What caught my eye this week.
I was going to ramble semi-eloquently about how it feels to finally catch Covid, two and a bit years and three vaccination shots on from when this journey started.
Perhaps I’d reflect on our early speculation and debate about the virus and the economic costs and consequences of trying to contain it, the euphoria at the initial vaccine promise [1], and lately the long shadows cast by the pandemic. Weigh it all up while I’ve such a deep personal interest.
But honestly, while I’m basically fine – like a terrible flu the first day, followed by a couple of days of a shape-shifting cold – just pulling together the links I collected has sort of zonked me out.
The fatigue is real!
A friend of mine described having Covid at this point in the pandemic as like tripping over a rock on the way home from the war. Funny, but unfortunately this war isn’t over.
My immune system beat off several confirmed close encounters, but this latest overwhelmed my presumably de-escalated defenses. I guess a pattern that will continue for all of us for years.
I’m thankful that from that first rotten day I had faith that I just had to buy time for all that pre-loaded [2] virus-killing weaponry to spin-up again.
Fancifully, I could almost feel it happening!
And so here I am, on day four with just a sort throat and a clogged nose. Tired but touchwood nothing worse.
Please let’s not have another year like 2020 – of blind shivering in the dark – for a couple of generations.
And if you are able to get out and enjoy some Victoria sponge with a slightly boring neighbour this weekend, haven’t we at least all learned not to take that for granted?
From Monevator
FIRE update: one-year anniversary – Monevator [3]
From the archive-ator: Sad story stocks – Monevator [4]
News
Note: Some links are Google search results – in PC/desktop view you can click to read the piece without being a paid subscriber. Try privacy/incognito mode to avoid cookies. Consider subscribing if you read them a lot!1 [5]
Deadline to use the Help To Buy scheme brought forward by two months – Which [6]
Investors seek millions from Woodford fund collapse – BBC [7]
Travel chaos risk as government rules out emergency visa for aviation workers – Guardian [8]
Sterling faces an ‘existential threat’, compared to emerging market currency – ThisIsMoney [9]
Eurozone inflation jumps to a new record at 8.1% – Politico [10]
US firms added more jobs than expected in May – BBC [11]
Royal Mail to expand Sunday delivery to compete with rivals – ThisIsMoney [12]
Omicron subvariant drives Covid cases and death spike in Portugal – Guardian [13]
[14]
UK credit card borrowing rises at fastest annual rate for 17 years – Guardian [15]
Products and services
‘Confirmation of Payee’ to be rolled out to 400 more firms to fight scams – Which [16]
Open a SIPP with Interactive Investor and pay no SIPP fee for six months. Terms apply – Interactive Investor [17]
Can buy now, pay later survive the cost of living crisis? [Search result] – FT [18]
Premium Bonds turn 65. Here’s 65 random facts about them – ThisIsMoney [19]
Pre-paid funeral plan regulation is looming – is your provider ready? – Which [20]
How to choose the best travel insurance – ThisIsMoney [21]
Homes for sale in Jubilee cities, in pictures – Guardian [22]
Comment and opinion
Why you’re checking your portfolio’s value far too often – Rational Walk [23]
Would Jack Bogle regret also pioneering growth/value index funds? – Morningstar [24]
Rallies to the bottom – Of Dollars and Data [25]
Different kinds of BS – Morgan Housel [26]
Widow brain: what to expect after a spouse dies and how to cope – Kindness FP [27]
More than ever – Humble Dollar [28]
The only way to become a better investor – Banker on FIRE [29]
Easy money is money easily lost – A Wealth of Common Sense [30]
On financial ‘variolation’ as a cure for speculation – Rational Walk [31]
Resignation day [and swearing] goals – Fungbunger via Twitter [32]
The Bogleheads talk about ESG investing [Podcast] – via Apple [33]
Why robo advisors haven’t displaced humans yet [Nerdy] – Kitces [34]
Crypt o’ crypto
Crypto just had its Lehman Moment. What’s next? – Institutional Investor [35]
Naughty corner: Active antics
Larry Swedroe: Generating alpha sows seeds of own destruction – Evidence-based Investor [36]
Managing risk when credit spreads rise – Verdad [37]
Mental tension and the value of falling stock prices – John Huber [38]
Rather randomly, Berkshire’s Ted Weschler talks to Berkshire’s furniture mart [Podcast] – I Am Home [39]
Kindle book bargains
The Dealmaker: Lesson’s From a Life in Private Equity by Guy Hands – £0.99 on Kindle [40]
Think Like A Rocket Scientist by Ozan Varol – £0.99 on Kindle [41]
Stuffocation: Living More With Less by James Wallman – £0.99 on Kindle [42]
Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull – £0.99 on Kindle [43]
Environmental factors
Sunak’s oil subsidy could have insulated two million homes, says think tank – Guardian [44]
Why the Ukraine war may power Asia’s shift from fossil fuels – BBC [45]
Aggregate ESG confusion [Search result] – FT [46]
Global heating is turning the white alps green – Guardian [47]
The Hail Mary hatcheries – Hakai [48]
The financial cost of carbon [Research, PDF] – SSRN [49]
Off our beat
Moneyball [50] for the movie industry – Klement on Investing [51]
Tim Harford: Even when you do succeed, sometimes it pays to try again [Search result] – FT [52]
The two choices that keep a midlife crisis at bay – The Atlantic [53]
Pounds, ounces, pints! Johnson is offering a bushel worth of phoned-in gibberish – Marina Hyde [54]
The Russian soldiers refusing to fight in Ukraine – BBC [55]
What dinner will look like in the next 100 years – Bon Appétit [56]
Increasing moderate activity could cut stroke risk by 40%, study finds – Guardian [57]
And finally…
“The law of demand doesn’t always hold up. In a few cases increasing the price of something makes people want more of it.”
– Rupa Patel and Jack Meaning, Can’t We Just Print More Money? [58]
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