Gotta Know the Lingo, Vol. 8

Some financial terms sound scarier than they are. Others sound familiar… right up until you realize you don’t actually know what they mean.This week, David returns with Volume 8 of Gotta Know the Lingo, welcoming Fool analysts Alicia Alfiere, Amanda Kish, and Nick Sciple to help translate the language of investing for the rest of us. Some terms are simpler, some more advanced, all of them useful—and if you’ve ever nodded along to financial jargon hoping nobody would ask a follow-up, this episode is for you. As always, there’s a scoring system, a little Foolish fun, and a few concepts that may stick with you longer than the ticker tape.Host: David GardnerGuests: Alicia Alfiere, Amanda Kish, Nick ScipleProducer: Bart Shannon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can you quickly decide which AI companies deserve your attention—and which to skip? What do you believe that most people don’t? And is there a simple trick, learnable in one afternoon, that can delight kids (and maybe yourself) for a lifetime? This week, David returns with Volume 11 of one of our OG episodic series: Mental Tips, Tricks & Lifehacks. He shares seven small ideas that punch above their weight: from a clever $10 household fix, to a mindset shift borrowed from Kevin Kelly, to dialing down big ambitions into “little bets” that actually get done. Oh, and some recent boardgame picks! Host: David GardnerProducer: Bart Shannon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some truths are too good to say only once. This week, David re-blasts five timelessly powerful ideas from the past—about identity, investing, serenity, frameworks, and questioning—and brings them together in a fresh 2026 mix. One quietly powerful idea runs underneath: What you do, repeatedly, becomes who you are.Along the way: A single line that might rewire how you think about your own habits (and your portfolio) A Silicon Valley inversion that flips investing on its head Shakespeare, serenely out-investing most of Wall Street Why Warren Buffett shouldn’t have bought Amazon—and why that’s good news And a modern upgrade to “question everything” for the age we’re actually living in Companies mentioned: AMZN, CMG, ISRG, MELI, NFLX, NVDA, SHOP, TSLAHost: David GardnerProducer: Bart Shannon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

March Madness may be over, but the Mailbag is just beginning—and as always, you’re the star of the show. This month we hear from listeners who tracked the data on our Market Cap Game Show strategies (does “always disagree”… really work?), revisit a thoughtful challenge from Professor Jason Corso on whether Rule Breaker Investing is built on habits, recipes, or something closer to an algorithm, pick up a clever Google News hack that lets you see the world through another country’s headlines, and yes… return to Pet Peeves territory with a “Bamm!” vs. “Boom!” breakdown of locker room acoustics. Along the way, we touch on how we think, how we learn, and how we behave—in markets and in life.And we close with one Fool’s simple question: Does the Snap Test apply… beyond stocks? Sign up for The Motley Fool’s Breakfast News here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.fool.com/breakfastnews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Order David’s Rule Breaker Investing book here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1804091219/⁠⁠⁠ Companies mentioned: AXON, DIS Host: David GardnerProducer: Bart Shannon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The bracket is complete. The stakes are highest. And now… it’s time to crown a champion.This week on Rule Breaker Investing, defending champion Emily Flippen faces off against Cinderella challenger Loren Horst in the March Market Cap Madness World Championship. As always, you’re not just watching—you’re playing along. Ten companies. Ten chances to test your market cap intuition. Range it… and decide: in or out?From elevators to hotel loyalty programs to the strange ways we all think about “blood,” this one takes a few delightfully unexpected turns along the way. Throwdowns raise the stakes, instincts get tested, and you’re right there in it the whole time. Keep your own score, trust your gut, and see how you stack up. Companies mentioned: DGX, H, LYV, MAR, OTIS, PLTR, SBUX, SNOW, TRMB, TXN Sign up for The Motley Fool’s Breakfast News here: ⁠⁠⁠www.fool.com/breakfastnews⁠⁠⁠ Order David’s Rule Breaker Investing book here: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1804091219/⁠⁠ Host: David GardnerGuests: Emily Flippen, Loren HorstProducer: Bart Shannon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Madness continues! This week on Rule Breaker Investing, the second semifinal of March Market Cap Madness tips off as defending world champion Emily Flippen faces long-time Motley Fool advisor Bill Barker for a place in the championship round. It is a rematch of the epic Final Four game they played this very week one year ago. As always, the real game is for you: ten companies, ten market-cap ranges, and one simple question each round: Inside or outside? Play along and keep score as you listen—and see if your intuition can meet or beat our two veteran Foolish analysts. Companies mentioned: ABNB, ACM, ADYEY, GRAB, MIELY, MSCI, PAYC, SKYT, TDG, WIX Host: David GardnerContestants: Bill Barker, Emily FlippenProducer: Bart Shannon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

March Market Cap Madness tips off its Final Four this week on Rule Breaker Investing, and you’re not just watching—you’re playing. Past world champion Andy Cross (6–1 lifetime) squares off against Cinderella contender Loren Horst (1–0) in our first semifinal matchup, with a spot in the World Championship at stake. Grab a pencil, set your ranges, and see whether your market-cap intuition can outscore Andy, Loren… or both. The Madness is on, and the bracket is tightening. Companies mentioned: ACN, AMD, BA, CSU, GLOB, IDXX, INTU, SERV, TCEHY, WIX Sign up for The Motley Fool’s Breakfast News here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.fool.com/breakfastnews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Order David’s Rule Breaker Investing book here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1804091219/⁠⁠ Host: David GardnerContestants: Andy Cross, Loren HorstProducer: Bart Shannon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s Mailbag picks up where Pet Peeves left off—and then some. Listeners write in with their own linguistic grievances, from “10 straight unanswered points” to the curious inflation of words like “countless,” to the conversational reflex of “Right?” that may or may not actually validate anything. Along the way, we touch on Evernote in an AI world, foreign exchange risk from a Fool down under, and the eternal market phenomenon of buying the day before the drop. It’s playful, pointed, and a reminder that words shape how we think… and how we invest. Sign up for The Motley Fool’s Breakfast News here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.fool.com/breakfastnews⁠⁠⁠⁠ Order David’s Rule Breaker Investing book here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1804091219/⁠⁠ Host: David GardnerProducer: Bart Shannon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been 27 months since this series’s last installment, which means David has had time to quietly bottle up a fresh batch of entirely new irritations—all original, no repeats. This year’s edition takes aim at the slippery phrase “Buy Now, Pay Later,” the suspicious preface “If I’m being honest…,” and the curious cultural surrender embedded in “In my day…“.Along the way, there’s a certain Halloween-sized marketing sham, a conversational tic that may deserve early retirement, and a high-decibel train experience you may never un-hear again.Part humor, part language audit, part cultural critique—Pet Peeves returns to remind us that words matter, incentives matter, and yes… it is still your day. Sign up for The Motley Fool’s Breakfast News here: ⁠⁠⁠www.fool.com/breakfastnews⁠⁠⁠ Order David’s Rule Breaker Investing book here: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1804091219/⁠⁠ Host: David GardnerProducer: Bart Shannon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ten years ago this week, in the teeth of a downturn, David picked five stocks under the banner “5 Stocks to Feed the Bear.” This week, he and longtime Fool Rick Munarriz revisit that full basket—not after a month, a quarter, or a year, but after a much better, truer timeframe for the Rule Breaker Investor: 10 years. To the very day.Which stocks did David get really right? Which ones really wrong? And why? As always, in this third installment of our new episodic series, it’s not about cherry-picking highlights—it’s about accountability and perspective. It’s about what a 10-year scorecard teaches that the financial media’s shorter windows simply can’t.And the results of this sampler—along with the full program of all 30 5-stock samplers—once again prove the eye-popping success and durable wins that come to Rule Breaker investors. Sign up for The Motley Fool’s Breakfast News here: ⁠⁠www.fool.com/breakfastnews⁠⁠ Order David’s Rule Breaker Investing book here: ⁠⁠https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1804091219/⁠⁠Companies mentioned: CRI, ELLI, IPGP, MELI, PLNTHost: David GardnerGuest: Rick MunarrizProducer: Bart Shannon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices