The 'punk rocker of Wall Street': Investors react to Charlie Munger's passing

A punk rocker. A Renaissance man. A contrarian.

These were among many descriptions of Charlie Munger offered Wednesday by money managers as the investing community reflected on the passing of one of its icons.

All agreed that the longtime vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway challenged investors to think differently about how they allocated their money.

They said he encouraged them to have long time horizons and not to chase fads or whims. He even taught his longtime business partner Warren Buffett a few things.

Munger was "a punk rocker of Wall Street," Lee Munson, Portfolio Wealth Advisors president, said on Yahoo Finance Live.

He "wanted to do things other people didn’t want to do," added Bill Smead, founder and chairman of Smead Capital.

George Seay, co-founder and chairman of Annandale Capital, called him "a Renaissance man."

Munger died Tuesday night in a California hospital roughly one month before his 100th birthday. Buffett, the CEO of Berkshire, said in a statement that "Berkshire Hathaway could not have been built to its present status without Charlie’s inspiration, wisdom and participation."

Tributes poured in from some of the biggest names in business. In a statement provided to Yahoo Finance, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said that "Charlie Munger was a first-class investor and person" who focused on "the long term" and "the quality of companies and the character of their leadership."

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said "Charlie Munger was a legendary figure in the investment community. There are many who benefited greatly from his wisdom."

Both Munger and Buffett were longtime believers in a philosophy known as value investing, a style of stock picking designed to identify companies whose market prices don’t reflect the underlying value. It was a style made famous by Benjamin Graham, who was a mentor to Buffett.

Munger, according to Smead, was the one who challenged Buffett to adjust this strategy as more investors used technology to gain equal access to information, thus reducing an advantage that Berkshire once had.

"Munger said you've got to make your money by better decisions, that's what this is all tied to, making better decisions off the information that everyone has," Smead added.

Munger also encouraged Buffett to broaden his framework to consider buying into "great companies at merely good prices," Munson added.

That means looking at companies offering "growth at a reasonable price," Seay added.

As for what Munger’s passing means for Berkshire Hathaway long term, Munson said, "I really don’t think it is going to be a concern of investors" due to a new breed of executives who have learned from both Munger and Buffett.

"In fact, I would always look for opportunities where people get emotional about these cult heroes passing away and thinking that Berkshire's best days are behind them."

After briefly falling premarket, Berkshire's (BRK-A, BRK-B) class A and class B stock were up slightly Wednesday by noon New York time.

David Hollerith is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance covering banking, crypto and other areas in finance.

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