A look into my soul
Hi Partner 👋
Today I’m giving you an insight in my soul.
This article will be very personal. It shows you my definition of true wealth.
Let’s start living a Richer, Wiser & Happier life together.
The Dominican Republic
At the end of October, I flew from Belgium to Punta Cana (the Dominican Republic).
The goal?
Zoom out and think about the companies we own
Strategically think about Compounding Quality
Figure out what a truly fulfilling life means
I hired an Airbnb for an entire month and traveled to the other side of the world.
Some friends would come and visit me, but I would spend most of the time on my own.
This was done on purpose. I wanted to have a Think Week.
A Think Week is when you step away from your daily work to unplug, read, and think deeply about new ideas.
But I just did for a month.
The view from my balcony looked as follows:
I absolutely loved the first two weeks of my stay.
The views were astonishing. The Dominican Republic is a beautiful country:
While it might surprise you, I was quite productive:
I read roughly 4 books a week (I read over 100 books this year in total)
I made a lot of progress on researching our stocks
I made some very important strategic decisions for the business
…
I can already tell you I’m full of new ideas and can’t wait to implement them at Compounding Quality.
To show you how productive this was... Here’s an overview of the notes I took:
My friends and family would probably describe me as a workaholic.
I easily spend over 100 hours per week on Compounding Quality. It’s the moral duty I have towards you. The reader. An invaluable Partner.
This is my passion. My life. My everything.
Please don’t show the statement above to my spouse. You found something to bribe me with right now. :)
Saving taxes?
Let me confess something to you.
In the last year, my accountant and several people other people told me I should move out of Belgium, so I could save a ton of taxes.
It’s not something I’m very proud of, but I thought: “They may be right.”
I wanted to live in another country for a month to see if it was something for me.
The only thing I need is a stable internet connection. I could basically work from anywhere in the world.
During the first two weeks of my stay, I was having a lot of fun.
I loved it, and I could see myself living abroad.
But after a while, things changed… I start feeling empty. Very empty.
“What the ... am I doing at the other side of the world completely on my own? Where 90% of the population doesn’t even speak English?!”
(They speak Spanish in the Dominican Republic)It caused me to do some deep thinking. About business. But also, about life.
I came to a very important conclusion for myself.
I missed my friends.
I missed my family.
I missed my life.
At the end of your life, there are only three things that truly matter:
How much love you gave
How much love you received
How much you gave back to society
So, to answer this question for myself: “Could I move abroad to save taxes?”
Absolutely not.
Moving for taxes means you leave your family and friends behind and can only see them a few times a year.
I found out that this would make me poor, very poor. Even if I ended up with way more money.
I don’t claim to speak for everyone, but that’s how it feels for me.
As Warren Buffett said:
“If you’re paying a lot in taxes, it means you’re doing well... and that’s a privilege.”You know how many divorces the top 10 richest people have had in their life? 13.
That’s ridiculous.
Some people work their ass off, achieve all the financial success in the world, but have a poor life.
A great friend of mine is seen as very successful in life according to metrics like status and money.
He’s worth over $100 million and everyone admires him from the outside.
But guess what? His kids don’t talk with him anymore.
The reason? He obsessed so much over his business that he neglected his children (and all other important things in life).
If you ask me, you failed in life when this happens to you because of your own mistake.
That’s also why I think Charlie Munger was way ‘richer’ than Warren Buffett.
While I look up to Warren Buffett, he put too much emphasis on just one thing: making money.
A few examples:
While Susie (his first wife) had cancer and was vomiting, he came back with a colander for her
He refused to lend his daughter $41,000 for a kitchen remodel, telling her to “go to the bank like everyone else,” even though he was already a billionaire.
His first wife eventually moved out because his life was fully built around business, not around their relationship.
Charlie Munger was different.
He lived live through an inner scorecard.
He had many different fields of interest in life and was a very good man for his environment.
I would recommend everyone to read the book Poor Charlie’s Almanack. I reread it every single year.
It has key insights about how to live a successful life.
What truly makes you happy?
You have to ask yourself what truly makes you happy.
What is the true definition of living a successful live to you?
The answer is different for everyone.
I’ve come to the realization that I’ve been too obsessed about money for the first 28 years of my life.
The definition of financial independence?
Being able to do what you want to do, whenever you want to do it, with whomever you want to do it with.
The key thing to lead a happy life? Have one thing… Enough.
And don’t get me wrong about this.
I think there is no substitute for hard work in life.
If you are living an intentional life and you truly know where you want to go, you can outperform 99% of all people.
You can achieve the life of your dreams. You just have to be willing to put in the work.
And now?
My time in the Dominican Republic provided me with a lot of insights.
Insights I needed. Insights to live a richer life. A more intentional life. A more fulfilled life.
An honest realization?
The past 3 years, I’ve spent every hour of the day on investing and Compounding Quality.
In the meantime, I completely neglected all other important aspects in life.
I stopped investing in myself.
What an empty way to live…
Over the next few months, I will work on myself.
I need to develop myself. Make myself stronger. More stable.
This will also be beneficial to you. It will allow me to provide you with even more invaluable (investment) insights.
Because guess what, Partner?
I’m 29 years old. Warren Buffett is 95.
The goal is to keep doing this for the next 66 years.
Doing it together with you is an absolute privilege.
What the future will bring
It will be wonderful to write the next chapter of this journey together with you.
Here are some key goals for the future.
Personal goals:
Give back more to society
Live life through an inner scorecard
Don’t use money as your most important goal
Spend at least 4 hours per week on working on yourself
Become a better friend and family member (it’s all about love)
Goals Compounding Quality:
Keep growing and learning as an investor
Make every Partner feel seen, supported, and valued
Outperform the markets by 3% per year in the long term
Make the Community the most vibrant investing community in the world
Turn Compounding Quality into the best place to learn about long-term investing
The future truly looks bright, Partner.
The journey to the Dominican Republic made me Richer, Wiser & Happier.
I feel like I found myself. I want to become a better person. Do better for friends and family.
And I realized that moving for taxes would make me way poorer (it’s a personal thing).
I hope this article makes you think about your own life too.
We are Partners in this. We walk our journey together.
I’ll be doing this for the next 60 years.
And I can’t emphasis enough how grateful I am that we are doing this together.
Everything in life compounds
Pieter (Compounding Quality)
Book
Order your copy of The Art of Quality Investing here
Used sources
Interactive Brokers: Portfolio data and executing all transactions
Fiscal: Financial data
You are very fortunate (and richer) for having gained such wisdom at a young age Pieter. I believe it takes many years for others to reach the same/similar conclusions, if indeed they are lucky enough to figure it out at all! Well done.
Beautiful. You’re indeed fortunate to have gained this much wisdom at such a young age!