April 2026 Mailbag: Harbor, Hawthorne & Higher-or-Lower

0:00Can a squint at the dinner bill accidentally insult your dinner companion? Should you still buy more of a stock after its jump from 208 to 250? What kind of fool are you if your portfolio is built for harbor and part still points toward the horizon? And have I been invoking Heisenberg all these years when I really should have been saying Hawthorne? Oh, and can two listener quotes just permanently improve the Market Cap Game Show? We have a motley array of topics all sparked by your notes sent in over the course of April. It's now the last Wednesday of the month, and it's time for your mailbag.

0:40Only on this week's Rule Breaker Investing. It's the Rule Breaker Investing Podcast with Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner.

0:53And welcome back to Rule Breaker Investing. The end of April is nigh. It's been a really fun month for a variety of reasons, but for this podcast, I've so enjoyed bringing you the four previous episodes. I'd like to review them really briefly as we kick off our mailbag. April 1, that would be April Fool's Day for those keeping score at home, Blast from the Past, Volume 12. I kicked off the month by going back into the archives for five past points that I thought were especially worth bringing forward again here in April 2026. We went from James Clear on identity and habits to Shakespeare on serenity in the face of market volatility.

1:32And I thought the whole thing came together around one especially foolish idea. And that's why we put these three letters in the title. A. B. B. Always be buying. The next week was April 8th, Mental Tips, Tricks and Life Hacks Volume 11 Where I presented seven small ideas designed to make your life a little smoother, smarter and more fun We ranged from quickly sizing up AI companies to a$10 household fix To a one afternoon skill you can enjoy for life And then it was Tax Day, April 15th, Gotta Know the Lingo Volume 8 where I welcomed in three Fool analysts to help break down financial terms for the rest of us.

2:16It's always a nice mix of useful, it's a little nerdy, sure, and a little playful too, especially with the scoring system we use to see whether we were heroes or zeros. We went from depreciation this time around to your retirement smile. And then last week, April 22nd, we brought together Three Fools, Volume 2. I invited two most admired friends, Bill Burke and Mahan Tavakoli, to join us around the virtual campfire. We each told three stories, one to educate, one to amuse, and one to enrich. And I thought the result was warm. It was wise. It was joyful. I love those men, and I love that series.

2:57I hope you've had fun with me, and if you missed any of them, there they are. That was the month that was. Now, before we kick off the mailbag, I have a short but motley list of notes and noteworthies for you. I want to mention, in the past week, I was on someone else's podcast, a very good podcast, Masters in Business, with Barry Ritholtz from Bloomberg Podcasts. What a delightful conversation. We started talking about the early days of the Motley Fool, back when, yeah, stocks were quoted in fractions, not decimals. And we started with AOL, a little bit of business history. Of course, we got into Rule Breaker Investing.

3:33It was over an hour together. If you feel like you're not getting enough of me after a full mailbag this week, Barry Ritholtz's Masters in Business came out on Saturday, April 25th. Barry hanging out with a fool. You know, off the air, he made a real point, very authentic to him, talking about how much his podcast is not about him. It's about his guest. And he's so gracious with his questions. I also had a lot of fun traveling out to Chicago this past week where I spoke at the Better Investing National Conference. If you've ever been part of an investment club, maybe you were part of the National Association of Investment Clubs, a longtime organization which renamed itself Better Investing in recent years.

4:15It was formed 75 years ago by founder George Nicholson, who I believe operated out of the state of Michigan. and maybe like you or like me, George back in the day was saying, hey, I want to figure out the stock market. How does this work? He began reaching out to other people who live near him and they formed a club and began investing and learning together. That's the spirit of Better Investing. It's an organization I've really appreciated. The Motley Fool has done a number of things with them over the years. And after my lunchtime keynote in Chicago, I was presented an award, which was a complete shock.

4:48But just to honor the founder, George Nicholson Jr., who was the founder of Better Investing and the creator of its principles. There's an annual George S. Nicholson Award recognizing those inside or outside the Better Investing community who've introduced individuals to the ownership of business through stocks, as well as provided investment education and information to enable individuals to be successful lifetime investors. And I was shocked when they handed me the award after my lunchtime speech. I was just there to be their lunchtime speaker. But I really want to thank Mark Robertson, CEO Wayne Thorpe, and others at Better Investing for the Nicholson Award.

5:26I am not worthy. I'm just a fool. And I so appreciate that you did that for me. As long as we're talking about the spread of financial literacy, how can I not think about the Fool Community Foundation this week? Investing is, after all, the single most powerful driver of long-term wealth. And yet millions of Americans and even more people worldwide start too late or never begin at all. And so the Fool Community Foundation is rolling out our Fredometer. If you go to Fredometer.org, you're going to see prototypes of the lessons that are being coded as we speak. I'm really excited because we have a partnership with NextGen Personal Finance.

6:03We already have a distribution channel to reach 5 million high school students annually starting this September. So this is a rare opportunity for us to pair investing education with national distribution at scale. And I wanted you to know about that because you can go and kick the tires. Go to Fredometer.org and begin sharing out financial literacy with those around you. You'll see the lessons. You'll see the foolish voice. A lot of the fun getting people started investing. That's how The Motley Fool started. I hope we never end. But if we ever do, that's how The Motley Fool will end as well, because that's what we stand for.

6:41The spread of a love of investing. whether it's better investing or here, NextGen Personal Finance. So thank you to each of those. And one last note for now, just to mention that May is my birthday. And each year you give me a gift, what you have learned from me via this podcast. This will be the 2026 edition. This year I actually turned 60. That is the big 6-0. I recently became a grandfather in my very late 50s. So some turning point moments for me here in 2026. but if you ever feel like you've learned something from me and you'd like to share that back as a gift, drop us a line, rbi at fool.com.

7:22In fact, the subject line, this will help us out so we know which ones to include in that podcast in a couple of weeks. The subject line, why don't you make it what I have learned? And if you type that in, that'll find its way right to me and in a couple of weeks, I will present those back as my annual gift back to you on my birthday of the best lessons we've learned together. What have you learned from David Gardner coming in May? And because we are doing that and I'll be traveling, we're doing that a little early. So please get any responses if you'd like to be featured on that podcast. Get them in right away.

7:55Thanks. All right. Rule Breaker mailbag item number one of seven this month. David, I'm a regular listener. I really enjoyed last week's Three Fools episode. While I could relate to many of the stories, Mahan's squinting eye story hit home. specifically. And I want to pause it there for this note from Arvind and just recall what happened last week. One of our nine stories around the campfire was my friend Mahan Tabakoli talking about being a young trainer teaching a class. And so in this class, into this classroom, the evaluator walks in. So Mahan is teaching. He's a young guy teaching students.

8:35And the evaluator is now sitting in the room and he said, you know, of course my attention rightly, also wrongly, goes right to the evaluator. He kind of forgets about his students and he realizes he's teaching toward the evaluator. The problem is the evaluator started looking grumpy and then Mahan said he kept looking worse. And so he decided, Mahan did, to call a break for his students so he could go over and talk to that quality assessment person. And just quoting Mahan's son from last week, he said, I told the class members to take a break, set them up so they could have conversations with each other, because I said I have to walk up to Jake and ask him, what the heck's going on?

9:16What am I doing wrong? So he walked over to Jake and he said, what's up? And Jake says back, what do you mean, what's up? And Mahan said, well, what am I doing wrong? And he said back, you aren't doing anything wrong. Everything's fine. Mahan said, why? Because your face, your contortions, you were looking pretty displeased back here. And Jake said, oh my God, I'm so sorry, said his evaluator. I forgot my glasses. So I can't see the front of the classroom. I'm squinting to see what's going on. Sounds like it's really going well, by the way. I just don't have my glasses. and that was Mahan's story reminding us that a lot of the time in life we think it's about us.

10:03It must be something we're doing wrong. We don't realize it has nothing at all to do with us. So back to your note, mailbag item number one. Arvind, you wrote in response to that story from last week, you wrote, I experience a version of this often. I'll sometimes go out to dinner with a colleague or friend with the agreement that I'm going to pick up the tab. However, if I've forgotten my glasses, I end up squinting intensely at the bill just to read the total. My dinner partners end up misinterpreting this, thinking I'm upset about the price. Or that they ordered something too expensive. They start offering to split the bill or apologizing, never realizing I just can't see the number.

10:50From now on, Arvind concludes, I have a great story. Mahan's to tell them to put them at ease while I squint and pay. Thanks again for everything you do. Thanks from Arvind. Well, Arvind, thank you for this wonderful note, a great kickoff to this month's mailbag. I think a lot of us can relate. I think Mahan's story, really all nine stories, I hope everybody enjoyed last week. But I love that that one jumped out to you, Arvind, and for very understandable reasons. Fool on, my friend. All right, on to mailbag item number two. Hi, David. Hope you're well. Thank you for creating the audiobook version of your book, Rule Breaker Investing.

11:30I don't read well. Thus, the audiobook really helped. I've listened to it twice. I need to listen again, at least another two times, as I pick up further points on re-listen. Well, that's very kind, Sanjay. Thank you. Excellent book. It's confronted me on how I have invested in the past, Sanjay writes, and I'm trying to change my habits. I want your guidance in developing one of my new habits. I'm a Motley Fool Stock Advisor member here in the US and recently you made a recommendation on March 19th for a stock at$208.04. So 208 at publication, now the stock is at 250. Now I already own that stock so for that re-recommendation in March, I mean I wanted to buy more stock but I didn't have the money at the time.

12:21Now I do have the money, yet, as I mentioned, the stock price has increased. It's gone from$208 to$250. I've been questioning whether I should still purchase it. I'm trying to change my former habit of waiting to buy on the dip, but the market is so volatile at the moment I'm not sure what to do. It passes your SNAP and COLA tests. Thus, I am confident in the company, please advise, how should one develop purchasing habit if the stock you want to buy jumps 5 % or 20 % regardless of how much you like the company? Regards, Sanjay. Well, Sanjay, a very understandable question. I think all of us have been in situations like this before.

13:05You already know, if you're a longtime listener to this podcast, that one of my watchwords is, dips wait for dips. I don't like waiting for dips. I don't counsel people to wait for dips. I mean, maybe for some contexts and certainly for some people that can make sense, but this is rule breaker investing. And when we're talking about looking at rule breaker stocks, which is a very rarefied group of stocks, basically the top dogs and first movers in important emerging industries, you know what I've been talking about and picking for the last 30 years, waiting for a dip doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

13:38There is a section in that book as you re-listen, Sanjay, that I'm going to share with you in brief again right now. It's called buying in thirds. And I really think that's a good approach for this particular stock for you, assuming you want to add to it, assuming you want to own it. But just this approach overall, I hope is helpful to every listener, especially those who are on the fence about whether to jump in on a new stock they're looking at, especially one that seems to have risen or not. So buy in thirds. I've often said I did this with my first big stock, America Online, when we launched the Motley Fool back in the mid early, actually 1990s.

14:17So take the money that you would commit to that stock and split it in thirds. And with your first third, you're just going to buy that right now, right away. No questions asked. You've already said it's a company you already partly own. It's one you admire, passes the snap test and cola test. A few other things you find in Rule Breaker investing the book. And yeah, I think buy some now right away. No questions asked. This is a great company or one that you're interested in holding. That's why you're writing in. You still have two thirds of your money, though, that you were going to put into this initial buy.

14:52You still have two thirds of it left. So let's let a month go by or if you like a quarter. And after that month or quarter goes by, buy with your second third. Whatever the price is, might be up, might be down, buy with that second third. And then guess what? I think you already know what's coming. The third third is going to go in after one more month or one more quarter or whatever your time increment of choice is. Whatever the price, you're going to buy that third third. And now you have basically dollar cost averaged your way into a position that you may never have ever bought in the first place if you'd had to put it in all at once.

15:33I hope you find that helpful. Many Motley Fool members and fans and Motley Fool co-founders like me have found this helpful in the past, especially with very volatile stocks or at a time you might have questions. And there's a win-win psychology in closing on this one that has always comforted me during this process of buying in thirds. Because in my mind, Sanjay, we win either way. Because if the stock just keeps rising like a rocket from that first third that you bought, it never looks back. Here's what you can say to yourself, okay, well, it just kept going up. I'm so glad I started getting invested when I did.

16:12If, on the other hand, the stock goes the opposite direction, it drops, maybe even nosedives for a little while. You can then think, okay, so, well, it was overheated. It was due for a breather. I'm glad I didn't put all my money in at once. So with each succeeding third for a dropping stock, you're of course getting a better and better price. That was already all there in the book in the first place, Sanjay. I know you'll come across it again, but that would be my suggestion for one way to solve that problem you're talking about, forming a new habit of buying things on the way up, not waiting for dips.

16:50I hope that was helpful. Fool on. All right, on to Rule Breaker Investing Mailbag. Item number three, thank you for writing in. Paul, this one's short and sweet. David, agree that these clean, dirty slide switches are fine inventions. Now, I have to pause it right there for people who don't know the context. If you weren't listening to my mental tips, tricks, and life hacks, you may have missed me talking about this magical$10 device. You can buy one on Amazon. You stick this magnet to your dishwasher, and it has a little toggle. You can slide a toggle across two words. One says clean, one says dirty, and when you slide that toggle, you can indicate to other members of your household that the dishes in the dishwasher are clean, if you've set it to clean, or dirty, of course, if it's the opposite.

17:36And for me, that has been an incredibly simple, beneficial, very small life hack that I'm deeply grateful for and shared earlier this month on that podcast. So that's what Paul's talking about, fellow fools, when he says, David, agree that these clean, dirty slide switches are fine inventions. Paul Paul goes on, but at our house, we need another tip to help us remember to slide it. Seems like rote memory would be good enough, but alas, that's not always the case. With a smiley emoji, full on, signed Paul. Well, Paul, that's excellent. So I think what you're saying is we now need a clean, dirty switch for the clean, dirty switch.

18:22In other words, the invention has worked beautifully right up until the moment that humans get involved. I do appreciate your note. You've identified the eternal flaw in every one of my life hacks, and that is, it still requires a life. Or at least, a memory. Thanks for writing in, Paul. Fool on. Online shopping should be easy, but too often it's anything but. You find something you want, add it to your cart, head to checkout, and suddenly you're stuck. Login screens, forgotten passwords, searching for a credit card that's nowhere nearby. And then a better option appears, that purple pay button at the top of the screen.

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20:37Go to shopify.com slash rrbi. That's shopify.com slash rrbi.

20:48And as I get ready for Rule Breaker mailbag item number four, I find myself reaching into my bag of Jelly Bellies, thinking once again that their Jelly Belly flavor, buttered popcorn, is truly unnecessary. I believe it's unnecessary. It does not need to be in any Jelly Belly bags. I don't know what they were thinking at Jelly Belly headquarters, but buttered popcorn, come on, just have the real thing. This is unnecessary. On to mailbag item number four. This one sparked big joy. Thank you, Brandon. David, I can't remember whether you recommended it or whether it was one of your guests on the podcast, but thank you for the board game recommendation of Magical Athlete.

21:35I have a family of six, Brandon writes, with children ranging from 18 down to seven, including one pretty low-functioning special needs child. And everybody has had a blast playing that game. Whenever we get done, they just ask to play it again, and we laugh and laugh as we play it. Our family likes to play games, but this one has been better than most, and we appreciate the recommendation. Fool on, God bless, Brandon Well, God bless you, Brandon That's a beautiful note, as I mentioned you've sparked big joy for this fool this day I probably never get to talk about board games as much as I'd like to on this podcast But as many of my fellow fools do enjoy board games I'm worried that the majority of my audience probably wants me to talk more about investing more often than board games But the few times I get to fit it in during the year In this particular case, Brandon, as you'll remember, it was our mental tips, tricks, and life hacks podcast earlier this month.

22:38But yeah, I just figured why not stick in some board game recommendations into that particular podcast. And darn it, some people actually listened, acted on it, and it brought joy to them and their family. And so I'm really happy to know that$27, which is how much this game costs on Amazon, was in your case well spent, Brandon. this game plays three to six players the more the merrier generally with race games you know there's something about dollars per entertainment hour that i run in my head sometimes maybe you do too dear listener you go to a movie you pay like 18 at the metroplex you think okay two hours 18 that was nine dollars of entertainment per hour now i said 18 at the metroplex but the reality is you may well have bought food at the metroplex stadiums too that can get pretty expensive all of a sudden, especially if it's not just you, you've got a family of five, so you're remathing it, right?

23:31You're adding up the full ticket. Maybe you Ubered over it. You're adding up the full ticket of the amount you spent on that entertainment. You're dividing it by the number of hours, seeing your dollars per entertainment hour. Another thing I love about tabletop games is a game like Magical Athlete,$27, let's just say six people around the table a single hour just playing that game once you're down to three dollars in some per entertainment hour and yet you're going to play that over and over again the games that we love that keep coming back to the table those are unbelievably great investments in entertainment compounded further when we share that with family and friends over the years those things compound together our enjoyment of each other which is my main reason my main excuse for throwing down a game at a table.

24:23It doesn't have to be an amazingly complex game, even though I love Terraforming Mars. I love games like Ark Nova. If you give me something memorable, fun, something that we'll be telling stories about in later days, something that has us laughing together, well, thank you, game designers worldwide. I have hundreds and hundreds of your games in my house. I love games. I know you do too, Brandon. Thank you for sharing that full on. All right, on to mailbag item number five. Hi, David. I'm writing today, April 1, appropriately, I might add. Good point, Vince Granieri. It is April 1, April Fool's Day when you wrote, because I'm not sure what kind of fool am I.

25:03To refresh my foolish friends, I've written the mailbag over the years. A few years back, I was a solid rule breaker. I had over 600 positions, mostly growth-oriented stocks with nary a dividend to be had. Vince writes, portfolio yield was 0.35%, but I was nearing retirement. I'm over 69 years old today. I've watched my portfolio get cut in half in the year 2022. Join the club, by the way, Vince. I was right there with you. He also inserts parenthetically, and I'm happy to say I'm right there with you too, it's recovered since, thankfully. Did not want to watch that happen, though, again. So I made a first cut reduction to just under 200 stocks in 2324 and then further whittled to under 100 in 2025.

25:54I also raised some cash, split my portfolio into a growth portfolio and a dividend portfolio as best I could. I gravitated my family's Roth assets to growth, and then the others, like our traditional IRA and our taxable brokerage accounts, toward those dividends and cash side of my financial life. In so doing, Vince goes on, I went risk off, selling some rule-breaker stocks like NVIDIA, Intuitive Surgical, Taiwan Semiconductor, Nebius, and Rocket Lab USA. It was painful to watch them subsequently rise. But there were others, HubSpot, Duolingo, Adobe, and Intuit that fell. I'm now sitting at 55 % dividend, 30 % growth, and 15 % cash.

26:46I wanted to assess my decision, albeit at a very early point, so I've now looked at my year-to-date results. The dividend portfolio is down 2.15 % as compared to the S &P 500, negative 7.05%. The growth portfolio is down 18.74%. This is as expected and as was hoped for because the goal of the dividend portfolio is just to provide more stable returns. The rule breaker growth portfolio is there to exhibit more volatility, but hopefully reward patience with much higher returns in the long run. As I said earlier, too early now to call this game, of course. But back to the question hand, what kind of fool am I now that I've restructured my investments?