Top US investor on how Irish savers can get ready for new Government scheme

Saving is “a wonderful strength” of the Irish, says Motley Fool founder David Gardner. And yet our investing habits are among the poorest – both literally and figuratively – in Europe. Now, as the planned launch of a new tax-efficient savings vehicle nears, the renowned US investor, whose own Irish roots stretch back to the 19th century, says investing is a way we can all build wealth over the long-term.A literature major in college, Gardner is not a professional investor by education. But his experiences growing up set him up to be.He started investing at the youthful age of 18; the impetus was an investment portfolio his father had built for him.READ MORE“When I turned 18, he said ‘Here you go, I’ve been investing for you from birth. This is all you’re ever getting from me so don’t screw up!’[ Ireland’s new investment scheme: what Irish finance influencers were told behind closed doorsOpens in new window ]It was a “coming of age” moment for the nascent investor. Back in 1984, funds weren’t even on his agenda, so he did as his father had done, and his father before him had done, and bought stocks. “It was how I was raised to think – but I started to discover that others didn’t think that way.”Some years later, in 1994, he founded the Motley Fool from his shed in Virginia, along with his brother, Tom. Starting off with an investment newsletter, today the Motley Fool offers a forum for ordinary investors to discuss and improve their financial decisions, with the goal of helping normal people get ahead of Wall Street. Its flagship service, Stock Advisor, gives two stock tips a month, as well as further financial advice, and it has been hugely influential in the US in helping ordinary investors to improve their financial futures.Its social media channels spit out inspirational advice such as “most fortunes aren’t built by timing the market, they’re built by time in the market”, and “the biggest risk isn’t losing money – it’s losing patience”.Lahinch Golf Club, Co Clare, where David Gardner says ran out of balls on the 13th hole. Photograph: Oisin Keniry/Inpho Gardner has also written books with his brother, including The Motley Fool: You Have More Than You Think. His latest book, Rule Breaker Investing, is about picking the “best stocks of the future” and building lasting wealth.His Irish roots mean he’s a somewhat frequent visitor to Ireland – he has distant cousins in all corners of the country, from the McIntyres in Donegal to the Gaughans in Mayo and the Murphys in Co Cork.More recently, he has brought his three children here on visits. Golf is a favoured pursuit when visiting.“I’ve played ‘bad golf’ in some beautiful places in Ireland,” he laughs, recalling a recent foray at Lahinch, where he ran out of golf balls on the 13th hole. “I took it as a sign that we weren’t good enough to play at Lahinch.”Gardner is coming to back to Dublin next month for Investicon, a boutique conference for amateur investors which takes place in the Market Bar on Fade Street on August 27th. Picking high growth stocksA trader at work at the New York Stock Exchange. 'You have to be willing to endure the one year in three that the stock market goes down globally,' says David Gardner. Photograph: Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty He’ll have a story to tell attendees. For some 30 years, Gardner picked stocks every month for Motley Fool subscribers, seeing himself as a champion of the underdog. These picks have returned 20.5 per cent annualised over 20 years – far above the stock market average of 9 per cent. But this has not been a risk-free return.“You have to be willing to endure the one year in three that the stock market goes down globally,” he advises.And his best pick?Amazon. He bought into the US ecommerce giant at a cost base of $0.16 (due to stock splits etc). It’s now priced at about $240. Another one was Nvidia, which he bought way back in 2005, also at a cost base of $0.16. You’d pay about $196 for this stock today, having previously peaked at about $235.“I learned a lot about patience from this one,” he says.He has since retired from professional stock picking – after doing it for so long, he didn’t want to keep spending so much of his personal time on it – but continues picking for his own portfolio. He also hosts a weekly podcast, Rule Breaker Investing. And he is still very much all about stocks. “I have generally studiously avoided crypto,” he says, adding “it’s very speculative”. He’s not against speculation, per se – “I’d encourage people to speculate a bit in life” – but says it’s better to speculate on stocks.If betting on horses or sports “is one of the worst decisions”, and on stocks is one of the best, because at least “the expected return is positive”, crypto, he says, lies somewhere in between.What of recent major IPOs such as that of SpaceX, Elon Musk’s multi-trillion-dollar business, which shattered trading volume records when it floated but has since had a volatile performance? Did he invest in it?“I did not,” he says, giving the reason that it floated at “such a gigantic size”.“I’m not opposed to SpaceX, but I like to find earlier-stage smaller companies,” he says, pointing to a similar, but smaller, company, Rocket Lab, which was founded by Peter Beck in New Zealand in 2006. Gardner invested in the company at $18 a share, and it has since grown to more than $100.Irish investors A billboard at the Nasdaq stock exchange in Manhattan, New York, promotes the initial public offering of SpaceX stock on June 12th, 2026. Photograph: Andres Kudacki/The New York Times So what does such an experienced investor think of the Government’s new plans to get Irish people investing through a tax-efficient investment vehicle, along the lines of Sweden’s ISK, or the UK’s ISA?“I’m a big fan of this idea,” he says, pointing to the billions of euro in household deposits in Ireland, which stood at some €170 billion most recently.“This habit of saving is such a wonderful strength of the Irish,” he says, adding that “saving is harder than investing”. After all, you have to get the money in the first place. He urges savers to use the new structure, which is expected to be announced come Budget 2027 day in October, to dip their toes into investing waters.“It’s not difficult to find a higher rate of return than 3 per cent,” he says – although many Irish savers are actually earning far less than this on overnight deposit.“Go with a tenth or a fifth of your savings, take an amount that you’re comfortable with, and get your feet wet by buying into funds or shares directly, things you can relate to.”Investment philosophyWall Street, home of the New York Stock Exchange: For David Gardner, the advantage of investing in stocks, as opposed to another type of investment, is that you become a part-owner in that particular company. Photograph: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Not taking a short-term approach, and tolerating a wobble due to market volatility, has played a major role in Gardner’s investing success. It’s about not responding with a knee-jerk reaction to fears about, for example, an AI bubble. “What I encourage a reader, or investor to do, is think longer-term than the very near-term headlines. My approach, which works very well, is that I just keep buying and adding [stocks],” he says, adding that a person should be looking at putting 5-10 per cent of their pay into the market each month.“I’ve ridden through every bad market,” he says.So how does he pick his winners?“Don’t own something you don’t believe in,” he says is key to his philosophy, and he practises what he preaches. “I want to own things that I believe in or feel connected to.” Like his father before him, he built up a stock portfolio for each of his own three children. Gardner waited until they were each 21 and finishing college before flying out to them and sitting them down for a “this is all you’re ever getting from me” chat.He gave each of them diversified accounts, with about 25 to 30 individual stocks, trying to ensure they had companies they knew and understood, such as Disney or Netflix.“A mistake would be to give them things they don’t understand, to invest in things they don’t feel connected to,” he says. “It’s what I encourage others to do. The amount of money is going to be different for every family – but it’s not the amount, it’s about the sense of ownership [from investing in stocks].”‘I fail all the time. I would say of the hundreds of stocks that I’ve picked, probably about four in 10 of them have underperformed the market average’— David Gardner, investorFor Gardner, the advantage of investing in stocks, as opposed to another type of investment, is that you become a part-owner in that particular company.“I’m a big fan of being an owner, of participating,” he says.But if you are very nervous about starting to invest, it’s okay to take your time about it.“I don’t think anyone should feel pressured or pushed into something they don’t feel comfortable with,” he says, adding that putting money into the market should be done in “measured steps”.“I’m a big fan of incremental actions and decisions,” he says.And it doesn’t have to be about concentrating your risk by investing in a number of stocks. “Index funds are fantastic,” he says. Such funds track major indices, such as the S&P 500 or Eurostoxx 50, and are also available as exchange-traded funds, and typically have low annual management charges. “You’re getting a little share of every stock on the market,” he says.Lose to winAs with any investor, it’s important to note that it hasn’t all gone in one direction for Gardner. Acknowledging that many in the sector can be reticent to disclose losses, it’s part of the idea behind Motley Fool to speak authentically. And Gardner admits to having had “many, many losers”.“I fail all the time,” he says. “I would say of the hundreds of stocks that I’ve picked, probably about four in 10 of them have underperformed the market average. So, you would have done better by just buying the index fund. And sometimes they lost half their value.” So, what has been a bad pick?“Peloton, the Covid darling.” The at-home exercise bike class stock peaked at more than $170 before plummeting to less than $6, amid a decline in users.But he doesn’t let such disasters get to him. “If the winners far exceed your losers, then you’re doing it right,” he says. It’s an approach to investing that has helped him to succeed. “This is my own orientation, it’s almost idiosyncratic – I’m willing to lose more than the average person,” he says, adding that while the most you can lose on your (ungeared) investment is 100 per cent, the potential gains are “infinite”.It’s something that doesn’t come naturally to most of us, however.“The pain of loss is three times the joy of gains. We fear with more fervour than we enjoy success.”David Gardner will be at the Investicon conference in Dublin in August; www.investicon.ie