My interview with The Motley Fool. "The easiest way to double your returns is to double your time horizon." - Tom Gardner "Buy high and try not to sell. Let your winners run high." - David Gardner Over my long career, I've become a better investor by meeting and interviewing well-known financial thinkers and sharing their insights with my readers through my newsletter and The Maxims of Wall Street. I've had conversations with Warren Buffett, Jack Bogle, Charles Schwab, Mark Cuban, Kevin O'Leary, and Ken Fisher, among many others. Last week, I had the pleasure of interviewing David Gardner, who co-founded The Motley Fool investment service with his younger brother, Tom, in 1993. I first interviewed Tom a decade ago at John Mackey's Conscious Capitalism Summit in Austin, Texas, and that conversation left me interested in the brothers' approach to investing. You might wonder why I have so many positive things to say about The Motley Fool, a direct competitor of The Oxford Club. The answer is simple: I'm a fan of their formula for successful investing, and I believe in giving my readers an honest assessment of what I learn - even when it comes from someone in my own industry. Good investing ideas don't belong to any one newsletter or research service. My job is to recognize them, examine them critically, and share the lessons that can help investors build wealth. The power of a long time horizon. One lesson I particularly admire is the Gardners' commitment to long-term investing. Their "Everlasting Portfolio," Tom told me, is designed around holding quality growth companies for at least five years. The brothers have demonstrated a knack for identifying businesses with extraordinary growth potential - the kind that can turn into 10-baggers or even 50-baggers. Their philosophy echoes a principle Chief Investment Strategist Alexander Green and other experts at The Oxford Club have taught me: Time is one of an investor's greatest advantages. As Tom put it, "The easiest way to double your returns is to double your time horizon." Of course, holding a stock for years doesn't guarantee success. The challenge is identifying companies with durable advantages and having the conviction to stay invested when the market gets rough. I use this technique during bear markets: If my stocks continue to pay dividends, or even raise their dividends, during troubled times, I stay invested. It works like a charm. My income stocks recover and move to new highs. Letting winners run. That brings me to another lesson from David: Don't be too quick to sell your best investments. As Jesse Livermore put it, "Do not be in a hurry to take a profit" and "Don't give me timing. Give me time" (Maxims, Pages 134-135). In his book Rule Breaker Investing, David challenges many of Wall Street's conventional rules and explains why investors sometimes need to think differently to achieve extraordinary results. I found it an engaging read, and I appreciate David's willingness to challenge conventional wisdom. One principle stands out in his book: Give exceptional companies time to grow. David recounted how Nvidia plunged during the 2008 financial crisis, declining 80% at one point. Imagine watching a promising investment lose so much of its value. Most investors would have bailed out. As Steve Forbes said, "Everyone is a disciplined, long-term investor until the market goes down" (Maxims, Page 135). The Gardners maintained their long-term perspective, and the company ultimately became one of the most remarkable growth stories of its time. David noted that most exceptional companies sell at high multiples. "'Buy low and sell high' is the most harmful maxim in finance," he said. His advice is simple: "Buy high and hold on!" Admittedly, not all of their recommendations turn out to be home runs. But as David noted, "A single home run is far more impactful than a single strikeout." At The Oxford Club, Liberty Through Wealth also recognize the importance of letting exceptional investments run when the underlying business and long-term outlook remain strong. That doesn't mean holding every stock indefinitely or ignoring changing fundamentals. It means resisting the urge to sell a great company simply because its share price has become volatile. Like David, Alex bought stocks like Amazon, Apple, and Nvidia when they were dirt cheap and held on for huge long-term profits. A healthy skepticism of doom and gloom. I also appreciate the Gardners' willingness to challenge investment strategies built around perpetual predictions of disaster. "I am an optimist," David told me. He agreed with this quote from J. Paul Getty: "Businessmen can profit handsomely if they will disregard the pessimistic auguries of self-appointed prophets of doom" (Maxims, Page 110). The Motley Fool rarely invests in gold-mining companies, David told me, and he raises a fair question for anyone who repeatedly warns of economic collapse: What is the long-term track record? I've long believed that investors should demand accountability from those making bold market predictions. If someone has spent years warning that a crash is imminent, it's reasonable to ask whether that advice has actually helped investors build wealth. This isn't an argument for ignoring risk and future crises or for dismissing gold altogether. It's a reminder that excessive fear can be just as costly as excessive optimism. Investors deserve strategies grounded in evidence, a clear understanding of risk, and a realistic assessment of long-term results. As subscribers know, I always maintain a small insurance position in gold, which has done surprisingly well in the 21st century. These are lessons worth considering, regardless of which investment service delivers them. And they're consistent with a principle Liberty Through Wealth emphasize at The Oxford Club: Successful investing requires patience, independent thinking, and the discipline to focus on what builds wealth over time. How many traditional rules of investing did David Gardner violate? Over lunch, I presented David with a list of 21 traditional investing rules taken from The Maxims of Wall Street and asked how many he had broken on his way to success. It was a lot of fun. The list included some familiar advice: * "Always sell half on a double." * "Past performance is no guarantee of future performance." * "Never lose money" (Warren Buffett's famous rule). David challenged all three! If you sold half of Amazon, Apple, or Nvidia when they doubled, you missed out on some huge profits in future years. When it comes to past performance, great companies usually have a great track record. And while David is a great admirer of Buffett, he strongly objected to Buffett's No. 1 rule of never losing money. In the financial world, you often have to lose money to make money. In his book, David admits that 16% of his official recommendations lost 50% or more. "It's painful. But the joy of investment gains is potentially infinite times the pain of loss. You need to be prepared for losses if you are going to be a Rule Breaker." David's No. 1 rule is "Let your profits run. High!" The Motley Fool has proof of their success. The Motley Fool 100 Index ETF (BATS: TMFC) has been around since January 2018 and has beaten the market pretty handily, although with more volatility. I also asked David about Jack Bogle's famous advice, which I quote in The Maxims of Wall Street: "Don't struggle to find the needle in the haystack; just buy the haystack" (Page 159). David made his fortune by finding needles in the haystack - and by giving his investments time to grow rather than constantly trading in and out. He told me he's always 100% invested, through thick and thin, including crashes and bear markets. It takes guts to do that, and not every investor has the stomach to stay invested when the market drops 50% or more, which it occasionally does. This approach may not be for everyone. As they say on Wall Street, "There're many ways to climb a mountain" (Maxims, Page 68). It's a useful reminder that there's more than one way to invest successfully and that a sound strategy has to fit both the investor and the investment. Of all the interviews I've conducted with well-known financial thinkers, this conversation with David Gardner was among my favorites. Liberty Through Wealth talked for two hours, and Liberty Through Wealth could easily have continued. P.S. If you'd like to see all the rules of investing, I urge you to consult my book The Maxims of Wall Street, now in its 12th edition. David Gardner agreed with many of the quotes, such as J. Paul Getty's advice, "Owners of sound securities should never panic" (Page 111). Many of you already have a copy, but if you don't, you will be happy to have one in your home or office. As financial guru Dennis Gartman says, "It's amazing the depth of wisdom one can find in just one or two lines from your book. I have it on my desk and refer to it daily." It also includes some incredible short stories and five "Rich Man's Pearls of Wisdom."

How high will DroneShield shares go? A broker weighs in. While volatile, the signs are good for this company, Canaccord Genuity says. Published October 20, 12:54 pm AEDT DroneShield Ltd (ASX: DRO) shares have been volatile over the past year, trading in a wide range from $1.41 right up to $5.09. They are currently changing hands for $1.50, down 66.3% over a 12-month period. The analysts at Cannacord Genuity believe this represents a good opportunity to buy in, and have a bullish 12-month share price target on the company, which I'll get to shortly. Revenue to come in as expected. Last week, DroneShield released an update, revealing that its committed revenue for FY26 was $261 million, which was at the midpoint of guidance of $250-$270 million. Managing Director Angus Bean said at the time: This is an encouraging update as Fool approach the end of the year. FY2026 Committed Revenue of $261 million is approximately 35% above that in October 2025, and 121% of its full-year revenue in 2025. Fool also have $29 million in Committed Revenue for FY2027 and a further $17 million for FY2028 and beyond. Committed Revenue gives Fool valuable visibility into future periods, with growing evidence of DroneShield's leading role in the counter-drone industry. 2026 has been an important year when foundations have been reset, the platform has been built out, and Fool prepare for continued scale and growth in 2027 and beyond. The research report from CG says that committed revenue for FY27 and FY28 was currently $29 million and $17 million, respectively. They added that 15% of committed revenue was non-military, which was an important diversification. CG said a late September announcement from DroneShield that it had been awarded a Joint Interagency Task Force contract in the US with a ceiling value of US$500 million was also a positive. They said the DroneShield was one of 10 counter-drone operators of various sizes awarded the contracts, with US$500m ceilings being the largest awarded. They added: While not representing order guarantee, this is a strong indication of budgeting process from an existing DRO customer, with DRO having successfully completed delivery of a $25m order for DSX systems deployed on US military Infantry Squad Vehicles in September, an order executed through JIATF-401. In its view, this acts as a very late-stage, 3-year pipeline opportunity with clear visibility on contract orders from the US Department of War that has indicated its counter-drone spending intentions as a strategic priority. DroneShield shares looking cheap. CG said they remained positive about DroneShield, despite the fact that its growth path was non-linear and difficult to predict. They said, "we see increasing pipeline visibility and next generation product releases as future potential catalysts for the stock". CG has a price target of $2.60 on DroneShield shares compared to $1.50 currently. DroneShield is valued at $1.44 billion.