#186 Tom Gayner: Invest Like The Best

The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish

Farnam Street

Business, Investing, Entrepreneurship

4.7 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 23 January 2024

⏱️ 129 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Tom Gayner, CEO of Markel Group, reveals the lessons he’s learned from Charlie Munger and Berkshire Hathaway, how he invests, and the specific way he thinks about opportunity cost.

Gayner shares the difference between good debt and bad debt, where he disagrees with Munger, and why he focuses on the basics.

This intimate conversation offers a level of insight and honesty that Tom hasn’t offered anywhere else.

Gayner is currently the CEO of Markel Group and the Director of The Coca‑Cola Company. He also serves as chairman of the Davis Series Mutual Funds board and on the boards of Graham Holdings and Markel.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	And there do come points where you're past the point of no return.
0:04.4	Those words exist. That sentence exists because it means something.
0:08.8	Acknowledge the point is out there and just try to be thoughtful and aware and make a decision that you think is
0:14.6	reasonable, rational, thoughtful.
0:18.0	If you're judging yourself by the outcome in the short run, you're going to make more mistakes
0:22.4	than you otherwise would. You should have some sensation of the process and doing the right sort of process which again is that discipline of just being thoughtful about things. That I think is going to be the best the Knowledge Project, a podcast about mastering the best of what other people have already figured out so you can apply their insights to your life.
1:01.0	I'm your host, Shane Parish.
1:05.0	Every Sunday I send out the brain food newsletter to over 600,000 people.
1:09.4	It's considered noise cancelling headphones for the internet,
1:12.2	and it's full of timeless
1:13.5	wisdom you can apply to life and work. It takes about five minutes to go through
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1:32.0	where you just want to support the show you love, you can join at
1:35.1	FS.
1:36.1	Check out the show notes for a link.
1:40.7	Today my guest is Tom Gaynor, the CEO of Markel Corporation.
1:45.0	Tom is widely respected for both his investment, Acumen, and his character.
1:50.0	He joined Markel in 1990 and has been instrumental to its growth.
1:54.7	It's the first time I've really gotten a chance to sit down and chat with him.
1:58.3	We've had casual conversations before, but this was different.
2:01.4	In this episode, we talk about the lessons
	...

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