Moneywise and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue through links in the content below.<\/em><\/p>\n Warren Buffett\u2019s longtime business partner, the late Charlie Munger, had a reputation for being blunt when speaking with shareholders.<\/p>\n Whether he was talking about building wealth or expressing skepticism about cryptocurrency, Munger would often speak candidly.<\/p>\n During a 2019 shareholder meeting for his company, Daily Journal, Munger shared some choice words about day-trading influencers (1). In short, he wasn\u2019t a fan of social media gurus teaching inexperienced investors how to trade stocks.<\/p>\n \u201cIf 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,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is really stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s why the legendary investor was \u201ctired\u201d of get-rich-quick gurus.<\/p>\n 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).<\/p>\n 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\u2019s financial questions (3).<\/p>\n Munger thought it was silly for those who are already rich to make more money from \u201cencouraging people to get rich by trading.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere are [also] people on TV, and they say \u2018I have this book that will teach you how to make 300% a year, and all you have to do is pay for shipping,\u201d he told shareholders. \u201cThey mislead you on purpose, and I get tired of it. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s right that we deliberately mislead people as much as we do.\u201d<\/p>\n Listening to bad financial advice can have very real consequences for those who don\u2019t understand the risk.<\/p>\n Rather than trust random advice from a day trader with a large Instagram following, it\u2019s better to find an advisor you can build a direct relationship with. But finding the right finance professional to work with can feel overwhelming \u2014 and it should \u2014 trusting anyone with your money is a big deal.<\/p>\n Advisor.com exists to bridge this gap, helping you find the best advisor for your specific needs.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Set up a free, no obligation consultation to see if they\u2019re the right fit for you.<\/p>\n There\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n They\u2019ve 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).<\/p>\n This low-risk, passive investment strategy only requires patience and time.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s likely one reason why Buffett is a huge proponent of the index.<\/p>\n \u201cI recommend the S&P 500 index fund, and have for a long, long time to people \u2014 and I’ve never recommended Berkshire to anybody,\u201d Buffett said at the 2021 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting. \u201cI think a person who doesn\u2019t know anything about stocks at all, I think they ought to buy the S&P 500 index (6).\u201d<\/p>\n By consistently investing small amounts in index funds, you can harness the wisdom of Munger and Buffett\u2019s advice.<\/p>\n Platforms like Acorns make it easy to begin investing in the kind of index funds they recommend.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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).<\/p>\n Sign up now, and for a limited time, you can receive a $20 bonus investment to kickstart your portfolio.<\/p>\n \u201cInvesting is where you find a few great companies and then sit on your ass,\u201d Munger once told shareholders at a Berkshire Hathaway meeting in 2000 (7).<\/p>\n Of course, finding those few great companies is easier said than done \u2014 but it\u2019s important to avoid relying on questionable stock picks finance bros share on TikTok.<\/p>\n This is where Moby can help. Moby offers expert research and recommendations to help you identify strong, long-term investments.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Moby\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Plus, their reports are easy to understand for beginners, so you can become a smarter investor in just five minutes.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s firm seemed to be banking on growing demand for U.S. housing.<\/p>\n If you want to take advantage of the real estate market without buying a house, there are some solid options available.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n To get started, just browse a curated selection of homes, each vetted for their appreciation and income potential.<\/p>\n Once you find a property you love, choose the number of shares you want to buy and start investing with as little as $100.<\/p>\n 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 \u2014 so if any one tenant is late or chooses to move out, you\u2019re still earning income from the others.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Since they eliminate intermediaries \u2014 brokers and crowdfunding middlemen \u2014 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.<\/p>\n And with Lightstone DIRECT, you invest in single-asset multifamily deals alongside Lightstone \u2014 a true partner \u2014 as Lightstone puts at least 20% of its own capital into every offering. All of Lightstone\u2019s investment opportunities undergo a rigorous, multi-stage review before being approved by Lightstone\u2019s Principals, including Founder David Lichtenstein.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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 \u2014 including in industrial and commercial real estate.<\/p>\n As such, even if multifamily rentals don\u2019t appeal to you, Lightstone could still serve you well as an investment vehicle for other real estate verticals.<\/p>\n Get started today with Lightstone DIRECT and invest alongside experienced professionals with skin in the game.<\/p>\n We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our<\/em> editorial ethics and guidelines<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n CNBC (1); Gallup (2); GFLEC (3); S&P (4, 5); Buffett Online (6); Investor Archive (7); Realtor (8)<\/p>\n