Hey, friends. Good to see you. Welcome to Thursday and another installment of Apex Money.
Today’s a big day in my life. At last, after eighteen months of fol-de-rol, I’m taking my cousin’s ancient coins in to sell. He left these to me when he died, but they’ve been sitting in my garage for more than a year. At last, I think I’ll be able to get them out of my life (in exchange for a nice chunk of change). So, that’s fun.
What else is fun? Why, these stories about money, of course!
I’m an insurance adjuster and I’m going to total your car. [The Autopian] — “I’ve reviewed over a thousand cars in a short time and only two of those were deemed ‘repairable’, which meant that the damage was way too light to meet the value. The rest were deemed a total loss. You might think that being repaired was still preferable. But consider that a vehicle can be in the shop for months waiting on parts that are backordered or in short supply, especially after the pandemic supply chain issues.”
If you want to live a life rich in meaning, first you must learn how to do nothing. [The Guardian] — “The question of how to use our time, and indeed our lives, manifests itself in different ways. How do we live a life that is rich in meaning, connection and joy? For some of us this question causes great angst, negatively impacting the way we show up in the world. For others it materialises in quiet doubts that can appear during periods of transition or self-questioning, such as when we’re between jobs, upon retirement or when considering whether to start a family.”
Why commuting by foot is good for mental health. [InsideHook] — “A person with a one-hour commute to work has to earn 40% more money to be as satisfied as someone who walks. At the same time, shifting from a long commute to a short walk would make a single person as happy as if he or she had found a new love.” I will never stop beating this drum: Creating a walkable world for yourself is one of the best things you can do for your physical and mental health. And for your pocketbook.
Anger is driving the U.S. economy. [Bloomberg] — “At a moment when America should be celebrating an economy that has outperformed both expectations and its international competition, people are gloomy and anxious. Like a dysfunctional family, we are heading into the holiday season overflowing not with joy but with resentment.”
Lastly, here’s an eight-minute video from our buddy, Rob Berger, in which he touts his three favorite books about money.
Rob is a smart guy. I enjoy picking his brain and hearing his thoughts on money — and life. And his YouTube channel is one of the only financial channels I still watch.
Okay, that’s it for today. I’ll be back tomorrow to take you into the weekend…