I'm writing this from our corner rental unit in the heart of Edinburgh, Scotland, which the locals pronounce "Ed-In-Bruh." My 16-year-old daughter Josie is a massive Harry Potter fan and has dreamed of visiting the UK since she was a little girl. We finally decided to make her dream come true. Our ten-day trip began in London and will end in a few days when we leave Scotland. Some of the Potter things we've done: taking a private filming location tour in London, Oxford, and medieval Lacock...
about 4 hours ago • 4 min read
In the newsletter today I shared an incorrect screenshot of the total return of VTI vs FZROX since inception. I re-ran the comparison after a discussion on social media and I was in error. It appears FZROX underperformed VTI by almost 3%, which defeats the basis for my decision. Please disregard today’s main topic and my editor is looking for a new job. My sincerest apologies for any confusion this may have caused. ~Russ Unsubscribe · Preferences Copyright (C) *2025*DapperDividends*All rights...
7 days ago • 1 min read
I can't believe it. I'm actually going to be selling The Vanguard Total Stock Market Fund (VTI) this week. I know, I know. This is the same guy who has been preaching VTI as if it were the gospel of investing. The same fund that's making my wife look like a stock market genius when she started automatically investing $50 a week in December 2023 and has a 28.08% gain as of June 2025. The same VTI that I call the "easy button" for anyone who wants to own the entire US stock market without...
7 days ago • 4 min read
I decided to buy an exploratory position last week in the world's leading animal health company, Zoetis (ZTS), because of something that Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner once said. To paraphrase David, he said that if you have conviction in a stock, you should buy it, but in three blocks with the money you set aside for the purchase. If the stock price goes up after you buy, then you purchased the first block at a discount. But if the price goes down, then you can buy the next block...
14 days ago • 4 min read
UnitedHealth Group (UNH) has been absolutely everywhere in the news lately, and everyone's sharing their hot takes on whether this is a buying opportunity or a value trap, so I figured I'd throw my two cents into the ring. First, the timeline of events to date: April 17: UNH missed earnings for the first time since 2008 and slashed its guidance. The stock crashed 20% in a single day. May 13: CEO Andrew Witty suddenly resigned for "personal reasons," and the company also completely withdrew...
21 days ago • 5 min read
Famed investor Peter Lynch wrote about "buying what you know" and looking for stock ideas in products or services that you use. While I was in our shop this week, I noticed the green Waste Management wheelie bin, and then a can of Krylon spray paint caught my eye. I felt like Cole Sear in the Sixth Sense - "I see DIVIDENDS. All the time. They're EVERYWHERE!" To share with you my chilling experience, I snapped some actual pictures of real-life DIVIDENDS at work! Buckle up for five products and...
28 days ago • 4 min read
Charlie Munger once shared a simple tip at the 2012 Berkshire Annual Shareholder meeting: "The other thing that is helpful in reverse is to look at what other smart people are buying. That is not a crazy search method as a way to sort opportunities to consider." -Charlie Munger I love this approach! Finding stock ideas by watching what the pros do can be a great starting point, but they're just that - ideas. Without your own good reason for buying a stock, you won't develop conviction....
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
We just spent almost $10K booking flights, hotels, and experiences for our upcoming London and Scotland trip. And then there's the food, drink, transportation, and souvenirs we'll buy. My saver brain is melting: "That's a bathroom remodel! That's more stocks! That's... that's..." Our net worth just took a five-figure direct hit, but check this out: "If all you succeed in doing in life is getting rich by buying little pieces of paper, it's a failed life. Life is more than being shrewd in...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
I heard something exciting on the Motley Fool Money podcast (also shared below and starts at 19:45) by financial planner and market commentator Malcolm Etheridge that I want to share with you. Malcolm doesn't own Alphabet/Google (GOOG) stock. Why? Google is basically an advertising company in tech clothing. I checked their latest earnings report, and wow - 74% of their revenue comes from ads. That's $66.9 billion out of $90.2 billion in Q1 2025! Alphabet Q125 Think about what happens in a...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
One of my great God-given talents is comparing investing to almost anything. So, I was cleaning my cat's litter-box, and it hit me... Investment portfolios are a lot like a cat's digestive system! My cat Louie eats food, gets nutrients from it, and removes what his body doesn't need. That's exactly what we should do with our investments! We "eat" stocks by buying them, "digest" them by holding them and maybe getting dividends, and sometimes, we need to "expel" the ones that aren't helping us...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read