May 2026 Mailbag: Divvy-Pops, Jellybeans & the Kids of Kopachuk

In this episode of Motley Fool Rule Breaker Investing, Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner revisits the power of doing less, holding more, and letting great companies keep surprising you. He also discusses:

• A Buffett-meets-Rule-Breaker reflection from British Columbia, a jellybean contest gone mathematically sideways.
• A GameStop question that runs straight into the Snap Test.
• A closing shout-out to Mr. Ernst’s personal finance class at Kopachuck Middle School in Gig Harbor, Washington, where the next generation is already learning that investing means ownership.

To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center. When you're ready to invest, check out this top 10 list of stocks to buy.

A full transcript is below.

This podcast was recorded on May 27, 2026.

David Gardner: What does a giant Nvidia dividend increase have to do with a spiffy-pop? Is GameStop secretly trying to become something the world has never seen before? What's the best lesson to learn from Warren Buffett? After all these years, could a middle school teacher in Gig Harbor, Washington, quietly be helping create the next generation of Rule Breaker investors? Didn't I really guess twice the number of jellybeans in a jar because I used the wrong geometry formula? It's a delightfully Motley set of questions, stories, and reflections sparked by your notes throughout the month of May. It's now the last Wednesday of the month, so it's time for your mailbag. Only on this week's Rule Breaker Investing.

Welcome back to Rule Breaker Investing. Let's look back over the month that was for this podcast. We kicked it off on May 6th with 10 years later, five winners in a Thinking World. It was the first podcast I did this month, joined by my longtime sidekick, Tim Beyers from The Motley Fool. We went back exactly 10 years to the week. To revisit five stocks I picked in May of 2016 and score what actually happened over a full decade. More than just the scorecard, though, we explored why certain companies won and lost, what changed, what didn't. Why a 10-year holding period remains to me, anyway, it's a beautiful and underappreciated time frame to score yourself with your investing. Though I will say, I do prefer it when we beat the market with my samplers, and this one did not.

Then came May 13th, the second Wednesday of the month. What have you learned from David Gardner, Volume 7, my annual birthday tradition on this podcast? Once again, you all sent in thoughtful notes sharing what stuck with you over the years. Everything from dips, wait for dips, and doing nothing during volatility to optimism, resilience, and the joy of investing itself. Many voices wade in, thank you so much, including a juggling surgical oncologist, a Foolish leprechaun, and, sure, yes, a Scotsman, all making appearances. I want to thank you again, each of you, who took the time to write in. Thank you so much. It was a very happy birthday, Fool on. Then last week, well, I went a little crazy. May 20th, 60 thoughts as I turn 60. Twenty thoughts about investing in business, 20 about life. Somehow packed a podcast that was exactly 60 minutes, except the podcast ad tipped us over to 61 minutes. We ranged from spiffy-pops and the ship of fools to optionality. Divergence and convergence, Steve Jobs, Shakespeare, optimism, self-actualization, and why what wins in investing tends to win in business and in life, too. Just as I did with my Rule Breaker Investing book in the fall of last year when it came out, well, I tried to do the same thing with last week's podcast, and that is, in sports terms, to leave it all out there on the field, so my hope is twofold. First of all, I hope you enjoyed last week's podcast. Second, I hope it might be worthy of a re-listen at some point, maybe a month from now or a year or a decade, and that was the month that was for this podcast. As we are wont to do, we're going to do a few Twitter X hot takes before our six mailbag items this particular week.

Again, to follow us on Twitter X, we're @RBIPodcast. I'm @DavidG.Fool, if you'd like to follow me. You can subscribe to this podcast and give us a like or a follow anytime you're feeling it, whether you're using Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, etc. This podcast pops Wednesdays right around 12:00 P.M. Eastern every single Wednesday. Everyone, without cease, so if you subscribe, you'll get us Wednesdays at noon Eastern every single week. No skips, no repeats, I'm not bragging here. A fresh RBI podcast every Wednesday since July of 2015. By the way, thank you to those who dropped some reviews in about Rule Breaker Investing on Apple Podcast. You threw me some stars. I really appreciate that. Type in a line or two about why you value this podcast, how we can make it better. I love getting feedback, we read it all.

First Twitter @hottake from Andrew Gibbs and @AndrewGibbs53446 on Twitter X. Andrew, you wrote, never apologize for your Scottish accent, @DavidG.Fool. Made my night, and I'm 50% Scottish. I said the Earth did shake when I was born, says Andrew, typing in lots of Rs and lots of As in that famous line, which, by the way, is one of my favorite lines. I included it in my book. It comes from Shakespeare, it's actually Henry IV, Part 1, I think, where Glendower is this grand, very proud figure who Shakespeare has saying, I said the Earth did shake when I was born, and I've used that line to describe some of my favorite stocks, some of our best companies, the generationally great stock picks that you can make. Those companies usually don't start as tiny little acorns that are operating in small niche industries somewhere. Most of the really great Rule Breakers of our time, the Earth shakes a little bit when Amazon is born, or Facebook is born, so I've always loved that line. Andrew, check it. I think you know this, but check it. Glendower was actually not Scottish. He was Welsh, and I'm not great. I don't think I'm doing Welsh accents, but I will once again give my Scottish lilt to my favorite Welsh line. I say the Earth did shake when I was born, and that's my best shot at Scottish here at the end of May. Welsh is more melodic, I think it's more like I say the Earth did shake when I was born, something closer to that, maybe that was too Irish, I'm not really sure.

Anyway, thank you again to Justin Comer, who wrote into this podcast. As a Scotsman, what did you earn from me a couple of weeks ago? That's why we've got to rock some Scottish. Another Twitter take, this one from @TriggsOneMartin. Thank you, Martin. Today, you wrote, this was on May 21 last week. Today, Nvidia went up 4.39%, or $9.19 divided by your original cost basis of $0.16. That's a 57-bagger in one day for those wise Fools who bought and held. What an incredible birthday present. Well, Martin, that was very kind of you to call that out. I do want to say about Nvidia that while not everybody was a Motley Fool member back in April, it was actually tax day, April 15th, 2005. When I picked it, and now split-adjusted $0.16. I take particular solace and comfort knowing that we didn't just pick it once. I picked it and re-picked it and re-picked it and told that story in the first chapter of Rule Breaker Investing, which, by the way, is probably my favorite version of my book, is the audiobook. I had so much fun reading through the entire thing, sharing it with readers and listeners, but Nvidia, what a phenomenal generational stock. What a Rule Breaker, the very definition of a modern Rule Breaker, and Chapter 1 of my book dedicated to telling the story of Nvidia, and it's only gotten better since publication of that.

Onto another Twitter X hottake, number three, this one from Arun Charian. Thank you, @ArunCharian12. I learned a lot from David. Most importantly, David seems to be a kind, gentle soul, which allows him to see the world very clearly. It's great at spotting trends and pattern recognition as well. Arun, that's very kind of you, thank you. I will receive that as a birthday gift, just a couple of weeks ago, when you typed that in, and we just captured it now, but I appreciate your emphasis on kindness. I'm not going to say I'm the kindest person I know. I certainly know people kinder than I am, but I sure do value kindness. In fact, I think kindness is one of America's five core values. When I see somebody being unkind, maybe that's just the way I think as a patriot, but I think that person is being un-American. I think that's how powerful kindness is. I think of Mr. Rogers in our lifetimes, or how about Oprah Winfrey, as incredible examples of kindness. Kindness can show up in many different contexts, but especially when people embody it and then live it out, as Fred Rogers and Oprah Winfrey have over their whole lives, a great path lit for you and for me as we proceed forward through life and remember the importance and benefit.

The great thing about kindness is it doesn't just help the person you're being kind to. It really helps you and your own character because everything is a muscle. If you use it, it gets stronger, and if you don't, it doesn't. Thank you, Arun. One last one, maybe my favorite of all the tweets in the last month, such a beautiful and simple thought from @BehavioralBull. Happy birthday, @DavidG.Fool. Behavioral Bull wrote, You inspired me to invest in individual stocks, which has created generational wealth for my family. Your investing influence will echo in my family's lives for generations. Wow, thank you. It's enough for me to think that I could do that for my own family, but that I might for any other family is deeply special to me, and I really appreciate you taking the time to share that.

Again, we're @RBIPodcast on Twitter X. That's pretty much our only social media presence. My very talented producer, Bart Shannon, among many tasks, also gathers your mail. Don't tell Bart this, it’s definitely below pay grade, but I certainly appreciate the time he takes to collect the emails that you send and set them up for me to speak back to you at the end of every month. As I mentioned, six mailbag items this week.

Let's get started, mailbag Item No. 1. This one is from Thane Walton. Thanks for writing in, Thane. Dang, Thane starts, I'm always a week behind in my podcast what I have learned. Here we go. No. 1, options. Thane writes, I've lost more than I've made. Only selling covered calls has been consistent. It sounds like I've helped you, Thane, rethink options. Especially when you mentioned having lost more money than you've made, first of all, that makes me sad, and that's going to happen a lot when people use options. It's going to happen with almost everybody who bets on sports. You're going to end up losing more than you make if you keep paying the house each time, but it's really that opportunity cost when you think about it. When we're spending money toward gambling-like instruments when we could have instead been investing in something as simple as the index fund, which rises over time, it's that gap between how you did, probably with a red minus sitting before whatever number you racked up, how you did versus how you could have done. That opportunity cost just gets bigger and bigger as we go through life. I'm always trying to get people on board and investing in instruments that rise, not fall, over time, so thank you for that. A second thing you've learned, you mentioned, Thane is selling, intuitively, it feels like Thane writes, I've made more selling mistakes than wins. I'm glad that I've helped you rethink holding period a little bit. I think for most people, my brother is a great line. Whatever your holding period is on average, double it. Tom says, and you'll probably be a better investor, and I strongly agree with that for almost everyone on Earth. We glory in those times that we sold something, and then all of a sudden, it does in fact drop; maybe it gets cut in half or drops away and never comes back, and that feels amazing.

The problem is, we often don't scrutinize the things that we sold that go up and sometimes keep going up and up, and years later, I'll hear from a friend, I had Apple for a year. I had it for a year and a half, I should have held on. If you do the math, those are dramatically worse mistakes than holding on to a stock that isn't doing well. I don't really try to glory in myself. That's why I try not to sell much at all, anyway. Then you've got a few more things you've learned. The next two are life and legacy lessons. No. 3, you wrote, Got my three boys investing early. Number 4, life is much simpler with a buy-and-hold mentality. I think the quality of our lives matters more than the amount on our brokerage statement. I'd love both of those things to be as high as possible, but if I need to trade off, I'm always going to be trying to trade up for quality of life, especially when you create quality in other people's lives, like getting three boys investing early. The last thing you mentioned, Thane, thank you for one of my top picks, my $300 purchase of Nvidia. Back in around 2015, he goes on, I think there were 16 Super Nova picks made that year. I put $300 into each. That single purchase, and Nvidia is now over $16,000. Of course, I've added many times to that position. Thanks, Thane Walton. Thane is a VP at United Planners Financial Services. You started that lovely note, Thane, by saying you're always a week behind listening to podcasts, and that's why you missed dropping that note and being featured on my birthday podcast, but here you are on the mailbag.

The mailbag, by the way, is typically a month behind itself. Some of you may know this, but the typical pattern is I will get notes in May for what we did in April. I'd love some notes, by the way, in June for my 16 thoughts podcast from last week, but in the end, there's no urgency around these things. It doesn't really matter if you're a week behind or a month behind because the purpose of the mailbag is to sit here at the end of every month and gather up all the best stories and thoughts that I can share back out, and whether they came from three days ago or three months ago, we're good either way. Thane Walton, thank you for taking the time to write in and Fool on.

On to Mailbag Item No. 2, Nvidia's fantastic stock performance keeps infiltrating this particular week's podcast. I think, because it has had such a phenomenal month, but also for the reason that Jason in Mailbag Item No. 2 underlines, Dear David, I'm a Motley Fool member, weekly listener to the Rule Breaker Investing podcast. Thank you for your faithful weekly dedication to the podcast and all that you've done to make me smarter, happier, and richer. You're very welcome, Jason. That is the purpose of The Motley Fool, that is the purpose of this podcast. You know I love hearing back that we're hitting that for you. Jason goes on, I've been intending to write to you about this for some time, but work and family life can get busy. However, I was spurred to action this evening, following Nvidia's earnings release. In particular, my message is related to Nvidia's decision to increase the quarterly dividend from $0.01 per share to $0.25 per share. I recall that Nvidia is one of your best-performing recommendations, with a cost basis of $0.16 per share, and it is true. Thank you, Jason, for recalling that.

I think I've already mentioned it once this podcast. By the way, I'm not trying to be Mr. Nvidia. I got it at $0.16, guy, because I also have a $0.16 cost basis is on Amazon. When Netflix split earlier this year, I'm now $0.185 on Netflix, but now I'm starting to brag. Although with Dizzy Dean, the great St. Louis Cardinals pitcher, I do want to say sometimes it ain't bragging if it's true. Anyway, back to Jason's note. Thank you for regularly reminding listeners about the importance of letting your winners run high. That is, of course, habit number one of the Rule Breaker Investor, as you know, Jason. As companies compound earnings over decades, they often make decisions like Nvidia to allocate excess capital to shareholders through share buybacks and dividends that grow over time. I'm going to pause it once again, right there, because it's true. I really love Jason that you point this out.

A lot of people forget that, they think that if you buy stocks like Apple, or Facebook, or Alphabet, those aren't ever going to pay dividends, and they usually don't. Maybe for 10 or 20 years, but then they mature, and all of a sudden, Apple does start paying a dividend in 2012. Meta Platforms, which is what Facebook has now called, started paying a dividend check it 2024 two years ago. Another little company most of us have heard of started paying dividends that year as well, Alphabet, Google. Started paying dividends in 2024, and now, as you mentioned, Jason, there’s Nvidia saying, we had a $0.01 per share dividend, which is almost comically low. I don't know what 25 times is, double is two times, and quadruple is four times. They just 25 extra it with their most recent earnings announcement. It does make me wonder sometimes what's the next company that's really big, that's never paid a dividend that a lot of us know that will start to pay a dividend maybe Amazon, maybe Tesla, or maybe Netflix. All three of those companies have never paid a dividend before. I own shares in each. I would appreciate a little dividend, although they're doing pretty well without paying them. I will also say Apple and Meta and Alphabet have done pretty darn well, Nvidia well, paying dividends.

But anyway, back to Jason's note. Based on Nvidia's decision to increase the quarterly dividend by 25 times, I would like to propose the introduction of a new term to the Rule Breaker Investing lexicon. We are all familiar with the term Divvy-pop, describing when a stock's single-day price increase exceeds the entire original purchase price. The proposed new term is, drum roll, please, Jason goes with Spiffy Divvy. That's short for dividend, Spiffy Divvy double to describe when a stock's annual dividend exceeds the entire original purchase price its annual dividend. He writes, exceeds the entire original purchase price. In the case of Nvidia, the now-$1-a-share annual dividend exceeds our 16-cent-per-share cost basis. Jason concludes, while investments that achieve Spiffy Divvy double status will be significantly more rare than Spiffy-Pops, such investments are a testament to holding onto great companies over long periods of time and reaping the rewards of compounding through significant price appreciation and shareholder dividend returns. Congratulations on the Nvidia annual dividend now being six times your original cost basis. I aspire to also one day own a stock that becomes a Spiffy Divvy double like Nvidia. Even if Spiffy Divvy Double doesn't become a mainstay of Rule Breaker Investing, I hope that it made you smile. Wishing you a happy belated birthday. Sincerely, Jason.

First of all, Jason, great minds think alike because you're not the first person to dream that up. In fact, many Motley Fool fans and, in some cases, employees have proposed this very concept for years and years. I was checking it because March 29, 2017, our March Mailbag for this podcast that day was entitled Introducing The Divvy-Pop. We had already come up with a concept. We agree it's something worth tracking it's brilliant. Many companies start out without even paying a dividend you buy their stock, and then later on, if one day, actually one year, if for a whole year, you're getting paid four quarterly dividends, and they sum up to being worth more than you paid for that stock in the first place. We call that not a Spiffy Divvy double, which is pretty catchy, but we call it just instead of a Spiffy-Pop we call it a Divvy-Pop. For those who like to spell things correctly, I spell that D-I-V-V-Y-Pop, so Divvy-Pop.

Part of the reason I wrote my book is that I have all these ideas placed in little drawers and cubby holes and ideas on shelves and in jars stuffed into podcasts over 11 years. Outside of those few listeners, those precious few listeners who have actually listened to every one of these podcasts, and even fewer by the way who would remember them all, and I myself don't even remember half the time what I did do 10 years ago. I needed to look it back up, and I saw that we'd already spoken to the Divvy-Pop on that podcast now almost 10 years ago. There's something delightful about writing a book and having everything ordered sequentially for people. Page 1 is followed by Page 2, Chapter 3 is followed by Chapter 4, and you can get it all coherently. One of my concerns has always been that when somebody finds The Motley Fool, they might just see an article online or receive an email from us. Or they might hear me on a podcast, but they're lacking a lot of the scaffolding a lot of the concepts or framework that I might use.

By the way, I'm just one of The Motley Fool employees. There are lots of people with different ideas about how to invest that also are Motley and are Foolish with me. Indeed, it's very hard in this very fluid media landscape that we live in, with social media and podcasts and articles and books too. It's very hard to get a grounding or foundation set of learning from a podcast. That's why I think in the end, I'm so happy that I wrote Rule Breaker Investing because I finally could order everything and get those six habits for investors, get those six traits for the stocks, and the six principles for your portfolio, get them in order with logical language that speaks to people. Now I didn't actually include Divvy-Pop in that book, so I won't be a stock market book, but maybe I'll write a break the rules book. I hinted at that at the end of my first book, and so maybe I'll do that at some point, but that's nothing I'm working on right now just a future thought. Anyway, I love having done so many different podcasts over the years, and I do love the ability to have transcripts of them so I can go back and check what was said when.

Let's move on to Mailbag Item No. 3. This one from Bob Chambers. What a delight. Thank you, Bob. Hello, David. I didn't get this to you for your last week's episode of what you've earned from me, but I wanted to ensure I wish you a happy 60th birthday from beautiful British Columbia. I also Bob Wright have a 60th birthday one week after yours, and due to a strong investment portfolio carefully built over the years following yourself in The Motley Fool services I have been comfortably retired for a few years now. Having been a shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway the longest, Bob goes on. I have carefully read and learned a lot from Warren over the years. It's been very nice to lean on a Yin and Yang of investing between you and Warren. Recently, I really liked your metaphor of harbor and horizon as this has been a good reflection of my portfolio for quite some time. I'm going to pause it right there because we did this on last month's Mailbag right at the end of April.

Vince Graneri, longtime Fool, wrote in and said, "I used to be all in on all the Rule Breaker stocks,” and Vince had several hundred investments, and then he scaled them down over time. But then, as he aged, approaching the age of 70, he started selling off some of his beloved Rule Breakers and found himself with more dividend stocks, and he just asked almost a plaintive question to kick off the mailbag item last month. He said, "What investor am I?" Now we're all getting to know ourselves over the course of our lives, and ourselves keep changing, by the way, which is why self-knowledge isn't as easy as it sounds. Vince, as you'll remember, and Bob, as you clearly so, I decided to call Vince and maybe I'm speaking to you, too. Dear listener, investor, a Harbor and Horizon Fool, and that works for me because we're talking about two parts of your financial life, so there's the harbor part. That's the part of your portfolio. It's built for steadiness, income, and sleep. Then there's the horizon part, which is still pointed toward growth and possibility and longer-term upside. I told Vince last month, you haven't forsaken Rule Breaker Investing if you've life-staged it. You've acknowledged now at the age of 69-ish, your risk capacity, your risk tolerance may not be exactly what they were when you were happily running hundreds of mostly in your words. Growth positions and watching the whole thing swing around sometimes like a chandelier in a hurricane, which is how it can feel in times of extreme volatility, especially for Rule Breakers. But again, harbor that part of your portfolio now designed to keep you steadier, calmer, better funded in the here and now and horizon. Part of it is still pointed toward the horizon, still doing what Rule Breaker stocks do best, which is, by the way, look scary at times and magical over long periods of time. Anyway, I wanted to interrupt Bob's note just to double down on Harbor and Horizon Fool since I think it's relevant for many listeners.

Bob's note goes on companies like Berkshire, Brookfield, and Fairfax, the latter two Canadian companies. This comes from someone from British Columbia representing my Harbor, and then Bob goes on Shopify, MercadoLibre, and Arista Networks, representing the Horizon among many others. I've even started using a Motley Fool index fund as a harbor investment to diversify further. I read your book when it came out last year and found it incredibly helpful to put all those great ideas, principles, traits, etc., in one place. I have a notebook full of my scribble from your podcasts, Bob writes. It was great to see so many of Warren's insights overlap with your thinking about how to be a successful investor. Ignoring the macro calls and predictions, finding the innovators and avoiding the imitators and staying in your circle of competence and then building or some of my favorites. It really cements a concept in your mind when two very successful investors with different approaches have used them for success. My question for the May Mailbag is this. Do you have a favorite key learning from Warren Buffett? Once again, happy birthday, David, hope you have a great day on my birthday. Bob Wright, I will have a house full of family and friends from different parts of my life I am lucky. This is from a very grateful investor who's still happily riding the train across the country through all types of weather, occasionally lightening the load to help with living a more interesting life.

Thank you, Bob Chambers. Bob, thank you. I especially appreciate the allusions to some of the language that you know I love when you say things like a more interesting life and riding that train across the country through all types of weather. Good on you for that, and my favorite Warren Buffett line is I'm a better investor because I'm a businessman and a better businessman because I'm an investor. The reason that's my favorite line is because it speaks to how the one thing, that one side of your life as a professional, that professional side that makes you a smarter investor. Whatever industry you work in, whatever hobbies you have, the things that you pursue as an adult whether for salary or for pleasure those things truly do make you a better investor. You're curious, you're learning about how the world's working. You're learning new things all the time, and you're staying within your circle of competence. They're the things you really know well, and you absolutely should be bringing that into your investment portfolio.

By the same token, the things that we do when we research stocks, what we learn about great companies, some of their practices, some of their corporate culture. How they innovate the list goes on those things can be brought from our investment research right into our own lives as professionals. I've met many leaders who say we started doing this because company XYZ, which I deeply admire that's what they do. They've never worked at Company XYZ, it's a stock they hold in their portfolio. The better you get at one, Buffett has said, the better you get at the other. I think most people think it's just a 2D plane it's just circling business investor, but it's not a 2D plane. It's actually a gire. It rises. It's a 3D thing where you're rising over time as a consequence of improving as an investor, you'll get better in your professional life and vice versa. Yes, that is my favorite Buffett quote.

Speaking of old podcasts, Bob, you should know that I did a great quotes. I've now done 21 great quotes podcasts, and one of them, Volume 3 was great quotes Buffett Edition. In fact, if you just go to rulebreakerinvesting.com and look at the podcast tab, you can find it right there. I've lined up all of my great quotes podcast. In fact, all of my episodic series are there in order, so you can quickly find them a lot easier than randomly Googling for them or searching back page after back page through weeks and weeks and years of old podcasts. That's a great benefit of rulebreakerinvesting.com that podcast tab for regular listeners quickly finding podcasts we're looking for. I did a great quotes Buffett Edition.

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David Gardner: Three down and three to go. We're at halftime and here's my half-time entertainment. I just wanted to mention that I’m traveling to Ireland, and it’s going to be late August, and I’m there for an investment conference. I'm really excited about it. If you're anywhere near Dublin or would like to travel to Dublin in late August, sounds like a lovely time of year. I'm excited to share that I will be at Investicon. The date is August 27th, three months from today, in fact, it's an event built for curious, engaged investors who want to keep getting better. If you enjoy this podcast, just imagine a full day of big ideas and great conversations, a community that loves investing as much as we do. That’s what Investicon is all about, and I’d love for you to be a part of it, so if you just head to its website, investicon.ie. That's invest with an icon on the end, and then dot ie, of course, because this is an Irish website. At investicon.ie sign up. Come join us. I look forward to rejoining my Irish friends and making some new ones on August 27th. Hope to see you there.

Onto Mailbag Item Number 4. Speaking of going to conferences. This one comes from Matt Spielman. Hi, David. I hope May is treating you well. Thanks again for playing along with our jelly bean guessing game. I'm sorry it's been a while to get the results back to you. I dragged it out as long as I could. Matt writes, and I had to do a double-take here because I couldn't remember when I entered a jelly-bean-counting contest. One of those where they show you a big jar and you're asked to estimate the number of jelly beans in it, and then all of a sudden, I remembered I don't know Matt Spielman personally; he was at the Better Investing National Conference in Chicago recently. While I was signing books and saying hello to Fool fans, there he was with a big jar of jellybeans, saying, hey, David, would you play my game? I said, Sure, I love games, I'll play any game, what do you want? He said, estimate the number of jellybeans in this jar.

Now Matt is closing the loop here on mailback Item No. 4. I'm sorry to say, you did not win the expert category of our game. For some reason, I guess Matt had different categories. He made the mistake of putting me in the expert category. In fact, he goes on, your guess of 1,483 was a little over twice the actual number, which was 720, and was thus outside the group median. You didn't beat the odds. I do have a ready-made rationalization for you. As I recall, you used the top times height strategy, which was used by many people. If I were to over-quantify the result, Matt goes on, I could surmise that as you calculated the circumference of the top, you accidentally used 2*πd instead of 2*πr, which would make for double the answer, so close. Well, thanks for that consolation. Matt, in dramatic fashion, he closes the winner of our contest with a guess of 714 was the only anonymous entry, our very own the stig. The audience enjoyed the contest and the jellybeans. Alas, again, I can't attach any jellybeans to this email. Also, we have none left. Anyway, thanks again for sharing your day with us, Matt Spielman. Well, let me say back, Matt, a very generous assumption that I was actually running an equation. Thank you, I don't think I've used pies since high school, I'm pretty sure.

As you know, I will say pretty much yes to any game, so I was happy to play, and I want to give you a math trick back. This is one I first talked about. My gosh, it was probably ten years ago in this podcast. It was our first metal tips, tricks, and Life Hacks podcast, even before I added Life Hacks. The very first one was just mental tips and tricks, and by the way, this is the same week LinkedIn got bought out by Microsoft. We're talking about June 2016, just about exactly 10 years ago, and I taught my zero-to-1-billion hand trick, which is what I'm going to attempt to do right now over this podcast in 60 seconds or less. This is a great way to make a point about how bad the human mind is at estimating big numbers, and you can do this with a friend. Sometimes I do it on stage, it's pure fun. You're holding your hands out in front of you. Your palms are facing each other, a couple of feet apart. It's like you're showing the length of the fish you just caught. You hold your hands out there, and you say, if my right hand is zero, and my left hand is 1 billion. You're just encouraging whoever's looking at you to estimate from zero on one side to 1 billion on the other. You ask your viewer, show me where 1 million is. In my experience, for my zero-to-1-billion hand trick, when I hold out my hands and say, “zero and 1 billion,” where's 1 million? Most people walk up and put their hand about a third of the way from 0 to 1 billion. They're like, right over there, maybe a quarter of the way along, and that's the wrong answer because there are 1,000 millions in 1 billion. When you ask somebody zero to 1 billion, Matt Spielman and all my fellow Fools here, when you ask them, where's 1 million, you almost couldn't put a knife between how closely they should have their hand on your hand, that's at a zero. They should almost be fused together because it's one one-thousandth of the way over to the other hand. There, Matt Spielman and Fools, all there is to my zero-to-1-billion hand trick.

It makes a great point, it reminds us as humans that we're not great unless we study it, unless we really memorize that 2πd is maybe a better way to calculate circumference than 2πr. Without doing that, we're often not great with big numbers, and it's good to be self-aware about that. There's zero to 1 billion, and I want to close Matt by saying, I really enjoyed meeting you at the Better Investing Conference. It was a fantastic group of people. BIC 2026, I was honored to be there, and I'm sure they'll have a BIC 2027 where you can try the jellybean jar trick on people. Once again, Fool on.

Onto mailbag Item number 5. Hi, David, longtime listener, first-time questioner here. Appreciate all you do, and loved Rule Breaker Investing. I read the book, and I listened to it on audio as well. Well, thank you, Mo, this is from Mo writing in. Mo goes on, I was wondering what you thought of GameStop's turnaround since Ryan Cohen took over. They've become profitable and pivoted to Pokémon and refitting the stores for that, as well as retro gaming. Mo goes on, I bought in shortly before Michael Burry did earlier this year, thinking they would acquire PSA. Instead, Cohen is going after, and this is all in the headlines, last couple of weeks, is going after eBay. Michael Burry immediately sold on the news. I, writes Mo, bought more, and I'm still holding, and I plan to keep holding. I think between Cohen's experience at Chewy, his experience cutting sales, general, and administrative costs, cutting costs at GameStop, the net operating loss carryforwards, the 5% stake, and the synergies between these companies, I think this merger will create a company like the world has never seen before. Just wondering your perspective, if you have one, best Mo.

Well, Mo, first of all, thanks for writing in, and while I'm not a big GameStop fan, I'm generally not paying any attention to meme stocks because I don't find most of them particularly Rule Breaker. I also think a lot of the people who are buying into MM stocks are hoping to sell to somebody else who will pay them more within the next, let's say, three weeks to 12 months. It's a very short-term game often around these companies, but it's certainly been true that GameStop as a lifelong video gamer, it's a company, I appreciate it. In the earlier days, I had it as a Motley Fool stock recommendation. Of course, the world has changed a lot, and I've stopped paying attention to it, and in some ways, all of the headlines that it gets have further disincented me from following it. I'm not saying you shouldn't or others shouldn't, just explaining, I don't find it a particularly interesting company. However, with that said, I want each of us to make our portfolio reflect our best vision for our future. I'd be the first to say, if GameStop, especially if it managed, and I doubt it will, but especially if it managed to merge with eBay, I could easily see how that might be for you and many others. For me, GameStop just has never passed the snap test. If I snap my fingers overnight and the company disappeared, I don't think a lot of people in the grander scheme would particularly care. For that reason, I've never found it interesting in the Rule Breaker era, the stocks that I filed the last 20 years or so. It's not on my watch list, it doesn't pass my snap test. I would even say it doesn't fit trait number one for me, either. I don't think it's a top dog and first mover in an important emerging industry. I also don't see the enduring innovation or expanding optionality, or maybe even category leadership that typically is there in my best investments.

With that said, Mo, that doesn't mean others can't make money there. It just means it's not my music. I'm not dismissing it because it's volatile or because it gets all these headlines. I just don't find it fits with the parameters I'm looking for stocks that, by the way, at a dead minimum, I'm going to be holding for at least three years. I know, as a listener to this podcast, you know that, and you already mentioned, you're planning on buying more in, you're going to still be holding. You know, I admire that approach to investing, so many people playing the Meme stock game would never, ever want to commit to holding for at least three years. That's a real disconnect right there for me. I really do thank you for writing in. I'm glad it's working out for you. It's an interesting company. I would say it's become more interesting and relevant over the last few years. If they somehow manage to merge with eBay, which I would be betting strongly against, I just don't think it's likely for a number of reasons, then it will become even more interesting. I love the way you framed it, that maybe this could become a company like the world's never seen before. If that does happen, I certainly would start sitting up in my seat, taking more interest and more notice. Mo, I'm cheering you on, good luck, and fool on.

On to Rule Breaker mailbag Item number 6. This one from my friend and longtime fool, Adam Nelson. Hi, David, I've intended to write again for several months now, just now getting around to it. The motivation might have been provided by your April mailbag and the recent listeners' suggestions to improve the Market Cap Game Show once again. By the way, longtime listeners will know that Adam is responsible for the greatest change we've ever made in the Market Cap Game Show, where we shifted it to providing a range and then saying, as viewers, is it inside or outside that range? That was Adam's idea, which is only one of many reasons that I admire Adam. As I've said, I am glad I got to walk this, the era that Adam Nelson walked this earth. It's great, Adam, back to your note to hear that you're liking our proposed improvement, our suggested change that I mentioned in last month's mailbag. Adam goes on, you know I'm a big fan. I like your slight modification for making it a half-point bonus. You don't want to unintentionally force players to always go for outside the range because the expected value is greater. That would be like the NBA giving four points for shots beyond the arc, and we already know there's plenty of instead of just to shoot the three-pointer. You also, Adam, goes on, don't want players going into a prevent defense with a few stocks to go by using an astronomically wide range, thereby forcing an inside the range guess. Now, I'm not going to go any deeper into the Market Cap Game Show than we already are. For those who are big fans, you are hearing Adam reason really well as to why this looks like a good proposed change. For those who love math and love games and game theory, hey, I'm open to any further suggestions. Next month, we're going to be rocking this on the second-to-last Wednesday of June. We will have the Market Cap Game Show newly improved, and I can't wait for it. I'm really glad, Adam, to hear that you approve.

But now on to the real point of your note. As you go on, at the beginning of that April 2026 mailbag podcast, you mentioned freedometer.org. Adam mentions, by the way, Apple's transcript had the spelling incorrect. It's freedom, like the word freedom with an E-T-E-R on the end. They had only one E with free, but anyway, it's freedometer.org. Adam goes on, it sparked my memory to write you a note of gratitude about your impact. For the last couple of years, I've had the privilege of being a guest speaker at my daughter's middle school in Mr. Ernst's personal finance class. It's been a wonderful opportunity to share my passion and what I know about investing. The kids have loved it each time, maybe because I give out a bunch of fun prizes and candy, and we make it interactive with games and questions. The last two times I taught the class, I taught straight from your Rule Breaker Investing book on the six traits and six habits. Hopefully, you don't mind me using the material to spread your teaching. It's been a big improvement, and I know that kids are learning lasting lessons that will make them smarter, happier, and richer. The proof is that I've been invited back yet again to speak at the end of May for the next semester of students. I thought it would be really great for the kids to hear directly from you.

A kind word of inspiration, encouragement, or optimism, if you could give them a shout-out on your podcast in your May mailback episode. They would love it, they go to Kopachuck Middle School in Gig Harbor, Washington, and it is Mr. Ernst who has passionately spearheaded the effort at the school to teach personal finance to the students at an early age. Thanks for everything, and fool on, my friend. Signed Adam Nelson. Adam, first of all, thank you, and thank you, too, for helping to improve the Market Cap Game Show. Once again, I love that even your opening paragraph was a strategic game theory analysis. That is very capital F, Foolish, but the real heart of your note is Kopachuck Middle School and Mr. Ernst's class in Gig Harbor, Washington. Let me say this directly to those students. First, put your hand up if you're an investor. You might know this is a trick question because everyone in the class right now should have their hand up, along with your teachers and friends, as well. We are all investors, you are an investor right now. Not someday when you're older or richer. Every day you invest your time, your attention, your energy, your money, your habits, your friendships, you're learning. You are already investing in the person you were becoming. Second, you have an unbelievable advantage, simply because you're learning this early. The stock market is not a casino, it's not blinking lights and ticker tape, and shouting people on television. It is ownership, it's buying small pieces of the businesses, helping shape the future of your world. If you can learn that in middle school. Third, stay curious, the world is changing incredibly fast. Artificial intelligence, robotics, genomics, energy, space, medicine, education. The next 50 years are going to be astonishing. Your opportunity is not merely to watch that future happen, your opportunity is to help build it. Finally, thank you to teachers like Mr. Ernst. Financial literacy should be taught in every school in America. Understanding compound interest, ownership, patience, optimism, and delayed gratification genuinely improves lives. Adam, thank you for spreading foolishness out there in Gig Harbor, and to all the students hearing this, stay hungry, stay Foolish, and Fool on.

David Gardner has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Baidu, Berkshire Hathaway, Intuitive Surgical, MercadoLibre, Netflix, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Arista Networks, Baidu, Berkshire Hathaway, Brookfield Corporation, Chewy, Fairfax Financial, Intuitive Surgical, MercadoLibre, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Netflix, Nvidia, Shopify, Tesla, and eBay. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2028 $520 calls on Intuitive Surgical and short January 2028 $530 calls on Intuitive Surgical. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.