A number of years ago, there was a movie called Enemy of the State staring Gene Hackman and Wil Smith and others. The premise of the movie was the Director of one of the Intelligence Services was trying to cover up a crime and the Wil Smith character accidentally was involved. The character raced around trying to go back to his normal life while the Intelligence Service was using all the tools of the US government to track him and do something to him. The Gene Hackman character used to design all the tools for the intelligence service, something happened and now was trying to live off the grid. Recently in one of the newspapers was a story about the latest thing to be soon in every new car. At one time the car was freedom to go anywhere because no one knew where you were going. Then GPS was put in the cars, you may remember GM’s commercials about OnStar, soon all new cars came equipped, similar to many cellphones which have GPS in them, which means someone can find out where you are, although 99.999% no one is concerned. The latest software to come was designed to see if you are a good driver or not. All of us who drive, believe we are at worst a good driver, some of us believe we are better than good. The latest software will detect how you turn corners, hit the brakes, or tailgate more than normal. If you are guilty of these and other infractions your insurance bill will go up. The software will be in car, the software is designed for the insurance companies to follow your habits and determine if they are good or bad.

Linking to dividend paying companies, while the software company is not public, the ones that are process the data are. At the moment there is little to invest in but your insurance company should be a user. Most of the time, no one is interested in your habits but something that is habit forming is receiving a dividend from a company you have invested in. The money either flows to your brokerage account or bank account and the folks that process the money are interested to ensure you receive the correct amount.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions