To mark his 60th birthday, David delivers what may be the most distilled episode in Rule Breaker Investing history: 20 thoughts about investing, 20 about business, and 20 about life—gathered from decades of entrepreneurship, stock-picking, reading, losing, winning, and trying to stay Foolish along the way. From the “Ship of Fools” and the spiffy-pop, to optionality, fads that weren’t fads, the hardest thing in life, divergence and convergence, and why the longer Frank Lloyd Wright lived, the more beautiful life became… this is a fast-moving collection of convictions, stories, quotes, and life-earned observations designed to stick with you long after the episode ends.A milestone birthday. A landmark episode. [And yes: somehow, he fit 60 thoughts within 60 minutes.] Host: David GardnerProducer: Bart Shannon Companies Mentioned: ABNB, AMZN, CROX, GOOG, LUV, NFLX, SBUX, TSLA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

60 Thoughts As I Turn 60

Rule Breaker Investing

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** Rule Breaker Investing

## Participants

- **David Gardner** (The Motley Fool)

## Transcript

60 Thoughts as I Turn 60, 20 on Investing, 20 on Business, 20 on Life. Not the 60 best thoughts ever thought, certainly not the last 60 that I'll ever think, and maybe not even the same 60 I'd choose a year from now, but these are things I've come to believe.

Earned through investing, entrepreneurship, friendship, reading, losing, winning, and trying to stay foolish, capital F, all along the way. It's a milestone birthday. It's a landmark episode, 60 Thoughts as I Turn 60, 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 Investing. This week is a little different. I just turned 60, and to mark that milestone, I've gathered 60 thoughts. 20 about investing, 20 about business, and 20 about life. Some are mine. Some are borrowed from writers, founders, investors, philosophers, and fools who've helped shape me.

Some are one-winers. Some need a little room. All of them, in one way or another, have helped me see more clearly. My hope is not that you agree with every one. My hope is that a few stick. Maybe at least one or two. Enough that you carry them forward yourself. So, let's get started.

And pretty much my goal is to give you these 60. Now that I'm 60, in 60-ish. I never know how long the ad breaks go. These are things I have come to believe. They've helped me win the game of investing. I hope they do the same for you.

Number one. Everyone is an investor. When addressing a room, I've said, raise your hand if you're an investor. It's a trick question. It catches only those who think investing is what other people do, a specialized class. Not me or you. Right? Wrong. Put your hand up.

Everyone is an investor of both money and time. Your choice to do this, not that, to spend here, not there, are all investments. Everyone is an investor. The stock market always goes down faster than it goes up. But it always goes up more than it goes down.

Number three. And I quote, forming macro opinions or listening to the macro or market predictions of others is a waste of time. End quote. Warren Buffett. You know who waits for dips? Dips. Dips. Wait for dips.

Number five. This one comes from behavioral economics, where it's pretty much lab tested at this point. And this is also true of humans outside of the laboratory of behavioral economics. The pain of loss is three times the joy of gain. Think about that. It's hardwired into your biology and mine. The pain of loss is three times the joy of gain.

Yet think about it. The joy of investment gains is potentially infinite times the pain of loss. It's simple math. The worst you can ever do is lose a 100 percent of your investment. And that's pretty bad. And most of us have never quite done that. But what's the best you can do? Well, you know, it's way, way better than plus 100 per...

60 Thoughts As I Turn 60

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

60 Thoughts As I Turn 60

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.