I'm not a math guy.

I became a journalist in no small part because all of the other degrees at my college required scary-sounding courses such as multivariable calculus or linear algebra or Fourier Analysis and Partial Differential Equations. The school of communications was willing to award me a degree for successfully completing Math for Mutants.

I'm also not really a finance guy. The Fool hired me to be the managing editor of its newsletters to ensure that the finance guys got their stories across in a way you'd want to read.

As for my investing history, I loaded up on Ballard Power (NASDAQ:BLDP) years ago because I was a believer in alternative energy, not because it had a strong balance sheet or particularly inspiring management. The company now accounts for a much smaller portion of my portfolio, in part because I've bought many other stocks, but also because its shares have plummeted since my initial purchase. In hindsight, I would have been better off investing in companies like General Electric (NYSE:GE) and DuPont (NYSE:DD), diversified conglomerates with a history of innovation that made fuel cells and alternative energy only part of overall R&D efforts.

In the Fool-wide stock-picking game, I went with Fannie Mae in the belief that things couldn't get any worse for the mortgage lender. Yeah, that was right before things got worse for Fannie -- and worse and worse.

Investing schizophrenia
To be honest, I'm not even sure what kind of investor I am. On Monday, I'm solidly behind the idea of investing in companies that pay dividends, reinvesting, and enjoying fairly reliable long-term returns. By Tuesday afternoon, I'm a convert to the small-cap crusade and am searching for the next USANA Health Sciences (NASDAQ:USNA), the little vitamin company that's up 5,000% since the beginning of 2002. With all of the talk about aging baby boomers, I should have known that being healthy was the next big thing. Value fever hits me on Wednesday and I'm scouring 52-week low lists for companies I think can come back. (I must've picked Fannie Mae on a Wednesday.) Thursday, I'm worn out and ready to give my money to a low-cost index-tracking ETF like SPDR (AMEX:SPY) and save myself the stress of stock-picking. By week's end, I'm confused, to say the least.

I tell people that my scattered approach is an intentional effort at diversified asset allocation, but that's pretty much a crock. It's investing schizophrenia.

Let growth stocks grow your portfolio
The smart people here assure me there's nothing taboo about this lack of stylistic focus, and it's not like I'd be able to pick a single approach even if they told me I had to. Not every investor meshes perfectly with an investing approach. No biggie.

But for some, the match is obvious. My daughter, Leah, is much more single-minded in her approach to stock-picking -- she's a Rule Breakers girl, through and through. The oversimplified idea behind Motley Fool Rule Breakers is to examine companies that might not be a Big Deal yet, but could very well be someday. The newsletter service -- led by Fool co-founder David Gardner, the always-enthusiastic borderline zealot who sits two desks back over my left shoulder -- tries to identify companies with competent management, sound balance sheets, and above all, great ideas. Not just great ideas, but ideas that have the potential to fundamentally move markets. These picks don't always make sense to the masses, but a few years ago, electronic trading platforms seemed like candidates for fraud and disaster. While David struck out with eSpeed's (NASDAQ:ESPD) electronic market platform when its patent was invalidated, he hit it big with Archipelago Holdings (NYSE:AX) -- the electronic exchange that's being acquired by the New York Stock Exchange (see you next month, NYX!) and earning Rule Breakers subscribers 170% returns to boot.

Like many of the picks from David and his team, eSpeed and Archipelago took a different approach to an existing situation -- in this case, trading electronically instead of relying on a bunch of screaming maniacs in a pit. And while eSpeed didn't win the market's market share, David's vision of the stock market of the future came to fruition with Archipelago.

Of course, not all of the picks are going to prove David's visionary qualities that quickly -- and yes, I think it's safe to call someone a visionary if they invested in Electronic Arts, AOL, Dell, etc., etc., before those companies were the industry stalwarts they are today. (And no, he's not looking over my shoulder right now.) Some of the industry rebels on the Rule Breakers scorecard might take years to grow into industry leaders, but they could make loads of money for the people who had the foresight to invest in them today.

That's just fine for Leah. She's about 750 months from retirement.

Waiting for her chip to come in
Leah is already pretty interested in the potential of nanotechnology, and as a 26-month-old, she can afford to wait for the day when the advances scientists are making in the labs of nanotechnology companies move from the theoretical to the real and reach the market. But with nanotech companies popping up almost daily with bold promises to revolutionize the future, Leah's not sure which ones are worthy of her investment allowance.

For her and her like-minded investors, Rule Breakers devotes two analysts to the nanotech world for subscribers. They're examining what all the nano players -- public and private -- are working on, and how far along they are in the process. When one of these companies figures out how to make computers spring to life instantly or create an elevator that allows us to inexpensively and safely ferry people to and from the upper reaches of space, we'll be able to capitalize on the riches that are certain to accompany these advances.

Leah is also bullish on biotechnology, but her preschool isn't yet teaching the unit on RNA and DNA. And even in her top-notch school district, it's doubtful she'd be able to make much sense of these companies, which are in most cases simply a blend of science and optimism. The Rule Breakers biotech analyst has a master's degree in pharmacology and physiology, so he actually understands the science that's going on in all those beakers and test tubes, and he can make sense of it from an investing perspective. He put my daughter onto Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Vertex develops something called small-molecule drugs to treat a number of diseases, including HIV, hepatitis C, and cancer. The company has a stacked pipeline, and it has the management and the cash to get its pipeline to market. (My daughter doesn't exactly understand the science, but I'm fairly certain she grasps the bigger concepts. She's very advanced for a toddler.)

Vertex already has a couple of drugs on the market that are doing well, and the company's shares are up more than 160% since it was recommended in February (and Leah bought a couple of weeks later, so she got most of that bump). But more importantly, the company's pipeline could mean a much bigger pile of money down the road. Just think about it: If Leah is an investor now in a company that is somehow able to figure out the puzzle of cancer and develop a cure, the rewards would be nearly incomprehensible. I understand it's possibly irresponsibly optimistic of me to even think that way, but remember that Leah has a decade or two to wait for this to come to fruition. The cures for many diseases are out there, waiting to be discovered, and Vertex seems well-positioned to bring them to the public.

Big returns require big ideas
The risk is that Vertex won't be the big winner -- it could bomb -- and that's a real risk with any Rule Breaker. Leah agonized over for that for days; she didn't want to become a burden on her retired parents down the road because of a few failed investments. But my colleague John Reeves made a great point in a recent commentary that really grabbed Leah's attention. He took us back to the summer of 1992 and gave us a $100,000 inheritance and had us invest equally in four companies, including Starbucks. Even if the other three companies went under in the first year of operation, John pointed out, that initial $100,000 investment would now be worth just north of $1 million. We're looking at a 916% overall return with a .250 batting average.

Granted, Starbucks is a pretty nice example, but it's exactly the type of disruptive, market-changing company that David and his team are scouting and recommending over at Rule Breakers. Full disclosure: This is the sales pitch portion of the program. But I only suggest you take a free, no-obligation 30-day trial because it makes sense. I believe in Rule Breakers and all the other Motley Fool publications -- I wouldn't work here if I didn't -- and I believe a subscription will make you a better investor. For a limited time, if you do subscribe, you'll get a free copy of Stocks 2006: The Investor's Guide to the Year Ahead. I completely believe both will make you money. Click here to learn more.

Leah's already doing well on her Rule Breakers investments -- she's itching to buy a new tricycle, but I'm committed to teaching her the logic of a buy-and-hold approach -- but the best is still down the road. And you don't have to be a math or finance genius to figure that one out.

This article was originally published on June 15, 2005. It has been updated.

Roger Friedman is the managing editor of newsletters and the author of Nipple Confusion, Uncoordinated Pooping and Spittle: The Life of a Newborn's Father . He (and his daughter) own shares of Ballard and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Fannie Mae is a Motley Fool Inside Value recommendation. Dell, Electronic Arts, and AOL (a division of Time Warner) are Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendations. The Motley Fool isinvestors writing for investors.