Paul Essen

Founder: Rampant Discourse and Paul vs the Market. Author: Penny Invests ( Geek. Gamer. Libertarian. Husband. Father. $pessen

[Paul Essen @paul_essen]

I wrote a book!

Ok, so it's a children's picture book, but still...

I wrote a book!

I hope you'll check it out. It's a lighthearted story about a little girl learning what it means to invest. My small attempt to improve financial literacy.
#PennyInvests
https://t.co/8UdpZzyyiW

[Paul Essen @paul_essen]

@MoneyShark_ I think my current underperformance is a temporary thing due to some frothiness around AI (and related pessimism with some older growth names) but I'm not certain that's the case at all so I make sure to invest in index funds just in case.

Thanks for the question!

[Paul Essen @paul_essen]

End of May 2026 top positions by percentage of portfolio:

$MELI 20%
$TSLA 16%
$SE 15%
$NU 13%
$SHOP 12%
$AXON 11%
$IREN 7%
$XYZ 3%
$CELH 2%
$TTD 2%
$NVCR 1%

2026 Returns: -16%
Returns since inception (Oct 2018): 126%

[Paul Essen @paul_essen]

@MoneyShark_ Because I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to beat the market long term. Right now, it's looking like I'm not.

But there have also been long periods over the last 8 years where my portfolio has been beating the market and often by a significant amount.

[Paul Essen @paul_essen]

I used the proceeds to add to my $MELI and $NU positions. I still think there's a ton of growth in front of both companies and the valuations are reasonable. A 20% position size is pretty big for me, but I'm comfortable with it for now.

[Paul Essen @paul_essen]

I sold my $SNOW position after the big jump a few days ago. I had been looking to sell some lower conviction positions to add to some higher conviction ones that were down so the 30%+ jump was just what I was looking for. I was getting uncomfortable with the valuation.

[Paul Essen @paul_essen]

This makes GLP-1s sound a little bit like "Pax" from the movie Serenity. That didn't end well.

[Overlap: Business & Tech @Overlap_Tech]

Sam Altman Overdosed on GLP-1s⁣
⁣
"Taking enough of it makes you have not a desire for anything else. Few days laying in a hospital bed staring at a white ceiling thinking nothing, not wanting anything." — @sama

[Paul Essen @paul_essen]

@FromValue For my portfolio which I started tracking in 2018...

Biggest winner:
$TSLA 664%

Biggest loser (still held):
$NVCR -64%

[Paul Essen @paul_essen]

End of April 2026 top positions by percentage of portfolio:

$MELI 18%
$SE 15%
$NU 15%
$TSLA 15%
$SHOP 12%
$AXON 10%
$IREN 5%
$XYZ 2%
$SNOW 2%
$TTD 2%
$CELH 2%
$NVCR 1%

2026 Returns: -20%
Returns since inception (Oct 2018): 115%

[Paul Essen @paul_essen]

@NoahDansby Because I'm either not familiar enough with the company or don't see the upside. I've got limited free time so I try to limit my portfolio to the number of companies I think I have time to adequately research.

[Paul Essen @paul_essen]

End of March 2026 top positions by percentage of portfolio:

$MELI 18%
$NU 15%
$SE 15%
$TSLA 15%
$SHOP 13%
$AXON 11%
$IREN 4%
$SNOW 2%
$XYZ 2%
$CELH 2%
$TTD 2%
$NVCR 1%

2026 Returns: -23%
Returns since inception (Oct 2018): 108%

[Paul Essen @paul_essen]

@smsutherland I really like the potential of Latin America and Southeast Asia!

[Paul Essen @paul_essen]

@oreoyan I find it helps to not be following my portfolio too obsessively. I used to track things every day and it got to be overwhelming. Now I check in a lot less frequently and it's a lot easier to be chill about losers and enjoy the winners.

[Paul Essen @paul_essen]

@oreoyan I own index funds as well. Roughly half of my retirement money is in index funds. The rest I try to manage myself to beat the market. I enjoy learning about companies and researching them so it's not a headache, but obviously I wish that research led to better results.

[Paul Essen @paul_essen]

@x5_PiG Thanks for all that you do to support the SC2 community!

I'm curious if you have any data on the geographic breakdown of your viewers. Are most American? European? Australian?

[Paul Essen @paul_essen]

No surprise, it's been a rough past couple of weeks for a bunch of my investments. A lot of seemingly pretty strong earnings reports were followed by big sell-offs. Really tempted to add to $MELI and $NU despite them already being big positions.

[Paul Essen @paul_essen]

End of February 2026 top positions by percentage of portfolio:

$SE 17%
$MELI 16%
$TSLA 14%
$NU 14%
$AXON 12%
$SHOP 11%
$IREN 4%
$CELH 3%
$SNOW 2%
$XYZ 2%
$TTD 2%
$NVCR 1%

2026 Returns: -13%
Returns since inception (Oct 2018): 135%

[Paul Essen @paul_essen]

@x5_PiG Looks pretty well balanced to me. Maybe group B is the toughest with Serral having the least challenging group?

[Paul Essen @paul_essen]

I was beginning to think I would never see positive news for $NVCR again. It'll be interesting to see how this impacts the business in the coming years.

[Novocure @Novocure]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Novocure’s treatment for adult patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer concurrently with gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel.

https://t.co/bo8nPXHSwB