Charlie Munger never pretended the next leader of Berkshire Hathaway would be another Warren Buffett. He said it outright — years before the succession plan became real, and long before Greg Abel officially took over.
“I think the top guy won’t be as smart as Warren. But it’s silly to complain: ‘What kind of world is this that gives me Warren Buffett for 40 years and then some bastard comes along who’s worse?'”
That line, published in “Poor Charlie’s Almanack,” wasn’t cynicism. It was expectation management — Munger’s specialty. And now, in 2026, it reads less like a joke and more like a roadmap for how investors should think about Berkshire’s future.
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Buffett is no longer CEO. Abel is. Buffett remains chair, but day‑to‑day control of the trillion-dollar conglomerate has passed to the man Buffett named as his successor back in 2021. The transition became official at the start of this year, marking the first time in more than six decades that Berkshire is being run by someone other than Buffett.
If that makes people uneasy, Munger saw that coming too.
At a 2003 Wesco Financial meeting, Munger addressed the most common fear head‑on: what happens to Berkshire without Buffett. His answer was blunt and calm. “If [Warren] were gone, we couldn’t invest the money as well,” he said. “But the place is drowning in money — we have great businesses pounding out money. There’s no reason to think it will go to hell in a bucket.”
He went further. “I’d be horrified if it isn’t bigger and better over time, even after Warren dies.”
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Munger wasn’t talking in theory. He had enormous personal exposure to Berkshire, and he understood the difference between a personality‑driven company and a system‑driven one. Berkshire, in his view, was the latter.
“Once it’s built, you don’t need to be Warren and Charlie,” he said in his later years, a remark later reported by The Wall Street Journal. “What we have is a framework for looking at investments.”
That framework is what Abel inherits.
Abel spent years running Berkshire’s non‑insurance businesses, overseeing everything from railroads to utilities to manufacturing. He’s not a stock‑picker in the Buffett mold, and he’s not expected to be. What he is, according to Buffett, is disciplined, rational, and deeply aligned with Berkshire’s culture — which Munger always argued mattered more than genius.
Investors are still adjusting. Analysts talk about a succession discount, and there’s no denying that Berkshire without Buffett feels different. But Munger never promised a clone. He promised continuity.
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Buffett, on the other hand, seems to think Abel’s exactly the right kind of successor — smart enough, steady enough, and grounded enough to carry the torch.
In May, he told CNBC that he would rather have Abel manage his own money “than any of the top investment advisers or any of the top CEOs in the United States.” Coming from Buffett, that’s not just high praise — it’s a vote of confidence with real financial weight behind it.
It also speaks to what really matters in transitions like this: trust. Not charisma, not copy-paste genius — just knowing your money’s in the hands of someone who won’t do something dumb with it.
And that idea extends far beyond Berkshire. Whether you’re managing a portfolio, planning for retirement, or trying to avoid your own “hell in a bucket” moment, it helps to have someone you trust guiding the way. If you don’t have an Abel in your life, it might be time to find one.
WiserAdvisor’s free tool can match you with a vetted financial adviser — no pressure, no pitch — just someone qualified to help you build a plan you’ll actually want to stick with.
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This article Charlie Munger Said The Berkshire Successor Won't Be As 'Smart' As Warren Buffett —'But There's No Reason To Think It Will Go To Hell In A Bucket' originally appeared on Benzinga.com
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