July 2026 Mailbag: Year 12 Begins

In this episode of Motley Fool Rule Breaker Investing, Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner dives into the Mailbag, covering questions about investing, artificial intelligence, financial freedom, World Cup soccer, custodial Roth IRAs, Rule Breaker stock selection—and even a soundtrack for Foolish living.

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A full transcript is below.

This podcast was recorded on July 29, 2026.

David Gardner: Back in July of 2015, I hoped there might be enough ideas, enough thoughtful listeners to sustain a weekly investing podcast for a while. Well, here we are. This month marks the beginning of Year 12 for Rule Breaker Investing. One new episode every week, no skips, no reruns. One of the happiest discoveries along the way has been this: some of the very best episodes are the ones that you help create. Every month, I get to host my favorite co-hosts. They live all over the world. They don't know each other. They ask better questions than I would have thought to ask myself. They challenge me, teach me, make me laugh, and occasionally move me to tears. As we begin our 12th year together, let's do what we often do best. Let's open the mailbag. Only on this week's Rule Breaker Investing.

It was mid July 2015 when Rule Breaker Investing launched. If you scroll all the way back in Apple Podcasts, I assume the same is true of Spotify, you'll see our first three episodes we pinned up all on the same day. July 8th, each one was 8-10 minutes. I think I did one the week after that, and I've been doing one the week after ever since. Here we are with the 129th consecutive mailbag. Welcome. Thanks for joining me here at the end of July. Let's review the month that was, July 1st, the first day of the month. It was what you've done to create financial freedom, Volume 4. We had some remarkable listener stories, revealing that financial freedom is ultimately about hope, perseverance, and passing opportunity on to others. A week later, Great Quotes Volume 22:.A Nation Forever Young. It was America's birthday. I gave you five of my favorite quotations, ranging from self-knowledge to immigration. That combined into a meditation on why curiosity and renewal keep both people young and also nations to a nation forever young. The third week of the month, it was 10 years later, five Brexit-inspired stocks, a decade after Brexit rattled the world. My pal, Karl Thiel, and I, a couple of weeks ago, reopened the time capsule of my July 2016 five stock sampler to see how five optimism-inspired investments actually fared and what 10 years can teach us that three never could. Finally, last week, Five Idle Thoughts of a Summer's Day, Volume 3, a midsummer sampler of curiosity. We wandered from AI to soccer to literature and beyond. I ended with a whimsical two-page story that I hope, in a little way, at least, expanded your universe.

That is the month that was. We have five Wednesdays in July of 2026, and the last Wednesday is always your mailbag. Now, speaking of financial freedom, this month of July, before we get started, do you know a great teacher? Maybe it's your spouse, maybe it's your child's teacher or a friend, neighbor, someone in your local school district. If so, we'd love an introduction. This fall, The Fool Community Foundation is launching our Freedometer. It's a free, interactive investing experience designed to help high school students discover the power of investing. Before its national classroom launch, we're going to invite a small group of 10-15 educators to join our inaugural Freedometer founding teacher cohort. Founding teachers will receive early access to the Freedometer. You will work directly with our team and help shape the future of industry education before it reaches classrooms across the country.

As I share these words with you, if someone comes to mind, we'd love to hear from you. Simply send an email to George Khalaf. George is our executive director at The Fool Community Foundation, a past guest on this podcast, including July 1st of this month. George's email address is george.khalaf@foolfoundation.org. Khalaf is spelled K-H-A-L-A-F. It's george.khalaf@foolfoundation.org, and we'll take it from there. Sometimes helping the next generation starts with a single introduction, and we believe at The Fool Community Foundation that we can help more people become not smarter, happier, and richer, but freer, too.

Two other housekeeping notes. One is at rulebreakerinvesting.com. We have added a new list of podcasts at the podcast tab on rulebreakerInvesting.com. I've grouped many of my episodic series by theme right there, so you can go back and listen if you ever want to, to all of my great quotes podcasts, or great quotes Number 13, if that's the one you're looking for. We've conveniently organized everything from our pet peeves to all of our authors in August podcasts, and the list goes on mental tips, tricks, and life hacks. We've added a new shortlist, and that's what I'm calling “signature episodes.” These are some of the most meaningful, looking back at some of my favorite episodes in the history of this podcast in celebration of our 11th year of completion. For example, when I did 60 Thoughts, as I turned 60 a few months ago, I pinned that one up. If you remember the year the market skyrocketed with Chris Hill broadcasting from 30 years into the future. That one's there, too, a road less traveled in 10.5 chapters. Some of my signature podcasts are now there at rulebreakerinvesting.com at the podcasts tab. Most of my mailbags have started with a Twitter hot take.

This one is no exception. I have just one for you this month. This one is coming in from Matt Hard, who is @$307Fool on Twitter X. Matt, you tweeted this in response to my invitation for people to share what they've done to create financial freedom in the past year. You did this right around the start of the year. You came in after I recorded What Have You Done to Create Financial Freedom podcast this month, but not too late for me to share in the mailbag. Matt, you wrote 2026 has been a year of sharing what I've learned. From buying extra copies of the Rule Breaker Investing book for friends and family and teaching teachers a class on pursuing financial wellness, I have moved from posts on X and into action. Double exclamation point and Matt, I know you recently crossed 1,200 followers on Twitter X. Congratulations to you, sir. I would say, keep going. It's been my pleasure to learn from you, and I hope more and more of the world does, too. @$307Fool on Twitter X Matt Hard, thank you for a Twitter hot take.

We have seven mailbag items for July 2026. Here's No. 1. Let's get started. This is a beautiful note, regular correspondent and friend of this podcast, and fellow Fool, Jim. Thank you for this. Let me share it. Hi, David. I haven't had a chance to listen to your episode. What have you done to create financial freedom? Yet, I knew it was Rule Breaker Investing's Independence Day episodic episode and had prepared a story to share, but I missed it. My dad passed away suddenly and unexpectedly, and I had to fly back to Thailand for his funeral. I'm heartbroken and in deep grief. Like so many of us, I thought I had more time.

After losing my dad, I realized the story I want to share isn't really about what I've done to create financial freedom. It's about what he did to create mine. When I was little, he gave me a piggy bank for every birthday. My job was to fill it with coins throughout the year. When it was full, we'd make a special trip to the bank together to deposit the money. As a child, I thought it was a fun tradition. Looking back now, I realized he was teaching me one of life's most valuable lessons. Before we can invest, we must first learn to save. He showed me that financial freedom isn't built with one big decision. It grows from small, consistent habits over time. As my family sorted through his affairs and papers, I discovered something I never knew. Every year, he quietly donated to his old junior high school to provide scholarships for students. He never talked about it or looked for recognition. He simply believed in helping others.

Those two lessons now feel inseparable to me. Build a strong foundation by saving, invest for the future, and when you're fortunate enough, lift someone else up along the way. In honor of my dad, I plan to continue his annual scholarship donations. It feels like the best way I know to carry forward not his generosity, but the values he lived by every day. Losing him has also reminded me of something that has nothing to do with money.

Time is our most precious asset, and none of us knows how much of it we have. If there's someone you want to visit, something you've always wanted to do, or words you've been meaning to say, don't keep waiting for the "right time." Nothing is guaranteed. I truly believe I had more time with my dad, and I was wrong. I guess my answer to your episode isn't really about what I've done to create financial freedom. It's about what my dad gave me, the habits that made financial independence possible. The example that showed me what financial independence is ultimately for, to live generously, to make a difference, and to leave the world a little better than you found it. Thank you for all you do and for creating a community that celebrates not investing, but the lives we build around it. I think my dad would have loved that. Foolishly, Jim, my biggest fan.

Well, Jim, this is the latest of many notes you've shared over the years. Each one, you've always signed My Biggest Fan. I am truly honored by that, and each time I read it, it makes me smile. I love the way you quietly turn my question upside down because I asked at the start of this month, what have you done to create financial freedom? Your answer was, let me tell you what my father did to create mine. Before there were investment accounts or portfolios, for you, there was a piggy bank. Before there was wealth, there were habits. We inherit far more than money. We inherit ways of thinking. What a wonderful, beautiful living embodiment you are of your dad on this Earth. Jim, thank you for sharing that stirring reflection, and it's now heard, and I know loved by many. Your father is still teaching you. Thank you, Jim. Fool on.

Onto Rule Breaker Mailbag item No. 2. This one from the Italian Fool. Hi, David. Longtime Rule Breaker here with a question about identifying Rule Breakers today versus how it felt when you identified yours. I understand the math of the strategy. The Italian Fool writes, a six out of 10 batting average is good. Losers can only lose 1X, and a few 50X or 100 times monsters more than carry the portfolio. The six traits are how we fish in the right pond to find them. Here's my tension. When I look for the companies that best fit the six traits today, I land on names like Axon, Palantir, Shopify, MercadoLibre, Intuitive Surgical, Rocket Lab. But these have been identified as Rule Breakers for years. They still look like great companies, and I believe some could 5X or 10X from here, but it's hard to imagine 100X or 1,000X. If my portfolio never holds a future 100-bagger, the math that makes the strategy work starts to break down.

Meanwhile, the companies that might have that potential and the Italian food lists as examples, Tempus AI, Serve Robotics, goes on to say names in genomics or quantum. Feel fuzzy, not clearly profitable, top dog status, debatable, maybe a light four of six on the traits. Buying them feels closer to gambling than investing. My question, when you first bought Amazon and Nvidia, which of those two feelings did you have? Did they feel like today's obvious six of six names, clear Rule Breakers that then surprised you by becoming 1,000 baggers, or did they feel like tempest or serve feel to me now unclear, uncomfortable, holding your nose a bit as you bought? The answer matters for where I hunt. Should I keep adding the proven six of six companies, even at large market caps, accepting that 10 times or 20 times maybe the ceiling? Or do I need some of the fuzzier small names to have any shot at a 100-bagger?

A related wrinkle, the obvious Rule Breakers of this era. The Italian Fool goes on to list SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic, will IPO near trillion-dollar valuations, not the two billion dollars where Amazon started? The 1,000X runway may simply not exist for them. How did your future monsters feel at the moment of purchase? Fool on the Italian Fool.

A very good and very understandable question, and I'm happy to take it head-on. I think my first thought back is, don't let hindsight fool you because today we look at Amazon and we look at Nvidia, and they feel obvious. They're gigantic companies because I would say we know the ending. When I actually recommended them to Motley Fool members, Amazon in 1997 and Nvidia in 2005, they felt exciting to me. They felt visionary. They felt full of possibility, but they were also very uncertain. I think it's easy, as stocks become mega winners, everybody thinks, it was so easy and so obvious to pick.

When I first picked Apple, which I did on Jan. 18, 2008, for Motley Fool Stock Advisor members, I thought I was really late to the party, and in some ways, I was a year earlier the iPhone had launched, and of course, the iPod was years before that, and I'd grown up with Apple since the 1980s since Steve Jobs had founded the company. Even that company, as I first recommended it to Fool members, felt like, it's a little late, but let's still buy to hold. I'm really happy to say Apple on that day was $4.89. Now that it is even larger than Nvidia, it's actually gone from $4.89 to at last count about 339. It's a 70-bagger since 2008, and that's Apple. I think my big thought here is, stick with quality. Go with the companies that you believe are Rule Breakers.

My favorite way to judge that is to use my Snap test and my Cola test. Italian Fool, I believe you know what both of those are. I wrote about them extensively in my Rule Breaker investing book. I talk about them on a regular basis. I'm not going to recapitulate them here because I don't want to be boring or say the same thing too often. But for me, Snap Cola remains a great guide as to which companies you really want to buy to hold. I also want to say, don't underrate a 10- or 20-bagger. Thinking about what might go up 100 times in value or 1,000 times in value, I didn't ask myself that of Amazon or Nvidia when I first picked them. I just thought, these are promising companies. I like the CEOs. I like what the company is doing. I want to buy to hold that stock. I was as surprised as anybody when Amazon first crossed the 50 times finish line. Then when it was up 100 times, I was astonished, and now it's up over 1,000 times. At no point in the early days could I ever even have imagined that. I don't think you want to get ahead of yourself and start trying to make predictions or start trying to calculate the number of multiple you think a stock can make. I think it's much better just to find companies like Shopify or more modest companies. Chipotle has been a fantastic stock. It's up 27 times in value for Rule Breaker members, not 270 times in value, but most of us are pretty happy with 10 or 20 baggers.

Corning has come out of nowhere in recent months. I first picked it for Motley Fool Stock Advisor in 2011. Here we are 15 years later, it's now a 12-bagger. Axon Enterprise, you mentioned, but there are a lot more modest companies. McKesson, the hospital supply products company, ticker symbol MCK, has gone up 22 times the value since we've had it for now 17 years in Stock Advisor. I hope you're picking up that most of our winners were holding for more than a decade. That's really the biggest trick that most people have a hard time doing. But I hope with podcasts like 10 years later, just a couple of weeks ago, here in July on Rule Breaker Investing. I hope you can see what investing really looks like, and that 10 and 20 baggers are magical for portfolios. If you can ever get a 50 or 100, great. But you definitely don't need that to make the math work out for you.

I would also say in closing that you don't have to have all six traits of the Rule Breaker stock present to feel good about buying and starting a position in a new potential Rule Breaker. There's no requirement that anything fit all six of our traits. I use them as principles, as guidelines. I love it when all six are present in a stock that I'm recommending or buying, but I don't hold myself to having to see all of those present before starting a position. There are a bunch of thoughts back from somebody who's been there and done that and seen all kinds of different winners and losers. Losers are a subject I take other weeks on this podcast, but you were asking about what the mega winners are. I also find myself, by the way, not particularly interested in companies that IPO at trillion-dollar valuations. I do think they could go up 10 or 20 times in value, but a long hold for something starting at that high valuation just has never interested me very much. Again, thanks for your note, Italian Fool, Fool on.

Onto Mailbag Item Number 3. This one from Amit Somani writing in again from Bangalore, India. Amit writes, Dear David, longtime listener, been featured on the Mailbag every time I've written in, hoping my streak continues, Smiley. I will just say back right now, you have done it again, Amit Ka-ching. He goes on, you asked in last week's podcast how we're actually using AI. Here are three that have quietly become part of my life. Amit starts, Every Saturday morning, an AI agent I built goes to work on my portfolio. It knows all my positions and looks at my paid subscriptions, a few newsletters, and discussion boards. Each week, it tells me what genuinely moved the needle on my top holdings. I want to integrate watch lists, also the Rule Breaker rules, stock alerts, too, and more in the future. It has helped me clean up my portfolio and better align it to my version of the future that I'd like to back.

The second use is what I call my chief of staff for managing my portfolio companies, my day job as a venture investor in start-ups. That agent, my chief of staff, reads the board decks, the financials, and my meeting notes from meeting with my companies over the last year, and then it tells me where things stand and the three things that matter most right now. It's become invaluable for my board prep, tracking what was committed, what got done and what still needs work. Before his third, I'm just going to pause it right there and just say, Amit, those are both great uses of AI, keeping you up to date with your portfolio, making your life easier, going and grabbing updates, especially that second one, your chief of staff, that shows you off as an investment professional.

Most of us listening are not investment professionals working in the venture capital world, but I can see how you're making that work in your day job doing just what a professional should, holding your portfolio companies accountable and staying in the loop, and I love how you've organized it around what are the three things that matter most right now. You might or might not even agree with your chief of staff, but at least it's going out there and doing the work for you. I think those are just two fantastic uses of AI. The third and final one Amit speaks too is this. He says, the third is pure joy. My personal AI golf coach. I'm an aspiring golfer and a hopeless data freak, and every round I play is logged on an app called the Grint, that's G-R-I-N-T. I had it comb through all my rounds from last year to show me where I lose strokes on a course by course basis and how to improve. It's helped me drop my handicap, Amit says, by two or three. These are just a few of the interesting ones, but I believe becoming friends with AI is quietly, surely, helping me become a little smarter, happier, and richer. Fool on. Amit Somani again, writing in from Bangalore.

I would just say back to you, Amit that what your AI is doing for you is exactly what I hope this podcast is doing for you, too, certainly does it for me because I would say, we're all here for each other. We're all here to make each other smarter. I love things that make me smarter. That's why I love doing the mailbag every month. I also love AI. It was my pleasure to share 10 or more ways I use AI in last week's podcast. Thank you for sharing yours.

On to Mailbag Item Number 4. Last week, among my idle thoughts, after we talked some about AI, it was time to talk about how to improve World Cup soccer. I got a wonderful note about this. Now, this one didn't come through our mailbox, which I think you know dear listener is rbi@fool.com. If you want to be on next month's mailbag or react to anything I'm doing today or in the coming weeks Authors in August is what we're doing together this coming month. You can always write us at rbi@fool.com.

But this mailbag item was a text. Because it came from a dear friend of mine of 40 years, Carter Newbold who was one of my groomsmen back in the day. Carter was listening in last week and shared several thoughts, all of which I have to say I am quite taken by for ways to improve World Cup soccer. Here we are Carter's soccer thoughts, Mailbag Item Number 4. He started following up on your thoughts on soccer. These ideas have occurred to me. All of which I'm sure have previously been much discussed, says Carter. I will just say, from my own standpoint, that's humble of you to say, I haven't really discussed any of these. I'm sure people who know the sport much better have kicked them around, Carter, but I love this list that you've come up with.

Let's go through them one through seven real fast. No. 1, change the value of a score to six, like a touchdown in American football. At the World Cup, the average per game goals was 2.96. Converted to touchdown value, that would be 17.75 points per game. That would still be far below the average National Football League total points last season for American football fans of 43.9, but perhaps it would feel a bit more productive. Another scoring thought Carter provides here for number one is to make long-distance goals more valuable, just as with the three points shot in basketball, more long shots might be taken. I'm not going to comment on each of these, but I will briefly just comment on this one. I think it's a zany idea to change the score. I don't think it'll ever happen. I don't think Carter would expect that either to call a goal six points or a touchdown in soccer. In fact, thinking about that made me realize that in American football, they don't even score that often themselves, but somehow it does feel more productive when all the numbers run up into the 20s.

Let's move to No. 2. Again, quick list here. No. 2, put more rafts on the field. The field is huge, and there aren't enough eyes to see it all. Three, take time keeping away from the on-field official and stop the clock during actual stoppages of play. Four, eliminate offsides within the six-yard box at the mouth of the goal. If the attacking team has built an advantage that close to the goal, the primary purpose of the offside rule has been effectively negated. I think this is worth perhaps one more score per game. Five, never conclude a 0-0 game with penalty kicks. A scoreless game should always be ended with a scored goal no matter how long it takes. Number 6, require and allow refs to send players off the field for 60 and 92nd intervals in something similar to Ice Hockey's penalty box. Finally, Number 7, separate player ejections from the size of the team. For instance, if you foul out in basketball, somebody else comes in to replace you. In soccer, by contrast, of course, people are permanently removed from the game and not replaced.

Carter goes on, If you separated player ejections from team size, that would allow refs to briskly send off players for diving or complaining. The team size advantage would only exist for a short time, related to the infraction itself, not for the remainder of the whole game. This would allow refs to briskly send off players for diving, complaining, and the team-size advantage would only exist for the amount of time related to the infraction. Carter concluded his text to me saying, similar to you, I don't think the world much cares, but couldn't soccer quite easily become a more beautiful game? Carter, thank you for your note. Of course, I loved it. I'm sure plenty of soccer purists are shaking their heads right now. Yet, this note is actually a beautiful example of Rule Breaker thinking. Too often, I think we treat long-standing institutions as though they were handed down on stone tablets. In reality, every sport was invented by somebody and every rule was chosen by somebody, and every one of those rules can be revisited by somebody.

To me, it's curiosity that asks, why is it this way? I would say Rule Breakers add might there be a better way A quick example before we move on to Rule Breaker Mailbag Item Number 5, Major League baseball here in the United States was about as opposed to significant rule changes as any other league in the world. Yet, within the past few years, it has significantly improved its game, and the resulting entertainment, thanks to what I would say are a bunch of Rule Breaker moves, to wit, a pitch clock that keeps the game moving faster, a restriction on defensive shifts that keeps fielders’ positions closer to their actual named position. A bigger bases, too. Of course, my favorite recent one, and that is the opportunity to dispute ball and strike calls just seconds after an umpire has ruled or sometimes misruled and that is the automated balls and strikes system. Every one of these changes probably rankled some purists, but everyone has now made baseball a better game. I would love to see FIFA show similar open-mindedness. I love your ideas, Carter, gleaned from your long life of watching and playing the sport yourself a lot more than I ever had. Anyway, to conclude, this podcast will continue to solicit mailbag inputs as to how to make World Cup soccer better.

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David Gardner: Let's move on to Item Number 5. This one from Sanjay writing in, "Hi, David, I hope you're well. I'm not sure what is the definition of financial freedom as everyone has their own definition. I haven't achieved it yet." Sanjay writes. "However, I have paid off my daughter's apartment. Giving her some freedom as she never needs to worry about having a roof now over her head. She will still need to work but has freedom to do what she wants without worrying about paying a mortgage." I will just interrupt by saying, Great job, Sanjay. That is a fantastic thing that you have done for financial freedom over the past year. He goes on. "Thank you for addressing the add-up question on your monthly Mailbag episode." He's asking here about Rule Breaker habit No. 2, add up to stocks or positions that you hold as opposed to doubling down on losing stocks or positions that you may hold. He's seeking clarification. He goes on to say, "I want to clarify one point. Assuming I add up, if a good company stock price increases, let's say, by 10%", Sanjay asks, "Do I add up when the stock price increases by 10% from the current price? For example, if Intuitive Surgical at $400 a share today, would I wait and add up when it reaches 440? Or from the median purchase price because," in his own case, Sanjay says, "My median purchase price is 440. Thus, do I add up when Intuitive Surgical? Is it 480 or 484, if you will?" Sanjay concludes, "Also, for what period should the stock maintain the gain before you add up? Regards, Sanjay."

Let me say back to this one, Sanjay. First of all, I feel as if you're asking what I would call rules-based questions" when "Rule Breaker Investing" is really a "principles-based approach to investing." Just zooming one level out and just looking at the big picture here, Sanjay, I think the key habit to build is when you have new money and you want to add to existing holdings in your portfolio, I would just say add to the ones that are going up; add to the ones that are winning for you. Add also in context with your sleep number. I think if you've read Rule Breaker Investing or you know my stuff here, you know that Principle Number 4 of the Rule Breaker portfolio is to establish your sleep number. You're going to want to add, of course, in context with your sleep number, i.e., don't add to an already really big position if you're already getting a little nervous about the size of it in your portfolio.

Again, these are all principles-based thoughts for you, not rules-based. I would also say tend to look at the company itself as opposed to the stock price. I understand that you're asking, 10% on top of 400 would be 440. Is that the right number? I would say more important than whatever given number, whether it's 440, 420, or 475, is are you looking at the company's results? If you've done some of your homework, if you like my five-and-three approach with five green flags and three red flags talked about a lot on this podcast, and of course, in my book as well. Do you see the green flags you're looking for? Are you not seeing the red flags you're hoping not to see? That means the company is fulfilling its mission, its thesis that you set out for it when you first thought to invest in it. The company's performance is much more important to me, I think, than the actual stock price of the stock.

Though, in the end, you're right, of course; all of us in the end are buying the stocks of companies, technically, not the companies themselves. You are left with a question as to whether you should add to this one or that one. I would say the period that the stock needs to maintain that gain should be, over the last several months up to the present day, generally is how I think about things. I hope this answer has been helpful for you. I personally do not operate off of any strict numerical rules of the kind that you're asking about. It would be misleading for me to start stating numbers or specific time periods. I hope you're hearing from me why I think that way, and I hope it's helpful. Thanks for writing in, and Fool on.

Two more this week, including our first-ever audio submission. A few weeks ago on this podcast, I said, "A long time ago, we used to do occasional audio voicemail Mailbag items," and sure enough, I thought it'd be fun to have a renaissance there. Andrew Gibson, you have made that possible, so you're coming up in Mailbag Item Number 7, but let's now go to Number 6. Emily from Texas, right again, "Hi again, David and team. Imagine my delight." Emily writes, "When I heard my name and state early in today's episode." She's referring to our July 1st episode, What you've done to create financial freedom. Emily, I loved your note, and I shared it in that podcast. "I squealed," you wrote. "Thank you for the feature and my midweek boost of energy. I especially appreciate the forward along to your hiring squad and the opportunity to shoot my shot at working with your team on air."

For those who weren't listening at the start of this month, I should mention that Emily was not only sharing a great story, which I'm going to recapitulate really quickly in a sec, but she was also applying for a job at The Motley Fool. I'll just put it out there to anybody: if you're interested in our job openings, careers.fool.com is what you can refer to. What was Emily's story? She told a story of buying her first individual stock right around late 2020, early 2021. She said at the time, "I didn't know what I was doing. But I thought, if I don't have skin in the game, I won't learn very quickly." She knew that she said the lightheartedness of this podcast made the jump for her feel less scary. She bought her first-ever individual stock after doing her own research, picking a company that had a future that she thought she could see and understand, and the punch line is that that first pick, her first stock pick ever, was Nvidia.

She wrote, "I wish I had more to put in the game at the time. Been a wildly entertaining ride, and I've been investing consistently since." She ended her story with the three-letter word "win" with an exclamation point. I would just say back, Emily, thank you for applying for a job at The Motley Fool. I don't make any decisions. But as I mentioned earlier, careers.fool.com shows our open positions. I will say this: you already have a few very Foolish characteristics. I love your positivity. You're clearly fun. What do winners do? They win and you're off to a great start as an investor. Congratulations and Fool on. There's more to come. I've already foreshadowed it a special moment for this podcast. It was March 30th of 2016 when for the first time, I said, "Hey, what if we did not just Mailbag? What if we did Voice Mailbag, and we had our first-ever call-in?” I think it was fun at the time. I haven't gone back and listened to it, and yet, I didn't keep doing it. In fact, it took 10 years for me to think, "Hey, we should try this again, and that's exactly what we're about to do."

Andrew Gibson, a longtime friend of this podcast, a friend on Twitter X, as well. Andrew, thank you for taking the time to submit this voice Mailbag, the first one in more than ten years and perhaps the first of many to come if we like what's about to happen. Let's roll it.

Andrew Gibson: Good morning David, Bart, Fools around Fooldom; and dear listeners, it is Andrew Gibbs 53446 from Northern Minnesota. I'm excited, David, for authors in August and our upcoming book, The Score, which I already read, and I do implement lessons learned. I love the book, but I will not spoil it. David, I've got a Rule Breaker playlist on Spotify. So far, don't go hanging Billy Joel and I Fought the Law, And The Law Won from the recent RBI podcast. Any other recommendations would be great?

David Gardner: I want to pause it there because this is a great question you're asking, Andrew. I've done some research and thought about this. What are some worthy additions to a Spotify playlist themed around Rule Breaker Investing? I think I'm going to come back to that at the end. Let's keep listening.

Andrew Gibson: Lastly, I have been doing a lot of reading on custodial Roth IRAs and Minnesota statues in regards to working for kids because I want to teach them from start to finish how to become great investors and business savvy. I can implement lessons learned from RBI and The Motley Fool. Any thoughts on that would be super cool from you.

David Gardner: You have a little bit more still to come on this voice Mailbag item, Andrew, but I thought it would be logical for me to stop for a sec there and just speak here to custodial Roth IRAs and maybe, to a lesser extent, Minnesota statutes, which I'm not as familiar with. But the basics of a custodial Roth IRA is if you have a child who's earning income, so you have a child who's doing babysitting or mowing or lifeguarding; great news. That child, you can open up as an adult, a parent of that child, their custodial Roth IRA. Again, it has to be their earned income, not any money given to them, but children, as you might expect, have very low tax rates up front. They have decades before that halcyon day when they achieve financial freedom or retirement, and they also have the highest expected future earnings growth in the family.

For all these reasons, I just want to say, Andrew and everyone else listening, all my fellow Fools, this is a great thing to do, starting a custodial Roth IRA for a child who is earning, let's say, summer job money, money on the side; you can get them started investing. Now, Robert Brokamp, The Motley Fool’s retirement expert, I dropped a note to Robert about your Voice Mailbag item, Andrew, and Robert wanted me to point out a few more things here, which I will do really quickly. The most that can be contributed is the amount that the child earns or $7,500, whichever is less. If, for some reason, you have a kid earning more than $7,500, you have to cap it right there. Though the child has to earn the money, the parents can make the IRA contribution. Also, the custodian, that would be you probably, is going to make all the investing decisions until the child reaches the age of majority, which Robert tells me is 18 in the state of Minnesota. At that point, a child can do whatever she or he wants to with that money, so hopefully she or he will be responsible at that point.

Probably more than you even needed to know, Andrew, and for everybody else who isn't in Minnesota, doesn't have children, or isn't interested in this, sorry for that, but sometimes we like to be complete. I guess I want to add one more thought before we finish out Andrew's voice Mailbag, and that is that even better from a Rule Breaker standpoint, Andrew, when you start a custodial Roth IRA and get a child with his or her own savings invested, you're basically setting their identity in motion. The first four words of my Rule Breaker Investing book, "Everyone is an investor." Truly, I'm an investor, your child can say from an early age when they've actually made their own money, saved it, and begun investing it in their custodial Roth IRAs. That feels to me like a little bit of a coming-of-age financial moment. Let's finish at Andrew's voice Mailbag.

Andrew Gibson: But mostly, I just wanted to say thanks for all you guys do. Been really driving home the five and three method, not only in stocks, but just in relationships and sports and work. Trying to be an add person like Sam Horn suggests from RBI podcast, adding five positive things for each negative thing and ending on a positive note because that's where true work lies and searching for positivity and not just letting biology take over and run the negative show. Thanks for being a warrior of optimism and positivity yourself, David, and taking the role less traveled, not only in business but in investing as well. Cheers to Bart, David, Fools and Fooldom, and the dear listeners. Cheers to some Snap Cola. Fool on, guys.

David Gardner: Again, I want to thank Andrew for taking the time to weigh in with our first voice Mailbag item in 10 years. I mentioned earlier, Andrew, I feel like I owe you some additions to your Rule Breaker Spotify playlist. Let's do it. Here we go. I'm going to pin up Don't Stop Believing by Journey, because really, that may be the most Rule Breaker song ever written. We're talking about long-term optimism, hope in the face of uncertainty, believing before everyone else does. To me, that does feel very much like buying Amazon in 1997 or Nvidia in 2005. I'm not a big Bob Dylan fan. I certainly don't object to his music. I just don't know Bob Dylan that well, but I certainly know the title, The Times They Are a-Changin. I know it's a Dylan classic. Even though I'm not a huge Dylan fan myself, Rule Breakers invest in change rather than fear it. I think it's always worth reminding ourselves the times, they are a-changin’, and that song will do that for you. I'm a Fleetwood Mac fan, and Go Your Own Way.

Number 3 feels like a soundtrack for independent thinking. Invest differently with Steve Jobs, and as fellow Fools, let's think differently. Be comfortable not following the crowd; go your own way. A couple more. Certainly, I'm a Beatles fan. I hope it never sounds sentimental here on this podcast, but Rule Breaker Investing reflects one of my deeper recurring themes, and I think we all know maybe the one word that I'm about to say: That's optimism. Markets recover. Winter ends, dark clouds? They pass. Investing rewards optimism over long periods, so Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles. Here Comes the Sun, Number 4. I feel like I'm Casey Kasem here, counting down. I'll add one more. Number 5, Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell. They did a number of hits together. But I'm thinking Ain't No Mountain High Enough. Talk about an inspirational song, anyway, but this is less of a literal one and more of an emotional track for our playlist, perseverance, resilience.

These are the qualities that, as Rule Breakers, we need to invest in ourselves and embody over time, staying invested through difficult markets, so Ain't No Mountain High Enough. That will be the closeout for my answer to our first Voice Mailbag item in 10 years.

I want to thank all of my correspondents. This has been a truly Motley and delightful Mailbag. I love all the notes that I got a reminder. Rbi@fool.com is our mailbag; if you'd like to be on next month's. Mailbag, whether you have thoughts about AI, improving World Cup soccer? Rule Breaker Investing, or how to create financial freedom for someone else. All of these topics are things we love to talk about every week on this podcast. You know, here at the end of our 11th year as we start our 12th year of Rule Breaker Investing together this month. I guess I would say, bonus. Because I'm going to add one more Andrew to our Spotify playlist. It's another Beatles song. But when I think about the community that we are building, both in Fooldom, The Motley Fool writ large, if you will. Certainly here among Rule Breakers, Rule Breaker Investing, I feel like we're constantly learning together rather than alone. Let's go with the Beatles again with a little help from my friends. I would say that is the entire thought behind the Rule Breaker Investing Mailbag, with a little help from our friends, Fool on.

David Gardner has positions in Amazon, Apple, Intuitive Surgical, MercadoLibre, Palantir Technologies, and Rocket Lab. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Apple, Axon Enterprise, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Corning, Intuitive Surgical, MercadoLibre, Nvidia, Palantir Technologies, Rocket Lab, Serve Robotics, Shopify, and Tempus AI. The Motley Fool recommends McKesson and recommends the following options: long January 2028 $520 calls on Intuitive Surgical, short January 2028 $530 calls on Intuitive Surgical, and short September 2026 $35 calls on Chipotle Mexican Grill. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.