Update No. 252 – 29/01/16

My Wife (Sue – for those who don’t know her) had her birthday this week. She is an amazing woman who is in very large part responsible for any success I have had in my life so far (in early 2018, we’ll have been together more than half of my life). I thought I might share with readers the trick to capturing such a valuable prize. Make no mistake; a quality partner is the most valuable prize you can win in life. Everything else is so much easier from there.

At least I can tell you from my side why I found Sue to be an ideal partner, why she ever took a chance on me, you’ll have to figure out for yourself. When you do, be sure to let me know… When I met Sue, I was a 20 year old from a poor family, with only a high school education. I was running my own construction business, which could at that point best be described as modestly successful. But thankfully, she must have seen something in me. With parents and grandparents who have both relied on the aged pension in retirement, she probably had no reasonable basis for whatever it was she saw in me. But I’m glad she did.

Sue encouraged me to complete a degree (the first person in my family to do so) and then later to start EGP. She has shouldered more than her share of family responsibilities to ensure I was successful in these endeavours. All the while, she has built a successful career of her own. I will be forever in her debt for anything further I achieve. It occurred to me this week that I don’t often enough tell her how much I appreciate her companionship and contributions. So I thought I would write these things in a place where they will sit permanently for her to revisit to remember how just how deeply she is appreciated.

Another important part of the reason I have had any success is through brutal pragmatism. Delusion is the enemy of rational thought; in everything I do I try to ensure honest, rational reasoning forms the basis. I cultivate the people in my life very carefully. Smart people of integrity with positive attitudes and discerning minds dominate my social circle. Ruthlessly eliminating dishonest, unethical, simple-minded, unambitious and negative people from your life will only make you better off. Time spent trimming such persons from your life is time well spent.

Believe it or not, I took a similar approach into seeking a relationship. Before meeting Sue, I had sat down to think hard about what it was I was looking for in a partner. The trick again here is to be honest with oneself. I knew I was interested in a permanent relationship, so I thought about all the things that I would value in such a relationship. Here being honest about what you want is critical. Many 20 year olds are far from ready to enter a long-term relationship, let-alone the last relationship of their life. Only you can figure out whether, or when you’re at this point.

Unlike many who have what I consider to be the delusional view that there is ‘one’ person out there for everyone, I am of the view that there are a normally distributed bell-curve of potential relationships available to the average person and in order to have a happy relationship, you need to get into the deepest point to the right of the bell-curve that you can. In simple terms, you need to locate the best partner you can – that will have you. That is to say that there are potentially numerous relationships that could be perfectly happy. Inevitably some will be better, happier and more fulfilling than others. If this sounds unromantic, I should point out that I consider Sue’s and my marriage to be so many standard deviations to the right of the mean as to be quite improbable. If you know me, you’ll know this is about as ‘romantic’ as I’m ever likely to sound.

Someone with comparable intellect and moral values was first among my desired criteria. Sue is whip-smart and perhaps the most selfless person I know, so this one was easily covered. You must be able to hold a conversation with your husband or wife on a similar intellectual level, or you’re starting at an enormous relationship disadvantage. Physical compatibility goes without saying of course; you must find your partner physically desirable. Other areas of import for compatibility include work ethic, ambition, views on family and attitude to saving/spending (among many others). Obviously, you will never find someone who exactly matches your ideas on all of these matters, but it is important to self-identify which ones rank higher in importance for you so as to ‘score’ potential mates.

Given I was only 20 years old and had determined I was looking for a permanent relationship, I also determined that my ideal partner was probably older than myself. I figured very few girls my own age were likely to be ready for the type of relationship I sought.

Armed with the list of criteria and willingness to rank based on these criteria, finding a properly compatible partner is much easier. Obviously serendipity will still play a part, as depending on how detailed your list is, fewer than one in one thousand are likely to be suitable.

Once you’ve located one, you need to follow Charlie Munger’s advice that the ‘best way to get a good spouse is to deserve a good spouse’, I often feel like I’m very lucky in respect of this concept, although I consider myself a pretty good person, I’m not sure I deserve a Wife as wonderful as Sue is – Tony Hansen 29/01/2016

P.S. I am intending to host some EGP investors (or potential investors if there’s enough space) at my home for a BBQ one Saturday in February (probably 13^th, 20^th or 27^th). If you are interested, drop me an email.

EGP Fund No. 1 Pty Ltd. Up by 3.13%, leading the benchmark by 7.64% since July 1^st 2015. Since inception, EGP Fund No. 1 Pty Ltd is Up by 91.49%, leading the benchmark by 61.23% all-time (April 1^st 2011).

^{*1 after a 31 May 2013 dividend of 2.333 cents per share (cps) plus 1.000 cps Franking Credit, a 31 May 2014 Dividend of 7.000 cps plus 3.000 cps Franking Credit and a 31 May 2015 Dividend of 8.6667 cps plus 3.7143 cps Franking Credit}

^{*2 calculated based on dividends reinvested}