For Charlie Munger, living in a relatively modest house wasn’t an accident — it was a conscious choice.
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.
“[Buffett and I] are both smart enough to have watched our friends who got rich build these really fancy houses,” Munger said. “And I would say in practically every case, they make the person less happy, not happier.”
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.”
Another drawback to owning a mega-mansion, he added: Such an ostentatious display of wealth could spoil his kids by encouraging them to “live grandly.” Munger had nine children across two marriages, including two step-sons and a son who died of leukemia at age 9.
“[Buffett and I] both considered bigger and better houses,” Munger said. “I had a huge number of children, so it was justifiable even. And I still decided not to live a life where I look like the Duke of Westchester or something. And I was going to avoid it. I did it on purpose … I didn’t think it would be good for the children.”
As Munger alluded to, Buffett lives similarly: The 93-year-old billionaire bought his house in Omaha, Nebraska, for $31,500 in 1958, and has lived there ever since. Buffett’s quality of life would “be worse if [he] had six or eight houses,” he reportedly said at Berkshire Hathaway’s 2014 shareholder meeting.
Munger often preached the merits of living modestly, giving advice like “don’t have a lot of envy” and “don’t overspend your income.” In the Thursday interview, he credited his success and longevity to a long-held sense of caution and an ability “to…
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