In this podcast, Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner talks about a listener who says he invests $100 for each of his daughters’ birthdays, positioning them for success in their financial futures, and another listener who follows David’s advice to add up; don’t double down. David also shares some memories and reminds us that the math is always against you when it comes to sports betting. Plus, listener and host swap stories on selling Netflix (years ago) to build and buy their homes.

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A full transcript is below.

This podcast was recorded on Sept. 24, 2025.

David Gardner: One hundred and nineteen. That’s the magic number this week, 119. Because this is the 119th consecutive Rule Breaker Investing monthly mailbag. That’s nearly ten years of unbroken exchange, the final Wednesday of every month between you, my dear listener, and me the fool who gets to sit on the other end of the exchange marveling at your stories, your questions, your challenges, your inspirations, the sharing that comes my way from around the world for nine years and 11 months as of today, thank you, and thank you is going to be a recurring theme for this particular mailbag, only on this week’s Rule Breaker Investing.

Well, it’s not every week or month a new book comes out by me. Understandably, a lot of this week’s mailbag is going to be focused there. I also am guessing we might have some new listeners, an unusually high number of new listeners this week. I should explain that sound that some people love and some people don’t like at the start of my podcast. The one with the window breaking. Well, that’s not really a window breaking, that’s the sound of rules being broken. That was put in place by my original producer, Rick Engdahl. Yeah, July 2015, and we’ve been publishing a fresh new weekly podcast every week since going for the Cal Ripken streak here, never taking a week off. Yeah, that’s the sound of rules being broken. If you become a regular listener, I hope you’ll come to love it. Well, yeah, Rule Breaker Investing. The book came out just last week. It’s been a lot of fun doing media, some of it in New York City, a lot of it just sitting at my desk at home, being on people’s podcasts. We’ll talk about that a little bit this week. I’ve had a lot of fun reading reviews and if you do read the book and love it, I would even say if you hate it, I would love for you to leave a review anywhere where reviews are read. Amazon is where most people leave reviews, but I’ve read some really lovely reviews on Audible for those enjoying the audio book. But reviews help people discover books and with this, my final stock market book, I’m hoping as much of the world will discover it as possible, which means more and more people will be playing the only game that counts the long game with a strong long game. That’s my hope for my fellow humans and that’s the promise of Rule Breaker investing the book.

Thank you again for those who have already left reviews and I would love it, especially if you love it, if you’d think to leave a review somewhere online about Rule Breaker investing. This is also a fun day for me because Readwise, which is an app I’m going to explain a little bit more about in a minute, something I first started talking about a few years ago, just like Duolingo, the language learning gamified app, Readwise lives in streaks. Readwise, let me explain it now and then say why today is special. Readwise is an app, especially for those who love eBooks. I think two in 10 purchasers of books these days, nonfiction any by the eBook. Still the vast majority preferring hardback or paperback books. But for those like me who love their eBooks, as we highlight as lines jump out to us off the electronic page and you highlight it in pink or yellow or whichever color you choose, Readwise saves that. If you’re using the Readwise app, it uploads all of your highlights across all of your eBooks into the Cloud.

Then it brings those back to you ever after. You can get it as a morning newsletter, five of your favorite past quotes randomized and you can add more information or more thoughts to them. You can connect them together with other quotes from other books. It is an amazing resource, the Readwise app, and it really helped me write Rule Breaker Investing because it enabled me to save a lot of my favorite lines from books I’ve read and then bring them back into my book Rule Breaker Investing. I had a friend say, hey, David, really enjoy that. You must have used AI to source a lot of your quotes. I said back, no I didn’t use AI to source any of those quotes. It was all Readwise. I guess in a sense, Readwise, you could claim is AI, but the ability to hold and save forever the things that jump out to you in a book is such a powerful thing and my fun day to day is that I’ve now been using Readwise 999 days in a row here on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025. When I first started talking about this app a few years ago on this podcast, you should know, I’ve stuck to my knitting. I’m eating my own dog food. I really love Readwise, clearly, because I’ve used it 999 days in a row. Shout out to Tom, Francis, Khalid, Arcia, Simon, and Mick because they are the seven other people who are tied with me at the 999 day mark because on Readwise, Lightly gamified, you can see who else has long streaks and Tom, Francis, Khalid, Arcia, Simon, and Mick. I don’t think any of you is listening to me right now, but you should know, I’m right there with you. I’m in quotes David with a little fool Imogi next to me on the Readwise standings. As this podcast comes out Wednesday, September 24th, will be my Readwise 1,000th day. But who’s counting? Before we get into our, I would say shortish mailbag this week, I want to mention there’s a bonus chapter that I’m writing for Rule Breaker Investing. If you’ve been to Rule Breaker Investing.com, you’ll see that it’s a free downloadable bonus chapter. It’s not pinned up there yet. It will by early October. But just to give you my dear listener a little inside window into what we’re doing with that, I’m basically going to make that chapter a mailbag. I’m going to take in some of the best most thoughtful questions and comments that I’ve gotten about the book and the bonus downloadable chapter will be my answers back, basically an FAQ to the book itself.

That’s where the bonus chapter is headed. I’ve already written much but I would appreciate your questions, especially next month on next month’s mailbag, [email protected] is our email address, and I would love some questions or thoughts back based on your reading of the book, because I’ll probably pull a few of the best ones and add those into the bonus chapter as well. In fact, just like software releases updated editions, I’ll probably add a little bit more into that bonus chapter over the course of the coming months version 1.1, 1.2, 1.3. Again, great questions, thoughtful challenges, anything that you enhance the experience. If you felt like the books missing something and you’d like something more, I’d love to hear from you [email protected]. We’ll talk about it on next month’s mailbag, but it might well end up in the Bonus Chapter itself. I see five mailbag items today, but first hot takes from Twitter. First one, at Sam Horn Intrigue. My author in August Sam horn Tweeting out. I am still hearing from people, Sam writes, who enjoyed that rock ‘n roll conversation as much as we did at David G Fool. Thank you for your perfect questions and for setting up that rising tide lightning round of what to say when. That was a lot of fun. Thank you, Sam horn. It was a delight to introduce you to my audience. Gotten so much good feedback. So many people have enjoyed reading your book already. Let’s do it again sometime, Sam. Thank you. matthard@307fool. Thank you, Matt. You said, love the 10 year look back. Lots will change for the companies you own, but the most important lessons are still true. Winners win, and they carry the build of your outperformance as long as you can hold on, and Matt writes hold with about 10 letter Os.

As long as you can hold on. Yeah, thank you, Matt. I’m really glad you enjoyed the 10 year look back. Again new listeners, years ago, I picked every 10 weeks on this podcast, I picked what I called five stock samplers. I’d pick five stocks to a theme. The aim was to beat the market with that sampler, and we’re now hitting the 9 year mark for the very first one. The first of those, well, that was this month’s first podcast. September 3rd, 10 years later, five stocks for the next five years. That was the first five stock sampler I ever picked. It was called Five Stocks for the next five years, and we’re reviewing those 10 years later. It does remind me that usually I go back over what we did this month. I’ll just mention, that was the first podcast this month. Then we had a Rule Breaker investing highlight reel putting together all my page Breaker previews on September 10th. We had an audio book sneak peek for anybody who might be interested in the audio book. That was an eight minute extra podcast, one of my shortest podcasts ever done just 10 days ago or so. Then of course, last week’s Market Cap Game Show Planes Stakes and automobiles with Andy Cross and Yasser El Shimi. That is the month that has been for this podcast. Matt Hard, thank you for writing in with your appreciation of the 10 year look. Every 10 weeks going forward, we’re going to go back 10 years and we’re going to learn together how those five stocks have done, why they did what they did, and let’s hope we’re beating the market. Pretty sure we will be, but not with every one of them. Well, there was one other theme to Twitter X hot Takes this month, and that was, yeah Book. I’m just going to read several off because it’s a motley array. When I said, there’s a lot of thank you this particular podcast, that’s what I want to do again. I want to thank each of you for taking the time to tweet out what you did. Happy to share some of my favorites here at the start of this month’s mailbag. Jean Marc Aas Jean Marc, you wrote, I’m going to wait to see if the reviews are good on David G Fool’s new Rule Breaker Investing book before I buy it. Said nobody ever can’t wait to crack open my new copy.

Thank you, Jean Marc. Nick Sipel at Investing Nick. In an era of fake gurus, David G is the real deal with real results delivered publicly over decades. More admirable than David’s returns though, is his work to teach investors how they can invest better. I’ll be reading David’s book next week. You should too. Thank you very much at Investing Nick. Always a pleasure, Nick. A thanks to you for helping the world invest better for making all of us smarter, happier, and richer. Thank you, Nick. At anendkatri. Anand, you kindly wrote. It feels like the best player of the game won the championship and announced the retirement and put everything in the last Masters stroke in this book. Thank you at David G Fool and at RBI Podcast, receive my copy and can’t wait to start. That’s very kind. Thank you, Anand. This is obviously somewhat embarrassing for me to read. Not every mailbag sounds like this. Otherwise, they could be cloying, but this is a special week. Carrie Huntley @chuntley1234, really appreciated. This one, Care at David G Fool. Since my Amazon pre order is on Ba Order, I decided to take a trip to a couple of Barnes and Noble locations. I was able to score a copy for myself. That preorder will be a Christmas gift for my niece and nephew. I can’t wait to get started, I especially appreciate Carrie that you took the time to take a photo, Carrie of you holding the book up in the Barnes and Noble. I see the intelligent investor hiding on a shelf just behind it. Anyway, a lot of fun to see that picture. Thanks for taking the time. I’m glad you had a Barnes and Noble near you and you could pick the book up there. I’ve been a little frustrated to see that the book sold out on Amazon the very first morning it came out.

There are more copies coming though. Everybody should know that and I guess it’s a good problem to have if you’re going to have a problem. I also want to mention how much I’m enjoying seeing the book in different places. Gilbert, another Twitter friend of mine, took a picture of Rule Breaker Investing sitting there on his chessboard. It was very artistic. I thought it made a good visual point. I just want to let all my readers know if you want to take a picture of the book in some fun, crazy place or making a fun visual point really plays well with me on social media. It is a treat to retweet those out and see that trusty little green side kick, that book appear at all kinds of different places. I’d love to see it on a ski lift here as we hit winter in the northern hemisphere. Just a couple more @emmett L Savage. Emmett Savage, David G Fool has been the most inspiring investor in my life and his new book will inspire the next generation of investors. Thank you very much, Emmett. I truly hope that is the case. That’s why I wrote it, and those words coming from you mean a lot. Finally, @raulseti, Raul, you said, My Rule Breaker investing pre order came in the mail yesterday, and I read it, cover to cover within a couple of hours. Beautiful and timeless investing wisdom in an easy to digest way, distilled differently than anyone else can. My biggest surprise was reading that David does sell underperforming businesses or for opportunity cost reasons. All this time, Raul concludes I thought he had never sold anything ever. I’m glad that you were disabused of that notion, Raul. Certainly, I’ve sold in the past. Most of the selling I’ve done, I’ve ended up regretting and I’ve certainly made that point. I once wrote a column for Motley Fool Stock Advisor members pointing out that if we at Motley Fool Stock Advisor had never once sold any of the picks that we’d made and just held every single one of them, every bad pick and every good pick right through two today, we would be ahead of where we are today and I’m still quite happy with where we are today.

There can be lots of reasons for selling. Sometimes I sell to harvest tax losses to net out a capital gain at the end of year. Sometimes I have to sell because one of my big winners just gets too big for my portfolio. It exceeds my sleep portfolio principle Number 4, and that’s the best reason of all to sell. When a stock like Amazon or Netflix blows up in your portfolio so much that you’re going to need to sell or maybe just give those shares away, which by the way, the best charitable way to give is shares of appreciated stock. I’ve done that. I bet many of you have done that too. It’s a neat trick if you can pull it. That wraps up my Twitter X Hot Takes. Let’s get in to the Mailbag now five items. Here comes Mailbag item Number 1. Thank you, Kevin McMahon. Hello, David. I recently listened to your audio book and thought it was excellent. Baseball played such a big role throughout your story. That really resonated with me since my dad and I have always shared a love for Strat-O-Matic baseball. The games and the statistics behind them have been a lifelong passion of ours. I was so excited about the book that I even became one of the first people to leave a review of it on audible. That being said, I’d like to pivot to your recent appearance on Chris Hill’s podcast Money Unplugged. As a longtime listener of Rule Breaker Investing, I was surprised by how much more I learned about you through that conversation. Highlights for me included your first memory of money, your family background, your early computer experience, your schooling, both high school and college, your journey toward a career, and of course, Kevin goes on more baseball. I especially want to call out your time in Rochester, New York. I grew up in the Finger Lakes region, Penn Yan near Rochester, so that really resonated with me. I would highly recommend not only your episode, but also the other conversations on money Unplugged. Chris Hill’s podcast is fantastic and your appearance made it even better.

Thanks again to you and the Motley Fool team for continuing to share your stories and your wisdom. Fool on. Kevin McMahon. Well, fool on back to you, Kevin. I, of course, loved reading your note. I played Strat-O-Matic baseball all throughout my youth. My brother Tom and I ran a whole league at our school. We had 11 year olds coming over to our house on weekends to bring out their Strat teams and play head to head. It was a league. We had about 20 people in it. It’s a very fond memory. I do remember my first copy of Strat-O-Matic baseball. I believe it was 1974, and two teams came in it. I got the 1974 Chicago White Sox and my younger brother, Tom, got the 1974 Atlanta Braves. He had Hank Aaron on his team. I didn’t. But I did have Dick Allen, who was just recently recognized as a Hall of Famer himself. Had a lot of fun just Tom and me playing those two teams. We had no other connection to them. We’re lifetime Minnesota Twins fans, but that is such a fun memory for me, and Strat-O-Matic baseball runs all throughout my youth. I eventually decided that pursue the pennant, which was a competing baseball product was even better, a little bit thinkier with a little bit more variety and fun. But I love dice sports games. I grew up playing all of the Strat-O-Matic games. I think at this point, Kevin, my listenership this week, maybe down to just you and me because I’m not sure anybody cares that much more about Strat-O-Matic than I do. But this is an opportunity for me to thank you for your note and to say that Chris Hill has a wonderful podcast and he sent the questions over ahead of time for his money plug podcast, and they were different from the types of questions I usually get if I’m going to be on somebody’s podcasts. I’m happy to answer investing questions all day long. Clearly, witness this podcast. But I also had a lot of fun because Chris’s questions, a lot of them are who you were and where you grew up and what you thought about things as you grew up. I think that’s why you were encountering some new biographical learnings about me, and it was my pleasure to share and keep up the great work Chris Hill with Money unplugged. Mailbag item Number 2. This one from Peter Pastrel DMD. That means, Peter, you are a dentist.

Thank you for taking the time to write in. “Dear, Motley fool”. You write, “I just received the new Rule Breaker Investing book, very excited to read it. Another point for David on Chapter 2 about not adding to your weeds and watering the roses,” Peter writes. Peter is, of course, referencing habit Number 2 of the Rule Breaker investor, which is to add up, don’t double down. I think part of the fun of this podcast going forward is, I can all of a sudden now be relating to the book itself, the six habits, the six traits of stocks, the six portfolio principles, haven’t been able to do that until now, but I think a lot of the questions and the conversation will often be about those six habits, those six traits, those six principles. Peter, you’re doing it right here. I think this is a new wave of mailbag item, and I really enjoy your thinking here. You go on. I used to always average down on my stocks that were down until I started listening to the Motley Fool around 2014. Here are two points, Peter writes. When people average down on their stock cost basis, they are basically saying, Peter writes two things. One, the market, which is generally efficient has this stock wrong. In my wisdom, this stock will go back up, so let me buy more. Not even the most seasoned investment professionals know for sure if this stock will go back up. Then Peter goes on to his point Number 2. What I’m saying by buying more of this down stock is that I’m smarter then the other billion investors that are saying this stock should be down 40% and I’m saying it will go back up a fools small F, Peter writes errand. I totally agree with David in that we should add to our winners and let the down stock go up on its own merit and not my feeble thoughts. Anyway, I bought three copies of the book, one for my son, one for myself, and one for my father for his birthday, 89 years-old today. What a great birthday present.

The Motley fool has made me wiser, happier, and richer. Thank you. Peter D Pastoral DMD. Peter, thank you. I really appreciate you sharing your thinking back. The concept of adding up is against most people’s instincts. It’s certainly, as I point out in the book, against what mutual really that they legally have to do, which is to rebalance to sell off their winners in order to add back to their losers. The idea being, of course, that those losers will come back. At least for Rule Breaker stocks, Peter, in my experience, a lot of my broken bad Rule Breaker stock picks never really do come back in any meaningful way. Rarely is there a remarkable comeback where a horse that was 15 lengths back all of a sudden comes out of nowhere with me adding to it all the way through the finish line. No, most of the time, the horses like secretariat, they get out front. They’re the ones who win the race, they win for us investors, and I’ve been trying to add to it along the course of the race. If you’ve read the book, I’m alluding to you get to invest the whole race, which is portfolio principle Number 5. Very rarely do Rule Breaker stocks make great comebacks. I think the only way really to get poor if you actually try to get poor investing in the stock market, which rises 9-10% annualized. The only real sure way to actually play that into poverty is to become hell bent on adding to a stock that’s down. As it goes down more, you add more. At that point you think, well, if I liked it at 20, I have to like it at 10, and then when it hits six, it’s a combination feeling. It’s on the one hand if I liked it at 20, and if I liked it at 10, I must love it here at six, but it also starts feeling a little bit desperate like I’m going to add money to this because if it just gets back to even, I’ll make money. I don’t think that’s a great set of investing habits. I don’t think that’s the right Rule Breaker mindset. That’s why we much prefer Peter to add up don’t double down and what you’re saying, your two points I agree with. In general, I think the market is generally efficient near term. The market has a very hard time factory in value over the long term, which is where our Alpha sits and why we beat the market and why we beat the pants off the market the longer we hold our stocks if they’re great Rule Breaker stocks. But I do think that you are going against a lot of wisdom if you start saying the market is wrong as your stock declines and you add to it on. That’s where I’ll leave it, wrapping up Mailbag item Number 2. But I have to say in conclusion, Peter, thank you so much for making a gift of my book to your dad. Happy 89 years, Mr. Pastrel.

Rule Breaker Investing Mailbag item Number 3. This one from Michael Baldwin. Thank you, Michael. You write, Hi, there. Was listening to the latest mailbag today. That would be last month, by the way, and thought I might be able to help read the question of share tracking tool. I’ll pause it there for sec. In last month’s mailbag, one of the questions was, how do you actually track your portfolio in a professional manner that is easy and enables you to know exactly how you’re doing compared to the market averages. Including complexities like adding in dividends, maybe even accounting for the implications of taxes on your portfolio performance as well. That was the question. Chief Investment Officer of the Motley Fool Andy Cross and I spoke to that a little bit. We both felt like there wasn’t a great answer, and that’s why Michael Baldwin is coming in with this note. I’ve been using Michael write share site. That’s share as in shariff stock and sight as in your eyesight, sharesight.com for many years. Michael writes, it includes pretty much all indices. It includes dividends, and has various performance tracking metrics, reports, etc. Whilst this is a dead giveaway that Michael is not writing from the United States of America. Whilst it is an Australian/New Zealand based tool for tax tracking purposes, it has taken the process of manually updating spreadsheets and trying to figure out formulas for compounding, while adding to or selling down positions, etc, completely away. I can focus on more important things. I hope this helps Michael Baldwin. First of all, Michael, yes, it does. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. I love sharing out good solutions that fellow Fools are using and finding helpful. In particular, I think this no can help my Australian and New Zealand listeners because it sounds like that is where Sharesight comes from. Sharesight is a global tool, and anybody can go to sharesight.com and take a look at it, but it does sound like the tax tracking, if somebody wanted to do that is maybe more geared toward the other side of the planet from many of us here in the good old US of A. But it looks like a very clean tool. Clearly, it has a lot of fans, and I will say, having clicked into the pricing, the pricing is a little bit questionable to me as a capital F Foolish investor. First of all, for people who are serious, I do think it sounds pretty good. Not everybody is necessarily looking for professional level tracking of their portfolio and just noticing their pricing and plans. Anybody can use it for free. You get one portfolio that can have 10 holdings. If you pay $7 a month, that’s Australian. I think their listing is $9.33 US dollars per month, billed monthly.

Basically, pay nine bucks a month, you can track one portfolio with 30 holdings. If you pay $18 Australian, that would be $24 a month. You can track four different portfolios with unlimited holdings, and if you pay up a few more dollars than that, you get even more than that. I think in particular, what I’m looking at is paying $9 a month to track one portfolio. I’d probably be OK with that if I’m quite serious about this. My problem is you can only have 30 holdings in that portfolio. I would suggest to Sharesight that if somebody wants to track their portfolio, and I’m really speaking as an armchair investor to a lot of armchair individual investors out there, lot of us are going to have more than 30 holdings. If you’re paying attention to your GKC and I’m just going to leave that acronym there and wink at those who know what I’m talking about, you probably are going to have a growing number of holdings. You might even have well more than 30 when you start your portfolios, so you’d have to go from that $9 up to $24 monthly just to track a portfolio with more than 30 holdings. That would be my only misgiving, Michael Baldwin, but thank you for bringing Sharesight to our awareness. You concluded your note by saying, hope this helps. It did. Fool on, my friend. Let’s move on to mailbag item Number 4. Mailbag item Number 4 is from Joe. Last month’s mailbag began with this note from Joe. It was short, so I’m just going to read it again. This is what kicked off August. Hi, David. In February of this year, I turned all of my focus from sports betting to investing. I grew up in a house where we didn’t talk about money and I was clueless on the stock market. I knew I was missing something, so I decided that at the age of 43, it was time to get serious about planning for retirement. What a mistake waiting this long, but I’m glad I at least found my path now, and I’ve gotten my 10-year-old started off on the right path. Motley Fool Money and the Rule Breaker Investing podcasts were the first two that I started listening to in order to learn more. I’ve learned so much from you and your team. Thank you. Joe concluded his note shared last month with this. My question is this, he wrote, “If you were a new investor starting with your first $1,000 today, would you be more likely to invest in Rule Breaker style exchange-traded funds, ETFs, rather than in individual stocks?” Fool on.

Joe. That was the note last month, and I’m not going to re answer that. But if you’re a new listener, that conversation I had with Motley Fool Chief Investment Officer Andy Cross. Andy and I just kicking around Joe’s question, I think that’s worth listening to if you didn’t get a chance. It let off last month’s Mailbag. It was Mailbag item number 1 in fact. In fact, the podcast title of that whole mailbag was Sports Better Turned Investor. Well, let’s now get to this month’s mailbag item number 4, this one from Joe. Hi David, I just wanted to thank you and Andy for fielding my question and all of the discussion around it. I really appreciate your help and support. The book is on pre-order. I’m excited to dig more into all of it, especially the portfolio management piece. Thank you yet again and Fool on Joe. Well, I just wanted to share that Joe because I really appreciate you closing the loop. I love the journey that you’re on. My friend Alicia Aldrich here who runs Motley Fool PR. She’s been doing a lot of booking. Thank you, Alicia, for the work you’ve been putting in yeoman’s work here over the last few weeks, booking me on different shows and podcasts and that’s going to continue. Alicia dropped me a short note this week and she said, just for fun, think about sports betting versus investing because she knows I’m passionate on this topic. Alicia said Americans wagered $150 billion in 2024 on sports betting. Joe, it wasn’t just you.

Alicia went on projection show that there will be a record $30 billion in wagers just on this year’s National Football League season alone. I did include a couple of pages in Rule Breaker Investing about sports betting. I always want to point out two things. First of all, I think betting is fine. I’ve made bets myself. I think speculating is a great thing to do in life, just in moderation, of course, and also math, which is my main point about sports betting. The math is completely against you. Every sports bet is generally a 50/50 prospect. Let’s say you put down $100 with your friend. The house is going to take five or 10%, so five or 10 of your dollars just disappear, and let’s say with the $90 left, one of you is going to beat the other and walk away with their 100 plus the 90 from their friend. But if you just notice $10 disappeared from the $200 that were wagered. If you just do that for, let’s say, 20 consecutive sports bets, well, that $10 is disappearing each time, so those original 200 that were wagered are basically wiped out altogether by the house, and you’re likely to have lost money. In fact, anybody who consistently bets on sports is very likely to run an expected negative return. That means you’re losing money, not making it in volume over time. I had a lot of fun from my hotel room in New York City watching the Detroit Lions take on the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football this week. It was a great game. I really enjoyed watching that game, and I really appreciate not betting on it because I didn’t have to sweat out my bet. I have had bets on games, and I often don’t enjoy the game that much because I’m just hoping that, in this case, a lot of people were hoping that the Ravens would cover their 4.5 point favorite. The Baltimore Ravens playing at home last night were a 4.5 point favorite. Half the people betting on Monday night expected the hometown Ravens to win by five points or more, half the people. History will show the Ravens did not. They lost by eight and a lot of money just disappeared overnight. Those who were betting for the lions against the spread, they’re happy, but they also paid five or 10% for the privilege of winning that bet. These days, if you invest in the stock market, commissions are down to about $0 per share, and Joe, you already know this. I’m speaking to those who may not. The stock market averages a 9-10% annualized gain. The opportunity cost that anybody in volume is paying for the privilege of getting to bet the Lions or the Ravens or whoever you’re betting on next week.

Again, if it’s all good and this is with a friend and it’s not a big amount of money for you, I’m totally fine with that, but anybody who’s taking this seriously, and I realize the whole sports media world and a lot of advertisers take betting very seriously these days, they’re really steering many people down the wrong track. If you care about your money, if you want to retire, especially if you want to retire early, I think, well, let’s just put it this way. I think you should be like Joe. Joe, thanks for your note. Fool on. Closing out this week, Rule Breaker Investing Mailbag item number 5, this one from Gorov Kumar. Gorov thank you for this wonderful note. Hello, David, and the Rule Breaker Investing team. I’ve been thinking about writing a post for the Mailbag, Gorov writes for quite some time. When I heard David on the Money and Plug podcast with Chris Hill this past week, I decided to do so and he numbers his points. One, a while back, David did a couple episodes with Jason Moser about getting kids started with investing. After listening to that episode, I decided to start investing for my girls, eight and four at the time in a custodial brokerage account. I decided at random to invest $100 for every year at their birthday in that account. $800 at their eighth birthday, 900 at their ninth, etc, and I’ve kept that going so far. The stocks that I bought in those two accounts were all Motley Fool recommendations, such as Netflix, Amazon, the Trade Desk, Mercado Libre, Starbucks, etc. I have not sold a single share in those two accounts since then. My kids accounts have done way better than my personal accounts where I’m a little more aggressive. Gorov goes on when I heard in the money unplugged episode that David, when you were managing your wife’s portfolio and your wife’s account was performing better than your account, I could totally relate to that. I want to thank you and Jason Moser for those episodes to help me get started investing for my girls.

Those accounts have turned a few hundred dollars into a substantial sum for my girls, and I’ve told them that as long as they don’t sell, I will keep investing $100 for every year on their birthday for as long as I can. I’m just going to pause it there for a sec. What a great dad. Gorov you go on. I recently asked my 17-year-old daughter because yeah, those who may not be familiar with this, that Jason Moser etc podcast that we did years ago was about nine years ago. Gorov’s eight-year-old is now 17, I want to thank Jason as well, again, and anybody who’d like to Google Rule Breaker Investing, get your kids started investing. You will find my two-part series dedicated to getting your kids started investing. Gorov, I think you’ve started to establish some of your own best practices. I love how you’ve gamified it. I love what you’ve done here. You close out point number one with this. I recently asked you write my 17-year-old daughter to calculate how long it will take for her account to turn into $1 million if we don’t invest a single cent at this pace. When she calculated that, her eyes lit up and she said something that was music to my ears. She said, Gorov writes, “Hide the username and password of this account from me and don’t give it to me when I turn 18.” Well, that was the first of Gorov’s two points. I think one of the things I love about this podcast and especially my mailbags is just getting to share other people’s great ideas, your inspirations, what you do for yourself, what you do for your kids. In this case, Gorov, I think you’ve opened some eyes and probably raised some smiles this month and probably there will be some other parents who start to do exactly what you did nine years ago.

They’ll start this week because they heard your story through this podcast. This podcast mailbag is only as good as the mail that comes in and the mail that comes in is often so very good. Let’s go on to Gorov’s second concluding point. You’re right. I’ve been investing with The Motley Fool since 2012 and done decently. In 2021, we decided to build a new house and we use proceeds from some of my winners like Netflix to build the new house. When you said on the Money Unplugged episode, don’t sell Netflix to build your house, Gorov writes my jaw hit the floor because that’s exactly what I did. I was initially very happy that I sold Netflix in 2022 when it dropped from $700 a share to $250 a share. Yeah, that happened, 2022, not so long ago. But not so happy you write now seeing it cross $1,200 a share. However, I was talking to my wife the other day and we both agreed that the new house has brought us immense happiness, and we’ve been able to create so many good memories in this house. We don’t regret the house at all, but selling winners like Netflix and Amazon, that does hurt some. Just wanted to send this note and share my gratitude for sharing your thoughts so freely. I look forward to the new episodes every week. I just received your book, Rule Breaker Investing earlier this week, finished the first two chapters. It’s a great read so far. This will make a great gift to anyone interested in learning about investing. PS Gorov writes, “My daughter, who is a high school senior is also reading this book and actually she shared a quote from this book in her college essay, which is related to investing in financial literacy.

She’s also applying to UNC Chapel Hill for the Moorhead Kane scholarship program. It was such a happy coincidence hearing on the Money Unplugged episode that you were also a Moorhead Kane scholar.” Thank you, Gorov Kumar. Thank you, Gorov. I saved this one to last because there’s a real connection across multiple dynamics here, synchronicity happening with this note, whether it was that you and I both sold some Netflix to buy our houses, and yet while that was a horrible mathematical move, neither of us regrets it because why do we invest in the first place? To buy a house, to build a house, or to put a kid through school, or to retire early. That’s why we invest. While I don’t think I’ve ever been a good real estate investor, I’ve never once regretted any house. I’ve only bought a few that I’ve ever lived in because I love living in that house. That’s why we invest. My house is much more meaningful to me than the invisible shares that I see on my brokerage statement, whether it’s printed out on paper or I’m viewing it on a glowing screen, why we invest is exactly what you shared this week. It’s not just about a house or Netflix. It’s also about a child, in this case, more than one of them and turning them on to investing. One of the main points I’ve been trying to make as I do media around New York City and the Internet’s writ large, maybe my main point is, this is what investing is. Rule Breaker Investing is just one form of it and we practice other forms just at the Motley Fool. We’re motley.

Anybody who’s been a member of ours for a long time knows not everybody at my own company would agree with me on any given stock pick or on any single page of my book. We are Motley. But I think one thing that is true of the Motley Fool and I think always will be, is that we’re there to invest. As I say habit number 3, invest for at least three years. That’s right. It’s very strange for me to do a lot of financial media when most people are traitors giving advice in the very near term about what’s going to happen this fall or in the next earnings quarter. It’s such a foreign language, I’m often speaking when I speak the language of investing, but I really hope that this book helps turn the tide for many Americans and many people living worldwide because investing is such a better practice than trading. Investing is a way better practice than sports betting, investing starting with its etymology, which I break down in the book and provide some visuals and I hope some inspiration investing is a very powerful act. It’s a beautiful word. It’s obviously one of my favorite words. Your note, Gorov Kumar is replete with investing in more than one form. I also wish the very best to your daughter as she applies for a scholarship program at UNC Chapel Hill, which improved my life in a way that I will always be grateful for. Thank you for all the tweets.

Thank you for all the mailbag items. I really appreciate. It’s obviously a special week for me. I obviously appreciate. That’s why I let off with a thank you and I’m going to close with a thank you. This is an unusual mailbag because it feels self-indulgent at different points, and I apologize if it ever did Chloe. Yeah, I hadn’t written a book though for 15 years and I’d been anticipating some of you had to all year long this past week in the book coming out. It’s understandable the mailbag would be dominated by it. By the way, just to mention something at close here that I mentioned early on, I would love for you to send me any questions that you have aroused from reading the book because I’m going to keep building out a mailbag, giving answers to the most frequently asked questions. A reminder, the Rule Breaker Mailbag happens every month thanks to this email address, [email protected]. Of course, you can also tweet us on Twitter X @rbipodcast. I want to thank my compadre, Brian Richards at the Motley of our top leaders at the Motley Fool, who has recently taken control of the @rbippodcast account. It really had been sitting dormant there for some years now, and he’s very actively using it. It’s a good follow too for Rule Breaker fans. Let’s bring on October. Shall we? Fool on.

Since writing about FIRE in 2009, I’ve favored investing in growth stocks over value stocks. As someone who wanted to retire early from finance, my goal was to build as large a capital base as quickly as possible. Once I retired, I could convert these gains into dividend-paying stocks or other income-generating assets to cover my living expenses if so desired.

Although more volatile, you’ll likely generate more wealth faster by investing in growth stocks. By definition, growth stocks are expanding at a rate above average, which means shareholder equity also tends to compound faster. As equity investors, that’s exactly what we want. Instead of receiving a small dividend, I’d rather have the company reinvest capital into high-return opportunities.

Once a company starts paying a dividend or hikes its payout ratio, it’s signaling it can’t find better uses for its capital. If it could generate a higher return internally—say, improving operating profits by 50% annually through tech CAPEX—it would choose that instead. Think like a CEO: if you can reinvest for outsized returns, you do it. You don’t hand out cash unless you’ve run out of high-ROI projects.

The whole purpose of FIRE is to achieve financial independence sooner so you can do what you want. Growth stocks align with this goal; value stocks generally don’t.

My Growth Stock Bias

I’m sure some of you, especially “dividend growth investors,” which I consider a total misnomer, will disagree with my view. But after 29 years of investing in public equities, working in the equities divisions at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse, retiring from finance in 2012 at age 34, and relying on my investments to fund our FIRE lifestyle, I’m speaking from firsthand experience.

Without a steady paycheck, I can’t afford to be too wrong. I’ve only got one shot at getting this right. Same with you.

Given my preference, my 401(k), rollover IRA, and taxable accounts have been heavily weighted toward tech stocks since I started Financial Samurai. Some of my growth holdings—Meta, Tesla, Google, Netflix, and Apple—have certainly taken hits in 2018, briefly in 2020, and again in 2022. But overall, they’ve performed well. Technology was clearly the future, and I wanted to own as much of it as I could comfortably afford.

I no longer consider Apple a growth stock given its innovation slowdown and entrenched market position. But it was once a core compounder in my portfolio.

My Occasional Value Stock Detours (and Regrets)

Despite my beliefs, I sometimes can’t resist the lure of value stocks. In the past, I bought AT&T for its then-8% yield—only to watch the stock sink. I bought Nike when it looked cheap relative to its historical P/E after the Olympics, but it didn’t outperform the index either.

My latest blunder: UnitedHealthcare (UNH). I mentioned how I was losing $6,000 in UNH in my post, The Sad Reality Of Needing To Invest Big Money To Make Life-Changing Money. Hooray for another case study!

After UnitedHealthCare (UNH) plummeted from $599.47 to $312, I started buying the stock. I was amazed that a company this large, with such pricing power, could lose half its value in just a month. Surely, I thought, the market was overreacting to the latest earnings report and would soon realize the operational picture didn’t justify a 50% drop.

But the stock kept sliding, hitting $274. I bought more. For several weeks, UNH clawed back above $300, and I felt vindicated. Then it tanked again—this time to $240—after another disappointing earnings report. I added some shares, but by then, I had already reached my comfortable position limit of about $46,000.

To be thorough, value stocks are shares of companies that investors believe are trading below their intrinsic or fair value, usually based on fundamentals like earnings, cash flow, or book value. The idea is that the stock is “cheap” relative to its fundamentals, and the market will eventually recognize this, leading to price appreciation.

I Really Don’t Like UnitedHealthCare

I have a hate, hate, acceptance relationship with UnitedHealthcare. Ever since I had to buy my own health insurance in 2015, my view of the company soured. Back then, our monthly UNH premium was $1,680 for two healthy thirtysomethings who rarely used the medical system. Outrageous.

But what were we supposed to do, manipulate our income down to qualify for subsidies? I know many multi-millionaire FIRE folks who do, but it feels wrong so we haven’t. Medical costs in America are so high that going without insurance is financial Russian roulette. We had no choice but to pay.

Since 2012, we’ve paid over $260,000 in health insurance premiums. Then we finally had a legitimate emergency—our daughter had a severe allergic reaction. We called 911, took an ambulance to the ER, and got her stabilized. We were grateful for the care, but not for the bill: over $1,000 for the ER visit and $3,500 for a 15-minute ambulance ride.

And what did UnitedHealthcare do? Denied coverage. My wife spent a year fighting the usurious ambulance charge before we finally got partial relief. We were furious.

Today, we begrudgingly pay $2,600 a month for a silver plan for our family of four and still have little confidence UNH will do the right thing when the next big medical bill arrives.

So when the stock collapsed by 50%, I figured: if the company is going to keep ripping us off, I might as well try to profit from it. Big mistake so far.

Why Chasing Value Stocks Slows Your FIRE Journey

Now, let me explain three reasons why buying value stocks over growth stocks is usually a suboptimal move for FIRE seekers.

1) Impossible to bottom tick a value stock

Whenever a stock collapses, it can appear deceptively attractive. The instinct is to see tremendous value, but if the stock falls 50% and earnings per share (EPS) also drop 50%, the valuation hasn’t actually improved—it’s just as expensive as before.

The trap many value investors fall into is buying too much too soon. This is how you end up “catching a falling knife”—and getting bloodied. I was down about $10,000 at one point, or 17% from my initial purchase.

After investing since 1996, I know better than to go all-in early. Yet I still bought my largest tranche—about $24,000 worth—when UNH was around $310–$312 a share. As it continued to slide, I added in smaller amounts. By the time the stock fell to $240, I was mentally waving the red flag once I’m down about 20% on a new position. So I only nibbled instead of gorged, much like buying the dip in the S&P 500 overall.

The point: You have a far better chance of making money buying a growth stock with positive momentum than a value stock with negative momentum. Don’t kid yourself into thinking a turnaround will magically begin the moment you hit “buy.” It’s the same way with buying real estate or any other risk asset. Do not buy too much of the initial dip too soon.

2) Tremendous Opportunity Cost While You Wait for a Turnaround

Stocks collapse for a reason: competitive pressures, disappointing earnings and revenue forecasts, corporate malfeasance, or unfavorable macroeconomic and political headwinds.

For UNH, the drop was a perfect storm: bad publicity, rising medical costs, disappointing earnings, and a Department of Justice investigation into Medicare fraud. After the tragic shooting of a UNH executive by Luigi Mangione, thousands of stories surfaced about denied coverage and reimbursements. Suddenly, the hate spotlight was firmly on UNH.

During the two months I was buying the stock, the S&P 500 kept grinding higher. Not only was I losing money on my value stock position, I was missing out on gains I could’ve had simply by buying the index. Opportunity cost! Another great reason to be an index fund fanatic. If I had allocated the $46,000 I spent on UNH to Meta—one of the growth stocks I was buying at the same time (~$41,000 worth)—I would have made far more.

Turnarounds take time. Senior management often needs to be replaced, which can take months. If macroeconomic headwinds, such as surging input costs, are the issue, improvement can take 12 months or longer. If cost-cutting is required via mass layoffs, the company will take a large one-time charge and suffer from lost productivity for several quarters.

By the time your value stock recovers—if it recovers—the S&P 500 and many growth stocks may have already climbed by double-digit percentages. Unless you have tremendous patience or are already a multi-millionaire, waiting for a turnaround can feel like watching paint dry while everyone else is sprinting ahead.

3) Emotional Drain, Frustration, and Behavioral Risk

Value traps often force you to watch your capital stagnate for months or even years. For FIRE seekers, that is not just a financial hit, it is a psychological one.

Watching dead money sit in a losing position can push you into making emotional, suboptimal decisions, such as swearing off investing altogether. Growth stocks are volatile, but at least you are riding a wave of forward momentum instead of waiting for a turnaround that may never come.

It is like buying a house in a declining neighborhood. You keep telling yourself things will improve. The new park will attract families. The school district will turn around. The city government will stop being so corrupt. But year after year, nothing changes.

Meanwhile, a neighborhood across town is booming. Its home values are doubling, and you are stuck wishing you had bought there instead. That opportunity cost is not just financial. It is mental wear and tear that can drain your energy and cloud your decision making.

Not only do you risk growing regret over tying up hard earned capital in a value stock that never recovers, but you also face the sting of rising investment FOMO. That is a toxic combination for anyone trying to stay disciplined on the path to FIRE.

You might end up doing something extremely reckless to catch up, like go all in on margin at the top of the market. After all, investing is all relative to how you are doing against an index or your peers.

FIRE Seekers Don’t Have Time to Invest in Value Stocks

If you’re pursuing FIRE, you don’t have time for “deep value” stories to play out. Every year you spend waiting for a turnaround is a year you’re not compounding at a faster rate elsewhere. Growth stocks, while more volatile, give you a far better chance of building your capital base quickly so you can reach financial independence sooner.

Just look at the private AI companies that are doubling every six months or even faster. I’m kicking myself for even bothering to invest in a turnaround story like UNH. Life-changing wealth is being created in only a few years with AI. There has never been a period in history where so much money has been built this quickly.

Remember, the FIRE clock is always ticking. The goal isn’t just to make money, it’s to make it fast enough to buy back your time while you’re still young, healthy, and able to enjoy it.

Chasing value traps can lock up your capital in underperforming assets, drain your energy, and delay the day you get to walk away from mandatory work. In the journey to FIRE, momentum and compounding are your greatest allies, and growth stocks tend to provide both.

Post Script: UnitedHealthcare May Finally Rebound

There’s another explanation for my stance on being negative toward value stocks. I may simply be a bad value stock investor who lacks the ability to pick the winners and the patience to hold these turnaround stories for long enough to reap the rewards. Fair enough.

With UnitedHealthcare, though, it seems like the cavalry might be riding in to rescue my poor investment decision. After I wrote this post, it appears Warren Buffett, several large hedge funds like Appaloosa and Renaissance, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund are all buying billions of dollars worth of UNH alongside me.

Will this renewed interest from some of the world’s most powerful investors be enough to get Wall Street and the public excited again? We’ll just have to wait and see. Just don’t rely on the calvary to wake up and realize what you’re seeing and save you.

Questions for Readers:

Would you rather own a struggling industry leader with a chance of recovery, or a high-growth disruptor with momentum?

Have you ever owned a value stock that turned around in a big way? How long did you have to wait?

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Nuclear power is all the rage right now. NuScale Power (SMR 9.45%) has a market cap of $11 billion, and its stock is up 360% in the last 12 months. Hype is growing for this resurgent energy solution to help match demand from data centers and artificial intelligence, which are growing like gangbusters.

However, risks abound for investors in this pre-revenue stock with a market cap above $10 billion. Here are two other industrial stocks I predict will be worth more than NuScale Power 10 years from now.

Rocket Lab’s strong growth

First up, we have Rocket Lab (RKLB 4.49%), which has around the same market cap as NuScale Power. The first advantage Rocket Lab has over NuScale Power is the fact that it actually generates revenue. That’s not a high bar, but a clear distinction that needs to be made. It is a disruptive rocket launch and space systems company nipping on the heels of SpaceX’s dominant market share in the industry.

With the Electron rocket, Rocket Lab regularly performs trips for commercial customers and the United States government, executing 59 successful launches and having 31 planned missions currently in its pipeline. It is the only company besides SpaceX to consistently launch payload rockets for customers, which they pay a pretty penny for.

Besides rocket launches, Rocket Lab is working to build the systems that companies actually launch into space. This includes communication systems, solar panels, and payload vehicles. Over the long term, it is aiming to build its own constellation of satellites, although what it aims to do with these satellites is unclear.

In the future, Rocket Lab will debut its Neutron rocket system, which is much larger than the Electron, translating into higher revenue per launch. Today, the company generates $466 million in revenue. Over the next few years, Rocket Lab has a chance to greatly grow its sales with the debut of the Neutron, expansion of its space systems, and working through its current product backlog of over $1 billion. This will get the company on a trajectory to be a much larger stock than NuScale Power in 10 years.

Rivian’s comeback potential?

A second stock that will be larger than NuScale Power in 10 years is Rivian Automotive (RIVN 2.46%). This is a fallen angel in the electric vehicle space aiming to get its mojo back with new product launches. The stock is down 92% from all-time highs after its much-hyped initial public offering (IPO).

Rivian debuted in the electric vehicle sector with premium trucks and SUVs. This limited its addressable market. Stagnating deliveries to customers have followed. Reviews say it has a great car, just not one for a wide audience that can afford a vehicle that costs upwards of $100,000.

Next year, it is aiming to launch the R2, a mid-size SUV with a much more affordable cost of $45,000. This should greatly increase Rivian’s annual deliveries to customers, which are currently hovering below 50,000. Without this scale, Rivian will struggle to generate positive cash flow. Free cash flow has improved in recent years but was negative $1.86 billion over the past 12 months.

A scaled-up Rivian Automotive can grow its annual revenue from $5 billion to between $15 billion and $20 billion, and eventually higher over the long term, with vehicles that appeal to mass audiences. Profit margins will be slim, as with all automotive businesses, but this should lead to at least $1 billion in annual earnings (an approximate 5% margin at $20 billion in revenue), which will easily help it obtain a larger market cap than NuScale Power in 10 years.

RKLB Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts

Why most stocks will be worth more than NuScale Power in 10 years

Being larger than NuScale Power in 10 years will be simple. It may look like a large company today with a market cap of over $11 billion, but this is a pre-revenue company. All of its revenue today is from contracts to plan on building its products; they come with no positive unit economics and can be considered a wash from costs.

It generates zero dollars in revenue today. If its plans for nuclear energy development and its small modular reactors come along on schedule, it will not generate any revenue until 2030. Even so, it will probably be negligible revenue, given how its projects are essentially tests for the modular technology. It has not been proven yet that this technology can work economically or much better than large reactors. A previously committed project in Utah was canceled because of delays and cost overruns.

NuScale Power talks a big game, but it keeps kicking the can down the road when it comes to actually building and deploying a product. I don’t expect this to change over the next 10 years this is a dangerous stock to buy and one headed much lower in the years to come. For this reason, stocks such as Rivian and Rocket Lab are better bets and should be larger than NuScale Power in market capitalization 10 years from now.

Brett Schafer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Rocket Lab. The Motley Fool recommends NuScale Power. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

There is more wealth out there than you think. But the government and media sometimes likes to trick us into believing there is not.

Government data says the median net worth in America is around $200,000. Meanwhile, the media keeps highlighting financial struggles, convincing us there’s a looming retirement crisis. But what gets overlooked is the tremendous wealth built over the past few decades—thanks to saving, investing, and riding the greatest bull market in history.

Enter: the rise of everyday middle-class multi-millionaires.

Wait, what? Middle class and multi-millionaire in the same sentence? Sounds like an oxymoron, right? But I assure you, they exist—and in far greater numbers than most people realize.

During the consulting promotion for my USA TODAY bestseller Millionaire Milestones, I had the privilege of speaking with some of them. Maybe I’ll get to speak to you too as the promotion runs until June 15. Details below.

Why “Middle Class” and “Multi-Millionaire” Can Coexist

The confusion comes from how we define wealth. Most people, especially those outside the personal finance community, equate wealth with income. The more you make, the richer you are, so they say.

I have indisputable proof: a 2025 Bloomberg article written by four journalists analyzed who qualifies for free college financial aid solely based on income. Not once did they mention assets or net worth in their evaluation. That blew my mind.

These were smart journalists from elite schools—Texas, Duke, USC, and Columbia—writing for a major publication. There’s no way I, or my children, could get into any of these schools. Yet somehow, they missed a fundamental component of what truly defines wealth.

When society talks about the “middle class,” it’s usually referring to income. In 2025, the median household income is around $80,000. One could define a middle-class income as anything +/- 50% of the median, or $40,000 – $120,000 in this case. For a family of three, the top of the middle class is about $188,400, inflation-adjusted. In contrast, the top 10% of earners in 2024 had to make at least $235,000 according to Pew Research.

In expensive cities like San Francisco or New York, a family of four might need $300,000–$350,000 just to feel middle class. People balk at that range, but the budget math doesn’t lie in my post. Thanks to inflation, life is only going to get more expensive over time.

Personal Finance Enthusiasts Think Mostly In Net Worth

Those of us who are passionate about financial independence don’t only define wealth by income—we prefer to define it by net worth (assets minus liabilities). Income takes effort and gets taxed heavily. But growing investments? That builds wealth quietly, consistently, and tax-efficiently.

As we age and become less eager to trade time for money, net worth becomes the more meaningful metric. Our investments are what will generate enough passive income to live free. And with enough time, discipline, and smart investing, it’s very possible to become a middle-class multi-millionaire—even without ever earning a huge salary.

Let me share the story of one such person: Luis, a consulting client who has averaged under a $100,000 income in his 30+-year career. He enthusiastically encouraged me to share his financial profile to you to show what’s possible.

Here’s his Social Security statement that shows his historical earnings.

Net Worth Composition

Despite averaging less than $100,000 a year during his career, Luis is a multi-millionaire with a net worth of around $4.8 million! That’s at least $1 million more than I expected for a man in his late 50s, just by reviewing his Social Security statement.

His family’s total assets amount to $6,090,000, offset by a $1,439,000 mortgage. He also has about $235,000 set aside for his children’s college education.

As you can see from his net worth breakdown, real estate has been his primary driver of wealth. Luis bought properties once he started earning a steady income and held onto them for decades. With real estate, much like stocks, the longer you hold, the more wealth you can generally build.

Luis’s second major wealth engine has been his disciplined contributions to his retirement accounts, especially his Roth IRA. Unlike me, Luis was eligible to contribute to a Roth for many years thanks to his middle-class income. Now, he’ll be able to withdraw from it tax-free for the rest of his life.

Ranch	$1,950,000	32%
Rental Property 1 =	$1,188,300	20%
Rental Property 2 =	$947,300	16%
Luis’ Roth IRA =	$1,386,237	23%
Luis’ IRA =	$257,920	4%
Wife’s Roth IRA =	$360,367	6%
Total Assets	$6,090,124	100%

The Power of Being a Middle-Class Multi-Millionaire: Total Income Is Actually Much Greater

One final variable to highlight is Luis’s total income. While his base salary as a patent examiner is $130,000, his actual income is significantly higher thanks to his additional income streams. No wonder he’s able to comfortably provide for six children—his total income is closer to $365,000.

Yearly Income:		%
US Patent & Trademark Office =	$130,000	36%
USMC Retirement =	$71,700	20%
VA Disability (tax free) =	$37,200	10%
Rental 1 =	$64,800	18%
Rental 2 =	$40,200	11%
Cell tower lease payment =	$10,800	3%
Ranch income (variable) =	$10,000	3%
Total Income =	$364,700	100%

In addition to his day job, Luis earns substantial rental income from his properties, cell tower income from his farm, a pension from the United States Marine Corps, and VA disability benefits. An impressive 65% of Luis’s total income comes from passive income, which is taxed more efficiently. Incredible.

Don’t underestimate the value of working for the government. A pension is far more valuable than it appears at first glance. For example, to generate $71,700 a year in passive income at a 4% yield, you’d need $1,792,500 in investments.

If you include the present value of his pension and other benefits, Luis’s net worth could be closer to $6.4 million rather than $4.8 million.

Long-Term Asset Ownership Is Key To Becoming A Multi-Millionaire

The rise of the middle-class multi-millionaire will only continue as more people steadily invest over time. Luis is a great example. By serving his country and steadily building wealth for over 30 years, he’s now financially set for life.

His final financial goal is to pay off his mortgage before he retires from his retirement job. Together, we’ve created a game plan that uses income from his various sources—along with strategic Roth IRA withdrawals—to eliminate his remaining debt. Since he enjoys his job and plans to keep working for several more years, I have no doubt he’ll achieve this goal within the next decade.

With six children, Luis is also committed to helping them achieve financial independence as well. That deep sense of purpose and motivation is one of the greatest blessings of all.

If you want to become a multi-millionaire, you must consistently save and invest in assets that have historically appreciated over time. Real estate and stocks should be your bread and butter. And if you want, you can allocate up to 10% – 20% of your capital into alternative assets like venture capital, cryptocurrency, fine art, etc.

As Luis has shown, you don’t need a massive income—just the discipline to save and invest steadily. Over a 30+ year period, I firmly believe the vast majority of middle-class earners can achieve millionaire status in their lifetimes.

Readers, are you a middle-class multi-millionaire? If so, I’d love to hear how you were able to accumulate more wealth than the vast majority of the population. What were the key decisions or habits that made the biggest difference?

Also, what do you think is preventing more middle-class income earners from reaching multi-millionaire status? And why do you think society continues to focus so much on income instead of net worth when it comes to measuring financial success?

Resources to Build More Wealth

I’m offering 1-on-1 consulting at 41% off until June 15, 2025, before taking the summer off. You’ll also get 55 hard copies of my USA TODAY bestseller Millionaire Milestones to share with family, friends, and colleagues. Just fill out the quick form at the bottom of my consulting page. I’ll get back to you within 24 hours. 

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