There's a tendency, of course, with our New Year's resolutions to get excited and to go all in, see where the market is.

Think about some of the exciting industries of today and think, oh, yeah, I should load up and put it all in this one thing.

And I hope anybody listening to us will think more about their first 20 investments and taking, let's say, $2,000 and investing it $100 each in 20 different stocks and start there and build from there.

I'm Mary Long, and that's David Gardner, co-founder and chief rulebreaker here at The Motley Fool.

He's also the host of our sibling podcast, Rule Breaker Investing.

My colleague, Ricky Mulvey, caught up with David for a wide-ranging conversation about

rule breaker investing and how its principles apply not just to stock picking, but to life.

They also discuss why individual investors don't have to think in one-year increments,

finding companies that add real value to the world, and how to use the market

as a teacher.

So, David, I'd like to start off the show with a little bit of storytelling as we welcome in

some newer investors and people who have hopefully been listening to this show for months

and even years. I've been working at the full for a few years now. And often when I meet people

who learn that I work at the Motley Fool, they'll tell me some version of this story.

You know, when I just started learning

about investing, I read your articles. And I've heard that from, I've heard that from journalists.

I've heard that actually from a CEO we had on the show. So people from all walks of life coming

to the Motley Fool to learn about investing. And, you know, I'm hopeful that we'll have some

of those stories starting as we start

2025. But as you think about your experience co-founding this company and being here through the

years, do you have a favorite story in particular that starts with the line? When I wanted to learn

about investing, I came across the Motley Fool. Well, I'm happy to say, Ricky, 31 years in,

...