of calm in the financial world, Charlie Munger was the dry, sharp-edged whisper reminding everyone not to do anything stupid.

The legendary investor, who died in November 2023 just weeks shy of his 100th birthday, left behind more than just billions and Berkshire Hathaway stock. He left behind decades of quotes—Mungerisms—that read like a masterclass in life, investing, and avoiding disaster. And in one of his final interviews with CNBC's Becky Quick, recorded two weeks before he death, he summed up his secret to a long, successful life in one perfect line:

"Avoid crazy at all costs."

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Then, with the kind of understated menace only Munger could deliver, he added:

"Crazy is way more common than you think. It's easy to slip into crazy. Just avoid it, avoid it, avoid it."

It was classic Munger: witty, blunt, and almost annoyingly accurate.

Though he downplayed any "secret" to long life, the billionaire investor made it clear he lived by one core strategy—don't blow yourself up. "My game in life was always to avoid all standard ways of failing," he said. Whether it was personal vices or financial recklessness, Munger dodged them with near-religious consistency. "You teach me the wrong way to do something, I will avoid it," he said. "And, of course, I've avoided a lot, because I'm so cautious."

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That caution was more than just a lifestyle—it was a business philosophy. Buffett once summed it up like this: "There are only three ways a smart person can go broke: liquor, ladies, and leverage." Munger agreed. While the two could have doubled Berkshire Hathaway's value by using borrowed money, they didn't. Why? Because they didn't want to destroy the wealth of everyday shareholders if things went south. "We ran it very cautiously," Munger explained.

When asked what "crazy" actually looks like, Munger pointed to exactly those traps—addiction, overconfidence, reckless risk-taking. "If it can take that many fine people into deep trouble," he said, "stay away from it."

Munger wasn't a saint—he joked that he had two vices of his own he couldn't give up: peanut brittle and Diet Coke. But those indulgences didn't land anyone in bankruptcy court.

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The man who once said, "If people weren't so often wrong, we wouldn't be so rich," made a career—and a life—out of avoiding obvious mistakes. He didn't chase fads, didn't gamble, and didn't overcomplicate things. Instead, he built an empire by staying clear-eyed, brutally logical, and grounded in the idea that surviving was just as important as thriving.

He may not have made it to 100, but Charlie Munger made almost every day of those 99 years count—and left behind the simplest, most Munger-style roadmap of all:

Avoid crazy. Because chances are, it's already closer than you think.

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