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This is an excerpt from Dollar Scholar, the Money newsletter where news editor Julia Glum teaches you the modern money lessons you NEED to know. Don't miss the next issue! Sign up at money.com/subscribe and join our community of 160,000+ Scholars.
I recently visited Italy for the first time. It was amazing: I ate all the pasta, drank all the Aperol spritzes and soaked up all the art. And while I was doing that, I found myself continually struck by just how innovative everything is.
Walking around, it’s easy to see how Italians changed their minds over time based on new information. For instance, did you know ancient Romans started out building lots of lead pipes — but once they realized the material was poisonous, they began preferring ceramic aqueducts for drinking water? (Meanwhile, much of the U.S. still uses lead pipes today.)
Or that Michelangelo initially sculpted David to sit on top of the Duomo in Florence — but once it was complete, the committee in charge decided the statue was too heavy and too beautiful to be hauled up there?
I’m impressed by Italy’s ability to realize when an approach is no longer working and needs to be adjusted. Now that I’m back on American soil, I keep wondering whether that applies to personal finance, too.
