I don’t know how many of you pay attention to the stock market, but I do.  For nearly 30 years, I have been an aggressive, self-directed investor of my own funds, including money inside my employers’ 401(k) accounts, and mutual funds in my taxable account.  I also have a “play money” Roth IRA account at a discount broker, where I keep my holdings in individual stocks.  This account started with $745 that I rolled over from a 401(k) at a summer job, and I have been adding to it occasionally over the years.  I can’t add any more funds, since for the past few years our household income has exceeded the upper limits that the government established for contributing to tax-deferred accounts (that ends with this year, as both Hubby and I lost our jobs and will have little to no earned income going forward).  The amount in that play money account is now over $51,000, and I am having a ball.

It turns out that I’m a fairly decent stock picker, and I normally only buy dividend-paying stocks so my money will grow with re-invested dividends.  However, on a whim, just a few weeks ago I bought some shares in a newly-public tech company which I have been following with interest.  The company is Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ, PLTR), which is a data-analysis company whose customers are businesses with lots of data to corral and analyze.  They went public a short while ago, and my shares have already increased in value.  Of course, they do not pay dividends, and I don’t know when or whether they will.  They have been around for years (since 2006) as a private company, and the author of the article I will link to below, thinks they have a unique value proposition, a wide moat, and a bright future.  The article appears on Web Site, Seeking Alpha, and I recommend my followers go over there and read it.  It is an excellent overview of a very interesting company.

Palantir Technologies: An In-depth Look at Whether it has a Sustainable, Competitive Advantage

I’d be interested in hearing whether my readers approve.  Comment, please!