#189 Chris Davis: Three Generations of Wealth
The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish
Farnam Street
4.7 • 2.9K Ratings
🗓️ 5 March 2024
⏱️ 161 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Most families who obtain immense wealth squander it by the third generation. But Chris Davis comes from a family whose grandfather and father all became independently wealthy of each other, and Davis has done the same. How does that keep happening? In this conversation, we find out.
Shane and Chris discuss life and investment lessons he learned from his father and grandfather, why writing is more important to clarify one's thinking no matter who's reading it, and the surprising benefit of reading physical newspapers and wearing ties to work. Davis also shares his value-investing philosophy, what he learned from working with and meeting Charlie Munger, and what parents can do to raise kids who aren't entitled. Davis talks about his alcohol drink tracker and why it's important to him, why he never puts himself in situations where envy can grow, and Warren Buffett's letter about why investment managers underperform.
Chris Davis has been a Director of The Coca-Cola Company since April 2018. Davis is Chairman of Davis Selected Advisers-NY, Inc., an independent investment management firm founded in 1969. Davis joined Davis Selected Advisers-NY, Inc. in 1989 as a financial analyst and in 1995, he became a portfolio manager of the firm’s flagship funds. Prior to joining Davis Selected Advisers-NY, Inc., he served as a research analyst at Tanaka Capital Management and as an accountant at State Street Bank and Trust Co.
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(00:00) Intro
(03:20) Life lessons Davis learned from his grandfather and father
(26:24) The importance of writing things no one reads
(36:55) Davis' experiences through financial crises
(52:31) Why Davis loves managing a mutual fund
(55:49) Why Berkshire Hathaway operates with margin
(01:01:05) What is risk?
(01:04:02) On low interest rates and their future impact
(01:14:46) The mismatched timelines between CEOs, companies, investors, and policy
(01:22:19) How Davis and Munger met
(01:30:20) Lessons learned from Munger
(01:41:29) Why avoiding weaknesses is the ultimate recipe for success
(01:55:46) How to raise non-entitled kids and avoid lifestyle creep
(01:16:10) On happiness
(02:27:00) Good vs. bad board meetings
(02:31:34) Three generations of wealth
(02:37:15) On success
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I just think you have to think about how do you position. You have no idea if you're going to be |
| 0:04.9 | sailing through a storm. Be prepared for that and have redundancy, have resiliency, but you know imagining there's some tropical island where you can go and |
| 0:15.7 | drop the anchor and just waded out, that's not an option. |
| 0:20.1 | There is no safe harbor. Welcome to the Knowledge Project, a podcast about mastering the best of what other people have already figured out so you can |
| 0:44.4 | apply their insights to your life. I'm your host, Shane Parish. A quick favor to |
| 0:51.4 | ask before we start. Most people listening to this |
| 0:54.3 | podcast on Apple or Spotify haven't yet hit the follow button. If you can hit the |
| 0:59.7 | follow button right now, I would appreciate it. The more people who follow the show the |
| 1:04.8 | better the guests I can get. Thank you so much and enjoy the conversation. |
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| 1:19.8 | FS dot blog slash membership check out the show notes for a link. |
| 1:24.4 | Today my guest is Christopher Davis, a member of the board of directors of Berkshire Hathaway |
| 1:30.5 | and the Coca-Cola Company and the |
| 1:33.2 | chairman of Davis Select Advisors, an independent investment |
| 1:36.3 | management firm founded in 1969 that oversees about 20 |
| 1:39.8 | billion in client assets. |
| 1:41.8 | If you recognize the name, this conversation needs no |
| 1:44.8 | introduction, just dive right in and if you don't recognize the name, you will love |
| 1:49.0 | this conversation. It's not just about investing. We talk so much about life and living. |
| 1:54.2 | Oh, it's just fascinating. |
| 1:55.8 | Tom Gaynor introduced us, and it was like finding this older brother |
... |
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