What is strange is during the 2020-early 2021 there is a lot of talk about reducing risk, the odds of getting covid etc. It brings me back to another question I was once asked a few years ago. My wife passed away in May of 2017, she was in great shape, worked out pretty much daily, ate healthy to a fault. Though the root cause was never determined, the best guess was she had an electrical heart issue. I was asked “do you think it is worthwhile eating healthy and exercising if you can just die over night.” I had to think about this…
The knee jerk reaction was no, why bother and all permutations of that. But after thinking I responded with “Maybe it was her exercising and eating habits that kept her alive longer than she would have if she didn’t.” Which lead to an interesting conversation, with uncertainty of how she passed its hard to answer what the correct answer is. But it got me into thinking about playing the percentages.
There are percentages like someone winning the 1 billion dollar lottery (Jan 22nd 2021 one person in Michigan did) and being so lucky vs. something like having the 1 car in 100 of a quality brand car that is defective. If you are really risk adverse you buy the highest rated car in quality, but there is a chance you get the lemon. Obviously you have less chance winning the lottery. But its playing the percentages, and getting lucky or unlucky is just that.
By eating healthy and exercising you are playing the percentages and doing your job to extend your life the best you can. By purchasing the best car, your are playing the percentages that you will not pay a lot for repairs. And all we can do is pay the percentages and do the best we can, sometimes the odds wont fall in our favor. And if you are willing to take the risk, it might work out. Look i know I lot of people with Range Rovers and Jeeps (the worst rated for repairs) and don’t have issues, but the percentages says there are people with toyota’s and honda’s with less chance of issues. The question is what risk are you willing to take.
There is a pitfall not to fall in. This is the “one bad experience of a random stranger”. This is when you are at a car lot, you found the car you picked out has the least TCO, and while at the lot there is a guy screaming that the car is a piece of crap, and storms out of the showroom. Well you take that one experience over the years of research and averages. I have fallen into this trap. I would be about to purchase something online after doing research, skim the reviews, and even though out of 5000 reviews there is like 5 bad reviews, I read one of the bad ones and don’t order it. I should know better, my brain though just outsmarts itself.
All I can say is understand your risk, know the percentages but do what you are comfortable with. There are times I bought something I liked even though it was not the most reliable etc. (my Dodge Durango) and was fine, sometimes I did get bitten (cheap iphone cables.) But I will choose to exercise, eat healthy (not super strict but good enough) and hopefully I will live as long time.
This opinion is mine, and mine only, my current or former employers have nothing to do with it. I do not write for any financial gain, I do not take advertising and any product company listed was not done for payment. But if you do like what I write you can donate to the charity I support (with my wife) Morgan Stanley’s Children’s Hospital or donate to your favorite charity. I pay to host my site out of my own pocket, my intention is to keep it free. I do read all feedback, I mostly wont post any of them
This Blog is a labor of love, and was originally going to be a book. With the advent of being able to publish yourself on the web I chose this path. I will write many of these and not worry too much about grammar or spelling (I will try to come back later and fix it) but focus on content. I apologize in advance for my ADD as often topics may flip. I hope one day to turn this into a book and or a podcast, but for now it will remain a blog.