Investing Experts You can beat the market - by breaking some rules
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Sep 18, 2025 
David Gardner, co-founder of The Motley Fool and author of Rule Breaker Investing, shares his secrets to beating the market by breaking conventional rules. He emphasizes the importance of long-term thinking and personalizing portfolios to reflect individual values. Gardner discusses the six traits of successful stocks and explains why management quality is crucial. Interestingly, he views perceived overvaluation as a potential buy signal, encouraging investors to embrace qualitative factors in their decision-making.
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Play The Whole-Life Investing Game
- David Gardner argues beating the market is possible by adopting a lifetime investing horizon and buying excellence.
- He recommends dollar-cost averaging into top individual stocks and selling mediocrity over decades.
Build A 20-Stock Core And Learn With Small Bets
- Start with a diversified portfolio of at least 20 stocks and add to winners rather than losers.
- Allocate 5–10% to speculative bets for learning and fun, not reckless risk-taking.
Qualitative Factors Drive Returns
- Quantitative metrics matter but qualitative factors often drive outsized returns.
- Gardner: "There are no numbers for the things that matter most" like CEO quality and culture.
