Why, hello there little Apexians. How are my favorite money nerds today? To finish the week, Jim and I have once again collected some of our favorite money stories to share with you. Enjoy!
Don’t quit your job before asking yourself these questions. [Harvard Business Review] — “Is it time to quit my job? This is a question we’ve all asked ourselves at one point or another. Most people wait until they feel they must leave their job or organization, and that puts them at a disadvantage. They might end up choosing an ‘exit job’ rather than the right next career step. Don’t let this happen to you.”
Why did the U.S. give up on mass transit? [Citylab] — “One hundred years ago, the United States had a public transportation system that was the envy of the world. Today, outside a few major urban centers, it is barely on life support…While a decline in transit use in the face of fierce competition from the private automobile throughout the 20th century was inevitable, near-total collapse was not.”
The biggest wastes of time we regret as we get older. [Kristin Wong at Lifehacker] — “We spend a lot of energy looking for shortcuts to save time, and sure, those shortcuts add up. But when I look back, my biggest time regrets aren’t spending too much time on Twitter or mismanaging my daily tasks. Those are bad habits, but there are bigger, more systematic time wasters that have really gotten in the way.”
This last news item has nothing to do with money but it has a lot to do with wasting time. And if you’re old like I am, it might be useful to keep you up to date on pop culture.
Are you on TikTok? [Quartz Obsession] — “You might be baffled by the rise of TikTok. It’s a short-form mobile platform where users can create 15-second video clips set to music. That humble function belies its massive popularity. One of the most popular apps of all time, TikTok has been downloaded an estimated 1.3 billion times. But, unless you have a pre-teen or adolescent in your life, you may have missed the memo.” [Related: What happens when TikTok fame fades?]
A friend urged me to download TikTok a couple of weeks ago. I’ve browsed through it a couple of times but I have to be honest: I don’t get it. Like Twitter, it seems mostly pointless. It’s difficult to convey complexity and nuance in 140 characters; it’s similarly difficult to do anything meaningful with 15 seconds of video. And most of what I’ve ssen on TikTok is, well, dumb. But hey: I’m old!
To wrap things up, here’s a curious little video from Now I Know. Today is February 28th, as I’m sure you know. And because this is a leap year, tomorrow is February 29th. There is not February 30th…unless you lived in Sweden in 1712.
On a related note (also from Now I Know), North Korea has its own numbering system for years.
That’s it from us at Apex. You all go out and have a great weekend. We’ll see you in March!