It is time again for another Finance Friday/Friday Finance. This is a series I started where I talk about random bits of financial stuff that I have seen, gathered, or experienced during the week. I hope as a reader you find it informational, entertaining, or both. I also hope it can generate some good discussion and edify the Leo community.
It's now been over a week that I have been back from my vacation and not surprisingly, I miss it already. The good news is, I get to relive the great times we had as I post about it here for you. Except on Friday's. Friday's are for finance and although I am still trying to get caught up, that is what I intend to post about today.
Looking for upvotes?
There is a good chance you showed up to this post because of the title. Rather than leave that part until the end, I will get it out of the way right now so you can go about the rest of your day. Ever since the last hardfork and the adjustments to curation that tilted in favor of commenting, I have been trying to do more of that.
Not only write more comments, but also vote on comments more as well. I feel like I have been doing a pretty good job at it, so I figured I should brag a little bit.
Imagine I am running for some office and this is my campaign speech. If you comment on my posts, I 99% guarantee I will upvote you. It might not be a ton, but I think the recent numbers I have been seeing are around $.15. I don't think that is too shabby. It has to be a non-spam comment of course. If you just tell me great post, I will likely skip over your comment. Unless I know you and I realize it is one of those "nuff said" moments.
Think about it though, I am basically offering you guaranteed free money. Pretty cool right?
Millenials know what's up
I saw a news story the other day talking about how a larger percentage of Millenials (based on their poll) are investing in crypto currency versus traditional investments like stocks. I am Gen X, but only shy of being a Millenial by a couple of years. Perhaps that is why I am so heavily invested in crypto. I guess to be fair I basically have one foot in each world. I have some decent traditional investments as well as my crypto holdings.
I thought it was interesting though. Millenials are taking notice of what is going on and they have a lot more faith in this "fake Internet money" we are playing around with than the tried and true money system that has been chugging along for decades.
As a side note... The article also mentioned that Gen Z seems to basically have zero interest in crypto. I guess that makes a little bit of sense since the oldest member of Gen Z would be 25. They are still focusing on getting out of college and aren't really looking ahead to the future and retirement like Gen X and Millenials are.
Anyway, that was just an interesting story I came upon.
Insurance Woes
This is actually a really complex topic that I am hoping I do justice here. Michigan (where I live) is a No-Fault Insurance state. Basically, you carry auto insurance to cover yourself should something happen in an accident. For as long as I can remember, people have been complaining about how high insurance premiums are due to us being a no-fault state.
A couple of years ago, some legislation was introduced to reduce the cost of no-fault insurance in the state. With more options available, many people in the state have opted in for a lower coverage plan to ease the burden on their finances.
Just so you get an idea of what I am talking about: My wife and I have two vehicles and a travel trailer that we insure. We pay about $180 USD every month for insurance on them. We have just about the highest coverage you can have, and since it was already written into our budget we saw little need to reduce our coverage.
Unfortunately, now that the law has been enacted for a couple of years, we are seeing some of the side effects of people paying reduced rates for insurance. The prime example is in "long term care" facilities where people would be housed for recovery and rehabilitation after a catastrophic accident.
With less money coming in to support those facilities and the staff, many of them are closing or not able to provide care or the same level of care that they have in the past. Which may not seem like a big deal, but if you had a loved one who was in an accident, you would want them to get the best care around the clock as possible right?
Don't get me wrong, I am no fan of insurance companies. There are many other countries that offer adequate care without all of the shady cash grabbing that happens in the insurance world, but until we get there, this is the reality we are living with.
Partisan politics aside, I think a lot of people see the short term benefits of certain things and they don't realize the long term implications it is going to have. This happens on both sides of the aisle. It's part of the reason I always hate the "proposal" section of the ballot. It just feels like you are robbing Peter to pay Paul most of the time.
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