What You Have Learned from David Gardner, Vol. 6
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Once a year, well, it happens to you too. You have a birthday. That time of the year, every year for me, is mid-May. We've had a tradition with this podcast, which is that you give me a gift, which you did once again this month. Thank you so much. You give me a gift in the form of notes, emails, tweets, sharing what you've learned from this podcast. And then I get to organize those thoughts and give a gift back.

a concise summary of the cardinal points made, the most frequently recurring points that you make, which really, in a way, summarize Rule Breaker Investing, especially for new listeners.

Well, this series is entitled What You Have Learned from David Gardner here in 2025. Well, it's volume six. What you've learned from me. Thanks for the birthday present. Only on this week's Rule Breaker Investing. It's the Rule Breaker Investing podcast with Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner.

Welcome back to Rule Breaker Investor. Yep, it's my birthday this week. As I mentioned at the top, one of my favorite birthday presents comes in the form of listeners reaching out directly to share what you've learned from me, what you've learned from this podcast. Now, I'm a little bit self-conscious entitling this episode, What Have You Learned From David Gardner? Because I'm a little bit self-conscious.

I'm actually the first to make jokes, especially about professional athletes when they refer to themselves in the third person. Things like, you know, what's ahead for Michael Jordan? The journalist asked. And then Michael says something like, well, Michael Jordan's thinking a lot about his future.

That sort of thing. Often it seems like the sports journalists are almost setting up the athletes to use third person by asking them questions directly in the third person themselves. Anyway, what have you learned from David Gardner? Well, here's David Gardner to share that back.

this week. But I hope it's clear that as I share out these responses taken together, they provide a pretty good summary of what I've tried to do, to embody, and to teach over these years in a compact and efficient format. So if I'm doing my job right this week,

You're going to be getting info-rich, highly efficient views of how to approach investing and a little bit of business and life too, but mostly investing because that's what you tell me you're learning here, most of all on Rule Breaker Investing. This year, we're going to do it in five themes.

themed points and then feature three lovely letters. Before I bring out the first of our five themes, I have three things to share up front. Bookkeeping items, first of all. My guest next week is business author superstar Seth Godin. He of the very many wonderful books like Purple Cow about branding and marketing. And in fact, Seth was my first ever author in August when I started that series on August 1st.

2018. Seth Godin next week. Second, you'll notice something new in the coming weeks for this podcast and other Motley Fool podcasts and that's

Yep, we're going back to the future on Motley Fool Podcast. You're going to hear a few ads during some of our podcasts, and that's, of course, a good sign for The Motley Fool's growth. Advertisers want to pay us to get messages to you. It's something we once did for some years on this podcast, but then some years after that, not. Well, that's beginning again this May.

Virtually every other big podcast these days has ads, so I hope it's not too distracting. It won't surprise or disappoint. Anyway, I wanted you to hear that from me. And third, it's time for our page broadcast.

Breaker Preview. As I shared at the start of the year, my 2025 book, Rule Breaker Investing, is available for pre-order now. After 30 years of stock picking, this is my magnum opus, a lifetime of lessons distilled into one definitive guide. Each week until the book launches on September 16th, I'm sharing a random excerpt. We break open the book to a random page and

And I read a few sentences, so let's do it. A few sentences from page 46 of the book. And I quote, add up, don't double down.

Make it an option only to add to your winners, to what's doing well in this world, never the opposite. Do so with the knowledge that most others, including most professionals and almost all large mutual funds as a requirement to maintain diversity, are doing the opposite, rebalancing, averaging down, cutting the flowers and watering the weeds as the old saw goes.

End quote. That's this week's Page Breaker preview to pre-order my final word on stock picking, shaped by three decades of market-crushing success. Just type Rule Breaker Investing into Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, or wherever you shop for fine books. You know, when you think about it, a great investment book literally pays for itself.

And to everyone who's already pre-ordered, hey, you can do it this week and give me another birthday gift. Thank you. That means a lot.

And now on to the five themes that you've learned from me in whether it's the past year, 2024, 2025, or maybe the past few years, or the decades length of this podcast, or maybe even you're a longtime Motley Fool member years before that. Thank you for these. Let's lead it off with theme number one. This one comes from at Anand Khatri on Twitter X. Anand, you wrote, happy birthday, David. Just keep swimming.

Those three words, of course, pulled from Dory, the character from Finding Nemo, a phrase I've been delighted to bring back time and time again, especially during times of volatility, sometimes market troubles. That really was a big theme for this podcast. And for me, if you were with me in 2022, we just kept swimming through a really bad year for stocks. And even in just the last couple of months,

The volatility that we've experienced is nearly unprecedented in recent times anyway. And so that's why it makes so much sense for you and for me to just keep swimming.

on and you get it and so many others do as well what does just keep swimming look like with your money well it means if you are a wage earner which many of you are i hope you're saving every two weeks ideally up to 10 even more than that if you can of your salary but maybe five percent as an initial goal you're saving every two weeks and then you're taking that money

and you're putting it into your 401k plan or your IRA, you're buying the funds or stocks that you've thought about ahead of time, you've set yourself up, and you're regularly adding

every two weeks or maybe every month or maybe you clump things up and do it quarterly, but you always inject that money into the market knowing two things. One, neither you nor I has any idea where the market's headed over the next day or week or quarter or even year. That's thing number one. We can't really know where the market's headed, but thing number two, the market's head

headed up. That's what it does over time. And we'd be making a huge mistake cutting off the power of compounding returns in our lives if we did not steadily and regularly add money to the market. Many people were scared out of the stock market, I submit to you, in the first quarter of this year or in the start of the second quarter, April. There were some

bad days on the market and a lot of bad feeling as tariffs hit the world. And then we started learning, well, the tariffs weren't necessarily as real as they were initially purported to be. They still exist, but in much trumped down

versions of themselves. And I'm happy to say that's better for the economy. And clearly, the stock market has liked that a lot. So people who got upset and just sold out of the market, worried about the future of the economy, made the mistake of getting off that compounding returns train or taking it back to a marine theme. They didn't just keep

swimming. Anand, I'm glad that you did. I did as well. This too shall pass. These kinds of moments happen over and over through time. It always is hard to experience and volatility comes for different reasons every time it feels. And yet, just

Keep swimming. Theme number one, what you've learned from David Gardner. Let's move on to theme number two. This one spoken well by at Chow Zom on Twitter X. Thank you, Steve Z. Happy birthday, David. So many lessons learned over the years. Going back to the hard copy days. That means that Chow Zom either was successful

a subscriber to, let's say, Motley Fool Stock Advisor back in the aughts, back in the early days, or some, perhaps Steve as well, some of you may even remember our very first version of the newsletter. That would be 1993-94, before we even launched on AOL. The Motley Fool was a newsletter that people could subscribe to in hard copy, of course. But anyway...

Steve goes on to say, can't say thank you enough. And then he includes a meme photo. This is the famous Wayne Gretzky line, skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.

Steve, you sign off with all the best. Well, thank you for the birthday wishes. And that line, skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been, is certainly one I've used from time to time. I'm not sure, Steve, you would have learned that from me because that's really Wayne Gretzky's famous line. But we love lines like that because what they do is they point us to where our noses should be aimed and our eyes should be gazing. And that is forward into the future.

Wayne Gretzky, it was often said, was great, one of the great hockey players of all time because he skated to where the puck was going, not where it had been. In the same way, true Rule Breaker investing involves asking ourselves, where is the world headed and what are the companies, usually the early upstarts,

The open AIs of today, the Amazons of a generation before, so many different rule breakers across so many different industries. Who are the companies innovating that are leading us into that future, that future in which we want to live? I stay focused with my future money, not just on future companies, but ones that I believe

perceive personally as helping our world. I don't want to invest in things where if they do really well, I feel like we'll all be worse off. I'm always focused with my money on the future and on what I think is my best vision for our future. And I encourage you to do the same. If you're a regular listener of this podcast, you know that.

And if you're a Rule Breaker fan, you know that that is portfolio principle number one. The six principles of the Rule Breaker portfolio. Number one, the most important, make your portfolio reflect your best vision for our future. So future is the theme of number two, skating with our money to where the puck is going. It doesn't have to be true of every stock that you pick. You can certainly go with companies that have been around for

forever. For example, at this point, Apple's been around for about 50 years. It's still a company that is helping invent the future, but it also has a deep and rich past. And whether we're talking about companies like Old Dominion Freight Lines, or I think about wonderful companies like Microsoft, a stock that I've literally never owned, as great as that company has been for the most part, whether you own it or whether you don't, thinking about companies that are vital, that pass the snap test. If I'm

snap my fingers and that company, that stock you're researching, disappeared overnight. Would anyone notice? Would anyone care? That's the snap test. And most of our great stocks would definitely pass the snap test. Lots of people would notice.

A lot of people might be heartbroken if that company, that stock you're researching, disappeared overnight. On the other hand, if not a lot of people would notice or not a lot of people would care, that's not a company that's very well positioned for future impact. The gains made by our investment dollars are almost directly tied to

to how important the company you're investing in is to the world today and into the future. I'll close with theme number two, future, by just mentioning, I don't know, is this a humble brag? I'm not sure. But what is my license plate on my car? It's a Washington, D.C. plate, and nobody else took this. So I paid whatever it was, $25, I paid up for a vanity plate,

F-U-T-U-R-E. My license plate is future. That's where I try to stay focused with my own thinking and with my investing dollars. Let's move on to theme number three. Thank you, Sanmeet Deo. Sanmeet, of course, regularly heard on this podcast as one of our Motley Fool analysts. He wished me this happy birthday. Happy birthday, David, at S-V-D-E-O 21 said on Twitter, X-E-O.

Sanmeet, you said, I've learned to bravely invest in my most creative and wild investment ideas. Well, I really appreciate that point. That's obviously tied somewhat to the point we just made about investing in the future. Because when we're talking about creative and wild ideas, it's usually we're speculating somewhat. We're imagining forward how the world might work if we

EVTOL comes true. Do you know what EVTOL stands for? It's an acronym for Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing System.

vehicles. And Archer Aviation, ticker symbol ACHR, I want to thank you back, Sanmeet, because you were the first one who pointed out Archer Aviation to me, ticker symbol ACHR, more than a year ago. And it's been a pretty strong stock. It's had a good week for anybody who's following the market and seeing the earnings the company came up with this week. By the way, that company has no earnings.

That's often what happens when you're investing in the future, following, as Sanmeet has, some of his most creative and wild investment ideas. Not every early upstart company has revenues even, let alone cash flow. And so it's always going to be speculative when we're following our most creative and wild investment ideas. And that's why I think it's good to be diversified. Not every stock should look like that in your portfolio. But I want to thank you back for

Sanmi, because you're the one who turned me on to that Rule Breaker company, and it's been fun to watch and see how well it's done. Still early days. We'll see how it plays out, both for Archer itself, and then just for the Evtal industry at large. You know, at its best,

It represents almost personal flyers. Like if you are living well outside New York City and have a one-hour commute, there is a future in which you might be taking off from your driveway and just 10 minutes later landing at work. It's not going to happen overnight. It's certainly not going to happen all at once.

It may not even happen at all. We'll see. That's part of taking a creative and wild approach sometimes to the markets, which I think Rule Breaker Investing should inspire you occasionally, not every time, dear listener, to do. Bravery is what Sunmeet is calling out here. And you've learned bravely to invest from me. And thank you, Sunmeet. I'm honored. All right. On to theme number four.

And I've got two tweets that both exhibit this one. The first from at Danny Venna, longtime fellow Fool writer and contributor at The Motley Fool. Danny wrote, happy birthday to my Foolish friend and mentor. Longer than a decade now, Danny writes what he's learned from me. But time is the biggest advantage we have as Foolish investors.

And at Scott underscore Pierce on Twitter X said something similar. So I'm grouping them together under the rubric time. Scott, you wrote, I can't point to any one thing that I learned from you, but you keep reinforcing solid basics in a very entertaining way. In a culture that wants it now, Scott writes, you preach compounding by for the long term.

I could go on, Scott writes, happy B-Day. Well, thank you, Scott, and thank you, Danny. And yeah, time. The first thing I think about time is we have to let it pass. It happens one second at a time, snap, snap, snap, and our money compounds over time if we let it.

Now, that first double that you get, on average, the stock market doubles every seven years. So that first double you get feels like it takes a long time. Speaking of time, waiting seven years for initial money you may have put into an index fund to double. Yeah, that's not inconsequential. That's almost a decade.

And of course, if you buy a good Rule Breaker stock, it can double faster than that. And I think we've done a good job over the years finding those kinds of companies at Motley Fool Rule Breakers. But you have to let time happen. But then seven more years pass and you double again. But this time, you're now up four times from your original investment after that second seven-year period, not just a double. And then when that happens again, seven years more,

It doubles again from where it started, that seven-year period. Now you're up eight times in value. And if you started investing when I did at the age of 18, you're still not 40 yet, and you're now up eight times in value. And if you're doing your job right, just keeping swimming, staying focused on the future, and occasionally following brave hunches, you will well outperform that pace over the course of theme number four,

And as we age, it becomes even more evident looking backwards how important it was to start early, how important it was regularly to add money into the stock market, into your investment brokerage account, into your retirement plan to add money, and then, if possible, to start early.

what I do, which is to pick stocks. I much prefer to pick stocks directly than invest in funds. I feel like an index fund, which is a wonderful instrument and something we've, The Motley Fool has certainly popularized over our 30 plus years out there. A lot of people come up to Tom or to me and say, thanks guys, you guys got me out of managed mutual funds. I'm in index funds. I'm a lot happier doing better. That's true.

And yet I'll still point out about index funds that they buy every company, most of them, the diversified ones anyway, all the good ones and all the bad ones and all the ones in between. And I feel as if you and I can just stay focused buying stocks directly in the best companies. We won't always be right which one's best. But if you're right more often than not, or if you're really, really right when you're right,

you will well outperform your index funds. I realize it takes extra risk, which is why you and I are Rule Breakers, spending time talking about Rule Breaker investing this week. Most people in the world I submit don't listen to this podcast. I wish everybody did, especially on my birthday. But most people don't follow this approach. Most people don't invest directly in stocks at all. So I think, especially if you do, you recognize over the course of time that

especially as we age and looking back, you see the benefits of letting time happen in your portfolio, finding great companies. So theme number four, thank you, Danny. Thank you, Scott and others. Time. All right. And now on to my final theme, theme number five, this one coming through loud and clear.

Four different correspondents in with this one. I'll just read them right off. At Brian Bickoff, Brian, you wrote many things. Have you learned from me? But winners keep winning slash let your winners run has had the most impact. Happy birthday. Thank you, Brian. At H-Town Rich 1, happy birthday, David. The number one answer is long-term buy and hold. I have to have patience. Some stocks I did not.

Hdownrich1 says Netflix and Chipotle were stocks he did not have patience with, but Amazon, MercadoLibre, and Shopify, you have. I have reaped great rewards, Hdownrich1 says, with patience and long-term buy and hold. Thank you.

David, well, you're very welcome. Holding and winners are the big theme coming through here, dear listener. Let's go to the third one. At Casey underscore on the line on Twitter X. Happy birthday, David. Winners keep on winning has got to be my favorite. And at Sox, as in either White Sox or Red Sox, probably a baseball fan here, at Sox 20052 on Twitter X, you just simply said, hold on to your winners, and I love spiffy pops.

All right. Well, I think it's pretty self-evident what we're talking about here with theme number five. That is finding great companies that are winning and then allowing them over time, theme four, to win by holding. Long-term buy and hold, LTBH. Some people say, I've always said long-term buy to hold. I don't think you automatically hold everything. I think you should intend to buy to hold, but of course, sometimes long-term

Things come up or you decide you don't like the stock anymore. It's okay to move that money over to another company or stock that you like better. I just wouldn't do that too often. I would always invest for a minimum of at least three years. But what do winners do? I've rhetorically asked any number of times on Rule Breaker Investing on this podcast over the years, what do winners do? And I know you know the answer, dear listener. That's right. Yeah, they win.

Not every winner wins every time and not every winner wins all the time. In fact, great winners like, well, I'm thinking of NVIDIA. I think that's the best stock I've picked for Motley Fool Stock Advisor. Possibly Netflix has outperformed it, but both of them are up hundreds of times in value for our Motley Fool members. Yet NVIDIA has gone sideways, sometimes five years at a time. So

such a winner, such a winner as NVIDIA, even itself sometimes doesn't win for an extended period of time. But overall, rather than focus so much on the stock and the stock price, just ask yourself, what are the companies that I'm invested in? What are they doing? Are they winning? And I can tell you that even as Tesla went sideways or NVIDIA went sideways for years over the last decade or two, those companies, Netflix was going down for a while, those companies were

As businesses, we're still growing right through market drops. And so what do winners do? They win. And therefore, how should you treat your winners? The answer is hold. Hold them. Let time pass. Hold on to your winners, at Sox20052 said, and I love spiffy pops.

A quick word about spiffy pops, especially for new listeners. What is a spiffy pop? Well, it's a term I invented. It's something I thought needed to be recognized, needed to be a goal for you and for me as an investor. Have you ever had a spiffy pop? Anytime a stock pops, and I would usually say a minimum of 5%, like your stock had good earnings, so it pops after hours, it goes up, I would say 5% or more, I would say that's a pop.

But what's a spiffy pop? A spiffy pop is when a stock pops up by more dollars per share than you initially paid for it when you first bought the stock. When a stock gains more in one day, you make more money in one day than you initially paid for the stock when you first bought it. That's not just a pop. That is a spiffy pop. My screen name on The Motley Fool for so many years, TMF Spiffy Pop.

Yeah, it'll certainly be mentioned in my Rule Breaker Investing book as it comes out in September. I want the whole world to know about Spiffy Pops because most people following financial TV or following too closely the movements of the market from day to day

aren't allowing their stocks to win for them in such a way that they would ever have. A spiffy pop. And sometimes when I rock out this phrase, spiffy pop, and explain it briefly to an audience, they're sort of left in wonder going, is that even possible? Not only is it possible, it's actually happened literally before.

thousands of times now in Motley Fool services, thousands of times. In fact, every time Netflix moves up more than half a percent these days, just an itty-bitty move up, it spiffy pops for members. So we've had them thousands of times. And if you take the Rule Breaker investing approach, if you follow us foolishly, you too, along with AdSox20052, will have spiffy pops by holding the

There's one last tweet I want to share from TwitterX, which kind of summarizes a lot of the five themes you've just heard. This one comes from At Left Lateral. You simply said, happy birthday, David. I learned from you. Don't double down on losers. Let your winners run. Hold for at least three years. Look for visionary, disruptive companies.

Full stop. And that tweet on its own at Left Lateral captures a lot of what I just shared over the last 20 minutes or so. The cardinal summary points of how to approach the markets, I would say, as any investor, but especially as a Rule Breaker investor. All right. I said at the top we're doing five themes this birthday week. You just heard them.

If that's all you have time for, feel free to take off and do something else with your day or week. But if you're staying with me, you're going to hear three lovely letters, a little bit more extended form from a few people who took the time to write in directly. And I want to start with Royan Van Rezen. Royan, thank you for this note. What I've learned thanks to David G. Dear David.

I'm a self-made investor, and my journey started more than 30 years ago in grade 10 economics when I was first introduced to the stock market. Ryan writes, I got my first real money lesson during the 2000, that would be year 2000 tech collapse, a hard but valuable teacher. I was lucky enough to sell one big winner before the tech bust, so I probably thought I was pretty smart, and I tried,

and failed to trade my way to riches for a little while afterward. I chased penny stocks and small caps I had no business buying. And to be blunt, the companies sucked, and I knew little about their businesses. Adding to the frustration was working with stockbrokers, which left me feeling powerless, Royan writes, and out of control.

When online trading became available to everyday investors, I started taking control over my investments with new perspectives. I still thought I could trade, but I gradually started shifting focus toward quality. I caught the gold bull run thanks to following Jim Sinclair. Ryan writes, that would be when gold shot up for a little while, made some good money, and was smart-slash-lucky enough to sell out of it early.

giving me the capital I needed to build something more serious. I explored various investment content online, cautiously trying a few subscriptions, always worried about being ripped off

But over time, I kept coming back to the Motley Fool and the buy and hold mentality. Even though the subscriptions seemed expensive to me at first, the quality and depth of the ideas drew me in. Sure, I saw contradictory views sometimes, but I came to understand that Fool content has core contributors and then freelance writers as well.

Differing views aren't a flaw, Royan writes. They're part of the Fool's strength. And thank you for that. We call that, by the way, Motley at The Motley Fool. There is no one party line on any stock. We encourage all of our employees and our contract writers, so much of their work you'll see out there on the internet, to think for themselves and be accountable to themselves for their best thoughts for you, even if they don't like the stock that we just recommended.

All right, picking it up there, Royan. That realization you wrote led me to subscribe to Motley Fool Stock Advisor.

And that's when the real shift happened. I began to understand that Stock Advisor leaned more conservative, offering proven winners that originated in a portfolio subscription at usually much lower prices. And if I wanted more growth, I'd need to balance it with some risk. I embraced the portfolio concept, buy a basket in an industry or theme, knowing you'll have winners, losers, and do nothings.

This felt logical, and I put much of my hard-earned market cash into building my first full-guided portfolio. I followed the instructions to the letter.

My experiences had shown me how difficult the long game is for most people, but years of studying the markets with real money had already prepared me to see its truth. I'll just insert briefly, Ryan. I love how it all started for you in 10th grade. So yeah, you'd been watching, observing, and learning for many years as you arrived at this key point. Picking your letter back up there, I began to pull all of my savings together

Out of the various mutual funds and money managers I'd been paying and became a self-directed investor, and I was apprehensive about it. This was everything I had saved. But I knew I had to trust in the process, and it would take years to see if I'd made the right decision. I had to learn extreme patience. As I started consuming all things Motley Fool, I discovered your podcast, David. And I thought, this guy's smart. Not just smart,

This is very kind, by the way. It's a little embarrassing for me to read this. Not just smart, kind, confident, and someone who understands that life is not a zero-sum game. You've taught me to look to the universe and see abundance, creativity, and endless possibility.

Sure, I got a little carried away along the way, wanting every Motley Fool subscription. They all seemed good to me. Watching the SPAC meltdown and seeing stocks like PayPal tumble after buying at the highs was an eye-opener. But now I hold core positions in proven winners. I'm not afraid to buy higher when the thesis strengthens, and I add during macro corrections when the long-term vision remains intact."

Ryan Van Reason begins to conclude, I also cherry-picked Fool subscriptions like Microcap Mission and always Rule Breakers to keep some excitement and discovery alive. Investing is a difficult journey filled with temptations, contradictions, and hard-earned lessons, but I benefited immensely from getting to know the Motley Fool way, and for that, I

I am truly grateful. Happy birthday, David. Thank you for everything you've given to your listeners and followers over the years with appreciation. Royan Van Reason. Well, thank you, Royan.

There's not a lot that I want to add. That was so lovely. I especially loved your line that I've taught you to look to the universe and see abundance, creativity, and endless possibility. That's my favorite line in your beautiful letter. But I guess I'll just underline two things before moving on to letter number two. The first is, let's call it from hype to horizon watching. So your turnaround began when you traded Frenzy,

for discipline. You moved off those penny stocks that you mentioned, and you moved into a fool-guided basket approach. So I would really say you moved from sort of chasing one-off hopes and dreams into a more disciplined framework, a portfolio, a basket approach. And then, as you said, you learned extreme patience.

to let your winners run. So it's a reminder to us all, I think, that quality plus time is the engine of real compounding. As we move, I think we all make this progression at some point in life, usually from youth to, let's say, less youthful. We go from hype to horizon watching. We start thinking and playing the long game. And then one other thing I'd like to underline, which is

What hooked you wasn't just the stock picks, but our culture. So that respectful debate that we have among our contributors and a tribe, you'll see this anytime you attend Fool events, that sees abundance instead of, I would say, zero-sum thinking, trade-off thinking. And yeah,

I'm somebody who cares a lot about kindness. In fact, I think that's one of America's core values. I'm always looking for that. I value that so much in everyone around the world, but especially here in America. I think at our best, kindness is one of the five American core values. And I would always say a sense of community, which is

As powerful as any investment idea. So surrounding yourself with community, whether it's friends and family, wherever you are and live, maybe you have friends at work, water cooler talk around the market, or maybe you have the Motley Fool there to help guide you and provide you some of that community, that second voice,

that could help you. That still small voice that may be speaking when everybody else is heading for the exits or maybe shouting about how bad things are or will be. So a community feels very important to me. Thank you, Royan. Let's move on to letter number two. This from my biggest fan, John. Hello, David. It's been a while since I wrote in. This year's not been very easy.

Since the beginning of the year, I've been a bit less optimistic than my usual self, John writes, and found myself disengaged from social media. I've never thought that geopolitics would have affected my mood and outlook on the world as much as it did. You've talked a lot about what it means to be an American. Although my citizenship was not through birth...

John writes, I have been so proud to become an American and grateful for the opportunities this great nation has given me. However, a new leader and a new way of conducting business have brought my spirit down quite a lot. These actions have shaken my belief in the integrity of our constitutional values.

It's just my opinion, and I know it's not shared by all. I also apologize if it comes across as aggressive. In the past, it's never occurred to me to base my investments on geopolitics. For the first time, I've started to question my long-term mindset, not just because of market conditions, but because of a deeper shift in the country's constitutional values. When the fundamental principles that support stability and the rule of law...

start to change, it makes me wonder how safe it really is to stay invested here for the long run. It's not just about the profit. It's about trust in the system. I'm sorry to have started the happy birthday email with such depressing statements. I want to shift gears now for something more cheerful. With all of the above said, it's because of

What I've learned from David Gardner that kept me from selling my shares, kept investing in our future and stayed optimistic. It's not just one thing, Jem writes. It's a cumulative of many things I've learned from being a part of the Rule Breaker and Motley Fool universe. From believing that there are more good people in the world than bad.

to believing in the good businesses that create value for the world. I remain hopeful that many great companies and the business sector will be far more influential in moving the nation forward. The most valuable lesson of all in times like this that I learned from you, David comes in the very cheerful voice of a tiny blue fish. Just keep swimming.

It kept me on track with a smile on my face and lifted my mood instantly. Happy birthday, my friend. I want you to know that what you do creates positivity. It cultivates hope and connects people. During my dark moment, fellow fool Jason Moore reached out and we made a deal. He's going to be a supplier for my pure Canadian maple syrup despite the trade war. Ha ha.

Thank you, Jason. Thank you, David. Enjoy your birthday. Have a blast. Forever a fool. Jum. Well, thank you again for another lovely note, a note very different from the first one and a note very understandable from the context from which it was written. And Jum, let me just say two things in response, in addition, of course, to thank you. The first is that even when geopolitical shifts shook your optimism, I love that the rule breaker emphasis was

on just backing and investing in and adding to fundamentally strong value-creating companies, companies that pass the snap test and believing in more good people than bad. That kept you invested in

in America's future and the world at large, rather than fleeing in fear. And I think those things run much deeper than any near-term geopolitical environment. I truly believe, I've said this many times in this podcast, the private sector is way bigger than the public sector. And most of the leadership you're going to find in the world, not just in 2025, but 25 years ago and 25 years from now, most of the leadership is

comes from business, from most of us who every day are working at companies trying to provide a product or service that other people will value enough to pay us above our cost. If we're for profit, pay us above our costs for the product or service that we offer. And that is happening with everything that you eat, everything that you wear, everything

Many things that you enjoy, whether we're talking about entertainment or our world at large. Social media. Yep, that's people too. That comes from for-profit companies. Technologies around us that keep proliferating and keep getting, most of the time,

better, these things run much deeper than any near-term political environment. And so it's very important for me to say that once again. I hope you hear me on that. I hope everybody hears me on that because it's fundamental to my thinking and my rational optimism, which I've held my whole life long and I always will. And, you know, maybe that's the second thing I want to say. Optimism as a practice. That tiny blue fish's mantra.

Just keep swimming. I love how it became, I'm not going to say a lifeline for you. I hope it wasn't that serious, John, but I do want to say it was a go-to for you. And that's proof that a simple, cheerful cue

can instantly reset your mindset, can carry us through darker times. Obviously, I don't want to take too much credit. This is Pixar's movie. I will say, I will take credit for picking Pixar, which I did more than once for Motley Fool Stock Advisor. Of course, it ended up getting bought out by Disney. And so, Motley Fool Stock Advisor has multiple positions in Disney, but we never actually bought Disney for Stock Advisor members. I just recommended Pixar.

And then later, also, I recommended Marvel. And both of those became Disney positions over time. But of course, I'm a huge Pixar fan and I'm a fan of Finding Nemo. And I love that message. Just keep swimming. And I'm glad you do, too. And thank you, Jum. Let's go to the final letter. Best for last? Well, you be the judge, dear listener. Thank you, Mark Long, for this note. David.

As a longtime Fool subscriber and Rule Breaker Investing podcast listener, I look forward to your episodic programs, Mark writes, from the Market Cap Game Show to Blast from the Past, Mental Tips, Tricks, and Life Hacks to Stock Stories and Pet Peeves. My favorite is the annual What Have You Learned from David Gardner. Each week, I'm left feeling smarter, happier, and richer.

This time of year stirs up emotions for me, Mark Long writes, mostly good memories and great lessons, but also sadness and gratitude. My father, Stan, was also born on May 16th. He shares a birthday with you. My dear fool, he went home to the Lord at the age of 68.

and is deeply missed. And as in the past, around this time of year, we fools write in to share what we've learned from David Gardner. I would like to share three things I've learned from my father, as well as three things I've learned from you. One of the things I learned from my father was not to practice mistakes.

Often on the weekend, along with my two brothers, my father would play horse, that basketball game where you challenge each other to hit a tougher shot. And if you don't hit the shot, you spell out the word horse, as I think a lot of listeners will know. But anyway, that's what Mark's talking about. My father would play horse on the driveway with us, shooting at the backboard attached to the roof of the garage. And when one of us kids would try a trick shot, something that would never be seen in an actual game, my father would tell us,

We shouldn't practice mistakes. Using good form and follow through would serve us better in the long run. Another thing I learned from my father is that those who look for trouble usually find it. As little boys with short attention spans, we would sometimes get into mischief like playing ding dong ditch at the neighbor's houses or do something dangerous like pulling someone on skates behind a bicycle.

These actions would frequently result in a sit-down with my father and him reminding us about looking for trouble.

And let me just add, Mark, as somebody who himself occasionally played ding-dong ditch in Georgetown and the streets of Washington, D.C. I don't feel proud of that, by the way, but I hear you, my friend. And you go on to your final example from your dad. My final example of what I learned from my father was not to be idle. After high school, I enrolled in general education classes at the local community college. After the first week of class, I decided I wanted a break.

and dropped out. When my father learned this, he gave me an ultimatum. Either go back to school or I was going to have to work. His idea of work was sending me to my uncle's farm in Upper Iowa during the fall semester. I spent three plus months baling hay, feeding the cattle, and cleaning out the house stalls. I even had to put up a barbed wire fence after I ran over it with the tractor.

When my uncle ran out of work for me to do, I was offered up to the neighbors. No days off, just work. I learned my lesson. Well, those are three amazing stories and lessons learned from your dad, Stan Long. Thank you, Mark.

You go on from David.

Another thing I've learned from David Gardner is to buy in parts, not all at once. When you have identified a company worthy of adding to your portfolio, divide the amount you're going to invest by two or three, start a position, and then make an identical purchase a month later, and then in another month. Yep, I call that buying in thirds. Mark, thank you for it. He goes on, if you still have conviction in the company, this is a win-win process. If the stock has increased in price,

Since the initial purchase, you have in effect purchased the initial position at a discount, which yes, Mark always will raise a smile. If the stock has fallen in price since the initial purchase, you are lowering your cost basis. Assuming you still have conviction in the company, this is a great strategy. And of course, I agree. And the final lesson you've learned from me, you say I first heard about the rowboat and the sailboat.

From David Gardner, the person in the rowboat sits backward as they row. In essence, they are looking at the past. The pilot of the sailboat must look forward to see where he is going. While we can learn from and remember the past, it is important to look and plan for the future and what lies ahead.

After each episode, I truly feel happier, smarter, and richer. I'm looking forward to your book. And of course, happy birthday. Full on. Mark Long, writing in from Valencia, California. Well, thank you so much for that, Mark. I want to underline a few things here as we close. First, I'm so glad that you found Buying in Thirds. Ever since I first did it,

Just as we started The Motley Fool, I wanted to buy AOL stock and I divided it up into three tranches because I didn't feel fully comfortable at that early stage as an investor. I didn't know what Rule Breaker Investing was yet and AOL felt a little risky but so promising and I decided, why don't I divide my money up into three and buy three months apart? Once each month, same day of the month,

Closing my eyes, not looking at where the stock had been, whether it had gone up or down, and just get fully invested that way. Buying in thirds has been a Motley Fool staple ever since. I also appreciate you rocking my rowboat sailboat metaphor. There's not time to go into it now.

But believe you me, it's one of my favorites. Of course, it makes an appearance early on in my book. I want to add there's another boat there that we talk about, and that's the canoe, which sits in between the rowboat and the sailboat. And I'll leave that for fans who know it to smile knowingly and for those who don't know it yet to wait to learn a little bit more. The rowboat, the canoe, and the sailboat.

And then finally, I really want to underline what you wrote about your dad. I love how he taught you timeless virtues. The three that I picked up from you were first avoiding, as he said, practicing mistakes, not hot-dogging it with horse shots because that's not really going to help you get better in the real game of basketball or maybe we'd say of investing your life. So avoid practicing mistakes. The second, steer clear of trouble. And the third, keep busy.

And what I love in conclusion about that is each of those is not just a life lesson he gave you. Each of those also works as an investing lesson. It mirrors our investing journey. That first one, avoid practicing mistakes. That sounds to me like let's focus on sound mistakes.

fundamentals, whether we're talking about your own approach and habits as an investor or sound fundamentals in the companies that you're investing in. Focus on that. Second, you said steer clear of trouble. Don't go looking for trouble. Yeah. In investing, I would say sidestep needless risks. I've made

a lifetime habit of just largely avoiding penny stocks altogether. Most of them are rinky-dink companies with no meaningful impact in the world. Almost all of them fail the snap test. That's an example of lots of people going looking for trouble investing in companies that really aren't worthy, sadly, of their hard-earned dough that they are investing in them. So we can sidestep

many needless risks as your dad taught you. And then finally, you mentioned the importance of keeping busy and you felt that firsthand on an island.

an Iowa farm. And I would say in the same way, staying engaged with our investing our whole lifelong, you don't need to follow your portfolio every day, even though I do. I just love following the game of the stock market, just like I love following baseball, my favorite team every day. But you can follow on a quarterly basis if you like, or just on an annual basis. But staying engaged in your portfolio's progress is a good way to keep busy, not too busy,

Over time. All right. I want to thank each of my correspondents who took the time over the last week to share what you've learned from me. It means a lot on this birthday week to me. That's what you've learned from me all podcast long, at least in the 2025 version. Now I hasten to add some of you also have a birthday this week. And so to you, I say together, happy birthday to you as well. And again,

To everybody else who does it, hey, happy birthday to you on your birthday. We're not going to talk about this every week. Obviously, it's slightly self-indulgent that I highlight my birthday every year, but I want to say happy birthday, funfetti thrown your way, dear listener, whenever you have your birthday. And I would be remiss if I didn't close in saying so many of you have taught me so much, too. Fool on.

As always, people on this program may have interest in the stocks they talk about, and The Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against. So don't buy or sell stocks based solely on what you hear. Learn more about Rule Breaker Investing at rbi.fool.com.