Charlie Munger Said You Only Get a Few Trips ‘To The Pie Counter’ In Life — ‘When You Get Your Invitation, For God Sakes Don’t Take A Small Helping’
- Personal Finance
ThePostMaster- 0
- 7 minutes read
Most people spend their lives nibbling on the crusts of mediocrity, terrified of a little indigestion. But the late billionaire Charlie Munger didn’t build an empire by grazing. The legendary vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway understood that the universe doesn’t hand out gourmet opportunities on a silver platter every Tuesday.
In a CNBC interview in 2023, at 99, Munger laid out a lesson that shaped not only his investing philosophy but his entire approach to life. He didn’t dress it up in corporate jargon. He reached back to something his grandfather used to tell him — advice that stuck.
“You’re only going to get three or four of these invitations to the pie counter,” Munger said in the interview. “And when you get your invitation, for God’s sakes, don’t take a small helping.”
Don’t Miss:
It’s a homespun metaphor, but financially, it’s razor sharp.
Munger’s point wasn’t that you should swing wildly at every opportunity. It was the opposite. Truly exceptional opportunities are rare. Markets don’t constantly hand you mispriced, high-conviction bets. Businesses don’t frequently trade at obvious discounts with durable advantages. And life doesn’t offer unlimited moments where the odds meaningfully tilt in your favor.
When those moments arrive — after you’ve done the work, after you understand the variables — that’s when size matters.
He often summarized it even more bluntly in the interview: “Lever up when you’re sure you’re right.” The difficulty, of course, is embedded in that sentence. Being sure you’re right is incredibly hard. Certainty in markets is an illusion. That’s why, he said, you can’t do it very often.
Trending: This ETF issuer isn’t chasing the index — it’s building tools for income, leverage, and conviction
Munger told CNBC that he and Buffett could have used more leverage at times. Berkshire might have been worth substantially more. But they were stewards of other people’s money. If they had suffered a catastrophic loss, they personally would have remained wealthy. Many shareholders would not have. Protecting trust mattered more than squeezing out incremental gains.
That tension — between maximizing upside and honoring responsibility — is where Munger’s philosophy becomes more nuanced than the headline suggests. Take a big slice when the odds are overwhelmingly in your favor. But only after you’ve built the judgment to recognize one.
Munger also told CNBC that he was “very good at learning from dead people.” As a child, he was captivated by “Robinson Crusoe” by Daniel Defoe, a novel about self-reliance, discipline and rational problem-solving. He studied the great thinkers of the past, absorbed their mental models, and layered them into a latticework of understanding. That intellectual groundwork is what allowed him to act decisively when opportunity appeared.
See Also: You Saved for Retirement — But Do You Know What You’ll Keep After Taxes?
Sweet Metaphor With No Sugarcoating
Underneath the pie metaphor is a serious financial doctrine: patience, preparation and concentration create outsized outcomes. Most investors dilute their returns by overtrading, overdiversifying or chasing momentum. Munger believed wealth is built by waiting — sometimes for years — and then acting aggressively when a clear mispricing or structural advantage emerges.
You won’t get unlimited shots in markets. You’ll get a few moments when experience, temperament and circumstance align. His message wasn’t about bravado. It was about readiness. Do the work. Study relentlessly. Learn from history. And when the rare, high-probability opportunity arrives, don’t hesitate out of fear or social pressure.
Because in investing — and in life — the difference between a modest result and an extraordinary one often comes down to how much you were willing to take when the pie was finally passed your way.
Read Next: Why Billionaires Like Warren Buffett Prefer Real Assets Over Speculation—Institutional Real Estate Is Now Accessible to Individuals
Image: Shutterstock
