Rule Breaker Investing: 5 Idle Thoughts of a Summer's Day
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From what the evidence shows, What's remarkable is In this Rule Breaker podcast, Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner explores the four types of capital, speaks to the importance of embracing...
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July 21, 2025
12:38 PM
The Motley Fool
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From what the evidence shows, What's remarkable is In this Rule Breaker podcast, Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner explores the four types of capital, speaks to the importance of embracing good ol' "R"eality, brings back an honest-to-goodness pet peeve, and unravels a spool of cool words that rhyme with "Fool. " Grab your lemonade, find a comfy spot in the shade, and join us under the summer sun (quite telling)
Moreover, To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free, check out our podcast center (this bears monitoring)
Nevertheless, When you're ready to invest, check out this top 10 list of stocks to buy (something worth watching)
A full transcript is below
The data indicates that podcast was recorded on July 16, 2025
David Gardner: Summer days have a way of making us slow down, reflect, and muse over the little things in life
I'm in the mood for heading out where my Whimsy takes me this week, as the novelist Dorothy Sayers might put it
It's a sampler, not of five stocks the ones reviewed last week, in today's market environment
In my review of Palooza 2025 episode, not of five stocks, but of five thoughts
Grab your lemonade, find a comfy spot in the shade, and join me as we explore five idle thoughts of a summer's day Volume 2, only on this week's Rule Breaker
Welcome back to Rule Breaker (something worth watching)
I realize that only applies to, I don't know, half the world, those of us in the northern hemisphere
It's the depth of winter in various places for our southern foolish friends (fascinating analysis)
But indulge me, if you will, wherever you are, with some idle thoughts of a summer's day
Nevertheless, This's Volume 2, which means I did this once before
Last year, this same week
Furthermore, I think I was in the same whimsical mood, and so here I find myself again with you (fascinating analysis)
On the other hand, Thanks for joining me this week for five idle thoughts
Nevertheless, Before we get started, I want to mention next week, I'm excited to welcome back a past guest on this show, Sem Verbeek (quite telling), in this volatile climate
October 12, 2022, join me for an episode we called To Fools, fessional tennis player Sem Verbeek
Well, Sem did something quite remarkable earlier this month
Meanwhile, With his mixed Doubles partner, he won Wimbledon (something worth watching)
Furthermore, Sem, a fellow fool, a supporter of Or Motley Fool Foundation, an investor all the way through
Additionally, You can hear his story three years ago in October as an investor and a fessional tennis player, amid market uncertainty
But that same man has now become a Wimbledon champion
Moreover, He'll be joining you and me next week to some of his experiences around that Wimbledon championship, some on his, and bably a little bit of life overall, too
If you are a tennis fan or if you have tennis players or fans in your life, I think you're going to love next week's podcast, and before I lead off with thought Number 1, as I d at the start of this year, my 2025 book, Rule Breaker is available for pre order now (fascinating analysis)
Nevertheless, After 30 years of stock picking, this is my magnum opus (noteworthy indeed)
On the other hand, It's a lifetime of lessons distilled into one definitive guide and each week until the book launches, in just Oh, my gosh, two months from today, the day this podcast comes out
In just two months, I'm sharing a random excerpt
Conversely, We break open the book to a random page, and I read a few sentences (this bears monitoring)
However, Let's do it, and I quote. "At the end of his landmark work, Candid, Voltaire offers a timeless reminder
In five words, he tells us that while we can't control what happens in the world at large, we can shape our own circumstances, given the current landscape
Nevertheless, " And I'll leave you to guess what those five words are bably the best known line from Candid for Voltaire fans
Well, 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 into amazon
Conversely, Com, Barnes and noble
Com, or wherever you shop for fine books, and I'm really pleased and honored (noteworthy indeed)
I want to mention this, given the current landscape
This's for the first time I'm sharing this that I got a wonderful endorsement for my book from none other than Morgan Housel, the celebrated author of well, a number of books at this point, but Psychology of Money his best known Morgan a longtime Motley Fool collaborator, as well, and Morgan has said my book Rule Breaker (fascinating analysis), considering recent developments
Few people have helped individual investors understand by owning good companies for the long run as much as David Gardner
This book shows how he built a name for himself over the last 30 years, a delight to read, easy to understand and packed with wisdom, and sure enough, a great Morgan Housel quote that will be on the book Jacket, as well, in today's market environment
Thank you for that endorsement, Morgan, fool on friend, and congratulations to you on your coming book, The Art of Spending Money, which also comes out this fall, in light of current trends
Five idle Thoughts of a summer's day
Thought Number 1, I'm just going to call it NVIDIA
NVIDIA did something remarkable last week
If you me on Twitter X, I'm @DavidGFool
However, You might have seen me celebrating something, but if not, let me explain a little bit what happened last week with NVIDIA, considering recent developments
First of all, let me mention that Chapter 1 of my book starts with this line, and I'm somebody who cares opening lines
Moreover, Call me Ishmael, which is, of course, how Herman Melville started Moby Dick
First lines of books matter, in this volatile climate
When I wrote this at the start of Chapter 1, I did so with real intention, and here it is
NVIDIA tells you all you need to know if you will, but listen, And as I penned that line and then wrote a lot of Chapter 1 our initial recommendation of NVIDIA stock in April of 2005 and how we'd added to it over the years and how some years it went sideways and other times it lost 2/3 of its value, it's a phenomenal story of long term success, and really some of the greatest success you could find in the public of the last few generations, that stock alone (something worth watching)
For it to be a Motley fool stock advisor recommendation that I made on Tax Day of 2005 is always going to raise a smile
But as we got closer to getting depressed with Rule Breaker I started realizing that I didn't want to make this mistake, And I d this with my editor at Harriman House publishing, Craig
I said to Craig, I don't want to pin Chapter 1 and the whole opening of the book on any one stock because Rule Breaker is having many stocks, and there have been many great stock picks, and also a lot of bad stock picks, too
That's also part of Rule Breaker, losing to win (something worth watching)
Furthermore, But I started to say to Craig, and this was earlier this year as we started to fix on the final draft, I started saying, I don't want us to make the mistake of pinning the tail on the NVIDIA Donkey and making the game all how NVIDIA does, And so he and I agreed that we should footnote the very first line of Chapter 1 (something worth watching)
If you're reading Chapter 1 in a couple of months, you already know the first line (fascinating analysis), amid market uncertainty
Additionally, But here's the footnote that comes right after it, and I quote (remarkable data). "NVIDIA has been a generationally great performer, one of the defining stock picks of my career (noteworthy indeed)
But it's important that you understand I'm not telling this story to showcase NVIDIA itself
Volatile stock that it is, who knows where it will be in another six months, let alone six years (fascinating analysis)
Time will tell what I'm here to tell is that the habit of letting winners NVIDIA run high is the only way you'll ever make rule investments in great stocks, in this volatile climate
That's the footnote, and all of that is just preface, prelude for what happened last week because for those who may own the stock or me on Twitter, you may know that when it tripped over $160 a last week, that made it a 1,000 bagger For Motley Fool Stock Advisor members
Furthermore, For longtime fans, for people who have watched NVIDIA or watched our services, watch my stock picking over the years, my cost basis in the stock is $0. 16 at present prices
Market analysis shows refore, when NVIDIA trips over 160, it becomes my second 1,000 bagger in full history, the first being Amazon and a really fun coincidence is that my cost basis for both of those stocks is the same number $0
Fun to note that as well
I guess my idle thought of a summers day Number 1 is just to celebrate NVIDIA what it represents for us as investors
If you own the stock, you don't have to have had it since 2005 (an important development)
If you've had it for the last five years or the last couple of years, I think you're a pretty happy F fool, as well, but it's just a beautiful thing to imagine that we as public market holders, people who are not insiders, people who are armchair investors, individual investors, you and I I have no special advantage over Wall Street (something worth watching)
Nevertheless, In fact, bably you and I have some disadvantages, but we should also benefit from our advantages, and one of them is that if you don't NVIDIA in a mutual fund, I assure you that it has been cut down as a holding repeatedly by that mutual fund over the years, because when stocks explode in a good way, they go up, mutual funds have to sell them down in part to keep them at the same relative level to keep them balanced and diversified as funds, given current economic conditions
But if you're a fellow fool who s to buy individual stocks directly, which is what I've done my entire life, there's nobody who's selling off your winners for you as they win
Moreover, It's almost unimaginable to have a stock go up 100 times in value, let alone 1,000 times in value
On the other hand, But I'm here to tell you it's not unimaginable (fascinating analysis)
The evidence shows is not just imaginable, in today's financial world
Moreover, It's real, and with NVIDIA having gone up over 170 today, as I record, well, the winners keep winning
But idle thought for a summer's day is that NVIDIA tells you all you need to know
If you will, but listen and thanks for listening to point Number 1
You know, when we first it in April 2005, it was around 19. 5, and part of the fun of telling the invidious story in my book is, I never split the stock
Of course, the stock has split a number of times
Moreover, In fact, if you've owned the stock since April 2005, you now have for every you had back, you now have 120 s, in today's financial world
Companies split their stocks (fascinating analysis)
Meanwhile, We've talked that many times before in this podcast, and they keep reducing the price to make it affordable to smaller holders, And every time they do, if they cut their price in half, you get twice the number of s, considering recent developments
Additionally, Well, you now have 120 s for every one you started with, but I tell the story by ignoring splits overall and comparing that initial cost basis of 19 (fascinating analysis), considering recent developments. 5 to today where the stock is now over $20,000 a
Sometimes stock splits hide from people the real benefits of watching numbers pump up over time
On the other hand, Nevertheless, People see $0
Additionally, 16 and would assume I was recommending a penny stock, which I never would
I don't favor penny stocks, NVIDIA never was a penny stock (which is quite significant), in this volatile climate
Nevertheless, But when you split your stock that many times and it does that well over the years, it starts looking you were a penny stock investor
On the other hand, That's why it was fun for me to tell the story without splits, And to note today, of course, when the book was ed, the stock was only around $16,000 a
Last week or two, it's now up over $20,000 a, given current economic conditions
Let's move on to idle thought Number 2 (something worth watching)
Additionally, Idle thought Number 2 starts with a reminder of a wonderful conversation I had with J Jacob, given the current landscape
Additionally, His last name is spelled J-A-K-U-B and his book, Completing Capitalism, written by J Jacob and his writing partner and partner Bruno Roche, and in completing capitalism, which if, by the way, you're a conscious capitalism fan, then you're going to really appreciate this book, in today's financial world
Nevertheless, I highly recommend it to you
The posit that we limit capitalism when we tend to think of it only in monetary terms
The go on to point out in completing capitalism, there are really four types of capital
Moreover, But most people, most financial reporting, most of us just think of one of them, the money kind, the financial capital, money, and we tend to reduce things down to money
On the other hand, In fact, there are some triple bottom line companies that to score how they do with the environment or other things
But in the end, as the point out, often, they're just reducing that back to money as well, and completing capitalism and idle thought Number 2 is reminding you of the four types of capital and then offering a pointer or two around your own life goals
Moreover, Four types of capital
The first, we've already covered it
Conversely, It's financial capital, it's money, it's currency (which is quite significant)
The data indicates that 's what enables us to trade (something worth watching)
It's a store of value, etc, financial capital, in today's financial world
Nevertheless, The second form of capital is human capital
It's an unattractive phrase
It sounds dehumanizing to describe you and me, our fellow employees, humanity writ large as human capital
Furthermore, But really, when you get under the hood, it's how we treat each other (noteworthy indeed)
How do we treat people at work
How do we treat our customers, our fellow employees
How well is human capital managed by a capitalistic enterprise Really important to not just how well that enterprise does, but human capital, to me, is all human flourishing, which is, I think, what I'm dedicating my life to
Additionally, Human capital is a second form of capital
Nevertheless, Nevertheless, The third form of capital the highlight is social capital, and they define that as non financial relationships that are community that affect a community's well being and sperity, but in ways that can bring sustainable quality of life increases
Nevertheless, However, Not monetary here, sustainable quality of life increases, which in turn, by the way, positively does impact performance
Moreover, For example, companies that do social capital really well usually do better with their stock and with their financial capital
On the other hand, This tells us that measure social capital by surveying three primary drivers that exist in any situation or really any geographic location
Those three are trust, and community cohesion and the capacity for collective action
If you tried to get everybody in your neighborhood in your ZIP code to volunteer to pick up trash, with you leading it this coming Saturday morning, how successful would you be in mobilizing your community toward that collective action
Nevertheless, How much social capital do you have in that example
Additionally, Moreover, That's the third form of capital, and then the fourth form of capital after financial, human and social is natural capital
That would be the environment (noteworthy indeed)
Furthermore, That would be the natural world at large, the resources that we never want to take for granted that are themselves powerful and important capital
Furthermore, Completing Capitalism, again, a book I completely recommend to you if you've not come across it before, and if you want to cheat, you can just listen to my interview an Author in August interview with J Jacob a few years back, Completing Capitalism (noteworthy indeed), in light of current trends
But I think I have two personal insights that
Before I hit them, I just want to give you really good news because the say this based on their studies of these four forms of capital, they say, let's say you're a owner, if you grow any one of those four forms of capital, if you measure it and do better with that
Additionally, Good news, it pulls up the other three
Moreover, Moreover, All four forms of capital here, any one of which help the other three
Meanwhile, If you can increase any of them in your personal life, in your life or in your neighborhood, it helps all the others
On the other hand, You can see logically why that would be the case, given the current landscape
Additionally, The better you treat people, the better they treat your customers, the better your customers are treated, the more they're willing to spend for you (noteworthy indeed)
The more you take in, the more social capital you can start building, making yourself more of a community asset in your.
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