Portfolio Construction and Rational Optimism

On today's episode, Clay brings back David Gardner to discuss his new book, Rule Breaker Investing. Throughout David’s investing career, he seemed to have taken all of Buffett’s rules to investing and thrown them out the window. In this episode, he shares his unique rule-breaking framework, providing you with the guidance and the gumption to win at investing by finding and owning the best companies of the future.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN:

00:00 - Intro 04:50 - Why David decided to ignore Buffett’s value investing principles and discover his own way to invest. 08:21 - Why he decided to break Buffett’s number one rule of investing. 11:01 - The story of David’s early investment in AOL, which rose by over 150x. 21:04 - Why David neglects the phrase, “long-term investor.” 28:36 - The six traits of rule breaker stocks and the six habits of the rule breaker investor. 40:11 - Why David prefers to buy stocks that professional commenters say are overvalued. 49:46 - Why the best companies are so good they almost seem to be cheating and don’t play by traditional rules. 01:00:42 - What conscious capitalism is and how it enables all parties in business to win. 01:27:49 - His Rule Breaker stock picks for 2025.

Disclaimer: Slight discrepancies in the timestamps may occur due to podcast platform differences.

BOOKS AND RESOURCES

• Join Clay and a select group of passionate value investors for a retreat in Big Sky, Montana. Learn more ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
• Join the exclusive ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TIP Mastermind Community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to engage in meaningful stock investing discussions with Stig, Clay, Kyle, and the other community members.
• David Gardner’s book: Rule Breaker Investing.
• David’s company: The Motley Fool.
• Matt Ridley’s book: The Rational Optimist.
• John Macket’s book: Conscious Capitalism.
• Related Episode: TIP385: Breaking the Rules w/ David Gardner.
• Follow David on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ & ⁠X⁠.
• Follow Clay on LinkedIn & X.
• Related books mentioned in the podcast.
• Ad-free episodes on our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium Feed⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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