Our Investing Manifesto

A practical map of how we think about investing

Most investment content focuses on what to buy.

At Recompound, we focus on how to think.

This manifesto sets out the core principles that shape our investment philosophy—especially for busy professionals who want long-term, rational outcomes without constant market involvement.

If you understand these ideas, you’ll understand how we invest.

1. Investing vs Speculating

Core idea

Investing is about owning productive businesses for long-term value creation.

Speculating is about predicting short-term price movements.

Most people believe they are investing. In reality, they are speculating—often without realising it.

Why it matters

Speculation amplifies emotional mistakes. Investing reduces decision frequency and behavioural risk.

2. Margin of Safety

Core idea

Margin of safety is the gap between what something is worth and the price you pay—designed to protect you from uncertainty, mistakes, and bad luck.

It is not about pessimism.

It is about survival.

Why it matters

The biggest risk in investing is not volatility.

It is permanent loss of capital.

3. Asymmetric Bets to the Upside

Core idea

An asymmetric bet is a decision where the downside is limited, but the upside compounds over time.

You do not need to be right often.

You need to avoid being wrong in a way that ends the game.

Why it matters

Most investors chase upside without understanding downside risk.

Asymmetry flips that logic.

4. Decision-Making Under Uncertainty

Core idea

In investing, being wrong is inevitable.

The goal is not perfect prediction, but decisions that remain acceptable across many possible futures.

Good decisions prioritise process over outcomes.

Why it matters

Greedy bad decisions often come from overconfidence, not lack of intelligence.

Fearful bad decisions often come from past trauma, not willing to explore asset classes that pays a handsome risk to reward ratio and willingly choose to park funds in instruments that guarantee loss through inflation.

5. Behavioural Risk

Core idea

The biggest determinant of long-term returns is not intelligence or access to information.

It is behaviour.

Fear, greed, impatience, and over-activity quietly destroy compounding.

Why it matters

Most investors do not fail because they pick bad assets.

They fail because they abandon good decisions at the wrong time.

6. Financial Freedom as a By-product

Core idea

Financial freedom is not the absence of work.

It is the freedom to do meaningful, value-creating work without financial anxiety.

When pursued directly, it often disappoints.

When it emerges as a by-product, it tends to last.

Why it matters

Chasing early retirement often leads to loss of purpose—and poor investment decisions.

7. The Indonesian Context

Core idea

Long-term investing in Indonesia comes with specific realities:

• Currency depreciation

• Market structure constraints

• A low-trust financial environment

• A strong culture of short-term speculation

Ignoring these realities leads to frustration and sub-optimal outcomes.

Why it matters

A strategy that works in theory but ignores local context often fails in practice.

8. Global Thinking, Aligned Values

Core idea

Good investing principles are universal.

Markets, instruments, and geographies change—but decision-making values do not.

While we operate with deep awareness of the Indonesian context, we are open to ideas, partners, and investments globally—as long as values are aligned.

What aligned values mean

• Long-term orientation over short-term performance

• Risk management before return maximisation

• Transparency over storytelling

• Incentive alignment over asset gathering

• Process discipline over prediction

Why it matters

Limiting thinking to a single market or asset class limits opportunity.

Expanding without shared principles increases risk.

We prefer global collaboration with local understanding—not blind diversification.

How to Read This Manifesto

This is not a list of tips or predictions.

It is a set of beliefs about how compounding actually works.

Use it as an extra filter:

• For decisions

• For partnerships

• For whether values align

Good investing is less about doing more. It is about avoiding the mistakes that break compounding.

Further Reading

If you want to see how these principles are applied in practice, the articles below expand on each idea in more detail:

• Investing vs Speculating

  Everybody Is Doing Short Term Stuff

• Margin of Safety & Risk Management

  Why We Play It Safe

• Decision-Making Under Uncertainty

  10 Days to Optimise your Decision making

  How to Turn Around Your Investment Portfolio

• Behavioural Risk & Investor Mistakes

  Rookie Mistakes

• Financial Freedom as a By-product

  Financial Freedom Might Be the Wrong Goal

• Investing in the Indonesian Context

  Navigating Indonesia’s Investment Terrain

• Global Thinking, Aligned Values

  Introduction to Recompound Global