Frits: “I work out three to four times a week at a gym nearby – I live on the Western Islands in Amsterdam. I always go in the afternoon or in the evening – that’s when you are at your strongest. You can’t move mountains at 9 o’clock in the morning. I also kickbox once a week in the Apollo Hall with a personal trainer and a business associate.
“I sleep eight hours a day, from eleven to seven or from twelve to eight. Then I can do everything with discipline. My father was a pastor, he is now retired. I had a Calvinist upbringing: work hard and do your best. One of the people I admire is Arnold Schwarzenegger, not necessarily because of his sporting achievements. It is more about dreaming big and realizing your goals. He was not only a bodybuilder but also an actor and governor. I respect the way he sets special goals. has set and achieved. If you put your mind to something, you can achieve a lot. Small successes lead to bigger successes.
“I worked as a private banker at ING until seven years ago. Then I started my own wealth advice company, Momentum Family Office, which has grown considerably since then. People are becoming more aware of the fact that places where you used to get financial advice have nothing to do with objective advice. They sell you products under the guise of advice. My vision was that it cannot be both ways – and that is why I founded a company in independent wealth advice for entrepreneurs. That market has now exploded. The first two years I was alone, from the next month we have 35 employees.”
At least 3 to 4 million
„Estate planningor estate planning, is an important part of our work. We do that for every customer. What part of your assets do you leave in your own name or do you put in the name of your children? We only work with larger assets – sometimes also old money. Our customers have at least 3 or 4 million. Trust funds or family funds are not that common in the Netherlands, but it is about looking ahead. Maybe you say: I don’t want everything to go to my children, but also to my grandchildren. How do you maintain wealth without a generation spending everything? And it’s about philanthropy, impact with what you’ve built – what do you want to leave behind, how do you want to be remembered?
“My son James is now 7. He is in group 4 and has long blonde hair with a light curl – his mother is blonde, he gets the curl from me. It is conscious co-parenting, with a girlfriend, I have never had a relationship with her. We dated for a while, then she became pregnant and we said: we will do it together purchaseas friends. And that turned out fantastic. We live close to each other. It doesn’t happen automatically, raising a child together with your love partner can also be difficult and this way it is really a challenge – but it also has advantages. When she became pregnant and we decided to do it this way, I was still working at ING. Colleagues said: what you have, part-time parenting, is actually great, you will find out later.
“James is also doing well. He doesn’t know any better and there has never been an argument, not then, not now. Yes, it is different from normal, but because everything has always been clear and you discuss everything as a team, everything is very nice. When he was just born, we were of course the odd ones out – but now, as a 7-year-old child, there are many children in his class with divorced parents and that is often a more complicated situation than ours. We split it 70-30 because of my company – that way it’s a little easier to do, because my job requires something slightly different from me. His mother works as a manager at Accenture – that is also a busy job but different from the life of an entrepreneur. I work 50 to 60 hours a week. So on average he spends just over two days with me and five with her, but not on regular days. That changes every week. And every week the three of us eat once.”
Protein shakes are important for Frits because he exercises a lot.
Festival tickets hang in the kitchen as a reminder.
mona van den Berg
No gray suit
“I don’t look like the typical wealth advisor. I have long hair in a bun. Short could also be done, but then I become Jochem Meijer’s brother, because I have so many curls. So it’s this or that. Nowadays it doesn’t matter anymore, but when I still worked at ING, people expected a 60-year-old banker in a gray suit, so I always had to show at the beginning of a conversation that I knew what I was talking about.
“I’m not a typical boss either. I hired the right people in time. And as an owner you don’t have to be the big boss in the office. It’s better to hire people who can run an organization well.
People are grateful if you arrange things well for them
“Inheritance planning means that you talk to people about what they consider important, from a will to a prenuptial agreement, and ensure that it is properly arranged in every scenario. You can leave a legacy in many ways, you do not have to give it to them in cash. In the Netherlands, children have a legal inheritance and that can also concern the home, but you can give usufruct to the partner (the right to use someone else’s property without being the owner). And you have to take into account the scenario in which someone dies young. Many people neglect this and do not want to worry about what happens when you come under the tram.
“But protection against assets is also important. If your children receive assets too young, that is not good. When you are 20, you know that the club in Ibiza is fun, but you are not yet busy buying a house. That is why it is better, at least until the age of 25 or 30, that they do not have free access to the inheritance. It is best to expose yourself to assets step by step.
“I used to save to become financially independent and that was a nice milestone, also because it allows me to help people around me. Friends, family members. And yes, I could stop working tomorrow, but I think this work is fantastic. I like turning 1 euro into 2 and building something robust for the long term to give people peace and independence. And people are grateful when you arrange something well for them.”
The view from his apartment in Amsterdam is the reason Frits wants to continue living there.
mona van den Berg
In short
Frits Moonen (36) is a wealth advisor and has his own company Momentum Family Office with 35 employees. Part of his job is estate planning. His hobby is fitness, he trains three to four times a week. He lives in Amsterdam and has a son, James (7), in co-parenting with a girlfriend.
His income is 5 times average.
What is your last Tikkie sent?
“I never send Tikkies. Now that I have a little money, I thought: I’m not going to do that anymore – I think it’s rich that I don’t have to do that anymore. Sometimes one person pays, other times the other.”
Weekly shopping or going to the supermarket every day?
“A few times a week. I often cook for a few days. I never do takeaway or delivery – the food is often disappointing, it takes a very long time and it is often less healthy. I do eat out a lot. I like good restaurants, also because of the service.”
What’s your last biggest expense?
“That was a plane ticket to Alicante. I bought it last minute so it was quite expensive, 550 euros.”
Second-hand or rather new?
“Toys can be bought second-hand and are often great. In terms of clothing, I have fairly different sizes, so I cannot buy second-hand clothing.”
How much pocket money do you give your children?
“Nothing yet, he’s 7.”
How often do you clean the house?
“The cleaning lady comes every week and she also tidies up.”
What was really a bad buy?
“A new iPhone 16 has been lying in a box on my desk for six months – I just don’t have time to transfer my old phone. A new iPhone has now been released. But that shows how busy I am, such a new phone is not a priority, I have no headspace for it.”
What do you feel guilty about spending money on?
“Nothing. Or yes, sometimes a dessert. This week I ordered a lady blanche – you fill your whole face with it. I feel guilty about it, because it is simply unhealthy to gulp down a bowl of sweets after a large meal, but it is tasty.”
Best tip for household or finances?
“My tips are: think long term, think big, build step by step and keep building. Furthermore, it is about diversification and selection. For example, you can invest in a global tracker such as a world ETF, a basket of shares with which you invest in thousands of companies worldwide. And then do that for the long term. You don’t have to check how things are going every day. Less emotion, more facts. It’s about what your portfolio will be like in ten years, or in thirty years.”
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