When Charlie Munger passed away this week, Twitter was absolutely flooded with grief, gratitude, quotes, and anecdotes. I felt a similar reaction as in 2009, when I attended Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting for the first time and found myself surrounded by 30,000 other visitors. My contrarian instinct kicked in. Clearly, I was late to this party. Even though I never returned1, the question remained lodged in my mind: why had Buffett and Munger become such a big deal? At first glance it was about the money. Stock markets of the mid and late 20th century turned out to be a gold mine for people who adopted the value ... (full story)