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Warren Buffett's Right-Hand Man's Advice on Getting on the Road to Riches

Fact checked by Stella OsobaJOHANNES EISELE / Contributor / Getty Images Warren Buffett sitting next to his right hand man, Charlie Munger, at an event.As Warren Buffett’s legendary right-hand man at Berkshire Hathaway, Charlie Munger spent decades building a $2.6 billion fortune. Munger’s advice on how to start building wealth was blunt and honest. It's also a stark contrast to the get-rich-quick promises that are so common today.Munger, who passed away in 2023, said the hardest part of getting rich is putting together that elusive first $100,000. Below, we'll discuss his advice on how to do it.Key Takeaways The initial accumulation of $100,000 is the hardest and most important step in building wealth, Munger says.Frugality, discipline, and patience are essential to getting to that threshold.Once you reach that critical threshold, compounding accelerates wealth growth.The Hardest Step: Building Your First $100,000Charlie Munger never sugarcoated the reality of starting to build wealth. He famously said:“The hard part of the process for most people is the first $100,000. If you have a standing start at zero, getting together $100,000 is a long struggle for most people. And I would argue that the people who get there relatively quickly are helped if they're passionate about being rational, very eager and opportunistic, and steadily underspend their income grossly. I think those three factors are very helpful.” Walking the Talk: Lessons From Munger's Early LifeMunger had been there. He once told The Wall Street Journal that in his first 13 years as a lawyer, his total income from practicing law was $300,000. At the end of those 13 years, he had $300,000 in liquid assets, plus a house and two cars."Everyone else'd have spent that slender income, not invested it shrewdly, and so forth," he said."I just think it was, to me, it was as natural as breathing, and of course I knew how compound interest worked! I knew when I saved $10 I was really saving $100 or $1,000 [because of the future growth of the $10], and it just took a little wait."Compounding and MomentumWaiting and the power of compounding were key elements of Munger's investment philosophy. And those still apply to wealth accumulation, with the payoff coming after years of struggle.Once you’ve reached that elusive first $100,000, compounding turns your savings into a snowball running downhill that grows larger with every rotation, provided you give it enough time. Munger often emphasized that after the hard work of saving your initial capital, “the big money is not in the buying or selling, but in the waiting.”For example, if you're starting out on a $60,000 annual salary and manage to save $10,000 each year, then invest that $10,000 into an S&P 500 index fund at the end of each year, it could take roughly eight years of disciplined saving to reach $100,000.After you reach $100,000, though, you can start to really gain momentum. Consider that the average annual return for the S&P 500 is 10%—your $100,000 could now be earning you as much as you struggled to save from your salary all those years.How to Get StartedLet's break down the second part of Munger's comment about saving the first $100,000:Be passionately rational: Be passionate about making even the smallest spending decisions based on long-term goals. Be eager and opportunistic: Stay focused on your financial goals to help motivate you, and look for any opportunity to save or make a shrewd investment.Grossly underspend: Munger didn't save his entire earned income over 13 years by indulging. He did it by being frugal (and investing his savings).Bottom LineThough demanding real commitment, Charlie Munger’s approach to getting rich was simple. The most difficult step is the first one: accumulating your first $100,000. Hitting this milestone requires sacrifice and relentless discipline. Once you’ve achieved this, the power of compounding and steady investing makes wealth building much more achievable over time. Munger’s advice was clear: there are no shortcuts to lasting financial success.
Greg Abel's Blueprint for Berkshire: Why Cash is Still King in Warren Buffett's Empire

Dan Brouillette/Getty Images Greg Abel, center in tie, has perhaps the biggest act to follow in corporate history after Warren Buffett steps down.Greg Abel is in a tough position. He’s about to replace the most famous investor in the world as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A., BRK.B) at a time when economic uncertainty is the big story, value investing isn’t as popular, and some shareholders are questioning why the company is hoarding record amounts of cash—almost $350 billion.Warren Buffett has said that Berkshire will be better under Abel's management and has said Abel understands businesses "extremely well." So what can we expect from Abel next? What has he said is "absolutely critical" for Berkshire's future?Key TakeawaysGreg Abel says not much will change when he replaces Buffett as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.Buying well-run, cash-generating companies with good long-term prospects at reasonable prices remains the company's focus.Buffett has said that Abel "understands capital allocation as well as I do" and that Berkshire's prospects "will be better under Greg’s management than mine."Berkshire’s Values Won’t ChangeAt the end of the first quarter of 2025, Berkshire Hathaway had about $348 billion in cash reserves. For some investors, that's not a mark of success, but of missed opportunities.Buffett has defended the company's cash pile. "We have made a lot of money by not wanting to be fully invested at all times," he said at Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting in May. He has noted that sometimes, investment prospects are lacking. "Often, nothing looks compelling; very infrequently we find ourselves knee-deep in opportunities," he wrote in his 2025 shareholder letter.People tend to listen to him, but Abel might not be granted the same patience.That pressure, however, isn’t expected to force Berkshire's next CEO to shift corporate strategy. Abel has said that the approach that worked for the past 60 years—buying well-run, cash-generative companies with good long-term prospects at reasonable prices—will continue.Cash Is KingBuffett often described Berkshire’s big stash of cash as a safety net rather than a sign of failure. Abel shares that philosophy. He said in May that access to lots of cash is “an enormous asset to have,” adding that it allows Berkshire to “weather the difficult times and not be dependent on anybody.”Berkshire has so much to spend because it’s been selling ample holdings—more than $100 billion in stock in 2024 alone—and paring back share repurchases. Another reason is the nature of the businesses Berkshire owns.Abel, who joined Berkshire in 2000, has said the company will continue to target and nurture companies generating lots of cash. “We have a great set of operating companies that do produce significant cash flows,” he said. “We intend to continue to ensure that’s a strength of Berkshire as we go forward. It’s absolutely critical to our long-term success.”The Power of Patient CapitalBerkshire investors generally can’t complain about how the company has been run. However, some might hope the new boss won’t be so hesitant to spend cash.Abel said that before pulling the trigger, “the value relative to the risks has to be right." A key factor is determining the economic prospects of target companies five, 10, and 20 years from now and seeing if that’s reflected in the share price. If the valuation is too lofty or the company’s future is unclear, Abel said Berkshire won’t invest."It's really the investment philosophy of how Warren and the team have allocated capital for the last 60 years," he said. "It will not change, and it's the approach we'll take as we go forward."The Bottom LineBerkshire Hathaway's corporate strategy isn’t expected to change when Abel takes over as CEO. If a company doesn’t produce significant cash flows, trade at a reasonable price, or have clear long-term economic prospects, Abel says he won’t buy it, regardless of how much excess cash Berkshire is sitting on.
The Death of the Bank Heist: Where Have All the Bank Robbers Gone?

Jeff Haynes/Getty Images Chicago police gather during a standoff with an alleged bank robber.Stealing from a bank has long been portrayed as the ultimate score for robbers. While Hollywood still portrays bank heists as the ultimate criminal jackpot, real-world data tells a starkly different story: FBI statistics show bank robberies have plummeted by 85% since their 1992 peak.Below, we assess the most commonly cited reasons.Key TakeawaysThe number of bank robberies recorded by the FBI has declined by about 85% since peaking in 1992.Robbing banks isn’t lucrative anymore. In 2019, the average payout was $4,200.Alternatives carry less risk and offer higher potential payouts.Theory 1: Not a Big Enough PayoutPerhaps the biggest reason people don't rob banks anymore is that it doesn't yield much money, and what little they get buys far less than it used to.In the late 1960s, a bank robbery netted about $5,200 ($46,000 in 2025). In 2019, the average dropped to $4,200.Theory 2: Fewer TargetsAn Investopedia analysis shows that the decline in average haul isn't because banks hold less cash—a widely held view. In fact, with massive industry consolidation, from about 24,000 banks and credit unions in 1992 to about 9,125 today, each remaining institution holds more money on average, even adjusting for inflation.Working with data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and U.S. Federal Reserve, while adjusting for inflation, we find that in 1992, the peak of bank robbing, banks held about $8 million each in 2025 dollars; today, data as of the fourth quarter of 2024 shows that would be closer to about $10 million, or about a 20% increase in real terms.A key data point seems to be not the value of what's held at the bank but that the number of potential targets has shrunk: not only has the number of banks shrunk since 1992 by 62%, but the job of bank teller is a dying occupation, as ATMs have become ubiquitous. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that the number of full-time tellers has dropped by half since 2007 (from about 340K to 173K), with a further 15% decline expected in the next decade.Theory 3: Easier To Get CaughtFederal data shows a consistent clearance rate of between 55% and 60% over time for bank robberies. That ranks it second behind murder, so you're less likely to be caught for almost any other crime that would net you someone else's funds.“The likelihood of catching a bank robber on or near the scene is higher than for other crimes,” a U.S. Department of Justice analysis points out. "This is because most bank robberies are reported very quickly, most occur during daylight hours, many have multiple witnesses, and some produce photographic images that can be used to canvas the surrounding area for suspects."Universal History Archive/Getty Images Modern federal law enforcement has its roots in the bank robberies of the 1930s, which led to the vast expansion of a previously minor agency, Bureau of Investigation, later the FBI. Above is the bullet-riddled car of the notorious duo Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, whose deaths showed that even then, such criminal careers were often short-lived.Theory 4: Tougher Prison SentencesNot only is it harder to evade jail time, but your sentence will likely be longer. In the U.S., bank robbery is typically a federal offense. According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the average sentence for bank robbers in 2021 was 10.25 years, while those convicted under federal statutes of engaging in all forms of robbery had average sentences of 8.75 years.2.6%While all bank robberies involve the threat of bodily harm by definition—otherwise they would be classified as theft (taking property without force or threat) or embezzlement (stealing via legal access)—they result in far less violence than popularly depicted. According to federal robbery statistics, victims sustained bodily injury in just 2.6% of bank robberies in 2021, compared with more than half (51.3%) of home robberies, 21.9% of carjackings, and 9.9% of retail business robberies.Theory 5: Better AlternativesToday, criminals don't need to sweat it out in a bank lobby, watching the clock tick while a nervous teller fumbles with cash drawers as sirens wail in the distance—they can empty bank accounts remotely.A single successful romance scam can net hundreds of thousands of dollars. Cryptocurrency fraudsters have stolen billions. And crucially, there's no hidden dye pack to trigger, letting anyone in sight instantly know what you've just done.The Bottom LineBank robbery is becoming a relic of a bygone era, taken down not necessarily by better policing, but by market forces that have changed the game. The era of the bank robbery is ending not through some dramatic police crackdown, but through simple economics—replaced by crimes that offer everything the old-fashioned heist promised but never delivered.