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
Everybody is doing short term stuff
Hi 👋 welcome to Recompound Blog - The Investment Mindshift. We help you better your mindset on investment and economics one article at a time.
Margin of Safety & Risk Management
Why We Play It Safe
Why We Play it Safe
TL;DR: We get paid when you make money—20% performance fee above a high‑watermark—so we work hard to avoid big drawdowns. That’s why our picks can look “boring”: sturdy balance sheets, steady cash flow, sensible dividends, and saner volatility.
Decision-Making Under Uncertainty
10 Days to Optimise your Decision making
How to Turn Around Your Investment Portfolio
How to turn around your investment portfolio
Hi 👋 welcome to Recompound Blog - The Investment Mindshift. We help you better your mindset on investment and economics one article at a time. More: Our Values | Advisory | Get to know us | Picks
Behavioural Risk & Investor Mistakes
Rookie Mistakes
Rookie Mistakes
I am really grateful and privileged that my job allows me to learn more about people’s investment activities. And those learnings cover 3 simple facts that you would want to know.
Financial Freedom as a By-product
Financial Freedom Might Be the Wrong Goal
Financial freedom might be the wrong goal
Hi 👋 welcome to Recompound Blog - The Investment Mindshift. We help you better your mindset on investment and economics one article at a time. More: Our Values | Advisory | Get to know us | Picks | YouTube
Investing in the Indonesian Context
Navigating Indonesia’s Investment Terrain
Navigating Indonesia’s Investment Terrain
You work hard, you save diligently, you invest in the Indonesian stock market... and your wealth shrinks. You’re not alone. This is not bad luck; it’s a feature of the terrain we are playing in. (Un)fortunately, Indonesia is an emerging market that is characterised by:
Global Thinking, Aligned Values
Introduction to Recompound Global
The margin of safety framework here is solid. Most retail investors skip this part entirely and go straight to chasing returns, which is why they get wiped out when volatility spikes. The asymmetric bet logic is especially relevant in emerging markets where downside protection matters more than people think. I've seen plenty of portfolios get demolished not because the thesis was wrong but because position sizing didn't account for the tail risk. The behavioral piece is probably the most underrated, people know intellectually that emotions mess up descisions but they still panic sell at exactly the wrong time.