Charlie Munger once said finfluencers ‘mislead you on purpose’ — here’s the wealth-building plan he recommended instead
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Warren Buffett’s longtime business partner, the late Charlie Munger, had a reputation for being blunt when speaking with shareholders.
Whether he was talking about building wealth or expressing skepticism about cryptocurrency, Munger would often speak candidly.
During a 2019 shareholder meeting for his company, Daily Journal, Munger shared some choice words about day-trading influencers (1). In short, he wasn’t a fan of social media gurus teaching inexperienced investors how to trade stocks.
“If you take the modern world where people are trying to teach you how to come in and trade actively in stocks, well, I regard that as roughly equivalent to trying to induce a bunch of young people to start off on heroin,” he said. “It is really stupid.”
Here’s why the legendary investor was “tired” of get-rich-quick gurus.
Financial literacy remains a problem nationwide. According to a 2025 Gallup poll, 42% of Americans aged 18 to 29 seek financial advice on social media (2).
And survey results from the 2025 TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index found that only 48% of adults could correctly answer more than half the Index’s financial questions (3).
Munger thought it was silly for those who are already rich to make more money from “encouraging people to get rich by trading.”
“There are [also] people on TV, and they say ‘I have this book that will teach you how to make 300% a year, and all you have to do is pay for shipping,” he told shareholders. “They mislead you on purpose, and I get tired of it. I don’t think it’s right that we deliberately mislead people as much as we do.”
Listening to bad financial advice can have very real consequences for those who don’t understand the risk.
Rather than trust random advice from a day trader with a large Instagram following, it’s better to find an advisor you can build a direct relationship with. But finding the right finance professional to work with can feel overwhelming — and it should — trusting anyone with your money is a big deal.
Advisor.com exists to bridge this gap, helping you find the best advisor for your specific needs.
Their free service will match you with a curated list of the best options available to you from their database of thousands, ensuring you find a financial advisor you can trust.
There’s no shortage of financial advice being shared online. But while social media personalities hype up risky investing trends like cryptocurrency and meme stocks, both Buffett and Munger have long championed simple, passive investing.
They’ve consistently argued that most investors would struggle to beat the market, making index funds a compelling choice for the average person. In fact, the S&P 500 has delivered an average annual return of more than 14% over the past 10 years (4).
This low-risk, passive investment strategy only requires patience and time.
Contrast this with the fact that, from 2003 to 2023, 98.6% of actively managed domestic equity funds underperformed the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index (5). That’s likely one reason why Buffett is a huge proponent of the index.
“I recommend the S&P 500 index fund, and have for a long, long time to people — and I’ve never recommended Berkshire to anybody,” Buffett said at the 2021 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting. “I think a person who doesn’t know anything about stocks at all, I think they ought to buy the S&P 500 index (6).”
By consistently investing small amounts in index funds, you can harness the wisdom of Munger and Buffett’s advice.
Platforms like Acorns make it easy to begin investing in the kind of index funds they recommend.
Acorns is an automated investing app that rounds up your purchases to the nearest dollar and automatically invests the difference, helping build your investing muscle.
Acorns offers a range of ETFs, including the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), the iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF (IJH) and iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF (IJR).
“Investing is where you find a few great companies and then sit on your ass,” Munger once told shareholders at a Berkshire Hathaway meeting in 2000 (7).
Of course, finding those few great companies is easier said than done — but it’s important to avoid relying on questionable stock picks finance bros share on TikTok.
This is where Moby can help. Moby offers expert research and recommendations to help you identify strong, long-term investments.
In four years, and across almost 400 stock picks, their recommendations have beaten the S&P 500 by almost 12% on average. They also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Moby’s team spends hundreds of hours sifting through financial news and data to provide you with stock and crypto reports delivered straight to you. Their research keeps you up-to-the-minute on market shifts and can help reduce the guesswork behind choosing stocks and ETFs.
Real estate might be another investment worth adding to your portfolio. Although Munger was notoriously skeptical of certain property investments, Berkshire Hathaway has made several large real estate investments over the years.
For example, Berkshire Hathaway invested nearly $1 billion in two homebuilding companies, Lennar and D.R. Horton, according to a 2025 report from Realtor (8). Munger and Buffett’s firm seemed to be banking on growing demand for U.S. housing.
If you want to take advantage of the real estate market without buying a house, there are some solid options available.
Platforms like Arrived let you invest in shares of rental homes and vacation rentals without taking on the responsibilities of homeownership. Arrived handles property management, tenant turnover and repairs.
Backed by world-class investors like Jeff Bezos, Arrived makes it easy to fit rental properties into your investment portfolio regardless of your current income.
Another way to leverage real estate is by investing in multifamily rentals. One benefit of this market is that it provides protection thanks to multiple rent payments — so if any one tenant is late or chooses to move out, you’re still earning income from the others.
If diversifying into multifamily rentals appeals to you, you could consider investing with Lightstone DIRECT, a new investing platform from the Lightstone Group, one of the largest private real estate companies in the country with over 25,000 multifamily units in its portfolio.
Since they eliminate intermediaries — brokers and crowdfunding middlemen — accredited investors with a minimum investment of $100,000 can gain direct access to institutional-quality multifamily opportunities. This streamlined model can help reduce fees while enhancing transparency and control.
And with Lightstone DIRECT, you invest in single-asset multifamily deals alongside Lightstone — a true partner — as Lightstone puts at least 20% of its own capital into every offering. All of Lightstone’s investment opportunities undergo a rigorous, multi-stage review before being approved by Lightstone’s Principals, including Founder David Lichtenstein.
How it works is simple: Just sign up with your email, and you can schedule a call with a capital formation expert to assess your investment opportunities. From here, all you have to do is verify your details to begin investing.
Founded in 1986, Lightstone has a proven track record of delivering strong risk-adjusted returns across market cycles with a 27.6% historical net IRR and 2.54x historical net equity multiple on realized investments since 2004. All told, Lightstone has $12 billion in assets under management — including in industrial and commercial real estate.
As such, even if multifamily rentals don’t appeal to you, Lightstone could still serve you well as an investment vehicle for other real estate verticals.
