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Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

Scott Phillips is The Motley Fool’s Chief Investment Officer in Australia. He is Advisor of The Fool’s flagship investment service, Motley Fool Share Advisor and the Portfolio Manager of Motley Fool Everlasting Income and Premier Portfolio, as well as running our most premium service, Motley Fool Platinum. He is passionate about investing, having managed his own portfolio for over 15 years. A dyed-in-the-wool Fool (in the best way), he has been a member of The Motley Fool since 1999. Scott holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Management) and a Graduate Diploma of Accounting. Before joining The Fool, Scott worked in various Sales and Finance roles in industry, which has allowed him to see the good, bad and the ugly of corporate management close-up. Giving him a great understanding of the way businesses run – and what separates the business wheat from the chaff – Scott wholeheartedly agrees with Warren Buffett when he said he was a ‘better investor because I am a businessman and a better businessman because I am an investor’. Scott left a successful career to follow his passion – helping our members achieve the best possible investment returns, and helping Australians learn to better manage their money. It’s no surprise he ended up at The Motley Fool.

Recent Articles

A man watches the share price movement closely.
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Are you ready for 2024?

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

No-one knows, me included, what’ll happen during one arbitrary trip around the sun.

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A fortune teller looks into a crystal ball in an office surrounded by business people.
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Are you ready for the silly season?

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

It’s that time of year again.

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legendary investor Charlie Munger
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Vale, Charlie Munger

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

The most iconic investment partnership in history has been broken.

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Focused man entrepreneur with glasses working, looking at laptop screen thinking about something intently while sitting in the office.
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The worst way to think about share price performance

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

Don't get caught up in looking at the wrong things.

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A woman screams and holds her hands up in frustration.
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Public policy vs. public outrage

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

Let’s go back a step.

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a woman puts her fingers in her ears with a pained expression on her face with her eyes closed as though trying to block hearing bad news or an unpleasant loud noise.
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Some of you don't want to hear this…

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

I don’t know of any way of investing without the risk of the occasional loss.

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A happy elderly couple enjoy a cuppa outdoors as the woman looks through binoculars.
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Stop paying the 'lazy tax'

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

Your bank is not a charity!

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Remembrance day poppy.
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We will remember them

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

We pause on Remembrance Day to honour and give thanks to those who, in their country’s name, made the supreme…

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A young woman sits with her hand to her chin staring off to the side thinking about her investments.
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Two ways to invest in a downturn

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

What is an investor to do?

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A woman looks questioning as she puts a coin into a piggy bank.
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Why aren't you investing (more)?

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

Just, as the Nike ad says, do it.

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family putting coins into piggy bank
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Gamble responsibly

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

The one investing data point I'd put above all others

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Man looking at his grocery receipt, symbolising inflation.
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Inflation is running hot. Now what?

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

A little prudence is called for. A little old-fashioned financial discipline. 

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A concerned man looking at his laptop.
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Another day, another thing to worry about

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

If we invested only in companies that could never, under any circumstances, have any risks… well, we’d never invest.

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A little girl wearing a gold crown sulks and pokes her tongue out.
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Shakespeare's advice for investors

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

Many people are wondering whether or not to invest right now...

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stadium signifying brisbane broncos share price
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Why Grand Finals are a terrible investing analogy

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

Go the Chooks in 2024! Too early? Never!

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Diverse group of people enjoying a win
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Think the good times have gone? Think again…

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

It could be they're just warming up.

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A male investor sits at his desk looking at his laptop screen holding his hand to his chin pondering whether to buy Macquarie shares
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How I learned to love low share prices

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

I raise it to remind you of how you should think about share prices.

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A couple sits in their lounge room with a large piggy bank on the coffee table. They smile while the male partner feeds some money into the slot while the female partner looks on with an iPad style device in her hands as though they are budgeting.
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You really should invest. Now.

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

By the time people get motivated to invest, it’ll probably be at the height of FOMO fever.

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A man sits at a desk holding a small replica house in his hand, upset at the sale of his property.
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The swiftest solution for housing affordability

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

There are three major buckets, here.

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a woman explaining information to an elderly couple about finance
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Making money… the old-fashioned way

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

I can’t stress enough how important I think it is to find quality people with old-fashioned values.

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A young woman sits at her desk in deep contemplation with her hand to her chin while seriously considering information she is reading on her laptop.
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How to choose a Super Fund

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

When it came to our default fund here at The Motley Fool, we had to answer this question.

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A man analyses stockmarket graph on his computer.
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Mr. Market vs. The Economist

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

Most of the time the market is telling you about its mood... not its ability to correctly price companies.

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A man holds his head in his hands after seeing bad news on his laptop screen.
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The worst reason not to invest

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

No, Bradman didn’t score a century every time he went out to bat.

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man using laptop happy at rising share price
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Happy Vanguard Index Chart Day

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

Happy Vanguard Index Chart Day, to all who celebrate.

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An excited man stretches his arms out above his head as he reaches a mountain peak.
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Guess which company just hit an all-time high?

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

I’ve been recommending shares in the company to my members and readers for yonks!

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A group of older women and men cheers their wine glasses ecstatically, even though they're in lockdown.
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Is your portfolio ageing like a fine wine?

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

Giving good wine some time to mature is a smart strategy.

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a man wearing a business suit has a wide-eyed surprised expression on his face with a powerboard in one hand and a power plug in the other and yards of power chord wrapped many times over around his neck and body.
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No degrees of difficulty in investing

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

See, unlike in Olympic diving, there’s no extra points for degree of difficulty when you invest.

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A man sits in deep thought with a pen held to his lips as he ponders his computer screen with a laptop open next to him on his desk in a home office environment.
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Don't let cheap brokerage cost you money

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

What’s not to like about cheap brokerage?

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Uluru at sunrise under a majestic sky.
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The beauty of long-term investing (and the outback)

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

It's easy to get away from it all when you invest for the long term.

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A male investor sits at his desk pondering at his laptop screen with a piece of paper in his hand.
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Are you getting value for what you're paying?

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

There are some financial planners who seem to view their clients as meal tickets.

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A man in a business suit wearing boxing gloves slumps in the corner of a boxing ring representing the beaten-up Zip share price in recent times
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Mike Tyson on investing

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

Mike Tyson more than anyone, understands ‘no pain, no gain’.

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A surprised and curious male investor drinks black coffee while reading the latest news on rising ASX shares in the newspaper
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Investors 1: 'Permabear' forecasters 0

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

When the ASX stock market gets volatile and the permabears come out, choose very carefully who you listen to.

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The Australian Coat of Arms flanked by a kangaroo and an emu features as a fresco on a building with the backdrop of a blue sky.
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My budget verdict

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

I’m glad you asked.

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Graphic depicting Australian economic activity.
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Do we dare hope, when it comes to the budget?

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

What are we to expect tonight?

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A young investor working on his ASX shares portfolio on his laptop.
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Buffers, bank blow-ups, and Buffett

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

Yeah, it’s been one of those weeks!

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Percentage symbol in white with a black rising arrow.
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Buffett, rates and cigarettes

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

The government is stimulating the economy while the RBA is trying to cool it.

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A male investor wearing a white shirt and blue suit jacket sits at his desk looking at his laptop with his hands to his chin, waiting in anticipation.
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Another ASX company to disappear

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

I don’t love the idea of the ASX losing yet another consumer branded business to an overseas buyer.

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Remembrance day poppy.
Community Service Announcement

Lest We Forget

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

We will remember them.

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A female sharemarket analyst with red hair and wearing glasses looks at her computer screen watching share price movements.
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Just when you thought it was safe to stop day-trading

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

There’s a new index to compete for our attention.

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A young woman sits at her desk in deep contemplation with her hand to her chin while seriously considering information she is reading on her laptop.
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What investors can learn from the RBA's mistakes

| Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

Successful investors, I would argue, focus not on the past, but the future.

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