Categories
Wednesday Reads

Wednesday Reads: Just the Links

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

Image by jplenio from Pixabay

 

Interesting links that caught my eye this week:

 

 

  • But wait there’s less – The real cost of owning a car
    I know I’ve saved a lot of money over the years not owning a car. Having said that, unless you live in London, the freedom and ease of movement offered by a car is difficult to beat. I don’t think we’ll be buying one anytime soon, but now that the country is starting to open up again, we might try renting every so often.

 

  • A Wealth of Common Sense – Life is Too Short to Save Everything
    We can sometimes get too wrapped up with our saving rate, trying to cut away as many expenses as possible. But it’s also important to make sure that you enjoy some of that money whilst you can.
    “Enjoy some of your money now. And if you can’t bring yourself to spend your own savings as you age, then enjoy your money with loved ones. Spend it on trips with family or friends. Give it away to family members. Donate money to charity.”

 

 

 

 

  • Not Boring – The Great Online Game
    Cool idea to start thinking about entrepreneurship, networking, etc as a real-life game.

 

  • The New Yorker – The Running Novelist
    I first saw this on David Sawyer’s newsletter, Zude’s Top 4. Murakami explains how he became a novelist. I’ve read a couple of his books, but didn’t know much about him. I didn’t realise he owned a jazz café beforehand, and only became an author after unexpectedly winning a new writer’s contest. It’s full of interesting anecdotes, but this one in particular stood out to me:
    “Once, I interviewed the Olympic runner Toshihiko Seko, just after he had retired from running. I asked him, “Does a runner at your level ever feel like you’d rather not run today?” He stared at me and then, in a voice that made it abundantly clear how stupid he thought the question was, replied, “Of course. All the time!””

 

  • Principles Personal Finance – Is Happiness Relative?
    “While winning the lottery can make new pleasures available, it may also make old pleasures seem less enjoyable. New pleasures are offset by the compensatory loss of old ones. This then combines with habituation where once someone gets accustomed to a way of life, the pleasure it once brought tends to fade.”

 

  • Vox – Why getting vaccinated for Covid-19 is more popular in the UK than in the US
    Fascinating article looking at the differences between the UK and US vaccine uptake. One thing I found particularly amusing was the idea of vaccine nationalism – the article suggests that the right wing press in the UK is quite happy to encourage vaccine uptake if it will stick it to the EU! Not sure how true that is. But very funny nonetheless.

 

  • Sign up to Trading212 via this link and we both receive a free share.

 

  • Incognito Money Scribe – 5 Real Reasons You Won’t Reach Financial Independence
    “This isn’t an argument for discounting personal responsibility. In fact, it’s the opposite. The reasons listed above are ever more reason to take responsibility for the things you can control, such as building an emergency fund, avoiding debt, saving and investing as soon as your financial circumstances allow.”

 

  • Guardian – Most people in UK did not work from home in 2020, says ONS
    This surprised me. I know that there are plenty of jobs that cannot be carried out from home, but I didn’t realise that the number that worked from home was only around 25% for the country. A reminder that I’ve had it relatively easy and been living in a bubble for the past year!

 

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

2 replies on “Wednesday Reads: Just the Links”

Leave a Reply