This podcast was recorded on Aug. 17, 2016.
David Gardner: And my final quote this month, this one's going to come from me. I realize I don't really merit true status, great quote, but this is one of my favorite things that I've written in the last few years. It's going to end with my one-liner, but I'm just going to share with you this short essay to close this week, and it will close with my great quote, and then we're done, and I'll see you next week.
But before I get started, I should mention this does kind of fit with Nell talking to graduates, because this has me talking to our summer interns. Here I go. This was written, in fact, three summers ago, but it works just as well today.
"Every summer we have about a dozen interns at Fool HQ: some techies, some business, some investors. I get to spend time with all of them, but particularly with our investor interns, and I always feel like I have to say something wise in my talks. In As to their Qs. Something they'll take away and think about long past the dog days of a D.C. summer.
"I suppose I won't find out if I've succeeded until years later, should one or another of them email me and say, 'David, this is what I remember you said that summer. This is what I learned.' Of course, knowing my own memory, I won't remember what I said, and I'll simply have to take them at their word. But I did have one of those moments this summer when right after I said it, I thought maybe that's the kind of thing these newly minted Fools will take away, and indeed, I hope so."
It felt quotable. It felt like something I should share with you.
Now, Mahatma Gandhi once famously did not say, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." A five-star sentiment constantly misattributed to the man. He never actually said those words. But I appreciate them just the same, so when asked by one of our interns this summer which of the many stocks in Stock Advisor he should invest in -- so many to choose from, presuming one can't buy them all -- I said, "Make your portfolio reflect your best vision for our future."
And I really do believe that. People have developed, over time, so many complex models. Cockamamie schemes. Computer-driven approaches to buying and selling stocks, many of them with no inherent relationship to the underlying businesses themselves. I therefore find it necessary -- and, I hope, helpful -- to remind my fellow fools of all ages, backgrounds, and levels of sophistication that what we're doing as investors is simple and profound. You are, if you're truly investing, taking part ownership in the companies who share your buying. Your portfolio should reflect you. It definitely reflects on you.
