Charlie Munger bir keresinde herhangi bir şeyden kurtulmak için "hayatın demir kuralını" açıklamıştı ve bu sizi zengin edebilirdi. Kullanıyor musunuz?

Charlie Munger once revealed ‘the iron rule of life’ to survive anything — and it could make you rich. Do you use it?

Vishesh Raisinghani

Tue, September 15, 2026 at 2:15 PM GMT+3 7 min read

Photo by Johannes Eisele / AFP via Getty Image

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When he passed away at age 99, Charlie Munger, close associate of Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman, was fabulously wealthy. But in his youth, Munger suffered devastating setbacks and losses that would have broken most people.

"The iron rule of life is [that] everybody struggles," Munger told CNBC's Becky Quick (1) in his final television interview.

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He wasn't speaking abstractly. At age 31, Munger buried his 9-year-old son, Teddy, who died of leukemia, according to Janet Lowe's 2000 biography, Damn Right! Behind the Scenes with Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger (2). He also faced financial hardship after a bitter divorce. Munger told Quick he was devastated but determined not to let the grief consume him completely.

"The great philosophers of realism are also the great philosophers of what I call soldiering through," he said. "If you soldier through, you can get through almost anything. And it's your only option … You can cry all right. But you can't quit."

This iron rule of perseverance could easily apply to your personal finances. Here's how "soldiering through" could potentially make you rich.

The art of perseverance

In 2026, financial hardship is pretty much the norm. A whopping 95% of Americans believe the country is suffering an affordability crisis, according to a Harris Poll cited by The Guardian (3) and 57% believe the overall economy is getting worse.

Nearly 83% of U.S. adults reported feeling financial stress, strain or uncertainty that impacts their health, according to Edward Jones (4).

In short, if you're feeling bleak about money, you're far from alone. But succumbing to this despair could do more harm than good. Whether you start doomspending, borrowing to cover gaps in your finances or speculating recklessly to get ahead, you could do serious harm and derail your long-term financial future.

Instead, evidence suggests that Munger's "soldiering through" approach is much better during times of volatility and crisis. For instance, analysis by Capital Group (5) suggests that investors in the S&P 500 have a 26% chance of experiencing a negative return if they hold for under a year, but that probability drops to just 6% if they hold for 10 years.

Similarly, the chances of large-cap stocks outpacing inflation are 70% in any given year, according to Schroders (6), but that rate rises to 87% over a 10-year period and 100% over a 20-year period.

Simply put, perseverance pays off in the long run. And this straightforward principle could change your personal finances during a time of crisis.

What can you do?

For anyone experiencing financial strain and anxiety, the first step might be to create a cash buffer. Accumulating just a few hundred dollars can give you the wriggle room needed to deal with emergencies when they arise.

While you're doing that, you can also start thinking about how to build up your investment portfolio for retirement. But you don't necessarily have to think big. Even small amounts can grow over time with tools like Acorns, a popular app that automatically invests your spare change.

Here's how it works: All you have to do is link your cards and the app rounds up the difference from each purchase — your spare change — to invest into a diversified portfolio of ETFs managed by experts at leading investment firms like Vanguard and BlackRock.

For instance, if you buy a donut for $3.25, Acorns will round up the purchase to $4 and invest the change in a smart investment portfolio. So a $3.25 purchase automatically becomes a 75-cent investment in your future.

Think about gold

Another way to secure yourself, especially if you're worried about the economy or inflation, is to diversify into hard assets. In particular, gold has traditionally been considered a safe haven during economic turmoil and rising costs of living.

Priority Gold can help you add this precious metal to your portfolio in a tax-efficient way.

Gold IRAs allow investors to hold physical gold or gold-related assets within a retirement account, which combines the tax advantages of an IRA with the protective benefits of investing in gold, making it an attractive option for those looking to potentially hedge their retirement funds against economic uncertainty.

To learn more, you can get a free information guide that includes details on how to get up to $10,000 in free silver on qualifying purchases.

Diversifying through real estate

Real estate is another hard asset that's considered resilient during inflation.

Why? Because regardless of what's happening in the broader economy, people still need a place to live and apartments can consistently produce rent money, even if there's a downturn in the stock market.

Real estate also offers a built-in hedge against inflation. When inflation rises, property values often increase as well, reflecting the higher costs of materials, labor and land. At the same time, rental income tends to go up, providing landlords with a revenue stream that adjusts with inflation.

Of course, you don't need a stack of cash lying around — or even buy a single property outright — to invest in real estate these days. Platforms like Arrived have lowered the entry fee for this asset class in recent years.

Backed by world-class investors, including Jeff Bezos, Arrived allows you to invest in shares of vacation and rental properties, earning a passive income stream without the extra work that comes with being a landlord of your own rental property.

To get started, simply browse through their selection of vetted properties, each picked for their potential appreciation and income generation. Once you choose a property, you can start investing with as little as $100.

Plus, for a limited time, when you open an account and add $1,000 or more, Arrived will credit your account with a 1% match.

Get some professional help

Finally, you might want to consider making long-term investments in stocks only once you're feeling a little more confident. If you're new to investing, expert guidance could help you navigate the market.

For instance, Moby offers expert research and recommendations to help you identify strong, long-term investments backed by advice from former hedge fund analysts.

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.

Moby's 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 you reduce the guesswork behind choosing stocks and ETFs.

What's more, their reports are easy to understand for beginners, so you can become a smarter investor in just five minutes.

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