What Did 99-Year-Old Charlie Munger Regret? "I Would Have Started Earlier" | How Much Starting 10 Years Late Costs

Source: CNBC, “Watch Legendary Investor Charlie Munger’s Final Interview With CNBC” (YouTube). Quotes are from the English audio and used for commentary only. The math uses a hypothetical scenario and doesn’t represent any investment’s actual return.

This short got 44,000 plays on Facebook, and it’s one of the first I ever made. The clip is only a few dozen seconds, so this post fills in the context of that interview and does the math on how much “starting earlier” is worth.

The conclusion in three sentences:

• Munger’s biggest regret wasn’t any single investment — it was “starting too late.”
• What compounding needs most is time. With the same monthly amount, starting 10 years later can leave you with less than half.
• Today is the earliest day you have.

What exactly did Munger say?

Charlie Munger was vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett’s partner for more than six decades. He died in 2023, one month short of 100. His final CNBC interview was recorded about two weeks before his death, at the home he had lived in for 60 years.

The host asked: if you could go back, what would you change?

He joked first: “Of course it would be a cinch to go back and do it knowing what was going to happen. I would be the richest man on earth.”

The host pressed: so what did you miss?

“Well, I would have started earlier, for one thing. And I would have compounded longer, and I would have come out of it better. So, saved even more.”

Then he said something heavy:

“I’m aware of the fact that I basically screwed up, given the hand I was dealt. I could have done a lot better — quite easily done a lot better.”

That’s a 99-year-old worth billions of dollars talking.

How much does starting 10 years late cost?

The simplest assumption: save NT$10,000 every month, assume a 7% annual return (an assumption, not a guarantee), and keep going until 65.

Starting at 25 instead of 35, you contribute only NT$1.2 million more, but end up with about NT$14 million more.

That’s what Munger meant by “compounded longer.” Compounding grows fastest in the final years, and the later you start, the less of those years you get.

What if I’m not young anymore?

Looking at this table, you might think: “I’m in my 40s. It’s too late.”

Munger saying at 99 that “I should have started earlier” isn’t about making you regret; it’s about not waiting any longer. You can’t go back to 25, but you can stop your 45-year-old self from regretting, once again, not starting at 35.

My own approach is simple. I call it “paying your future self first” (財富自提): when my paycheck arrives, a set amount goes straight into dollar-cost averaging — for me that’s 0050, the S&P 500 and QQQ — and I add more when I have spare cash. I don’t wait until the end of the month to save whatever’s left.

FAQ

The short video

Further reading

Lazy conclusion

懶大

金融科技新創 CEO | 獨立財務顧問

1. Munger’s regret: “I would have started earlier, and compounded longer”
2. What 10 years costs: NT$10,000 a month at an assumed 7% — about NT$26.25 million starting at 25, about NT$12.2 million starting at 35
3. NT$1.2 million more in contributions, NT$14 million more at the end: compounding needs time most of all
4. Not young anymore? Don’t let your future self regret again — start now

If even a legend thinks he started too late, today is the earliest day you have.

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Sources

• CNBC: “Watch Legendary Investor Charlie Munger’s Final Interview With CNBC” (YouTube, video id H5Oom5Rjp_Y)
• Math: NT$10,000 a month, monthly compounding at 7%/12; future value = 10,000 × [(1 + r)^n − 1] ÷ r

This post is interview commentary and hypothetical math. It is not investment advice; investing carries the risk of loss.