Wednesday Reads: Freedom Day… ?

A round up of interesting or cool stuff I’ve read.

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Image by ktphotography from Pixabay

 

Freedom Day… ?

This is a bit of a covid ramble, so if you’re not interested in that, feel free to jump down to the usual excellent links below.

It’s interesting to see that the coverage of the dropping of most remaining covid restrictions is generally pretty cautious online:

• England’s ‘freedom day’ marked by public restraint – Financial Times
• We asked Covid experts how to stay safe after Freedom Day – Wired
• Johnson’s Covid Gamble – CNN

I haven’t gone massively out of my way to see what the newspapers were reporting on the day, but going by the BBC, it looks like they were generally focusing on the potential of vaccine passports being necessary for nightclubs and concerts

Anecdotally, based on my own observations and talking to friends, the majority still appear to be wearing masks. I imagine that will slowly decline though.

Fortunately, we have our second jab coming up. That will be a relief to have some protection, but we’ll still continue to mask up, maintain some distance where possible, and avoid large indoor crowds for the next few weeks at least.

My biggest worry about this explosion of new cases in the UK is the emergence of a new, vaccine-resistant strain:

• England’s Covid unlocking is threat to world, say 1,200 scientists – Guardian

I think that, had we pushed back the various opening up dates by 4-6 weeks so everyone who wanted to be fully vaccinated could be, we could have avoided this third wave. As it is now, I wouldn’t be surprised to see us lockdown again in the autumn/winter.

We don’t appear to be out of the woods yet!

 

Interesting links that caught my eye this week:

We Are All Investors Now – Of Dollars and Data
An interesting look at the history of investing. I especially liked this comment about the first ever investment:
“The act of sacrificing food today in order to have food tomorrow is the simplest (and oldest) form of investment we know. Unfortunately, these investments only lasted a few weeks to a few months at best.”

3 Ways To Use The Wealth Effect To Grow Wealth – Aussie Doc Freedom
“When housing values increase, we spend more and the savings ratio decreases. During economic downturns, with falling house values (and fear) such as during the GFC or COVID 19, national savings ratios increase.”

Teach Your Kids The Value Of Money – Maya on Money
Maya uses a squirrel analogy to teach her children about money, which I thought was a great way to get them thinking about the subject.

Section 75 Explained – Monevator
A useful primer on the protections offered when you make a purchase on your credit card rather than your debit card.

5 Personal Finance Mantras You Should Ignore – The Twenty Percent
“Life is all about balance. Enjoy everything in moderation. Don’t deprive yourself of things you know you’ll enjoy in the name of hustling.”

The Practicality of Money – Mr Stingy
“Too much is focused on the negative “Don’t do this, don’t buy that” aspects of money. Let’s flip the narrative. Personal finance should be fun. Positive. If there’s just one thing that interests you about money today, don’t stress the ten other angles that bore you. Explore the topic you like first, and build from there. If you haven’t found that yet, keep exploring. There are so many angles to personal finance, so many different sources of content, and so many interesting personalities to follow nowadays. You’re bound to discover something you like.”

The Bank Robbers Who Couldn’t Shoot Straight (Or Do Anything Right, Really) – Narratively
Hat tip, Apex Money. This is a funny story of a pair of US bank robbers who tried the same tactics in Newcastle, UK. Needless to say, it didn’t go well…

 

Thanks for reading. Hope you’re all having a great week!