Spanish House Creates Optionality

A story about how Raoul Pal made a strategic property purchase at age 30 that changed his life trajectory.

"I was having dinner with my father, having a few glasses of wine, and I mentioned I'd love to buy a house in Spain. He said he had friends selling a house there. This was around 1998, in the days of faxes, and he sent me a fax of this 6-bedroom house on a hillside in Spain.

I said 'That's great dad, but how am I supposed to afford it?' I was 30 years old, working at Goldman. He checked the price - it was £150,000, which was about $200,000-250,000 US. I had just received a bonus and realized I could actually buy it in cash. So I did.

It was game-changing. Even though I had a mortgage in London, I now had a 6-bedroom house on a hillside in Spain, overlooking orange groves, 10 minutes from the beach. I could lose my job, work in a bar, and still live there. I was done - I had won the game of life. That was the marker stone that allowed me to take more risks and do the next thing."