• My husband's family goes to the same place every year for a family reunion.
• I started going with him in 2015, and last year, our daughter went for the first time.
• I'm excited to continue the family tradition with the next generation.

Every year, my husband's family gathers on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada, for a long weekend family reunion.

They fish, swim, hike, roast marshmallows around the campfire, and catch up on the back deck. The weekend culminates in the annual horseshoe tournament, where the winners add their names to the trophy and we all celebrate with a potluck roast dinner.

My husband, Colin, has been going up to the Sunshine Coast every year since he was a baby. There's a tree on the property that he planted in elementary school that now stands over 40 feet tall.

I started attending with him in 2015, first as his girlfriend and then in 2022, as his wife. And now we get to share this annual family tradition with our daughter.

Last year, our daughter joined the family trip for the first time

In 2025, we got to bring our daughter up to the Sunshine Coast for the first time. Not only was it her first time joining the family trip, but at 5 months old, it was her first trip ever.

It was so fun to bring our daughter along and to introduce her to my husband's extended family. We spent most of our trip out on the back deck, where our daughter lay on a blanket, entertaining her relatives. The fresh air even helped her sleep through the night!

In between naps and nursing, we squeezed in a family hike and a quick swim. But overall, it was a very laid-back vacation with our baby.

This year, with a toddler, it was a completely different trip

When we headed back up to the Sunshine Coast in July 2026, we knew it was going to be a totally different trip than the year before. This time, we had an 18-month-old toddler who was on the move, eating full meals, and only napping once per day.

It was a lot more work to keep up with our daughter this year. Colin and I were constantly checking that someone was with her and taking inventory of everything she might need (toys, snacks, a life jacket, a water bottle, etc.).

But it was also a lot of fun. Last year, she wasn't crawling or walking. But this year, she was running across grass fields, sitting in her own child-size camping chair, and helping herself to snacks from the kitchen.

My favorite part of this year's trip was seeing our daughter bond with her cousins. She was enamored by the big kids, and they totally took her under their wing. I loved watching her play piano with them and hold hands as they walked down trails together.

We can't wait to continue this family tradition with the next generation

When I first joined my husband's annual family trip in 2015, I knew I was so lucky to have this beautiful place to visit every year in the company of the nicest people. The Sunshine Coast became one of my favorite places in the world.

And now the trip is that much more meaningful because we get to share it with our daughter. I love that we're passing on this family tradition to the next generation and that we'll be able to mark the years of her life in annual trips to the Sunshine Coast.

This year, she was thrilled to meet the goats who live next door, go out on the boat to check crab traps, and blow bubbles with her cousins. I can't wait to see what she experiences on our trip next year!

• My sister and I ruin a small business together, reselling vintage items we find in thrift stores.
• It's not as simple as it seems because we have to sift through thrift stores and estate sales.
• I don't worry about the ethics of upcycling vintage items because I'm providing a service.

My heart flutters every time I spot a unique vintage treasure in the tchotchke aisle at the thrift store. But then I realize it has a chip or a crack, so I decide to put it back. The object may have sentimental value, but it's not a match for my vintage shop, where I always try to feature high-quality items that have survived the test of time.

When my younger sister, Hillary, and I turned our love for vintage collecting into a small business nearly three years ago, we had no idea how hard it would be or how long it would take to sell a single vintage item.

Most people think it's as simple as plucking an item, taking a few photos, crafting a savvy title, and plopping it on a platform. But there's way more that goes into running our tiny online vintage shop.

We had to figure out the best places to source great items, how to navigate moody markets, how to do deep-dive historical research, how to clean and restore fragile pieces, how to set up systems, how to determine the value of our vintage objects, and, most importantly, how to learn to tell their stories.

We have to dig, sift, and sort

To source great items for the shop, Travel Far Now Vintage, my sister and I love a good thrift haul, estate sale dig, antique mall stroll, or flea market frenzy. But in the early days of selling vintage items, we started with the stuff in our own childhood home.

Our mother collected all kinds of objects, from porcelain flowers to royal portraits in filigree frames, and we didn't know quite what to do with them all when she died. We were excited to discover a vast online world of collectors seeking niche nostalgia.

As the shop grew, we widened and diversified our search. We learned that consistency is key. These days, we source items three to five times a week.

This work has led us into all kinds of scenarios: scaling mold-infested shelves, digging deep into dusty boxes, and sorting through basement barrels.

Sometimes we walk away with a bundle of goodies. Other days, we leave empty-handed. But we always shop with criteria for what we're looking for and how much we're willing to spend.

Pricing is a bit of a puzzle

We consider the item's quality, rarity, and what we paid for it. But it's more art than science.

Within an ecosystem of secondhand goods at increasingly competitive prices, we determine the price of an item based on the current market. We sometimes research the "sold rate" of similar items, but that's not always accurate as trends change.

I try to land on a price that accurately reflects the value of the item itself, as well as all the hidden labor that goes into presenting it. This includes digging in chaotic environments, restoring objects, researching their histories, telling their stories in listings, and promoting them on social media.

The price of an item also includes costs like gas, shipping, and packing supplies, as well as platform fees and ads.

This usually means there's a markup over the original price — sometimes more or less — depending on the object's rarity as a collector's item.

What are the ethics?

At a recent estate sale, I picked up a vintage paperback of Jack Kerouac's "The Dharma Bums," a mid-century classic popular among Beat Generation collectors. I bought it for a very reasonable price in great condition. The demand for a rare item like this allows for a higher markup, and I'm OK with that. It makes me happy to know this book will find its way into the hands of someone who will truly appreciate it.

Some people may consider this to be taking advantage of someone else's loss or lack of knowledge. When I buy or sell vintage items, I value integrity, fairness, and transparency on both sides. But this work is about finding gems in the junk, reviving objects that might otherwise be overlooked or tossed.

I store and care for these items and then connect them with people who value them. The markup reflects that work as much as it reflects the item's scarcity or market value.

It's impossible to sell vintage online without hearing complaints that Goodwill and other thrift stores are driving up vintage prices. But all the stuff people don't want anymore has to go somewhere — and that, too, comes at a cost.

Like any other business, charity shops, antique malls, and flea markets must calculate the costs of storing, cleaning, and selling these items.

My sister and I entered the vintage reselling world as grieving daughters and remain as enthusiastic storytellers — eager to connect people with vintage items that bring them joy. We factor in all the invisible work that goes into this business, but ultimately it's a labor of love.

I can tell the difference between a good rain jacket and a great rain jacket on sight. It's made clear the moment you're caught in sudden downpour without an umbrella.

Before all else, let's establish that water-repellent, water-resistant, and waterproof are not equal terms. For this guide, I've made sure to recommend only the most effectively waterproof styles that effectively seal out all moisture.

That said, the best rain jackets for women go beyond waterproofing. A high-quality raincoat must also have zippered heat vents and an adjustable hood to keep you comfortable while you're on the move.

I lived in New York for five years and have lived in the Colorado mountains for eleven, so I know firsthand what makes a rain jacket good for bustling commutes and long days outdoors. After putting 33 leading rain jackets to the test, these eight offered supreme waterproofing, great breathability, and nice-to-have features that make them worth the investment.

Best for everyday: Outdoor Research Women's Aspire 3L Jacket

The first time I tested rain jackets, Outdoor Research's Aspire II jacket was my top pick. Its latest iteration — the Aspire 3L — builds on everything that made its predecessor so great, now with one huge improvement: A new proprietary 3L fabric that's waterproof and breathable.

I had found that the Aspire II jacket's main drawback was it wasn't technically savvy enough for heavy-rain outings. But with the new upgrades to the Aspire 3L, Outdoor Research has bumped it up to be a highly technical rain jacket. It works great whether you're caught in a quick passing thunderstorm at a sports game, or on a multi-hour hike in the Pacific Northwest.

It's more technical (and well-ventilated) than ever before. This jacket is made with three layers of a proprietary material that's treated with Nikwax DWR, which I witnessed cause each water droplet to bead up and roll off the surface. The extra layer makes it slightly thicker than the Aspire II, but I found the 3L to be equally breathable on hikes in Colorado and during humid rainstorms in South Carolina (plus, absolutely no water seeped in during our 60-second drench test).

Fabric aside, it has fully taped seams, vents to dump heat and keep you dry, and a well-designed hood with drawstrings to cinch it down when the wind kicks up. My field of vision was clear even with the hood on, which was not the case for each jacket I tested.

It moves with your body. New to the redesign, the Aspire 3L is constructed with what the brand calls "movement-mirroring stretch." This refers to the strategically-placed stretch panels that are integrated within the 100% recycled nylon shell. These flex in every direction, so you aren't fighting against your jacket while it's, say, pinned down by a backpack. It's a nuanced feature, but one I appreciated the more I wore the jacket.

It comes with helpful features. The Aspire 3L jacket has three roomy, external pockets (all zippered and waterproof), including a chest pocket that's big enough for your phone. It also comes with adjustable Velcro wrist cuffs.

One feature that sets this jacket above the competition: the OR TorsoFlo vents, which unzip nearly the whole side length of the jacket from armpit to hip via two-way zippers. This way, you can release heat from the top as needed, or add more mobility at the bottom if you're on a bike or wearing a waist dog leash.

It's more sustainable than most rain jackets. The forever chemicals, PFAFs, are pervasive in high-quality waterproof apparel. But the Aspire 3L is treated with Dry DWR, a PFAS-free waterproofing method. The coat is made from 100% recycled nylon fabric, and is the first technical apparel in the outdoor industry to be third-party certified carbon-neutral by Climate Impact Partners.

Best budget: Columbia Hikebound II Jacket

It kept me totally dry in a 30-second drench test. I tried four rain coats that cost under $100, and the Columbia Women's Hikebound II outperformed them all. Not only is this rain jacket completely waterproof, but it's also fully seam-sealed. When I stood under a shower head, I stayed completely dry inside the jacket.

The hood doesn't crumple in the wind. It has a wide, roomy fit and, combined with the high chin cuff, will guide any falling water away from your face. This hood cinches down, which you can secure any time a breeze kicks up.

It has thoughtful design features that go beyond its price point. The Hikebound II has similar details to the more expensive raincoats I tested. There's waterproof seam sealing, three roomy pockets (including a vertical chest pouch for your phone), two front closure methods (zipper and velcro), a cinchable hem to seal out moisture, and even adjustable wrist cuffs. Plus, it's PFAS-free.

It's not insulating, but there's room for layers underneath. I didn't feel constricted with a sweatshirt underneath, making this jacket more versatile for different seasons.

It's not the best for hot, humid climates or long hikes. The material feels a little stiff compared to other women's raincoats I tested. It packs down to about the size of a small bread loaf, while the OR Helium UL is closer to a grapefruit. It's breathable on its own, but there aren't any underarm or back vents to help dump heat if you're sweating.

The Velcro is annoying to unfasten. It caught my hair a few times, and takes some effort to peel apart once the jacket is closed.

Best lightweight: Outdoor Research Helium UL Jacket

It weighs next to nothing. At 5.6 ounces, this rain jacket packs down quite small (roughly the size of a grapefruit).

A thin jacket like this doesn't offer much warmth. The lighter weight means little insulation. No water seeped through, but the cold certainly did. If you want to layer underneath, size up.

Despite its thinness, it's shockingly waterproof and wind-resistant. The Helium UL is crafted with 2.75 layers with a 20K/20K waterproof rating (remember: the best rain jackets are 3L, so it's nearly there). It's also made with fully seam-taped seams.

It performs well in brief downpours. In a drench test, this jacket kept me completely dry for 30 seconds under a constant stream. It will save you if you're caught in a storm and are seeking shelter, but I wouldn't trust it in extended downpours. That said, I found it to be pretty wind resistant and breathable as I wore it on a hike through the mountains.

The hood stays put in the wind. It has a tiny brim to shield your face and a cinch in the rear to keep it secure. The adjustable wrist cuffs keep your sleeves locked in place to prevent water from getting in. This jacket also has two YKK-zippered pockets and a cinchable hem.

Best full coverage: Fjällräven Vardag Rain Parka

If you're looking for a long raincoat that will keep the majority of your body dry and look sleek on wet city walks, Fjällräven's Vardag Rain Parka delivers—and then some. 

It's made from a totally waterproof eco-conscious material. This waterproof shell jacket is crafted from a 2.5-layer recycled polyester that has a PU membrane and proved completely waterproof during our drench test. The material is the perfect thickness and weight to keep you feeling protected but not weighed down when wearing this jacket around the city for hours. It fits on the roomier side, which is ideal for wearing layers underneath (we did find the material cold on bare shoulders when wet). It has a roomy hood and long silhouette to keep 75% of you dry in even the nastiest of rain storms.

It has a sleek design. The vertical, button-flapped pockets are convenient, roomy, and protective to stash items you want easy access to. The high collar and adjustable hood are effective at keeping rain out without impeding your visibility. It has a two-way main zipper to offer more range of motion when riding a bike around the city, say. Most of all, this coat has snap buttons from top to bottom for a quick closure, which we found particularly nice during testing since zipping a long rain jacket can be cumbersome to do up if it's just lightly raining for a few minutes.

At $350, it's not cheap—but the material, durability, and features all make this jacket feel quite luxurious and, truthfully, like it would cost more.

Best for travel: Halfdays Mary Rain Jacket

It's stylish and highly versatile. I wore the Mary Rain Jacket on a rainy, spring 10-day trip to Maine and it was technical enough to protect me through many rain showers. It was loose enough to fit a midlayer puffy under on the cold coast, and stylish enough to not ruin any of my outfits.

It's not as waterproof as a 3L jacket. If you need something more heavy-duty, I recommend the Stio Ender or Outdoor Research Aspire 3L.

It doesn't pack down as small as the Outdoor Research Helium UL, but it's still an ideal travel jacket. It folds down to about the size of a loaf pan, and still feels pretty lightweight at 24 ounces. I found it convenient to wear during long airport travel and easy to stash in the overhead bin on top of my suitcase.

It's fully waterproof, wind-repellent, and breathable. The Mary Rain Jacket is made from 100% recycled Nylon with a PFC-free DWR coating.
The fabric has a 10K/10K waterproof to breathability rating, so it balances water protection without trapping body heat inside (the wide bottom helps with that, too).

The adjustable hood, hems, and cuffs keep the elements out. The hood is large with a cinch that holds fast in a gust of wind (though I'd prefer if there was a second cinch on the back). This jacket has fully taped seams, YKK waterproof zippers, snap-adjustable sleeve cuffs, and a cinchable bottom hem.

Best for hiking: Stio Ender Jacket

If you live in a wet climate or are looking for the best rain jacket to take on outdoor adventures, the Stio Ender rain jacket is near-perfect.

It's designed for serious rainstorms. Created out of Jackson, Wyoming by people who live and adventure in the mountains, the brand's PeakProof 3L shell is made from 100% recycled nylon, finished with PFC-free DWR (two wins for the environment) and offers 20,000mm of waterproofness with 10,000g breathability. Not only is it the perfect balance between waterproof and breathable, but it's also extremely durable, made with Tricot backer. On top of all that, it's very lightweight (12.8 ounces).

During testing, this jacket proved reliably waterproof under heavy and continuous water flow. In fact, it performed better than a technical rain jackets double its price. It felt seamless to wear while on fast-moving hikes through the Colorado mountains. 

It has a flattering silhouette, despite all its bonus features. The Stio Ender has three zippered pockets; zippered, armpit vents to dump heat; and one of the best-fitting adjustable hoods we tested (it cinches like a baseball cap, rather than tight around the face). I particularly liked the brushed fleece chin guard when the jacket was zipped all the way up. I also appreciated the that the fit hits the sweet spot of not too baggy and not too tight. 

The hem is slightly dropped in the back, but it doesn't cover the top of the thighs or much of the butt. Also, it only comes in three colorways (though I do love all three) and has a limited size range, which are the main reasons it didn't earn the top spot. But if you're looking for a highly technical rain jacket you can trust, and this size and color range works for you, we couldn't recommend the Stio Ender more.

Best insulated: Patagonia Women's Tres 3-in-1 Parka

We know: $700 is a lot for a rain jacket. But for three different coats —all of which are sustainably made, durably constructed, and backed by a lifetime guarantee — it's a pretty good deal, especially if you live in a true four-season location where your needs change frequently and fast.

It's three jackets in one. Patagonia's Tres 3-in-1 Parka consists of two main jackets: A performance outer shell, made from 100% recycled polyester with an eco-conscious, DWR finish that is completely waterproof, and an inner 100% recycled, 700-fill-power, down insulation liner jacket. Separately, you have a long, down winter coat for those frigid, humid days where the damp air chills you to your bone.

It's easy to transition from one to the other. The rain jacket has a two-way full zip — very convenient if you like to ride a bike around the city, say — and a storm flap for a sleeker look and convenient, hidden snaps to close the jacket when you're dashing out and don't want to fuss with the zipper.

It keeps your entire upper-half warm and dry. This jacket not only looks expensive, but feels expensive. Both the outer shell and inner insulated liner have zippered pockets with a brushed fleece lining to keep your hands warm. The outer shell has an adjustable hood that also snaps off for a sleeker, city look, and a tall collar to protect your face from wind and rain. 

As a rain jacket alone, this outer lining certainly gives the Fjällräven Vardag Rain Parka a run for its money. And while this jacket is, as we said, expensive, Patagonia's reputation and apparel longevity speaks for itself — plus, the brand offers a money-back satisfaction guarantee.

Read more about our favorite gear from the B Corp brand in our full Patagonia outdoor clothing review.

Best for running: Janji Rainrunner Pack Jacket 2.0

Janji's Rainrunner Pack Jacket 2.0 is incredibly lightweight at just 7.2 ounces. I tested it out on runs and hikes and loved its permanent flap vents at the waist in the front and back. It's strategically designed to keep water out while preventing heat build-up. It also has a drop hem in the back for better splatter guard on muddy trails.

It's great for outdoor exercise. Despite its incredibly-lightweight construction, this rain jacket is shockingly durable. It's crafted with a 2.5-layer laminated shell of ripstop fabric (tough and windproof) treated with a PFC-free C0-DWR (eco-friendly and waterproof) coating.

It's especially handy for active lifestyles. As an avid runner, Janji makes some of the my favorite workout clothes. This fully seam-taped jacket has two zippered hip pockets (including an inner mesh pouch to minimize bounce), and semi-elastic wrist cuffs that stay in place when you run. The hood is an elasticized, scuba-like type with bungie toggles. It has a small visor in the middle to keep rain off your face and still allows for 180º of visibility. The jacket is very lightweight and comfortable to wear tied around your waist when the sun comes out, or it can be stuffed inside its self-stowing pocket and tossed in a backpack.

It can handle steady rain. During the drench test, the Rainrunner sufficiently kept water out during 60 seconds of significant water pressure, even around the flapped vents. It's not going to keep you dry in an hour-long, heavy rainstorm in Vancouver, but if you get caught in a sudden downpour, it will surprise you by how well it keeps water out during the stretch of time it'll take you to reach shelter. If you want a light jacket to bring on a run or a hike just in case, the Rainrunner is incredibly well equipped. 

Our testing methodology

Water resistance

We tested 33 jackets in wet and windy weather and wore them for as long as possible each time it rained. When it wasn't raining, we did a "drench test" where we wore each jacket under a shower head, powered at light and heavy flows to simulate different rain storms. During the shower test, we checked whether our clothes underneath got wet.

Comfort

Our testers wore each rain jacket out in the world on multiple occasions to assess each one's comfort. We looked for overall fit of the jacket, range of motion in the arms and hips (particularly when fully zipped up), and how comfortable the jacket felt on the body after 30 minutes to a few hours. 

For rain jackets that could be worn running, walking, or hiking, we wore them on moderately-intense activities to assess how breathable each was and, therefore, how comfortable on the move.

Weight and durability

These two factors are a bit personal: Some people prefer a barely-there, lightweight raincoat while others prefer one that's heftier and more protective against the elements. Additionally, some people are way harder on their gear and need a higher level of durability than others. 

All of our recommended jackets are a comfortable weight and durable enough for the average wearer — that is, they'll hold up for normal amounts of wear and tear for the activity they're intended for (e.g., walking around cities, rainy runs). That being said, we have specific categories for those who need a highly technical jacket, and those who need a super lightweight travel jacket.

Usability

Considering a rain jacket is intended to protect you in less-than-ideal weather, it ought to be frustration-free to put on, zip up, and walk around in.

For each jacket I tested, I took it on some kind of walk outdoors in order to assess the functionality of each jacket and it's features. Specifically, I looked at things like pocket placement, convenience of zipper and buttons, how easy it was to slide the hood on and cinch it at the face in case of wind, and the like. I also considered how loud, crinkly, or swooshy the material of each jacket was when out walking, since this seemingly-small detail can lead to big annoyances over time.

Other rain jackets we tested

What we liked

Quince Weather Proof Oversized Rain Jacket ($80): For under $100, this rain coat gets the job done protecting you from moisture. The Columbia Hikebound II is a similar price while also more waterproof with a more universally-appealing cut, but if you prefer a longer, oversized rain jacket, it's a great budget pick.

Helly Hansen Seven J Rain Jacket ($120): Helly Hansen is a well-respected technical brand, and the Seven J is completely waterproof with thoughtful details. It didn't outperform the Columbia Hikebound II enough to warrant the price difference, but it's definitely a solid rain jacket.

Vuori Nomadic Packable Rain Shell ($248): A 3L, water-resistant shell with fully-taped seams, this rain jacket is comfortable to wear and has a cute, boxy cropped fit. It didn't make the cut as it's not fully waterproof and the shorter cut isn't as ideal for protection against the rain, but if you're looking for a sporty-looking rain jacket to wear over athleisure on misty spring days, it's a great choice.

Canada Goose Tofino Rain Jacket ($795): In true CG fashion, this jacket feels and looks incredibly luxe and is offered in a stylish cut with a ton of great features like copious pockets. It's also fully waterproof and wind-resistant. That said, the cut is going to be too short for solid rain protection to anyone over 5'7" and it's not the lightest jacket.

Janji Zephyrunner Wind Shell ($156): This ultralight rain jacket feels like nothing on your body and scored ⅘ on waterproofing, making it a really great choice as a running rain jacket. The brand's Rainrunner Pack Jacket's built-in vents and slightly superior waterproofing edged out this pick from making it into a top spot.

Cotopaxi Cielo Rain Trench ($210): This jacket is fully waterproof and has nice features like adjustable wrist cuffs and a back vent. However, the fabric feels cold inside and the jacket only has a zip closure, no snaps or velcro, which is less practical in a longer trench coat. If you're looking for a more affordable trench rain coat than the Fjällräven's Vardag Rain Parka or Woolrich Waxed Trench Coat, it's a solid pick.

What we didn't like

Rains Long Jacket ($140): This gorpcore rain jacket looked promising in photos, but the loosely structured hood restricted our peripheral vision and the cheap snap buttons were prone to flaking off. Overall, it was way overpriced for the quality.

Carhartt Storm Defender ($150): This jacket looks steezy and has a baggy, unisex workwear fit. That said, it only has 10K/10K waterproof breathability and, while it'll keep you dry for light-to-moderate rain storms, the thin fabric gets very cold inside, making it not very comfortable.

Fjallraven Bergtagen Lite Eco-Shell W ($425): This jacket has Fjallraven's trademark high-quality construction, with full waterproofing and fabric that water beads right off. But the fit is off: The sleeves are long and the hood is oversized, impeding visibility. Also, there's only one pocket on the whole jacket and it's small and at the chest.

Waterproof ratings, explained

Waterproof ratings (usually measured in millimeters) tell you how much water pressure a material can withstand before it starts to leak. Three layer jackets, or 3L, usually have a rating over 20,000 (20K) millimeters.

The breathability rating (also measured in millimeters) tells you how much water vapor can seep through a square meter of material in 24 hours. The best rain jackets for women balance a waterproof and breathability rating, like the 2.5L Helium UL and its 20K/20K rating.

Our top pick overall is the Outdoor Research Aspire 3L. Ultralight rain gear usually means thinner fabric and less of a reliable water barrier. With the Aspire's three layers and high waterproof to breathability ratings, you have a better chance of holding back heavy downpours and staying dry.

Our top picks compared

Category	The winner	Standout feature	Who it's for
Best rain jacket overall	Outdoor Research Aspire 3L	Full-side vents to dump heat	Anyone who needs solid rain protection
Best budget	Columbia Hikebound II	Full waterproofing, multiple pockets, under $100	Casual wearers on a budget
Best long	Fjällräven Vardag	Sleek parka for full-body rain cover	Gorpcore types who need full coverage
Best lightweight	Outdoor Research Helium UL	5.6 oz, packs to the size of a grapefruit	Travelers, runners, and light packers
Best for travel	Halfdays Mary	Stylish, waterproof & easy to pack	City dwellers, jetsetters
Best for hiking	Stio Ender	Elite waterproofing, breathable 3L shell	Trailblazers in rainy climates
Best insulated	Patagonia Tres 3-in-1	Full waterproofing with removable 700-fill-power down	Four-season wearers
Best for running	Janji Rainrunner 2.0	7.2 oz shell	Outdoor trainers and distance runners

Meet the expert behind this guide

Rachael Schultz, style contributor and outdoor gear expert: Formerly the Health Editor at Insider Reviews, Rachael is now based in Colorado where she tests activewear and other technical apparel. She has over a decade of experience conducting experiments to verify that her subjects live up to brands' claims.

For this guide, Rachael tracked forecasts in order to give rain jackets the fullest outdoor analysis possible. During dry spells, she'd pivot to simulating rainfall in her own shower and inspecting jackets' seams for leaks. Whether out for a neighborhood walk with her dog or traveling cross-country during peak rainy season, her assessments give you a range of stylish rain jackets so you can enjoy the outdoors in any weather.

Learn more about how the Reviews team tests clothing at BI.

• Meta is building its largest AI data center to date in northeast Louisiana.
• More than 7,500 trade workers will be on-site at the data center at peak construction.
• A local housing gap has spurred a boom in mobile home parks like Antley Pines.

For decades, Richland Parish remained a small farming community nestled in Louisiana's northeast corner.

Residents living in the parish — a spattering of rural towns and unincorporated communities — had come to know their home for its slower pace of life. Much of the area is filled with winding back roads, sprawling farmland, and a skyline free of towering skyscrapers. The closest major regional city is Monroe, about 30 minutes west, with a population more than twice that of Richland Parish.

It's the kind of place where everybody claims to know everybody, or at very least, has heard of them.

Now Meta has arrived, and things are changing.

In December 2024, the company announced plans to build its largest data center to date in Richland Parish, specifically near the unincorporated community of Holly Ridge, which local outlets report has fewer than 2,000 residents. Meta said the $50 billion, multi-year project would support around 7,500 jobs at the peak of construction and around 1,000 operational jobs, eclipsing the local community by thousands.

Angel Crawford of Delhi, a town about 10 minutes west of Holly Ridge, first noticed a surge in construction and operational workers arriving in her community last year.

Around that time, she and her husband, Bryan, opened a mobile home park to help address the housing gap.

Angel and Bryan Crawford founded Antley Pines.

Bryan and Angel Crawford initially worked in the nursing industry, but pivoted careers in 2024 after becoming empty nesters.

"We started with real estate and rentals because they are very much needed in this area," Angel told Business Insider. "It's very rural here, so when there are fluctuating prices in the market, it doesn't really hit us because there are never enough houses for sale or rent."

They began buying older homes and fixer-uppers that year.

"We had a vision to create a mobile home park, and already purchased some land when we heard about Meta's data center. That's what pushed us to keep going forward, " Angel said. "We understood there wasn't enough housing for residents, and our dream of building more multifamily houses was right in line to do that."

In 2024, the couple founded Parish Line Properties, which operates 18 homes in the area, including a mobile home park called Antley Pines. Of the 18 homes, 14 are considered workforce housing.

Many residents in the park are contractors working for Meta.

In many ways, Richland Parish is a microcosm of the debate about data centers across the US. Some Americans are optimistic about data centers, citing new jobs, revitalized economies, and the securing of the country's lead over China in AI development. Others are more critical, expressing concerns about the environment, the strain on utility grids, and how the acceleration of AI could impact the job market.

"Around here, people feel one way or the other about the data center. Either people are excited about the opportunities, or they hate them. There's no in between," Angel said. "I see it as an opportunity for us to have more experiences in our area and jobs for our children, so they can stay here instead of moving away."

The Crawfords opened Antley Pines in December 2025. Despite some locals' mixed feelings about the data center, the demand for housing is undeniable.

"All the homes were secured by deposits from Meta workers before we even got them into the park," Angel said.

She said many of her tenants are subcontractors, like electricians, working with Meta.

The mobile home park is 15 minutes from Meta's construction site.

Although Antley Pines isn't directly in Holly Ridge, the mobile park is still reaping the economic benefits.

"Location is very important to Meta's workers because they work six to seven days a week and 12-plus hours a day. They leave around 4:30 in the morning, and they don't come home until 7 at night," Angel said.

That kind of routine can take a toll on workers, many of whom are not from the area.

"One of the big things my tenants tell me is that if they live in Dallas and it's 30 miles to work, it takes about 30 minutes. Well, in rural areas, 30 miles could take 60 minutes because of all the back roads and little towns you have to go through," she said. "The closer they can get to the job site, the better."

The influx of workers has boosted market prices.

Antley Pines offers fully furnished four-bedroom, two-bathroom homes, which Angel said gives workers the option of staying with family or rooming with colleagues. She said the homes, which come with amenities, cost an average of $3,000 a month with utilities.

"I don't have any problem with getting tenants in those homes at that price point," Angel said. "Before Meta arrived, an unfurnished house without utilities in the same area would probably go for around $1,200 to $1,500 a month."

In Richland Parish, the median household income was around $53,000 in 2024.

"We've assured our local long-term tenants that we won't increase their rent. That's not what we're about. We're not going to put local tenants in a bind. We're going to find different and new properties to help with workforce housing," she said.

Amenities like WiFi are in high demand.

Angel said there are a few common requests among the construction and operational workers under Meta.

"As soon as they get into their rentals, 'What's the WiFi password?' is their first question," Angel said. "Some don't have their family here, so they want to do FaceTime."

The tenants also value an escape from the bustling construction site.

"They're with a lot of people all day long. They don't want to come home to a lot of noise," Angel said. "All of them say they love the peace and quiet."

Workforce housing is more popular than ever.

The demand for lodging in the area has continued to grow, Angel said.

"I get phone calls or text messages almost daily. Most of them are from my current tenants who have met someone who's looking for somewhere to stay," she said. "If you go on any of the websites, like Realtor.com, not all local rental properties are listed on there."

That's what led her to create StayNELA, a third-party website connecting tenants with property owners in 2025.

"I did a lot of research for several months by driving around the area and looking at all the different signs in people's yards or at four-way stops that you couldn't read properly. I kept a log, took pictures, and kept them in a folder on my phone. If anything was on Facebook about a rental, I saved it."

Some locals are also working on the data center.

While some construction workers traveled to work on Meta's data center, others were locals leveraging the opportunity that arrived in their backyard, Angel said.

"A lot of young men in this area work offshore at oil rigs, so it's a lot of time spent away from home," she said. "We know a lot of young people who are working at the construction site right now who would usually be off working away from home."

She added, "Hopefully, it'll bring more jobs to the area for our kids and grandkids."

There's uncertainty around how long construction workers will remain in Richland Parish.

Construction on Meta's data center is expected to continue for several years, but there's uncertainty among workers about how long they'll be in Richland Parish.

"Most of them don't know how long they're going to be here. They hope they're going to be here long-term, but in construction, they don't get told until it's done," Angel said.

Month-to-month leasing is among the top requests from tenants.

A future without Meta.

Although Meta's presence in Richland Parish has become the new normal, it won't last forever.

The data center will eventually become operational, meaning construction will wane, and workers will leave. The Crawfords have thought about a future without Meta, and they're not worried.

"Each home in our mobile park is on one-fourth of an acre. After Meta's gone, we can sell them individually or rent them out," Angel said.

For now, though, they're focused on the economic benefits that have come to Richland Parish from the data center project.

"We've seen a lot of laundromats, RV parks, and mobile home parks come to the area," Angel said. "It's great for the economy in our area because people who we've worked with who install electrical systems, septic systems, plumbing, gravel, and all those things are busy because Meta's here."

• I traveled to Istanbul to invest in my health and appearance after a lackluster checkup at home.
• I flew business class round-trip using credit card rewards I'd saved for over a year.
• I'm pleased with the care I received and know I paid a fraction of what I would have in the US.

Traveling to Turkey for medical care now has several humorous taglines and associations: men traveling for hair transplants on "Turkish Hairlines," veneers dubbed "Turkey Teeth," and tourists walking around Istanbul looking as if they got in a back-alley brawl from post-surgery swelling.

This isn't a niche market or recent trend. Millions of Americans venture internationally each year for medical or cosmetic procedures, and the market continues to grow.

My interest in medical tourism began after I wrote for a travel-focused website about a viral TikTok influencer who praised the quality and affordability of medical care in Turkey. Months later, after an extremely disappointing annual physical at home in South Florida, I was compelled to seek medical care abroad.

I originally planned to only get a comprehensive physical and enjoy Istanbul. After further research and some cosmetic care, I decided to indulge in a full-body reset this past April.

My care was extensive

The obvious overhead of participating in medical tourism is travel costs. Because the flight was roughly 10 hours, I knew I wanted to fly business class. Fortunately, I was able to save up enough credit card rewards to fly Turkish Airlines from Chicago O'Hare to Istanbul for free. The cash price of this flight is normally thousands. It was a great deal, and I used it as an excuse to see friends in Chicago for an evening before my adventure.

The Memorial Hospitals Group in Turkey offers several comprehensive health checkup packages, which foreigners are able to book. I chose the most basic plan. I'm a healthy 32-year-old male, and figured I didn't need to invest more.

For $1,100 USD, I received: a full lab panel, cardiology tests, a chest X-ray, a dental radiograph, a thyroid ultrasound, and a whole-abdomen ultrasound. I also had internal medicine, ophthalmology, urology, and dental exams. Estimating an equivalent is difficult, but there are now domestic clinics, like Prenuvo, that run similar programs, though at much higher cost.

I also found a cheaper dental clinic outside Memorial Hospital and got my teeth cleaned and had x-rays for only $88 USD.

For cosmetic work, I had an upper and lower blepharoplasty, canthoplasty, and four moles removed. The total cost for these procedures was $6,035 USD, a fraction of what I would pay to do this near my home.

The price tag included an overnight hospital stay, transportation to and from my Airbnb and the airport, two follow-up appointments, and an English-speaking translator. I did have to pay an additional $55 USD for post-surgery medications.

I secured pricing months in advance, working with a hospital representative via WhatsApp. The care I received was fantastic, communication with hospital representatives was crystal clear, and I even built a friendship with my translator.

During the full-body scan, she was with me the entire time. The next day, during my blepharoplasty, she was with me when I had to communicate with doctors and nurses. When I stayed overnight, the nurses knew what to do, and I didn't need to communicate with them much. But my translator was always a text away via WhatsApp, which was reassuring to me.

Throughout my trip, I also opted for several massages and a haircut, all significantly cheaper than they would have been at home. My normal haircut in Florida is roughly $45, including tip; I paid $20 for a haircut, face shave, and face mask in Istanbul.

Overall, I combined a two-week adventure with an investment in my health and appearance for roughly $7,500.

This is the type of care I want

For me, the American healthcare system doesn't offer the results it should. We spend nearly twice as much on healthcare as residents of comparable countries, yet Americans have shorter life expectancies.

Despite the shortcomings of the American healthcare system, there is still a lingering fear of leaving the United States for medical care. Nearly 100 Americans died between 2009 and 2022 from cosmetic surgeries in the Dominican Republic.

When I shared my plans, I could sense people's anxiety over the potential risks of getting medical care abroad. My mom offered to come with me, but I reassured her, and she ended up staying behind.

Though some days were uncomfortable, and I flew home with facial bruising, the experience proved worthwhile for me. Now, months after my trip, I'm still satisfied with my results and how much I paid.

For now, I'm staying put, but if I have a big medical expense in the future, I may consider going abroad again.

• David Heinemeier Hansson said his software firm was "done writing code by hand."
• At 37signals, engineers only hand-write code when an AI agent isn't able to, Hansson said.
• "This is a recognition of what is already happening," he said.

A coding legend is waving goodbye to handwritten code.

David Heinemeier Hansson — commonly known as DHH — is the creator of the popular webapp framework Ruby on Rails. He also runs the software company 37signals, where he just instituted a new rule: "We're done writing code by hand."

"We are going, and have gone, pencils down," Hansson said during the Rails World keynote.

At his software company, 37signals, Hansson said that hand-writing code was an "exceptional state," only to be performed when something went wrong with the AI-generated code.

When an AI agent isn't able to produce what the engineers want, they can "get the old pencil out and dot it down for them," Hansson said — but then they "fix the machine."

"This is a recognition of what is already happening," he said.

Indeed, coding has radically transformed in the last year, thanks to AI tools like OpenAI's Codex, Anthropic's Claude Code, and Cursor.

Some developers call coding agents exhilarating, and they stay up late into the night to build with them. Others call AI coding a lonely or tiresome process.

What do engineers actually think? Business Insider polled over 150 software engineers in January about the rise of vibe coding. Over 45% of respondents said they felt they were "keeping up" with AI tools. 17.5% of respondents said they were opting out of using AI code-editing tools entirely.

There's only one "serious question" in this moment of coding, Hansson said at the keynote: how to best reap the rewards of AI. "Every other question is below that in the stack of values," he said.

Hansson surveyed the audience: "How many people here are still writing material amounts of code by hand on a weekly basis?"

After watching the crowd, Hansson let out an expletive. "That's about five," he said.

• 5 BI staffers told us how they've been using the hottest new thing in AI: personal AI agents.
• Their use cases include reserving library books and collecting K-pop merch.
• One editor used it to remind him to call his mother.

Muse and Instinct — AI agents designed to help you run your personal life — are the talk of the town right now.

So, obviously, we at Business Insider had to try them out. Five staffers across the newsroom's global offices — from headquarters in New York to divisions in London, San Francisco, and Singapore — have been testing both Meta and Instinct's personal AI agent offerings over the past week.

Our editor-in-chief, Jamie Heller, got in on the action, too:

My husband and I were puzzling over an opaquely described charge on our credit card. We put the wording into Chat GPT and Muse — asking each what it could be. Chat couldn't figure it out. Muse did.

Keep reading for our 101 on what worked, and what didn't. And if you have an experience of your own to share, fill out our survey.

In response to our requests for comment, a Meta spokesperson pointed us to a dedicated safety post on its website. Instinct did not respond to our request for comment.

Will Martin, senior editor, used Instinct to pay a car fee, but it backfired

I downloaded Instinct two weeks ago and chose a very simple task to start with: Remind me to call my mother (she worries).

My whoa moment: Instinct jumped to my aid when I told it I needed a new torque wrench for my bike. After a simple prompt, Instinct came back with four options: a cheap one, a mid-priced option, and two higher-end versions — all with links and a pro/con list.

In the two weeks I've been using it, Instinct has created an itinerary for a weekend trip I'm taking next year, booked tickets for my daily commute into London, and secured me a refund on an $80 subscription I forgot to cancel after the free trial.

My yikes moment: This past weekend, I took a trip to Oxford, one of Britain's most notoriously complex places to drive. Oxford is famed as a warren of one-way streets, traffic cameras, and tolls.

I asked my Instinct agent to pay the city's congestion charge after I drove in. Instinct obliged, cross-checking my car's model against the different emissions tiers for the charging zone, and sending me a confirmation that it had paid for two days at £4 per day.

As I touted how easy it all was to my AI-skeptical partner, she pointed out that the cost was £5, not £4. So I checked, and it turned out Instinct got it wrong — it had paid a similar but separate charge for a smaller area of the city. The charge was nonrefundable, so I was forced to swallow both my own pride and an £8 tax for trusting the robots. Lesson learned, even if Instinct tried to find a silver lining.

Cheryl Teh, senior news editor, used Instinct to expand her K-pop merch collection

Some people use their AI agents to save money. I decided to do the opposite and ask it to tell me how to spend my money.

My whoa moment: I'm a K-pop fan, and my favorite stars — Jeonghan and Joshua, from the group Seventeen — opened preorders for their new album "Dreamscape" on Wednesday morning.

I didn't have the time or energy to parse through all the listings for "preorder bonus" gifts; things like limited-run photocards and polaroids that go to fans who place their orders early. Collecting limited edition K-pop merchandise can be a bit of a blood sport, so I wanted a solid strategy.

I asked Instinct to create a "buy plan" to maximize my fan experience. It took three minutes to surface a link to exclusive signed copies available for early orders on the band's US website. The agent also gave me a road map for purchase quantities and the optimal time to make those orders.

Instinct saved me two hours with one prompt. Without it, I would have missed the window to purchase the US-only autographed albums.

I did receive a bit of judgment from the agent — it asked me not once but twice if I'd set a cut-off budget for my buy plan. I had not, and did not intend to set one!

I haven't plucked up the courage to give the agent my credit card details yet, though.

My yikes moment: I was less impressed during my first 24 hours of using Instinct, when I added it to my Notion dashboard and asked it to do an overhaul. It ended up clearing out my goals calendar and schedule, and replacing it with a new — but blank — template.

Instinct's WhatsApp-based chat feature is intuitive and consumer-friendly. But for optimal results, you've got to be precise in your prompts, and lay out exactly and unambiguously what you want the agent to do.

Tim Paradis, future of work correspondent, put Instinct to work booking a movie ticket

The other day, I asked Instinct whether tickets were available for a 6:30 p.m. showing of "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" at a nearby theater.

My whoa moment: We were on our way when Instinct texted that there wasn't a 6:30. It was 6:15, "which starts in about 8 minutes." Thank goodness for trailers — and for a speedy driver (which wasn't me). Instinct said online sales had ended, so "your only shot" was the box office. It also started checking backup films.

My yikes moment: It suggested a 6:50 "Spider-Man" at another theater, but said tickets "were glitching," and gave me the theater's number. Obviously, because no one died, I wasn't going to call. The theater's site showed no "Spider-Man" that night. I told Instinct, and 16 minutes later, it said the movie "likely got pulled back." By then, we had our tickets at the original theater. "Enjoy the movie!" Instinct said.

Katie Notopoulos, senior correspondent, used Muse to sign an after-school care form

My whoa moment: Most of the tasks I wanted it to do for me were related to the morass of messages and paperwork from my kids' school and activities. However, it got stuck on things like logging into the clunky school site app or being unable to check out on the Girl Scouts website. But finally, a breakthrough — I had put off the task of printing out and signing a form for after-school care. I asked Muse to fill it out for me from my email. I sent it a photo of my signature on a Post-It and used a photo of my daughter's handwritten name (she was also supposed to sign it) as her signature (morally questionable, sure). It successfully "signed" it and emailed it back to the school.

My yikes moment: It offered to RSVP "no" to an invite in my email that happened to be on the same day as the Meta Connect conference. It suggested I could reply to the person and explain that this was "the most important event on my beat" — not totally wrong per se, but certainly weird to say in an email, and quite flattering to Meta.

Pranav Dixit, Meta correspondent, used Muse to place library holds

My whoa moment: I had one simple dream: outsource the stupidly fiddly work of finding books and placing library holds to an AI. I mapped Muse to my iPhone’s Action button and wired everything up by granting Muse access to my Libby account and my accounts at my two local libraries.

Now, when I ask Muse to look for a book, it checks Libby for a digital version and sends it to my Kindle if it's available immediately. If not, it compares the wait times on Libby and at my libraries, then places a hold on the copy that will get to me faster. Pressing one button to delegate a small slice of library bureaucracy feels slightly godlike.

My yikes moment: Amazon has blocked Muse, so I discovered that I can't connect it to Goodreads, the place that I keep track of all the books I want to read, and which Amazon owns. It was a reminder that a personal agent is only as useful as the platforms that allow it in. The minute this stuff becomes genuinely convenient, somebody puts up an anti-bot wall.

• Gen Z grew up with phones and tablet typing, with many never learning keyboard skills.
• But in the age of AI-driven efficiency — and prompting — keyboard skills have a new use case.
• Some Gen Zers are becoming self-taught to avoid dictating AI prompts out loud.

When Julia Andrusiak was in college, she noticed one of her professors repeatedly pausing his lecture. Eventually, she realized that she was the disruption: Her slow, two-finger typing was so loud that he couldn't concentrate.

"It was the first moment I realized that I may not be the best at this," Andrusiak said.

So she began drilling: First, she typed out books. That made her faster, but she was still staring at her keyboard. Then, she advanced to touch typing — typing without looking at the keyboard. She's still working on her speed and accuracy. Now 26, Andrusiak has an AI-focused job that involves helping people use the technology and sometimes necessitates writing strong prompts. She still can't type fast, so when she has a longer prompt, she dictates it — and feels self-conscious about what looks like talking to herself in an open office.

In 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that digital natives were baffling "teachers and parents with their lack of typing skills." Now, for some younger workers and students, typing is making a comeback.

While AI might seem to harken a turn away from typing — who needs note-taking when you have an agent? — AI is only as good as the prompt it's given. Rambling voice prompts can be insufficiently clear and precise. The rise of AI has some Gen Zers looking for any efficiency edge they can carve out.

"With the ever increasingly fast world, we need to type quicker. But I feel like people are really relying on AI," Andrusiak, who happily uses AI as an aid for writing and research, said. "One of my friends said, 'Well, you don't really have to type the whole page. You can just give it short sentences. It's not really that tiring.' But then I feel like it's outsourcing too much of cognitive power to a technology."

Typing as meditation and efficiency generator

Andrey Gerasimov, a 23-year-old computer science graduate, never took typing classes. But he first needed the skill for his video game chats and decided to beef it up, eventually reaching 170 words per minute.

As an AI user, he believes that faster typing makes for more efficient prompting.

"You're going to be a lot more comfortable actually giving your full thoughts and ideas if you know that, hey, doing this is only going to take a minute," Gerasimov said.

He's not the only one trying to up his speed and technique. In his decade teaching typing to 15 to 30-year-olds, Andreas Francazi, a 36-year-old IT teacher in Vienna, noticed that his students' typing skills have deteriorated — but they're setting out to change that.

His newer crop of students didn't grow up around physical computers, and their familiarity with keyboards is much lower than previous typists. He's seen younger students come in typing rapidly with just two fingers, so he's teaching them the basics. Francazi said that students of all ages become entranced by a three-minute typing test, falling into a rapt silence.

"The practice can be quite meditative," Francazi said. "You just sit there, you have the text in front of you, and you type character by character, and it kind of calms you a bit."

While Francazi's screen-first students have mastered the art of two-finger typing, their future schooling and careers might necessitate the manual keyboarding skills he's teaching.

Nick Sjolinder, the founder of BYOK — a purposefully distraction-free, digital typewriter device that connects to keyboards — said that around 10% of the device's orders are coming from educators, including elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, homeschools, and universities. A recent batch order came from a high school creative writing teacher, he said, with the intention of cutting down on AI and distractions for students.

Tarun Krishnamurthy, an 18-year-old sophomore at San Diego State University, said his college professors speak quickly and tend to power through their slideshows. Krishnamurthi, who began intentionally practicing typing in middle school for fun, has an edge in keeping up.

"I'm fortunate at least I can keep up with some of the professors, but I know some other students might have difficulty with that because they need to look at their keyboard instead of looking at the professor's slideshow," he said.

And beyond fast classroom notetaking, Krishnamurthi sees his keyboard skills as a potential professional edge: In an ever-optimized and efficiency-focused world, "typing could be a big bottleneck." Slow typing could worsen workers' outputs, he said; his touch typing might give him an edge in an AI-ified world.

• Death Clock CEO Brent Franson said startups can get stuck in a phase he calls "slow failure."
• He shut down his startup and threw out years' worth of code to build Death Clock, a consumer-health product.
• When a startup isn't viable, Franson says, founders should fully pivot rather than try to patch it.

Brent Franson spent four years building a mental-health app that users liked, but that didn't ultimately work as a business.

The product wasn't an obvious flop. It had enough promise, he said, to make further rounds of changes seem worthwhile — the trap of something that seemed "pretty good," though ultimately isn't viable.

"Mediocrity is so dangerous," Franson said.

In late 2024, seeing a need for a fresh start, he shut down the app, called Most Days, and discarded the codebase that his team had spent years building.

The San Francisco-based staff then shifted their attention to building a consumer-health product called Death Clock, which Franson, 44, described as an "AI private doctor."

Users enter health information — ranging from cholesterol levels to diet and sleep habits — and the platform uses longevity research to estimate the age at which they might die and suggest changes that could help them live longer.

The experience reshaped how the longtime early-stage entrepreneur, who in 2019 sold a prior software company he ran to WeWork, thinks about startups. Here are three lessons Franson has learned:

An app people like is not necessarily a viable business

Most Days had users, though the company could not acquire them cheaply enough to build a sound business, he said.

The scary part of pivoting, Franson said, is not when a business is clearly failing or obviously taking off. It is when a product has users who like it and just enough promise to make another round of changes seem worthwhile.

"You can convince yourself to keep iterating on it," he said.

Franson, who is CEO of Death Clock, calls that danger "slow failure": a business that lingers because its leaders keep rationalizing why it might soon work. One test, he said, is whether founders are working through concrete problems with conviction or trying to talk themselves into continuing.

When you pivot, make a clean break

For Franson, the response wasn't to rebrand Most Days or look for another half-measure like a savvy hire. It was to shut it down completely.

He said the hardest decision was abandoning a company the team had spent years building and still believed served an important mental-health need. Yet, Franson said, the team concluded that they needed to make a clean break and a full bet on Death Clock.

The team carried no code from Most Days over to their new venture, Franson said.

The decision also meant embracing a name he initially saw as a potentially terrible mistake. The team had considered calling the product "More Years," Franson said, before deciding to keep the more provocative working name they had been using internally.

A good product needs a way to reach customers

Franson said the failure of Most Days taught him that product quality alone wouldn't cut it. A consumer company also needed a way to get attention without spending heavily to buy it, he said.

When Franson went to Most Days' investors about the shift, he said they faced a choice: Take back a fraction of their investment or support the Death Clock idea. Their reactions to the name were sharply divided, Franson said.

"People either loved the name Death Clock, or they hated it, but they didn't forget it," he said.

Franson came to see the name as a distribution strategy in a crowded consumer-health market, where companies with ample funding can spend heavily to acquire customers. Death Clock's name comes with risks, he said, including whether the attention-grabbing approach will keep people from taking it seriously as a consumer-health product.

The episode reinforced an idea that Franson now cites about building startups: First-time founders focus on product; second-time founders focus on distribution.

While the company's name is provocative, Franson said the company remains restrained about the health interventions it recommends. Death Clock doesn't sell peptides, he said, because the company's clinical advisors don't believe the science supports their use. It's a choice that means forgoing potential revenue, Franson said.

The lesson he took from Most Days was not that founders should never persist, but that they should recognize when it has become a form of rationalization.

"It's hard to tell the difference, a lot of times, between slow success and slow failure," he said.

• A small upstate New York library is offering a "Bye Bye AI" event.
• The librarian will help people turn off AI features on their phones or email. She told BI she's also happy to help people set up AI.
• The event has gone viral, with people around the world wanting to tune in.

North Chatham, a hamlet in upstate New York halfway between Hudson and Albany, doesn't have much going on. You have to go to the next hamlet over for a store or restaurant. There's a church, a post office, and a small public library with only about 800 cardholders.

The North Chatham Free Library has gotten a lot of attention lately, however, after a flyer for an upcoming "Bye Bye AI" event offering to remove the AI features from your phone or laptop went viral on Facebook, getting over 200 comments and 8,000 likes.

The poster was made by the library's sole full-time librarian, Shea Wert. Wert told Business Insider that she had made this event in response to community demand — and was surprised by the reaction from far-flung places.

"Do I live anywhere near this library? No. Am I in support of this? Hell yeah!" wrote one commenter.

"I had to look at the library's main page to see where Chatham is. I'm in central CA and wonder if we can have a digital guide that our own Mariposa County Library could use for a similar program?" wrote another.

"As someone in Ohio who just happened upon this post; will this be streamed or recorded?" someone else asked.

"As somewhere near Chatham, UK, I was a little confused at first Regardless, thanks Shea!" a jolly Brit wrote.

The library does weekly tech support drop-in hours, and in April it held an "AI for seniors" class that covered the basics of AI and LLMs. But this latest offering was something new. The idea was based on requests Wert had noticed from the community.

"There's just been enough patrons asking about certain things that bothered them, specifically Gmail auto replies and auto completes really frustrate people," Wert told Business Insider during a recent phone call.

"I went to a presentation that another librarian was doing about this topic, and they had had success with it. And I was like, 'Okay, well, I've heard enough from my patrons that they're worried about this stuff or frustrated about this stuff that I might as well try to do one.'"

That other librarian, Hannah Cyrus, published a column in a journal of library studies, writing that "libraries have a role to play in facilitating patrons' rejection of technology, just as much as in their adoption of it."

Cyrus has offered a series of free classes for patrons, teaching them how to turn off or avoid AI tools on their phones and computers, with great success — and a much larger turnout than other tech classes. TechCrunch reported in July that Cyrus's article in the library journal inspired other librarians to reach out and ask for help running their own versions of the classes.

"I've heard from hundreds of librarians from all over the world asking for my presentation slides," she told Business Insider.

One of the groups that reached out was a consortium of libraries for the Hudson Valley area, which included the North Chatham Free Library. Cyrus gave a webinar to a group of librarians, including Wert, about how she ran the "Avoiding AI" class.

In Wert's personal life, she admits to staying a bit of a Luddite, preferring to use a dumbphone. But she's not adamantly anti-AI and has used AI tools for work to draft outlines or write dense policy text.

"There have been some patrons that I know are using LLMs, and I'm happy to help them with it. I've helped them write better prompts, although that is far less common," she said. "It's more common that they haven't used it and they don't want to use it."

Both Wert and Cyrus said that most of the people who come in for help with AI or tech in general are older adults, who are often frustrated by new AI features on the services they already use.

The Bye-Bye AI event will take place next week, and Wert isn't entirely sure what to expect given the viral reaction on Facebook.

"I'm a little concerned based on setting it up as a drop-in thing that there'll be people waiting because I can only help so many at one time," she said. "But I don't know. If 20 people come, that would feel like a lot to me."

• Ivailo Chaushev has earned six figures in profits as a day trader.
• He's been trading for 16 years and has learned a few things along the way.
• "Meme stocks are very difficult to trade, and I do not recommend anyone do it," he said.

"You actually can be wrong quite a lot and still make money."

That's one surprising lesson learned by Ivailo Chaushev, a day trader who's been navigating the market for 16 years, inspired as a teenager watching his father trade. Chaushev says he hasn't racked up the gains by putting on exotic options bets or trying to ride momentary meme stock hype.

He said he's generated his returns by watching the market, and investing steadily in popular stocks like Nvidia and funds that track major indexes and sectors, mostly in the US. Business Insider viewed screenshots of his brokerage account to verify the gains.

He said his early days as a trader were consumed by quotes and charts and screens, but things are more balanced now and he's learned some valuable lessons along the way.

Here are his top tips for traders trying to navigate the shifting sands of today's stock market.

Don't over-leverage

The possibility of maximizing profits via leverage can be tempting, but Chaushev made it clear that he sees it as a significant risk that traders should make sure they understand. He noted that over-leveraging is the most common mistake he has seen new traders make. When combined with overconfidence, the results can be brutal.

"These two are connected," he said. "When traders become overconfident, they use too much leverage and they blow up. Above all, be humble, because if you're not, the market tends to find a way to humble you very quickly."

Avoid meme stocks

Since GameStop mania in 2021, meme stock hype has ebbed and flowed, but it's always a tempting siren song with its promise of rapid, eye-popping returns. The GameStop squeeze kicked off a new era for retail traders, luring many into the market to chase gains in shares of struggling companies like AMC Entertainment and Bed Bath & Beyond.

Chaushev said that the extreme volatility of meme stocks makes them a major hazard for most traders, with speculative gains that often evaporate quickly, leaving many traders holding the bag.

"Meme stocks are very difficult to trade, and I do not recommend anyone do it," he noted. "When it comes to social media, people need to do their research."

He also advised traders to avoid stocks that are constantly hyped by financial influencers, noting that by the time traders hear about a rising meme stock, its often too late to make money.

Don't buy the "get rich quick" talk

Chaushev also addressed the popular view that day trading is an effective way to get rich quick. In reality, trading is difficult, and most traders lose money for a variety of reasons.

"It's not a fast process. You will not turn $1,000 into a couple of million in three months. You need discipline and you develop discipline by just being in the market for a long time."

While he acknowledged that some traders have turned a quick buck in the market, Chaushev says lucky timing is the big factor in those instances. He urges retail investors to instead be ready to stick to an investing strategy for years—and be ready to possibly lose some money along the way—before they see the gains really compound.

• Some young people see betting on sports as an alternative to investing in the stock market.
• They say they're using strategies popular with pro traders to boost the odds of making money.
• "I chose sports betting because I feel that I can have a higher return in a shorter amount of time."

Bill Collins was 18 when he first walked through the doors of Gamblers' Anonymous. He lost over $1,000 betting on college basketball, and, after attending six months of GA meetings, thought he had learned his lesson. He realized he needed to leave gambling behind and never touch a sportsbook again.

Collins has not followed through.

Over two decades later, he now makes a living off of sports betting and identifies himself as one of the ultra-rare sharps in the industry. Collins made $12,656 sports betting in August, netting a gain of more than 8% on his bets, according to screenshots of his sports betting accounts he showed to Business Insider.

Collins says his career — betting on sports and making content full time — isn't a symptom of the gambling problem he used to have because he's using more advanced strategies like arbitrage to secure a small, guaranteed profit on his wagers. He now sees sports betting more as a grind rather than a lotto ticket.

"A 3%-5% return, that's fantastic," Collins said, laying out the math for how daily compound returns meant his sports bets can often beat gains in the benchmark stock indexes.

"This is money that I could choose to put into the stock market. I chose sports betting because I feel that I can have a higher return in a shorter amount of time."

Americans are betting on lots of things these days, thanks to the prolific rise of app-based sports books and an explosion in popularity around prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket.

But some see the vice more like investing, use strategies employed by traders and placing a large volume of wagers to net a tidy profit through scale.

Business Insider spoke to three sports bettors about their paths and ultimate ambitions for their money. They were united by common goals of reaching financial independence and quitting their jobs, with some even claiming that sportsbooks were a better place to grow their wealth than the S&P 500.

More than half of Gen Z investors say they've redirected investment funds into sports betting platforms. Over a quarter, 26%, said they saw sports betting as a long-term "investment strategy," according to a recent Betterment survey.

Among Gen Z investors, 15% said they saw sports betting as a way to "accelerate a goal," the survey said, referring to major goals like homeownership.

Sports betting has become nearly ubiquitous in popular culture, particularly after the Supreme Court overturned a federal ban in 2018. The industry is now valued at $17 billion, a 4,150% increase from $400 million in 2018, according to Betterment.

For some, the prospect of financial independence has drawn them to sports betting. Collins, who said he dreamed of being financially free, decided to officially quit his day job in 2023 and immerse himself in sports betting full-time.

"It was your classic 9-to-5 job, weekends off, maybe the occasional work-late on a Friday," Collins said of his old career. "I kind of knew that I needed to find a different path in life."

An alternative to stocks

Collins stayed away from sports betting for more than a decade before diving back into it in 2021. He was newly divorced and moved to Arizona right as sports betting became legal in the state. On the cross-country drive, he listened to a YouTube video from the sports betting influencer Alex Monahan, which discussed arbitrage. It sounded too easy to be true, Collins said, until he tried it.

Arbitrage, a tactic used by professional traders to take advantage of small price differences between otherwise similar assets, involves placing bets on all possible outcomes of a game across multiple sportsbooks, allowing them to profit from discrepancies between platforms.

Collins says his goal is to become the "first grade teacher" of sports betting. He spends around half of his day making wagers and half of it making content, sharing sports betting strategies with others. On videos posted online, he describes arbitrage as an "almost zero risk" strategy, assuming the bettor understands the math.

Despite his history in Gamblers Anonymous, Collins says sports betting is no longer a compulsive activity, since the math he uses to inform his bets has taken away the emotion and uncertainty that made gambling addictive when he was younger.

He acknowledges, though, that there's still a stigma, with his own family urging him to "spend a little more time with God" when they found out about his returning to sports betting in adulthood.

"Once I saw that if you could turn this into more of a grind and you stay disciplined and you start to see your account balance grow each day, it was just an absolute no-brainer," Collins said.

Collins' path reflects an altered version of the American Dream that some younger people have opted for. Similar to day-trading, the activity can be a draw for those who feel like the usual routes to success and comfort have been closed off to them, as wage growth stagnates and homeownership feels out of reach.

Monahan, the influencer Collins followed, said sports betting also allowed him to quit his job. The 30-year-old began wagering on games in 2018. At the time, he worked as a quant trader at Susquehanna, the trading giant that famously uses poker to teach new traders how to take risks.

Monahan says his finance background gave him a natural leg up. He accumulated more than $800,000 in lifetime profits from sports betting, according to one of his accounts.

He said he decided to leave the sports betting industry several years ago. He still bets occasionally but feels he's accumulated enough wealth to be financially secure and now has the freedom to pursue other projects.

"I made pretty good money," Monahan said, adding that he believes many other sports bettors also dream of making just enough to exit the workforce and pursue other goals.

Matt Downs, a 33-year-old sports bettor based in Florida, was working in a back-office job at a bank when he realized he needed a new career path.

The work was intense for the amount of compensation. He had been a lifelong sports fan, and along the way, learned of arbitrage and expected-value betting, a strategy where a bettor uses probability estimates to identify wagers that have favorable odds over the long-term. He began making wagers and creating content about sports betting on YouTube.

After several months, his income from YouTube matched his full-time salary, allowing him to quit his job to focus completely on sports betting. By the time he quit, Downs said he felt that sports betting was his destiny.

"This side job, if I went all in on it, would hopefully set me up for life," he said.

Sports bettors frequently hit a ceiling beyond which their potential profits are limited. That's because sportsbooks often recognize when a bettor is consistently winning, leading some venues to quietly limit the size and frequency of wagers. A bettor may have one or two successful years using strategies like arbitrage before they start to run into constraints, Downs said.

Downs, who transitioned to part-time sports betting after he began to run into limits, has made $21,366 in profit from sports betting so far this year, netting a 2% return on investment.

Downs says sports betting is one of the fastest ways a person can scale their wealth. However, similar to people who trade high-risk stock options, the risks are much higher, and most people are not winning regularly.

"If they call sports betting gambling, then they might as well call the stock market gambling," he added. "It's not gambling for those who are educated."

The industry's open secret

It's widely believed that most people who bet on sports consistently lose money. SportsBot AI, a sports-betting analytics site, estimates between 3% and 5% of bettors are "profitable long-term."

Technically, anyone can learn the fundamentals behind arbitrage and other strategies, Downs said. The caveat is that mastering those techniques often requires a person to make thousands of bets, and many people lack the patience to learn the mathematical principles that increase their odds of winning money.

"It's really hard to get a college kid to commit to the long-term results, especially if he's strapped for cash and doesn't have a bankroll to start out with," he said.

Collins and Downs, like other bettors, occasionally stumble in bad losing streaks. Downs lost $7,400 in a single day last year after a series of bets went awry while he was at a Disney park with his family. Collins said he lost around $12,000 in January, one of his worst months ever.

But faith that the math will work out in their favor keeps them going, they said.

"It was just one of those days where the variance bites you in the butt," Downs said.

• David Rubenstein says reading, writing, speaking, and passion will serve young people in the AI era.
• The billionaire told Business Insider he swore off gambling at age 16 and won't retire anytime soon.
• The Baltimore Orioles owner just released a book featuring his interviews with other team owners.

AI may be transforming the world of work, but the core ingredients for a successful career haven't changed, David Rubenstein says.

"For a young person, the best thing to do is: Learn how to read and enjoy reading, learn how to speak effectively and persuasively, and learn how to write reasonably well," the billionaire investor told Business Insider in a recent, wide-ranging interview.

The cofounder of private equity giant Carlyle also said to "find something that you really enjoy and make it your life's work."

"If you really enjoy something, it's not work, and you'll do much better at it," he continued. "Nobody ever won a Nobel Prize hating what they do."

Rubenstein, 77, acknowledged that more and more people are relying on AI chatbots to read and write, but he said the ability to discern between good and bad writing will remain important.

"I just think the basic skills that have gotten people to be successful over the last several thousand years are probably not going to go away," he said.

Rubenstein spoke to BI ahead of the release of his latest book this week: "Inside the Owner's Box: Conversations on Power and Leadership in Sports."

Recipe for success

The principal owner of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team also shared insights from his personal life.

Rubenstein said that as a wealthy parent, he kept his children grounded by emphasizing the value of education and work ethic to them, and "tried to be a role model by showing how hard work can lead to something productive."

All three of his kids went on to secure MBAs from Harvard or Stanford, and now work in private equity, he said. But he underscored that regardless of parents' best efforts, there's no guarantee how their children will turn out.

Asked about work-life balance, Rubenstein said he doesn't view his work as a "chore" or "drudgery," and feels "fortunate that I can do things I really want to do."

In recent years, he's pivoted from investing to interviewing everyone from Warren Buffett and Jamie Dimon to Bill and Hillary Clinton, while also publishing seven books and counting.

Rubenstein said that owning a sports team has improved his work-life balance "because you have to go to games if you're going to be an effective owner, and I didn't go to that many games before."

The Wall Street veteran also touched on sports betting, saying that after he lost $18 on a bet in high school, he swore off gambling for life. "I learned my lesson when I was 16," he said.

Rubenstein said that if sports betting were to go away, "it wouldn't upset me, but I think it's here to stay."

He also discussed the trend of baby boomers working later in life. He and a lot of his friends are working as hard in their mid-70s as they were 10 or 20 years earlier, he said, as "we don't want to get off the stage."

Rubenstein said he doesn't know what he'd do with himself if he retired, and he worries there's a greater risk of dropping dead after retirement.

"So I'm not retiring anytime soon," he said.

• Daniel Dantus spent over eight years at BCG after graduating from the University of Michigan in 2011.
• He later moved to Juul and now works at Skan AI, a platform for observing AI agent behavior.
• "If a job does not work out the way you thought, you can always get another one"," he says

This is an as-told-to conversation with Daniel Dantus, a former BCG partner who's now a senior vice president at Skan AI, a startup that analyzes how work happens across a company. This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

I came into consulting as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan's business school. I joined a student consulting club and landed at Boston Consulting Group in Chicago, first as an intern, and then full time.

What was special about BCG was that you were given a lot of rope from day one. My first week was training. By the second, I was on a manufacturing floor working with a large food-and-beverage company. We flew to Dallas and Mexico and visited plants. I was 20 years old. I was learning to enter new environments, build relationships, and have an impact.

I was at BCG for a total of eight years. For the first six, every project involved a different client, city, and team. Firms recommend continuity, but I loved diving into new things. I did operations work in manufacturing and supply chain, as well as in financial services. Later, after I moved to San Francisco, I worked in tech, focusing on sales and product strategy.

When I was promoted to project leader, my work shifted from delivering work to figuring out where I was going to build a business. I realized I wanted to keep learning and building products, which consulting projects generally do not allow over the long term.

So I took some transition time from the firm, which is paid time to take a breather and find the next thing. I made a list of companies I thought might be interesting and people I knew who might be worth talking to. I had about 100 conversations. Job searches are a numbers game, like sales. If you want to sell to 10 customers, you'd better start talking to 200.

That process led me to Harbor Freight Tools, a tool and equipment retailer, as the Director of Marketing, right after BCG. The mandate was to build out the company's digital marketing capability. It was my first "real job" after consulting, and I wasn't sure how learning to build PowerPoints would translate into delivering results. Still, by launching and scaling HFT's digital marketing channels across search, social, and display, I learned it did.

Two years later, I ended up at Juul. I had worked with the head of corporate strategy on a BCG project when he worked at Constellation Brands. He later went to Juul to build a new capability. I reached out to catch up, and it happened to be good timing. I started working on its corporate strategy team, then later ran global travel retail and product.

It was a turbulent time for the company. We went from about 1,000 employees to about 4,000 and then back to 1,000. It was also the first time I got to run a business over a longer term. Travel retail was my first sales job. You learn what it is like to be told no, to negotiate hard, to develop relationships, and to stand your ground.

In my final two years, I ran product and e-liquid development, my first technical role alongside a business role. I learned how to take a product to market.

I later returned to BCG as a partner. My work consisted of serving private equity clients in strategic due diligence.

My advice to people leaving consulting is that no single job is that important. Take time to pause and reflect, and do outreach in addition to considering inbound opportunities. If a job does not work out the way you thought, you can always get another one.

I joined Skan last year after reconnecting with its founders. It's a surprising turn of events. Five years earlier, I thought the problem the company was trying to solve was impossible: How do you use passive observation to understand a complex workflow, such as an insurance claim that takes two months to resolve?

Generative AI has made it easier to automate work where existing data — documents, databases, calls, and chats — is available. There's still a gap between clicks and tacit knowledge that explains how to execute a business process, and it's one of the biggest opportunities in enterprise AI.

After over a year at Skan, I know one thing: AI is just accelerating the same hard work that has always needed to be done.

• ADUs are popular for multigenerational living, offering affordable alternatives to nursing homes.
• Building ADUs can be complex and costly, but they provide family support and community proximity.
• "Having everyone on the same property is enormously valuable," one source told Business Insider.

Over the last few years, Linda Barton watched as her mom and stepdad progressively shifted from active 80-year-olds to, in her words, "children." Her mom with dementia became unable to take care of herself, while her stepfather, whose health has also declined, "acts like he's 6 years old."

The commute to see them, which was an hour each way from work, wore her down, and she didn't want them to move in with her because of space constraints. She did the next best thing: move them into her yard.

Barton, 55, and her husband bought a tiny home for $37,000 in their part of Texas, outside Houston. After months of installing a septic system, an electrical line, an entrance ramp, and indoor essentials, her parents moved in. A year later, they purchased another tiny home for her father-in-law on their property for $43,000.

They've hired caregivers for their three parents at rates below assisted living, making caregiving more manageable. Still, it's not a perfect solution. Barton said she's "drowning" in caregiving bills because neither Medicare nor hospice has provided much financial relief.

"If we don't pay for caregivers, we end up sacrificing work when they need something," Barton said. "It's exhausting, and we fear we won't live to see our own retirement due to the stress."

Caregiving costs have skyrocketed in recent years. Instead of emptying their wallets to pay for pricy rooms in nursing homes, Americans like Barton are building tiny houses, renovating sheds, and buying trailers as housing options for their aging loved ones who need full-time care.

With construction costs typically ranging from $100,000 to $300,000, not including expenses such as hiring an architect, setting up utilities, or obtaining construction permits, these accessory dwelling units require a significant investment. But the cost of even one year in a nursing home can be comparable: The service and insurance company CareScout found that annual private room costs in nursing homes rose from $111,000 to $130,000 between 2022 and 2025.

ADUs for caregiving have boomed in popularity

When Shalini Karnani Bonjour's father died in 2024, she moved her aging mother from Michigan to California to be closer to her family. At first, Bonjour, 50, considered renting an apartment for her mother or moving her into a senior-living community, but neither option was ideal.

Instead, Bonjour's family bought a home in the Coachella Valley with plans to build an ADU in the backyard where her mother can live independently. The $475,000 project is pricey, but more affordable than buying a larger home in the area.

Although it was the family's best option, Bonjour, 50, said, "The whole process has been difficult because there are so many things to manage. You're trying to keep the project affordable, keep your neighbors happy, and stay on track."

ADUs have become increasingly popular in California, attracting the attention of politicians and housing advocates to ease the state's housing crisis. Rachael Reiner, director of pre-construction and project management at the Bay Area-based ADU company Villa, told Business Insider that ADUs have become especially popular among multigenerational households. 75% of Villa's sales so far in 2026 have been for that purpose, many for caregiving purposes.

"The California housing market is so competitive and expensive, so for many families, finding a larger home or a second home within budget simply isn't realistic," Reiner said. "Building an ADU on an existing family property can allow these families to stay rooted in a neighborhood that they already know, without changing schools or their routines — especially for an aging family member, a routine can be so important."

An emotional decision

Sometimes, the decision to build an ADU to care for a loved one is driven by emotional rather than financial factors.

Lena Koropey decided to build an ADU in her Long Island backyard to allow her mother, who has later-stage Alzheimer's, to age in place. Once the two-bedroom, one-bathroom, 750-square-foot home is completed, the plan is for Koropey to move into the backyard so her mother and her full-time live-in caregiver can stay in the main house.

The plan isn't cheap — a full-time live-in caregiver from the firm she hired costs between $520 and $550 per day, and her ADU is estimated at about $450,000 — but Koropey said it will be worth it.

"Having everyone on the same property is enormously valuable," Koropey, 48, told Business Insider. "You can't really put a price on that sense of community, the bond of family, or the ability to support one another."

Despite the cost cutting from these "granny flats," most of the over a dozen people Business Insider interviewed said navigating the permitting process was a hassle. Some mentioned burdensome costs they hadn't anticipated. A few were wary of installing an ADU for fear of reducing their property value, while others regretted it after their loved ones moved out shortly thereafter.

"ADUs are helpful for certain situations where the care need isn't that great, or where somebody in the house has time to provide that greater care," Mildred Warner, a professor of city and regional planning at Cornell University who has studied ADUs, said. "There are other situations where it makes more sense to have people in older-adult apartment complexes."

Some families told Business Insider that because the ADU permitting process was so complex, they decided to build a house on a separate property. After nearly a year of trying to build an ADU, James Richard Cornell, 63, decided to build his mom a house on his property from scratch. Between 2013 and 2014, he obtained a permit, cleared the foundation, and installed plumbing, flooring, and siding. The 1,000-square-foot home cost about $110,000, and his mom paid for 90% of it. His mom has since moved into his main home following a vascular dementia diagnosis.

"Nursing homes are awfully expensive, and I promised her years ago that I would take care of her until her final days," Cornell said. "She's done so much for me, so it's fitting that I return it."

Removing the burden

In recent years, lawmakers in several states have introduced bills to make ADUs easier to build. In North Carolina, Rep. Vernetta Alston co-sponsored legislation requiring local municipalities to allow at least one ADU on lots with single-family homes. She told BI that, if it becomes law, the bill would be a meaningful way to help families who need more care options.

"I know all too well what it's like to live in this sandwich generation, where you're working and caring for kids and caring for older adults in your life," Alston said. "It would certainly be my hope that it could have an incredibly positive impact on people's lives and on their ability to afford all the basic needs for themselves and those that they love."

As Alison George's mother grew doubtful she could live alone, George, 52, decided to move to a home with a guest house in Raleigh. After $45,000 in renovations, George moved her mom into the guest house and became her primary caregiver.

At the time, her mom could take care of herself, but as her Alzheimer's condition worsened, George increasingly took time off from work to care for her. She was inconsistent with taking medication and struggled to maintain her social life.

While the arrangement worked for a few years, her mother's condition worsened, and she moved into an independent living facility, then memory care in 2021. By 2025, her mom's care was $7,800 monthly, and as George's savings dwindled, she moved her into a Medicaid facility. The tiny home sits empty on George's lawn.

"Looking back, I recognize her declining steps, though at the time, I may not have wanted to admit that was what was happening," George said.

• As AI, geopolitical, and economic doom dominate the mood, it's impacting how people invest.
• Financial advisors don't want their clients investing like it's the end times.
• They told us how they ground their clients' fears while still protecting their portfolio.

We're in a golden age for apocalyptic thinking.

The threat of AI has taken center stage, but there are omens anywhere you're motivated to look: countries trading ballistic missile fire, ballooning national debt, soaring energy prices, and, of course, that old standby, the climate crisis.

It's no surprise, then, that Gabriel Shahin, founder of private wealth advisor Falcon Wealth Planning, has seen the steady increase in doomerism among his clients since the COVID shutdown reach new heights this year.

Now, Shahin's firm is spending more time than ever protecting its clients from making financial decisions based on fear rather than logic.

"Our job is such a bizarre job," Shahin said, adding that sometimes being a certified financial planner isn't enough. "We need PhDs, or PsyDs, to be working at Falcon because that's what we do."

Finding a way to steer clients away from their apocalyptic visions while also protecting them against very rational fears is a balancing act for financial planners.

Dhruv Maniktala, chief investment officer for True North Advisors, told Business Insider that it's important to find a middle ground between "protecting against 'doom,'" and giving up on the upside that comes with keeping your money in the market.

"I think doomerism exists, but if you are wrong for 5 years, even if you are ultimately right after that, you are so far behind that it's impossible to catch up," Maniktala said.

Understanding doom

It's much easier to imagine a future "catastrophe" than "joy," said Dr. Daniel Crosby, chief behavioral officer at Orion Advisor Solutions. Psychologists call this the "negativity bias."

"It served our ancestors well when survival depended on noticing threats," he said. "It serves modern investors poorly when financial media outlets compete daily to feed exactly this instinct."

So, when a client comes in expressing concern over incoming doom, Rick Nott, a senior managing director at Angeles Wealth Management, tries to understand the "one emotion, above all, that is being communicated": fear. The role of a financial planner, he said, is to understand and respond to people's financial emotions.

"I view my job as grounding someone's goals, fears, and issues that could derail those goals into something that we can actually take financial action on," Nott said.

Shahin's firm, which focuses on volume and sees 3,000 leads a month, addresses its clients' fears in its marketing materials.

Every major election year, his firm creates landing pages on its website that engage with the political doomsday fears of both major parties, but ends up with the same message: political opinions and investing don't mix, and the best way to see your investments pay off is to keep investing.

Shahin finds that engaging with the fears rationally and calmly usually pays off.

Sometimes that means educating less-savvy clients that the US Treasury is extremely unlikely to go bankrupt, no matter the debt load.

"It's almost like people want to be calmed down," Shahin said. "They just need to tell you what's on their mind, and it's our job to calm them down."

Matching fear to a portfolio

Still, portfolios can be customized to every individual's personal fears.

"That's why everyone's portfolio looks different," Nott said. "Everyone's fear is so different."

For people who are afraid of the United States sovereign debt and a weakening dollar, Nott helps them move to non-correlated assets, he said.

For clients who not only fear AI but also harbor hatred toward those companies, Shahin recommends they actually invest in them as a form of emotional hedging.

"If they fail, you lose your money, but at least you're happy because one of the most powerful companies is out of business," Shahin said. "And if they make money, great, you just made a bunch of money."

In the end, when it comes to what a client wants, Nott is "Swiss," and does what his client has hired him to do, he said.

"I will, of course, educate and inform as much as possible, but at the end of the day, it is their financial capital," Nott said.

Shahin said that sometimes his firm will play hardball if a client wants to make incredibly risky moves — "We're not going to buy gold at $5300. If you don't like it, fire us" — but usually tries to find ways to satisfy the most stubborn clients with the least amount of money possible.

"We always say, 'Stop arm-wrestling the client, let's play Jiu-jitsu with them," Shahin said. "We give them a little so they feel like they have a win. On a million-dollar portfolio, with $10,000 or 1%, let's do what they want."

All-weather optimism

Other advisors, like True North's Maniktala, take an "all-weather" approach of "investing not for the most likely outcome, but for most potential outcomes." In other words, rather than building a portfolio solely around the expectation that markets will continue to go up, construct a portfolio so that there's ample protection if they don't too.

As CIO of sister-company Western Alternatives, Maniktala designed funds that use hedging or alternative assets to provide all-weather returns for the firm's clients. Due to demand from other advisors, they've now opened up to outside advisor clients as well, and he now manages $1.8 billion of all-weather funds.

Doomsayers attract the most attention, but Dr.Crosby said that over the long term, the "quiet optimism" of investing ends up winning the day. There's never been a 20-year period in modern market history in which the US stock market has produced negative returns, he said. By investing, you're making an "act of optimism" that "the future will be more productive than the present."

"The world has gotten safer, healthier, longer-lived, and more prosperous than the doomsayers of two centuries ago could have imagined," he said. "Investing well is, at heart, a wager that the next two centuries will continue the trend."

Are you a doomer? Do you want to talk about how it impacts your finances and investing? Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at @alexnicoll.01 using a non-work phone, email at anicoll@businessinsider.com or alexonicoll@protonmail.com, or Twitter DM at @nicollsanddimes.

• When Heather Waughtel's dad died, a family friend covered the cremation after her card was declined.
• Waughtel and her husband both work full-time, but live paycheck to paycheck.
• "We're barely making enough to live. How can we afford for someone to die?" she said.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Heather Waughtel, 47, a project coordinator based in Knoxville, Tennessee. Business Insider has verified her income and her dad's funeral costs. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Before my dad died, I felt we had been responsible by discussing things like finances and the power of attorney. Dad had life insurance and said the cremation would be covered.

I soon learned that when a loved one dies in the US, you must deal with financial and legal questions while in the rawest stage of grief.

Dad died in July, at age 71. About two days later, a family friend and I called credit card companies, insurers, and the bank to close out Dad's accounts. That was how we discovered the life insurance policy had been cashed out. There was also no inheritance: Dad's estate was small and insolvent, with some credit card debt.

My husband and I both work full-time — I'm a project coordinator and he's a painter for a boat repair shop — but we still live paycheck to paycheck and our finances are always a concern. Sometimes, we have to choose between buying food and gas to get to work.

We had no way to pay for Dad's cremation, so a family friend loaned us the money. I didn't feel I had any other choice.

My dad died sooner than we expected

In the early 2000s, Dad transitioned and began identifying as a woman. She thought everyone would be upset, but I respected her so much for coming out and being open and honest about who she was. It was a major, positive turning point in our relationship after years of estrangement, and we remained close until the end of her life.

Her death didn't come as a total surprise, although it happened a little sooner than we expected. In the final years of her life, she had COPD and a chronic lung infection, and often struggled to breathe.

In early June, she went into a nursing home as her health deteriorated, and she rapidly declined. A month and a bit later, she was gone.

I thought we were prepared for Dad's death

I thought there would be some money to cover the immediate costs of her death, such as the cremation, but Dad had cashed out her life insurance policy a week before she died. I still don't know why.

The funeral package, which included transferring her from the nursing home to the funeral home, her cremation, the container for her ashes, service, and death certificates, cost around $3,700.

The family friend went with me to the funeral home to arrange Dad's cremation, and my credit card was declined. She put the charge on hers without me asking.

I felt guilty and kept thinking I should have used the power of attorney to make sure everything was taken care of before she died.

I could have gotten a second job to pay the friend back, but I already work 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., then drive home. Crowdfunding felt like my only option. I felt defeated.

I find myself anxious to take the site down, but I have to talk myself out of it. There is embarrassment in asking people to help pay a bill that should have been taken care of. There is embarrassment in not having the money.

It has been hard to grieve while in debt

Since all this happened, my husband and I attended a wills and trusts seminar. I've reviewed my life insurance policies and made sure everything is in order. I'm determined that my four adult children will not be left with a mess like this.

I still haven't scattered Dad's ashes. I haven't felt comfortable while the anxiety over paying the money back hangs over me. This situation has left me agitated. It has been hard to process my grief.

The system feels broken: too commercial, too American, and I hate that there are people making money off people dying.

We're barely making enough to live. How can we afford for someone to die?

• Instinct's new "Trusted Person" allows users to connect their AI agents and tag-team tasks.
• Some couples use it for shared to-dos or help planning surprise date nights.
• While it cuts down on emotional labor, a therapist says not so fast: You still have to put work in.

AI agents aren't just sneaking into your workplace anymore. Soon, they might be making regular appearances in your relationship.

Since the launch of Instinct, an invite-only AI assistant that went viral among Silicon Valley insiders in August, early adopters have been using it to offload tasks like booking hotels and scheduling appointments.

Then, on September 9, Noah Shinn, the company's 23-year-old founder, announced Instinct's new "Trusted Person" feature: You could now have your Instinct agent directly communicate with another person's Instinct agent to reduce the amount of "back-and-forth" in a relationship, such as coordinating plans and organizing vacations.

So far, some users have found it helpful. "Instinct syncs with my wife's Instinct so we can actually finish a shared to-do list," Alex Borkin, a 36-year-old entrepreneur who uses AI across his portfolio of companies, said on X, noting that it was easier than manually setting up AI agents using Claude Code or Codex.

While Instinct may help eradicate the most annoying part of a partnership (figuring out dinner plans when you both keep saying "whatever you want!"), it can also open up the possibilities of new relationship drama. Some users have already reported some issues, ranging from privacy concerns to accidentally spoiled surprises.

Your emotional labor robot

The greatest appeal of Instinct and other AI agents is their ability to cut down on what Borkin calls "boring tasks" — like booking appointments or getting refunds.

"I close the loop," Borkin told Business Insider. "I get to go to bed and not think of 'Did I take care of jury duty?'"

Like other working parents, Borkin and his wife use Instinct's Trusted Person feature to smooth out their day-to-day life as a family with two kids, ages 3 and 20 months (and a third child on the way).

Most recently, the couple used Instinct agents to send them individual reminders to complete tasks for their daughter's third birthday party, such as ordering food.

"It's nice not having to remind myself of something I asked my wife to help with, and then remind her if she's taking care of it," Borkin said.

The more invisible work within a relationship — such as nudging a spouse to finish a task you asked them to do — requires cognitive and emotional labor. Some partners, more often women, can feel as though they bear the brunt of this work, leading to tension in the relationship.

Annie Wright, a licensed psychotherapist who works with Silicon Valley clientele, told Business Insider that this dynamic is so common in heterosexual relationships that, sometimes, even AI agents don't fully solve the problem.

"Even when you have an AI agent, who's putting in the prompt to begin with, who's architecting out the idea, who's remaining responsible for the oversight of that agent?" Wright said. More often than not, she said it's her female clients who are tasked with the burden.

Wright said it can also be tempting to use AI agents as a way to avoid enduring "weaponized incompetence" when a partner performs the task wrong — or just keeps ignoring you.

"An AI agent isn't going to bring that same relational scar tissue into the dynamic with you," she said. "It's very compelling. It provides a kind of shortcut, but it doesn't eliminate all the work for you."

Deep intimacy required

Instinct fans have used it to do everything from booking a birthday cabin to canceling forgotten subscriptions, impressed by its ability to successfully follow through on semi-complex tasks. Users can send Instinct a simple text request to book an in-network doctor's appointment, and it seems to follow through effectively.

There's a catch, though: Instinct needs to know a lot about you to perform well. Depending on what you ask it to do, it might need access to your email account, calendar, or even credit card.

Users have reported troubling incidents, including privacy and security concerns. Some users have also reported hallucinations and what appeared to be leaks of strangers' data.

Out of caution, Borkin said he only linked Instinct to his retailer accounts (like Amazon and Costco) without directly giving it his credit card. He also uses a throwaway email account for Instinct to avoid the risk of any sensitive information being breached.

Naturally, AI agent mishaps can cause new issues in a relationship. Wright said the biggest risk is one person in the relationship now feeling responsible for checking that the AI agent properly followed through on instructions.

"One partner thinks they've handed off a task while the other partner still feels responsible for making sure it happens — now you've got a new argument," she said. "Technology can become another place where you're disagreeing about who's responsible."

When agents remove agency

Sometimes, Instinct's glitches can be more innocuous — even entertaining. Luba Yudasina, an angel investor, said she asked her Instinct to help her plan a surprise for her boyfriend, according to her post on X. She wanted it to ask him when he was free and what kinds of dates he would like.

Instead, it blabbed too much.

On a bigger scale, using Instinct raises questions about the merits of smoothing out every crease in a relationship. If that idyllic proposal was entirely dreamed up and coordinated by an AI agent, is it as romantic? If Instinct handles all the household logistics and plans all the date nights because your husband can't be bothered to, do you feel as seen in your marriage?

Wright said AI agents could almost be stand-ins for 1950s secretaries tasked with buying birthday gifts for their bosses' wives. "Getting help expressing your care versus outsourcing the attention that makes the gesture meaningful — that's a really important distinction to draw," she said.

There's a high cost to cutting out any source of conflict in a relationship: the ability to grow together. One satirical X post by Alex Cohen, the cofounder and CEO of the AI agent platform Hello Patient, summed it up best: Who's to stop the AI agents from absorbing each partner's passive-aggressive jabs, the humans behind the screens becoming empty husks occupying a living room together?

It illustrates Wright's biggest concern: skirting over real relationship issues for the sake of expediency.

"If we're already arguing about how much time we spend with your family, having software arrange another visit hasn't really settled anything," she said. "It's just made a decision before we reached an agreement and really done the hard relational work to arrive there."

For some couples, there's work that even the top AI agents aren't cut out for. Michael Stothard, a partner at Firstminute Capital in the UK who uses Instinct with his wife, shared on LinkedIn that he wanted to branch out from using it for administrative tasks alone.

"Michael asks his Instinct to pass you a message: 'I love you,'" his agent said.

His wife responded: "Tell him he's an idiot."

When Mackenzie Scott got divorced from Jeff Bezos in 2019, she became one of the richest people in the world overnight. Their divorce settlement was among the largest in history, granting her assets that included 4% of Amazon's stock — roughly $38 billion. She wasted little time before starting to give her fortune away, handing off large sums to organizations ranging from pandemic relief nonprofits to community colleges within a year of their split. Based on the coinciding of her left-leaning philanthropic efforts and her ex-husband's cozying up to the president, it would make sense if she weren't wild about what Bezos has been up to. But other than occasional blog posts about her charitable giving, Scott is famously tight-lipped. Mostly, she lets her actions speak for themselves.

So it didn't escape notice when Scott announced last month that she would be self-publishing a serialized novel, "Last Days in Two Nations (A History in Eighteen Minds)".

A former protégé of Toni Morrison, Scott previously published two novels under the name Mackenzie Bezos: 2005's "The Testing of Luther Albright," a family drama for which she won the American Book Award, and the 2013 thriller "Traps." "Last Days" is a departure from her earlier work. It's set in a dystopian near-future where America has been split into two opposing factions, the "Still United" states and an authoritarian regime called the Dakota Membership. Scott's third-person narration moves between the perspectives of a sprawling cast — 18 different characters, as the subtitle suggests. And while she worked with traditional publishers for her first two novels, Scott released "Last Days" in nine free installments on Substack over the course of August. It was one of the few ways, people online quickly pointed out, that her work would stay off of Amazon.

That doesn't mean Scott was trying to fly under the radar. Given her evident interest in preserving her privacy and ample experience of having her actions interpreted and misinterpreted by a rapacious public, she had to know that people would read her first published fiction in over a decade with eyes as all-seeing as Ring cameras. If she wanted to stay out of the spotlight, why did she announce the upcoming release on her verified X page, not to mention publish it under her real name? The fact that she put out this dispatch from a grim imagined future in such an unvarnished and public way feels like an invitation to speculate about what Scott thinks about her ex-husband, herself, and maybe even the rest of us.

The bulk of "Last Days" takes place over the course of one week in which various characters collide and conspire to free themselves from the shackles of the Dakota Membership. This fascistic society has been plagued by a slew of pandemics and is now a place where children with quirks and emotional lives, people whose parents had any brushes with free thinking or rebellion, and even those with the occasional seditious thought are liable to be shipped off to so-called self-improvement centers, subjected to gruesome gene therapy treatments, and worse. There's no internet or non-propaganda news. Even appliances like stoves and refrigerators have been banned, though party officials offer to supply them when they're looking for favors.

The man at the helm is President Damian Paxton, an autocrat with a fondness for eugenics, koi fish, lavish residences, and "subtlety in everything but geopolitics and women," with whom he likes to soak in a giant hexagonal bathtub with fake gold faucets shaped like dolphins, among other salacious activities. In short, he's a very 2026 cartoon villain. Scott's touch isn't exactly light; direct and allusive shout-outs to the Third Reich abound. ("Why can't anybody in this country hear a Nazi when they hear one?" one character asks early in the story while griping privately about Paxton's administration.) Reading about the rustic furnishings in one of Paxton's bunkers or an opulent regime party at Mount Rushmore, it's all too easy to picture a sovereign who looks something like a cowboy hat-clad Bezos in his infamous 2023 Vogue photo shoot, a newer, younger, filler-filled wife draped across his lap. The comparison isn't one-to-one, but Scott is clearly trafficking in the visual language of the second Trump administration.

In many ways, though, it is Liv Lockhart, the event planner behind these garish soirées, who is Scott's central character. On the surface, Lockhart is a true disciple, ready and waiting to do Paxton's bidding, made up exactly the way he likes (Paxton calls her a "smokeshow," and one of her female underlings describes her features as being "stuffed into a costume of sexuality like parts in a sausage casing"). Within the relative safety of her secluded home, she is someone else entirely: making fun of her supreme leader to curry favor with her disenchanted young son, Will, whom she keeps locked inside out of concern for his safety while she crafts an escape plan that will get the two of them to freedom. Lockhart harbors few illusions about the rules governing the world they live in; her goals are hardly humanitarian. "There are no good choices," she opines at one point. "This is not a fantasy buffet. It's a smorgasbord of shit sandwiches. Just pick one, take bite after big smelly bite, digest, and belly up again. Thought turds, choice turds, every country had its turds, pooped out on a banquet table by lonely baby-men." She is both complicit and a rebel, an author of Paxton's propaganda and a shameless non-believer. She justifies all of her misguided and perplexing actions as a manifestation of her unyielding maternal love.

Scott's descriptions are similarly heavy-handed throughout, especially in the book's denouement. Many of the characters we've come to know — a "therapeutic modification" patient; the party doctor who had been experimenting on him; a cook in one of Paxton's residences; even Deepak, a character we hear from only once — meet sudden and untimely ends. Finally, after a string of chaotic turns that find Paxton locked away (by choice!) in an underground bunker and starting every day with a cup of coffee brewed with beans from St. Helena, the remote island where Napoleon Bonaparte lived his last days in exile, Scott zooms ahead into the future. There, we learn from an adult Will that the Dakotas were eventually reabsorbed into the Still United states, where he is now working on a dissertation about "the intergenerational impact of narcissistic control on nation states and family systems." Still, making sense of all that has happened is a tall order. "We are comforted by the idea of the one narrative, fixed, linear, but all of the different versions are happening at once, and they change again when we think of them again at different times, or at different angles. The only common denominator is us," Will muses. "Maybe all the things we do to each other, and to ourselves, including violence, function to bring us into relationship with each other."

It's a baffling conclusion fit for a baffling project. Is Scott trying to make a point about narcissistic baby-man leaders, the moral compromises we all make, the value of interpersonal relationships in the face of authoritarianism, the fallacy of a fixed and linear narrative, or something else entirely? As Vanity Fair noted, Scott might have considered spreading her wealth a little further by hiring a freelance editor. The New York Post said the quiet part out loud, calling the project "hard-to-untangle." Whether the story's convolution was intentional or not, it doesn't make for very satisfying reading. After wading through a morass of unsubtle description, readers are left with more questions than answers about what message Scott stepped up onto her long-empty digital podium to convey.

Scott's chosen format doesn't help her cause. Readers have the option of accessing the text directly on Substack or downloading PDFs fashioned to look like a manuscript in progress, double-spaced and set in Courier. The latter presentation in particular lends the story an unfinished feel. Add to this the meandering plot and smattering of typos, and "Last Days" starts to seem almost dashed-off. It's so striking that one almost wonders whether this was actually intentional. After all, the choice to publish on Substack has aesthetic effects beyond the implicit anti-Amazon messaging. Perhaps Scott is trying to position her voice as one in a sea of many, not unlike her many characters' distinct and occasionally incoherent points of view.

The catch, of course, is that Scott isn't just like the rest of us. She's a household name, and her net worth is more than the entire US publishing industry's annual revenue. Unlike so many other self-published writers, her work won't be consigned to gather dust in the far reaches of Substack. Some 11,000 people subscribed to "Last Days in Two Nations," no doubt intrigued, as I was, by what Jeff Bezos' mysterious and brilliant ex-wife, a public figure famously adept at understatement, had to say. But as any disgruntled media worker could tell you, it is one challenge to get readers where you want them and another challenge entirely to keep them there.

The action-packed Billie Jean King Cup comes to a close this weekend as Czechia faces off with Ukraine. We've rounded up all the details on where to watch the Billie Jean King Cup final, including free and global streaming options.

If you don't want to read any further, you can live stream the Billie Jean King Cup final on T2 via a live TV service like Philo in the US, CBC Gem in Canada, and other international viewing options. You can access your streaming options from anywhere with a VPN.

Eastern Europe has been dominant in women's tennis this year, and this final epitomizes that. Czechia is the strong favorite with the likes of Noskova, Muchova, and Siniakova to choose from. The Ukrainians will be relying on Svitolina to inspire them to victory after reaching the final, even without Kostyuk, who withdrew earlier with a wrist injury.

Where to watch the Billie Jean King Cup Final for free

Certain countries will show select Billie Jean King Cup coverage for free. Canada offers pretty comprehensive coverage of Billie Jean King Cup matches on CBC, including the final, which can be live-streamed for free via CBC Gem. While the Tennis Channel requires a paid subscription in the US, the semifinals and final will air on Tennis Channel 2 (T2), which is available for free through select FAST services, including Philo's free tier in the US.

How to watch the Billie Jean King Cup Final from anywhere

Tennis fans away from the location where their streaming service works can still keep up with their favorite viewing options (including the free ones) with the help of a VPN. Short for virtual private networks, VPNs are handy tech tools that let people temporarily change their virtual locations. They're popular among those looking to keep up with their usual services while traveling abroad or upgrade their cybersecurity.

NordVPN is one of the best VPNs in the game. It's fast, easy to use, and has a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can learn more in our NordVPN review.

Where to watch the Billie Jean King Final Cup in the US

The Billie Jean King Cup is available in the US on Tennis Channel (T2). While the quarterfinals were available through the main Tennis Channel, which requires a paid subscription, you can access the final for free on T2.

T2 is available through select FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV) services. While Philo has paid tiers, it carries T2 for free and requires no account creation to access the channel.

Where to watch the Billie Jean King Cup Final in Canada

CBC hosts Billie Jean King Cup coverage in Canada. Tennis fans can live stream the event for free on CBC Gem, which only requires account creation to start using.

Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries, and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Business Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

• Airlines are waiving change fees as a nor'easter bears down on the Northeast.
• The airlines include American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, and United Airlines.
• Over 87,000 customers in the region had lost power as of Saturday afternoon.

Major airlines are letting customers rebook flights around the Northeast for free as a nor'easter threatens the region.

American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, and United Airlines have issued travel advisories for passengers flying this weekend to, from, or through several airports in the area, including LaGuardia Airport in New York and Logan Airport in Boston.

Travelers will be able to change their flights to new dates as late as September 29 or 30, depending on the airline. Airports affected by the travel advisories span from Virginia to Maine.

The advisories come as a major Nor'easter storm is hitting the East Coast on Saturday. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency for portions of the state on Friday.

"The rain is underway, and while it's only a half an inch or so thus far, mark my words: Much more is coming," Hochul said at a press briefing Saturday morning.

By Saturday afternoon, over 87,000 customers in the region had lost power, according to PowerOutage.com, including nearly 35,000 in New York.

Over 260 flights at Boston Logan have been canceled as of Saturday afternoon.

• I attended high school in both Spanish and English after moving between countries.
• My Dominican transcripts led one school to automatically place me in ESL.
• Being underestimated made me determined to become undeniable in English.

There's a specific dread that comes from not knowing if the words in your head are the right ones in that language.

I lived inside that fear, not of a school test, but of speaking in class and having the wrong language come out, or the right one come out wrong.

I was born in the Dominican Republic. My parents divorced when I was 1, and left for the US, independent of each other, while I stayed behind in my maternal grandparents' care. At 6, my mother came back for me, remarried, with a new baby, and my legal documents. She'd divorce again, and with her third husband, she started a clothing manufacturing business that brought us back to the Dominican Republic, where I lived from 11 to 16.

Two high schools in Spanish in the Dominican Republic, for the freshman and sophomore years. Then two in English, junior and senior year, first in New Jersey, then in New York City.

I grew up learning how to switch between Spanish and English, and having to prove myself in both languages.

I was put in ESL classes

When I moved to the US, I was placed straight into an ESL class. Nobody tested me or heard me speak; they just saw a Spanish-speaking country on a piece of paper and decided who I was.

I hated that I had to prove myself every time I went to a new school. I had to perform on command for someone to believe that I could speak the language. I raised my hand when I didn't have to. I corrected a teacher's grammar once, in front of the class, just to watch her catch herself. I answered faster and sharper than I needed to.

Once, I wrote an essay on the Civil War and got called into the principal's office like I'd done something wrong. They said it was informative, precise, well written, remarkably so, for an immigrant. They accused me of plagiarism. My mother was called in. She didn't flinch. She'd watched me write it at our kitchen table and said so, plainly. The principal sat me alone with a blank page and a new topic: what the American flag stood for. I wasn't going to let him win this one either. I wrote about Betsy Ross bent over a needle and thread, stitching a symbol together before anyone knew what it would represent, and about pledging allegiance to that flag in a tongue I hadn't been born speaking. There was nothing left to accuse me of. I passed, and I made sure he knew he'd been wrong.

I wanted to get better

At my new school in New York, I asked a teacher how to get better. She said, "Read all the newspapers." So I did, every day, without missing one. That daily habit is the actual reason I can write at all. Nobody handed me that ability. A teacher trusted me with one honest sentence, and I built the rest myself, out of spite as much as anything else.

Looking back as an adult, I can see what it built in me. I wasn't just switching languages four times.

I learned to read a room quickly, having been misjudged in so many of them. I moved between the directness that English classrooms rewarded and the deference that Dominican classrooms expected, and I could use both as weapons when I needed to. I became fluent in both because people kept deciding who I was before I said a word, and my defense was to prove them wrong, until they stopped testing me. I wasn't behind, and I wasn't lucky. I was proving, one room at a time, that I was more than what anyone assumed on sight, and I am still doing it.

The mishmash didn't break me. It built me. I don't fear the blank page anymore, and I was never afraid of being doubted, because I always answered back with proof.

• My husband and I prioritize experiences like travel over gifts, sharing memorable trips together.
• Our relationship grew through thoughtful gestures that weren't tied to holidays or events.
• I'm glad we have memories instead of random trinkets.

It was my birthday and my now-husband and I had been dating for about three months. When he got to my house, he wished me a happy birthday, then he apologized, "I'm sorry I didn't get you a gift."

At the time, I was 31, had a good job, and could buy whatever I fancied, within reason. I couldn't come up with any material thing that I even wanted. "Don't be sorry," I told him, "It's a good thing. No obligatory gift giving." "No obligatory gift giving," he echoed.

And the precedent was set.

We don't wait for holidays to do nice things for each other

In the three months we had been dating, leading up to my birthday, my boyfriend had brought me numerous loaves of homemade bread; it was the pandemic after all. He had come to my house with jars of freshly made pesto, and he had made me or bought me dinner more times than I could keep track of.

If my husband has a love language, it's definitely food. All of those nice things he did weren't because there was a day marked on the calendar. He just did them because he wanted to.

In the six years that we've been together, we've only exchanged a handful of material gifts, none of which coincided with a holiday or a birthday. On one occasion, he went to Macy's to pick up a travel potty for our toddler. When he came back, he surprised me with diamond earrings. His reasoning? He just wanted to.

When my husband's parental leave ended, I wanted to do something special to commemorate how attentive and involved a father he is. Hallmark doesn't have a card for "dad going back to the workforce after parental leave." My husband dresses up for work, including a suit, tie, and cufflinks. I ordered him a custom pair of map cufflinks with his hometown on one cufflink and the city where our son was born on the other, so he would have something to remind him of our son at work. He wears those cufflinks on heavy rotation.

We value experiences over material possessions

Our rationale for resisting material objects is part practical, part philosophical. From a practical standpoint, our family of three lives in a one-bedroom apartment, and space is at a premium. When we first moved in together, we had to consolidate two one-bedroom apartments into one, which required both of us to pare down our belongings. Since then, we've adopted a one-in, one-out policy for anything that's not consumable. Philosophically, we resist the idea of centering our acknowledgment and appreciation of each other around holidays that, in our view, emphasize consumerism rather than relationships.

Instead of giving presents on our birthdays, we'll usually plan a trip around that time. We share expenses for the trip and plan it together because it's about making time to spend together, not who is paying for it. One year around my husband's birthday, we went to Mexico. He loves ancient civilizations, so we took a road trip to explore Mayan ruins. Another year around my birthday, we went to Spain. I love seeing castles and walled cities, so we planned a road trip around Madrid seeking out small towns with those features. My husband even booked a stay in a castle, which was unforgettable.

We make a point to perform gestures to show we care about each other, but we don't need a holiday to tell us to do it. As a couple, we've committed to having monthly date nights, alternating who plans each one. The person whose turn it is that month to plan date night picks the restaurant and pays for the dinner and the babysitter. Setting the intention to have a monthly date night ensures that we have consistent time as a couple, but doesn't put the pressure around a specific date, like a holiday does.

I'm glad we came to our non-obligatory gift-giving arrangement early on in our relationship and that it's something that we're both happy about. Now, when I look back on the years that we've been together, we have lots of memories and pictures instead of haphazardly purchased trinkets.

• Robbie Cartwright started selling items when he was about 11.
• He now makes hundreds of thousands reselling sneakers online.
• He was late for his own 21st birthday because he was working, and he rarely sees friends.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Robbie Cartwright, founder of Yorkshire Trainers. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I've been selling things since I was a child: candy bars, fidget spinners — you name it.

My middle school had a challenge to see which student could take a small investment of about $10 and make the most profit. I won, selling hooks to hang handbags on. I profited more than $1,000 over the six weeks of the challenge, although it was all for charity.

By the time I was about 14, I was reselling sneakers. Some kids have hobbies or play sports, but I would troll eBay, looking for deals that I could make a profit on. I reinvested what I made, and soon started camping out in line for exclusive sneaker drops. I might spend $200 on a pair of sneakers from the factory, then resell them for $1,000 later that night.

That was my whole weekend: sourcing items to sell. Sometimes I could convince my friends to come camp outside stores with me. My parents weren't too keen on the idea of me sleeping outside overnight, but they let me do it. I believe it made me a tougher person.

I'm making tons of money, but that's not what motivates me

If I sold three pairs of sneakers, I'd use the profit to buy five more. I viewed selling as more of a hobby than a job. Still, it was taking up a lot of my time. I didn't study much and found any excuse I could to get out of school. By about 17, I was all in on the business.

That was four years ago, and the business has grown massively. Today, I do five figures of sales each month, and in May, I hit a record: more than $280,000 in one month.

Money isn't my main motivator. The industry of reselling online via live-streaming is still young, especially in the UK, where I'm based. I'm chasing that top spot in the industry because it's still up for grabs.

Friends have drifted because I'm so focused on work

Being so dedicated to work impacts all areas of my personal life. I used to go to watch my favorite football team with my friends every week. Now, I haven't seen a game in probably three years.

Unsurprisingly, my friends have drifted away. I'm not still friends with anyone I went to school with. I did a vacation with a new group of friends and had a great time, but for the next two years, I didn't want to take time off work to join their trip.

I just turned 21, and my parents hosted a party beginning at 5 p.m. on a Sunday. I worked until 7, and was late to my own birthday. My parents wish I wouldn't work so much, but I'm all gas, no brake. I figure that I can be on a yacht at 40; I don't need to be there at 20. I want a family, eventually, but not for a long time.

I don't see myself slowing down

Since I'm working all the time, I don't spend much money. Despite selling high-end sneakers, I don't spend much on clothes for myself. I'm wearing a $30 pair of sneakers today, and they're worn out. I also still live at home with my parents. I'll do that until they kick me out.

Last year, I bought two rental properties. I paid cash, so I don't have a mortgage. Other entrepreneurs have told me to invest when I'm young. Real estate is my way of doing that. I've invested a little in stocks, but mostly want to stick to what I know, and that's real estate. I'm a simple man.

Too many people my age are focused on instant gratification, but I'm the opposite: I want to build my wealth now. I get my thrill from watching the business grow, not from spending money.

Right now, I'm happy working full throttle. I'll do that until I hit a wall. I don't see any reason not to. I know I put a lot of pressure on myself, but I'm young — I have time to make mistakes.

• When we moved to an Italian village, my biggest worry was being far from my parents in the US.
• They were excited to visit us in Sicily, though, and even started looking at properties.
• Now, they're buying a house here — and the process has brought us closer than ever.

Nearly three years ago, my husband and I moved from New York City to a hillside Sicilian village. We'd bought a house here remotely, without seeing it in person until several months after the closing.

During the unconventional process, my now-75-year-old parents, based in Colorado, were our biggest supporters. We had long phone calls, during which we reviewed the pros and cons of each property.

They were as immersed in the adventure as we were. Sometimes, they'd even talk about "our house in Sicily" — as if we were buying them a Mediterranean home.

Still, I worried about how they'd feel when we decided to move here full-time. My dad's response: "We thought you'd do it sooner." Then, my parents started planning their first visit.

The hardest part of moving to Italy was leaving my aging parents

Supporting aging parents is emotionally fraught in the best of circumstances. Most of my friends in the US are struggling with it right now. Since my husband had recently lost both of his parents, we spent two months visiting mine before our one-way flight to Italy.

As if to drive home my worries, one night during this time, my dad had a health scare. He lost consciousness, and it took what felt like an eternity to revive him.

Paramedics rushed him to the hospital, and we learned that thankfully, he'd be OK — but for a few moments, I thought I was losing my dad.

Leaving felt like abandoning my family. In the years ahead, more care responsibilities would likely fall to my younger sister, who lives in Colorado near my parents.

My own chronic health issues also meant regular trips back to the US wouldn't be realistic. I just hoped that I could be helpful and supportive from afar.

My parents' first visit to Italy was a semi-disaster

After giving us a year to settle in Sicily, my parents planned their first monthlong visit. They arrived in mid-January 2025, and from the get-go, almost everything went awry.

They caught a norovirus while traveling, most excursions were rained out, and I mixed up the dates for the festival we'd scheduled their stay around. Oh, and the stray cat we'd been feeding had a litter of kittens in our kitchen! There was one unique highlight: My parents attended the oath ceremony for my Italian citizenship by marriage.

Despite that silver lining, I thought they would never want to return after so much chaos. But my parents are adventurous people — my dad worked as a Merchant Marine to put himself through college, then became a king crabber in Alaska. My mom spent years as a free-spirited hippie in California before studying art history.

On the days I worked, they explored our village on their own. They bought fresh bread at the bakery and picked up meat, cheese, and new friends at the macelleria.

Then my dad proposed an unexpected excursion: property viewings.

A surprise chance to become neighbors changed our thinking

Our local real estate agent said she had something special to show us: a newly listed three-bedroom house in our neighborhood.

Updated for one-floor living to support aging in place, the house even had a sizable (by Italian standards) walk-in shower. Upstairs were two more bedrooms, a half bath, and two enormous terraces perfect for gardening and grilling, some of my dad's favorite pastimes.

The best part? It was a 30-second walk from my home.

We all knew this house was the one. We loved the property, and also what it represented: a chance to reimagine our future yet again. Our offer was quickly accepted, though the path to closing has been slow.

My move to Italy brought us closer together

My parents returned for another month that spring and for three months this year. We were still waiting for the house to close, so finding short-term rentals in our non-touristy village was stressful but worth it.

We saw snow on Mount Etna, toured UNESCO World Heritage sites, shopped at bustling fish and produce markets, and spent hours getting lost on scenic backroads. My parents shared stories about their lives, some I'd never heard before.

For now, my parents plan to spend part of the year here, splitting their time near both of their daughters. A full-time move is a future possibility, though, so I've been keeping an eye on visa requirements.

I'm grateful that my 75-year-old parents are discovering new opportunities here in Italy. Now, instead of growing more distant — separated by an ocean and two continents — we're making lists of age- and mobility-appropriate future adventures.

• Pope Leo XIV spoke to diplomats in France on Friday.
• The Pope cautioned against losing our humanity "amid a paradise of machines."
• Addressing potential risks of AI has become a central theme of his papacy.

Pope Leo XIV has a new warning about AI.

The Pope cautioned against an overreliance on artificial intelligence and other technology during a speech to French diplomats, including President Emmanuel Macron, on Friday. Earlier that day, he traveled from Rome to Paris as part of an apostolic journey.

"If we are to avoid losing our humanity amid a 'paradise of machines' invading and conditioning our daily lives, there is an urgent need for education in ethical discernment and the capacity to acknowledge the moral good," Pope Leo XIV said. "This is indispensable if we are to recognize the genuine good that enables human beings to flourish in accordance with their primordial vocation, with unconditional respect for their interior freedom and their sacred dignity."

During a separate speech at the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization on Friday, Pope Leo XIV said AI can amplify misinformation.

"Indeed, without truth, language becomes subject to the logic of violence and to the arbitrary will of the powerful," he said.

Pope Leo XIV became head of the Catholic Church in 2025, three years after OpenAI launched ChatGPT and changed the AI landscape. Since then, tech companies like Google, Meta, and Anthropic have invested billions of dollars in a race to become the industry leader. Doing so could secure profits and market dominance, a massive victory for whichever company comes out on top.

Critics have expressed concerns that AI could exacerbate cybersecurity and privacy issues. An OpenAI agent escaped its system and hacked another AI company, Hugging Face, in July. Earlier this month, a research team at a small AI startup said it used Anthropic's Claude to hack into OpenAI's codebase. Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Google's Gemini had hacked three companies this spring.

And on Wednesday, Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said an OpenAI agent gained unauthorized access to a government website in June.

While tech leaders go back and forth on how to pace AI development, Pope Leo XIV has repeatedly advocated putting humans first as the frontier AI model revolution rages on. In August, he warned that AI could become a new form of "economic colonialism."

"The rapid development of artificial intelligence risks creating new forms of technological dependence, with poorer nations increasingly reliant on wealthier ones," he said during a speech to Christian lawmakers. "We must remain vigilant in this regard, lest innovation become another vehicle for ideological or economic colonialism."

He's also discussed how AI could impact jobs, family units, and the environment.

• The White House is blocking CNN from traveling on Air Force One with President Trump on Saturday.
• CNN had been scheduled to travel with Trump to Knoxville, Tennessee.
• The move is the latest development in the Trump administration's ongoing fight with CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO.

The White House is blocking CNN from traveling aboard Air Force One with President Donald Trump on Saturday, a CNN spokesperson confirmed, days after a federal judge ordered the administration to restore the network's access to the White House, along with POLITICO and MS NOW.

CNN had been scheduled to travel with Trump to Knoxville, Tennessee, where the president is expected to attend a college football game, as part of the rotating television press pool that covers the president in settings where space is limited. The pool's reporting and video are shared with other television networks.

But CNN was left off White House guidance for Saturday's trip, preventing the network from carrying out its scheduled pool duties aboard the president's plane. Such interventions in the television rotation have historically been rare. Typically, the five networks decide who is up for rotation.

A Saturday pool report noted that there would be no TV pool for the Tennessee trip, "meaning there won't be widely available independent video of events."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The move marks the latest development in the Trump administration's ongoing fight with CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO over access to the president. Trump announced last week that he was barring all three news organizations from the White House, accusing them of repeatedly reporting "FAKE NEWS."

CNN was also prevented from traveling aboard Air Force One when Trump traveled to New York for the United Nations General Assembly earlier this week. In response, the four other members of the five-network television pool — ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News — declined to take CNN's place.

But a federal judge early on Thursday stepped in and ordered the White House to immediately restore the three news organizations' press credentials.

On Saturday morning, Trump wrote on Truth Social, "FAKE NEWS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED IN THE WHITE HOUSE!!! IT HAS GONE ON FAR TOO LONG, AT A TREMENDOUS COST TO OUR COUNTRY."

This story originally appeared on POLITICO and is courtesy of the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, which harnesses the resources of the company's newsrooms to publish ambitious scoops, investigations, interviews, opinion pieces, and analysis. It allows journalists — including those from POLITICO, Business Insider, WELT, BILD, Onet, and Fakt — to collaborate on major stories for an international audience of hundreds of millions across platforms.

• Usually, "Saturday Night Live" is hosted by an actor or comedian, or sometimes a musician.
• But every so often, a brave athlete will try their hand at live sketch comedy at Studio 8H.
• Jalen Brunson will be the latest to give it a go on September 26, 2026.

Who wants to bet we'll hear "Live from New York, Knicks in five!" this weekend? Anyone?

Maybe you'd be more willing to take those odds when you learn that Knicks star Jalen Brunson is hosting "Saturday Night Live" this weekend, making him a part of a somewhat rare club: the athlete who's tried their hand at sketch comedy and hosted "SNL."

In over 1,000 episodes of the show, just 36 athletes have taken the big job at Studio 8H.

Charles Barkley, Travis Kelce, Michael Jordan, Ronda Rousey, Wayne Gretzky, LeBron James, Nancy Kerrigan, and Michael Phelps have all hosted the show before, to varying degrees of success, so Brunson is in good company.

Here's the full list of athletes who have hosted "SNL."

The first athlete to ever host "Saturday Night Live" was Fran Tarkenton on January 29, 1977, while he was playing for the Minnesota Vikings.

Tarkenton hosted during the second season of the show, with musical guests Leo Sayer and Donny Harper. The famed quarterback appeared on the show just 10 days after his team lost to the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XI.

On February 25, 1978, controversial former football pro OJ Simpson became the second athlete to host "Saturday Night Live."

Simpson can be seen here wearing one of the famous Coneheads. He appeared on the episode alongside musical guest Ashford and Simpson.

Legendary basketball player Bill Russell hosted on November 3, 1979.

Russell's episode aired during season five of the show, and he was accompanied by musical guest Chicago.

Football coaching icon John Madden made his way to Studio 8H on January 30, 1982.

During this time, Madden was working as a sportscaster for NFL games — clearly, hosting was in his wheelhouse. The musical guest for this season seven episode was Jennifer Holliday.

Former baseball player, Milwaukee Brewers announcer, and occasional actor Bob Uecker took on hosting duties during the October 13, 1984, episode.

Uecker was the announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers for over 50 years, until his death in January 2025. He also made frequent appearances as "Mr. Baseball" on "The Tonight Show" under Johnny Carson's tenure, and starred on "Mr. Belvedere" for over 100 episodes.

Uecker was joined by Peter Wolf as the musical guest in this season 10 episode.

Former NFL defensive tackle and actor Alex Karras hosted on February 2, 1985.

Karras appeared 15 years after he retired from the NFL in 1970. He was smack in the middle of his starring role on the sitcom "Webster," in which he played a retired football player who took in his godson, Webster, after his parents died.

The musical guest in this season 10 episode was none other than the queen herself, Tina Turner.

Pro wrestlers Mr. T and Hulk Hogan co-hosted on March 30, 1985.

Season 10 was filled to the brim with athletic hosts, including two of the most famous professional wrestlers of all time, Mr. T and Hulk Hogan, on the night before the very first WrestleMania took place on March 31, 1985, at Madison Square Garden.

The wrestlers were joined by The Commodores in season 10, episode 16.

Marvelous Marvin Hagler, one of the greatest middleweight boxers of all time, showed off his comedic chops on May 17, 1986. He co-hosted with journalist Jimmy Breslin.

Hagler hosted the show two months after what was his most recent victory (and what turned out to be his last career win ever) against John Mugabi, a silver medalist from Uganda.

Breslin and Hagler were joined by musical guests Level 42 and E.G. Daily.

Beloved Yankees manager Billy Martin co-hosted the season 11 finale with Anjelica Huston on May 24, 1986.

"SNL" loves paying homage to its New York heritage, as evidenced by the 11th season finale, which saw beloved former Yankee second baseman and frequently fired manager host the show, alongside Huston.

In the episode's final moments, "SNL" creator Lorne Michaels "fires" Martin for drinking on the job, and Martin retaliates by setting the dressing rooms on fire, prompting the message "Who will survive? Tune in October 11" to flash across the screen, poking fun at the dramatic soap opera cliffhangers that were popular at the time.

Huston and Martin's episode included George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic as musical guests. 

Football stars Joe Montana and Walter Payton co-hosted an episode that aired the night before the Super Bowl, on January 24, 1987.

Payton, one of the most beloved football players of all time — he was known as "Sweetness" around the NFL — had just finished the last season of his 13-year career when he hosted the ninth episode of season 12 alongside Montana.

Montana, not to be outdone, had two Super Bowl wins under his belt (and would go on to win two more).

Payton and Montana, and the rest of the audience, were regaled by the sounds of Debbie Harry as musical guest.

Carl Weathers was a professional athlete before he pivoted to acting — he played football for five years. He hosted "SNL" on January 30, 1988.

Weathers is now known, of course, for his role as Apollo Creed in the "Rocky" movies, as well as for playing Greef Karga in "The Mandalorian" before his death in February 2024.

But before that, he played professional football for five years with the Oakland Raiders and the BC Lions (of the Canadian League).

He hosted the January 30, 1988, episode as part of the promo tour for his February 1988 film "Action Jackson" and was also fresh off his part in "Predator" as Dillon.

The musical guest for season 13, episode 10, was Robbie Robertson.

Wayne Gretzky, arguably the most famous hockey player of all time, hosted on May 13, 1989.

Gretzky appeared as the "SNL" host in May 1989, right after his first season on the Los Angeles Kings had concluded — his first season playing for an American team. 

Gretzky was joined by Fine Young Cannibals, of "She Drives Me Crazy" fame.

Tennis player Chris Evert was the first female athlete to host the show. She hosted on November 11, 1989.

Evert appeared on the show just one month after she had retired from professional tennis on October 9, after 18 Grand Slam singles titles.

That season 15 episode also starred the Eurythmics as the musical guest.

Michael Jordan took his turn on the 30 Rock stage on September 28, 1991, just a few months after winning his first NBA championship.

Jordan and the Chicago Bulls won their first NBA championship on June 12, 1991 — then Jordan took his talents to NYC for the premiere of season 17 in September. Jordan was joined by musical guest Public Enemy.

Charles Barkley has hosted "SNL" four times, most recently on March 3, 2018.

The 11-time NBA All-Star hosted for the first time during the season 19 premiere on September 25, 1993 — the same year he was voted the NBA's overall MVP. The episode's musical guest was Nirvana.

He returned almost two decades later on January 9, 2010, during season 35. It was the first episode to air in the 2010s, and Alicia Keys was the musical guest.

Barkley returned two years later for the 11th episode of season 37, this time accompanied by Kelly Clarkson, on January 7, 2012. Earlier that day, he was a guest commentator for the NFL Wild Card playoffs, which was taped next door to "SNL."

His fourth appearance on the show was on March 3, 2018, during season 43, and he was joined by musical guest Migos.

Nancy Kerrigan hosted "SNL" on March 12, 1994, a few weeks after she won a silver medal at the Olympics and two months after the brutal attack in Detroit.

Kerrigan hosted "SNL" after earning a silver medal in figure skating at the 1994 Olympics in February. It also came after a few less-than-stellar media gaffes, including complaining about participating in a Disney World parade and dissing gold medalist Oksana Baiul.

Kerrigan hosted the 15th episode of season 19, which boasted Aretha Franklin as musical guest.

Boxer George Foreman made his "SNL" debut on December 17, 1994, two months after he became the oldest fighter ever to win a World Championship.

At 45 years old, Foreman became the oldest fighter to ever win a World Championship when he bested Michael Moorer on November 5, 1994. The next month, he headed over to Studio 8H to try his hand at hosting "SNL," accompanied by musical guest Hole, during the ninth episode of season 20.

One month after he won his first Super Bowl, Deion Sanders hosted "SNL" on February 18, 1995.

At the time, Sanders was a cornerback for the San Francisco 49ers. He earned his first Super Bowl ring on January 29, 1995. Only a few weeks later, he made the cross-country trip to Manhattan and hosted this season 20 episode, with musical guest Bon Jovi.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has hosted five times: March 18, 2000; April 13, 2002; March 7, 2009; March 28, 2015; and May 20, 2017.

Johnson is more well-known for his acting career than his wrestling one at this point, but when he made his "SNL" debut in 2000 with musical guest AC/DC, he was still credited as The Rock and was fully entrenched in WWF fighting.

The next time he appeared, in 2002, he had made his feature film debut in "The Mummy Returns," and he was there to promote his first leading role in April 2002's "The Scorpion King," with musical guest Andrew W.K.

Johnson returned seven years later with musical guest Ray LaMontagne in 2009 to promote "Race to Witch Mountain." He made another hosting appearance in 2015 in season 40 with musical guest George Ezra — this time, for his role in "Furious 7."

Most recently, he joined the Five-Timers Club in 2017, hosting the season 42 finale, accompanied by Katy Perry, promoting none other than "Baywatch."

New York superhero and one of the most famous Yankees of all time, Derek Jeter, hosted on December 1, 2001.

Though the Yankees lost the World Series that year, Jeter was still a local hero to many New Yorkers that season, especially after the devastating effect that 9/11 had on the city and the country. The 2001 World Series was the first professional sports championship that was played after the attack.

The baseball player brought the laughs, alongside musical guests Shakira and Bubba Sparxxx in season 27, episode seven.

Jonny Moseley, a famed freestyle skier, hosted the post-Olympics show on March 2, 2002.

Though Moseley just missed medaling at the 2002 games (he placed fourth), he had earned a gold medal in 1998, and he'd made a name for himself as the first skier to medal in both the X Games and the Olympics — he's been named one of the most influential skiers ever.

He hosted episode 13 of season 27, with musical guest Outkast.

NASCAR icon Jeff Gordon traded the track for the stage on January 11, 2003.

Gordon appeared as the "SNL" host smack in the middle of his illustrious racing career — he'd already won the Daytona 500 twice and the Winston Cup four times.

In perhaps the most 2003 episode of "SNL" ever, Gordon was accompanied by musical guest Avril Lavigne, who performed her hit, "Complicated."

The reigning US Open Tennis champion Andy Roddick hosted "SNL" on November 8, 2003.

Roddick earned his one and only Grand Slam title in September 2003, a few weeks prior to his hosting gig. He was joined in this season 29 episode by Dave Matthews & Friends, and his fellow tennis pro, John McEnroe, who made multiple cameos throughout the episode.

Of course, McEnroe is known to a whole new generation as the beloved narrator of "Never Have I Ever."

Tom Brady was fresh off his third Super Bowl win when he hosted the April 16, 2005, episode of "SNL."

Brady was well on his way to cementing his GOAT status in football, but, in classic Brady fashion, he just had to take it a step further by trying out a whole new skill: sketch comedy. The quarterback had just won his third Super Bowl in February 2005 against the Philadelphia Eagles when he hosted the 17th episode of season 30.

Brady was joined by musical guest Beck.

Cyclist Lance Armstrong hosted an episode on October 29, 2005, while his fiancée Sheryl Crow was the musical guest.

During the fourth episode of 31, "SNL" essentially became a date night for Armstrong and Crow, who, at the time, were one of the biggest celebrity couples. They split the following year.

Armstrong was tapped to host the show after winning the Tour de France in July, his seventh win and his final race before his (first) retirement. This win would later be stripped after Armstrong's doping controversy in 2012.

Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning hosted an episode on his 31st birthday, March 24, 2007.

He was also the newly crowned Super Bowl MVP — just a few weeks before, his team, the Indianapolis Colts, had beaten the Chicago Bears in February.

The football legend was not only joined by musical guest Carrie Underwood, but also by his brothers Eli and Cooper, his father Archie, and his mother Olivia to wish him a happy birthday later on in the show.

LeBron James was not yet the basketball powerhouse we all know him to be when he hosted on September 29, 2007.

Well, technically, James had been the All-Star Game MVP in 2006 before he took his talents to 30 Rockefeller Plaza to host the season 33 premiere on September 29, 2007, but he didn't yet have his four NBA championship titles.

The future "Space Jam: A New Legacy" star was joined by musical guest Kanye West.

For the second year in a row, an athlete hosted the season premiere, as Michael Phelps hosted the season 34 premiere on September 13, 2008.

Phelps was one month off his record-breaking performance at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where he won eight gold medals. During his appearance on the show, he was joined by some all-star cameos — famously, Tina Fey as Sarah Palin for the first time.

In fact, this was the episode when she proclaimed she could see Russia from her house.

The episode's musical guest was Lil Wayne.

Five years after his older brother hosted, Giants quarterback Eli Manning took on hosting duties on May 5, 2012.

Also like his brother, Manning hosted the sketch show during season 37 after he won the Super Bowl, this time in February 2012 against the New England Patriots.

As "SNL" is filmed in New York, having the Giants quarterback in the studio to host was a real hometown hero moment — and his Giants teammates Chris Snee, David Baas, David Diehl, and Shaun O'Hara joined in on the fun.

The musical guest was equally, if not more iconic: Rihanna.

Ronda Rousey became the first female wrestler to host "SNL" when she appeared in Studio 8H on January 23, 2016.

Rousey hosted the 11th episode of season 41, a few months after she had fought the infamous match against Holly Holm, which resulted in Rousey leaving UFC for over a year — and, on a more positive note, a few months after she had been named the best female athlete of all time by ESPN.

Rousey was joined by musical guest Selena Gomez.

John Cena became the second wrestler host of 2016 when he tried out hosting during the December 10 episode.

Cena had a very busy 2016 — he began appearing on the reality series "Total Bellas" alongside then-girlfriend Nikki Bella, hosted the reality competition "American Grit," hosted the 2016 ESPY Awards, and then capped it off with "SNL," all while appearing at WWE events.

The wrestler was joined by Maren Morris as musical guest.

NFL star JJ Watt hosted the February 1, 2020, episode.

In one of the final in-studio episodes of season 45, Watt, then a defensive end for the Houston Texans, hosted the show alongside musical guest Luke Combs.

His episode was the night before Super Bowl LIV.

Newly minted two-time Super Bowl champ Travis Kelce hosted on March 4, 2023.

Kelce, a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, hosted the episode with musical guest Kelsea Ballerini. His parents, Donna and Ed, and his brother, Jason, also made cameos.

Of course, since his episode aired, he's picked up another Super Bowl ring — and another ring on his left hand, too.

Jalen Brunson, Knicks legend and NBA Finals MVP, will host the premiere of season 52 on September 26, 2026.

New Yorkers will cap off a wonderful year to be a Knicks fan with Brunson's episode of "SNL." He'll be joined by musical guest Katseye.

• My husband and I finally redid the outdoor space of our fixer-upper home in Connecticut.
• We tore down the old deck and replaced it with a stone patio, which saved us about $33,000.
• The project cost us $27,000, and we now have a fantastic entertaining space that we love.

In 2023, my husband and I packed up our shoebox-sized apartment, said goodbye to our fast-paced Manhattan lifestyle, and headed to our new, adorable coastal Connecticut suburb. We purchased a fixer-upper and embraced it.

Our house was built in the '80s and came complete with linoleum kitchen floors, a compartmentalized dining and living space, and a dark-brown wooden back deck that had creaky steps.

Vision became our newest best friend, so we rolled up our sleeves and looked at each task as an exciting opportunity to make the house entirely our own.

Multiple renovation projects — and three years — later, the inside was just about done, and it was time to give the outside space its own personality.

Our newly renovated home deserved the same TLC on the outside as we gave it on the inside

The first spring in our new home, I spruced up the deck with an outdoor rug, a small sofa, two chairs, and fringed umbrellas as a sort of Band-Aid.

The deck was old and installed when the house was built in the '80s. It was too small for entertaining — and the overall aged condition of it was honestly a vibe killer.

Three years after purchasing our home, the backyard became a priority. After all, we were eager to spend most of our time outdoors enjoying the nice weather, and we wanted to make that area as nice as the inside.

We envisioned an outdoor space where we could entertain, kick back and relax, and make the most of our backyard.

But alas, we faced a crucial crossroad: Should we replace our deck with a new, larger one, or install a patio? We chose the latter and wouldn't have it any other way.

We saved a significant amount of money choosing a patio over a deck

An earlier renovation project we worked on involved swapping out our dated front porch for a new one with dark hickory-colored Trex decking and a cable railing to match our coastal aesthetic.

Based on the $14,000 price tag for labor and materials we invested in our front porch, we estimated that a new back deck built to the size we wanted — roughly five times our 8-by-10-foot front porch — would cost us over $60,000.

This estimate, along with our vision for aesthetics, solidified our decision to install a patio in our backyard. We ended up spending a little over $27,000 on a 600 square-foot (20 by 30 feet) patio, saving us an estimated $33,000 or more.

A patio made perfect sense for our dream of backyard entertaining and relaxing

From fine-tuning the right layout and stone pavers to selecting furniture that would optimize the space, we put much more thought into our patio than initially expected.

Our backyard genuinely deserved some extra love, and we gave it exactly that. It's now a peaceful oasis, complete with a backdrop of glacial rocks covered with ivy and lush foliage. In the future, we envision bountiful strawberry-vanilla hydrangeas spilling over the patio's back wall.

We decorated our new space with stone planters, lanterns, a plush six-seater sectional, Serena and Lily-esque throw pillows, a coordinating dining table, and fringe umbrellas.

Our patio also transformed how we entertain at home, from holiday barbecues to garden cocktail parties with friends. It serves as a seamless transition from indoors to outdoors.

And the best part? It has no boundaries, as it spills into our yard for games, flower picking, and cozying up around the fire pit.

When we're not planning social gatherings, we're sunbathing, curling up with a good book, or savoring wine at sunset. The money we saved was used to construct a new front walkway and fire pit area in the back.

• A version of this story originally appeared in the AI Insider newsletter.
• Sign up for Business Insider's weekly AI Insider newsletter here.

OpenAI recently published one of the clearest signals yet about which workplace skills may become most valuable in the AI era.

In a report on how its researchers use AI, the company shared data showing which tasks are being absorbed by AI and which still rely on people.

The biggest automation gains this year came in coding, technical support, monitoring computer runs, and analyzing results. By contrast, AI is still doing relatively little work deciding what projects to pursue, where to invest resources, or how to set priorities.

This offers a glimpse of where the value of work may shift.

Companies can measure whether code was written, products shipped, or bugs fixed, making those tasks easier to automate. Deciding what should be built in the first place is harder. It requires judgment, context, tradeoffs, and a willingness to take risks.

As OpenAI put it: "People still set our research priorities, judge which ideas and results to pursue, and decide whether to scale, pause, or deploy systems."

In other words, the future of human work may shift away from execution and toward making the right decisions.

Sign up for the AI Insider newsletter here. Reach out to me via email at abarr@businessinsider.com

The Longhorns and Volunteers will clash in this weekend's most-anticipated SEC showdown. We've highlighted everything you need to know about how to watch Texas vs. Tennessee, including global live streaming options.

If you don't want to scroll any further, you can live stream the game on ESPN Unlimited in the US, and on DAZN in the UK and other regions. You can access your usual streaming options from anywhere with a VPN, such as NordVPN.

What channel is Texas vs. Tennessee on?

This weekend's Texas vs. Tennessee game will air on ABC in the US. The game is scheduled to kick off on Saturday at 12 p.m. ET.

How to watch Texas vs. Tennessee in the US

Cord-cutters can catch ABC through a live TV service, like YouTube TV or Fubo, or the network's direct sports streaming counterpart, ESPN Unlimited.

ESPN Unlimited costs $32 a month and unlocks full live streams for all ESPN networks, along with ESPN on ABC games and streaming-exclusive programming. You can learn more in our ESPN streaming service guide.

ABC is also available in several live TV streaming services, including YouTube TV and Fubo, two of our top recommendations. YouTube TV carries ABC and 100+ other channels in its Main plan, which typically costs $83 a month. However, a limited-time deal will discount the first five months of service down to $68 a month for new customers. ABC and 30+ other channels are also available in the cheaper Sports plan, which typically costs $65 a month. A limited-time deal will knock the Sports plan down to $45 a month for six months for new users. Both plans unlock ESPN Unlimited live streaming and offer a free trial for first-time customers.

Fubo is another popular live TV service. ABC and around 30 other channels are available in the Sports + News plan, which costs $65 a month when available. ABC is also available in the pricier Pro and Elite tiers, which unlock 200+ channels. All of these plans come with a free trial and introductory month offers for new customers. Subscriptions also unlock access to ESPN Unlimited at no extra cost.

How to watch Texas vs. Tennessee in the UK and other regions

In the UK and other international markets, DAZN live streams loads of college football games every week. Not every game is guaranteed coverage, so it's always a good idea to double-check that the game you want to watch is available. Texas vs. Tennessee will definitely be shown in the UK this weekend, so fans are in luck. DAZN NCAA College Sports subscription prices vary from region to region.

How to watch Texas vs. Tennessee from anywhere

If you're a football fan traveling abroad right now, you can still access your usual streaming options by utilizing a VPN. Short for virtual private networks, VPNs are handy cybersecurity apps that let people temporarily change their virtual location. This way, their favorite websites and apps work overseas the same way they would back home. Since the platforms we've recommended today require country-specific payment methods, this option will work best for those who are just traveling away from home right now.

NordVPN is one of the best VPNs around. It's fast, easy to use (even for beginners), and has a hassle-free 30-day money-back guarantee. You can learn more in our NordVPN review.

How are the teams doing?

Both teams have had strong starts to the season. Texas is currently ranked No. 1, following wins against Texas State, Ohio State, and UTSA. Tennessee is No. 14, following wins against Furman, Georgia Tech, and Kennesaw State.

Where does the game take place?

The Tennessee Volunteers will host this weekend's game. The match-up will take place at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.

Who is favored to win Texas vs. Tennessee?

Texas is the favorite to win today's game. According to DraftKings (at the time of writing), Texas is -198 on the moneyline, while Tennessee is +164.

Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Business Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

For true coffee lovers, brewing isn't just a morning routine — it's a personality trait. Whether they're dialing in espresso grind sizes, obsessing over single-origin roasts, or simply seeking a fun desk mug, finding the right gift means skipping the generic novelty junk.

While most true coffee buffs likely have the basics covered, like the best coffee maker or espresso machine, we rounded up 21 editor-approved gifts for coffee lovers that can elevate their daily brew, expand their coffee knowledge, or add a touch of whimsy to their counter space. Good coffee doesn't have to be complicated, and neither do the gifts.

Cozy latte cubes

Teaspressa - Instant Latte Cubes

Add a little whimsy to their daily ritual. All they have to do is pop in one of these sugar cubes to turn their drip coffee into a latte. This set includes three flavors: Cinnamon Hazelnut, Biscotti Cookie, and Orange Vanilla Cream. Try individually or layer them in together, and add a splash of milk.

These statusy iced coffee cups

Nespresso Iced Tumbler

Coffee is best enjoyed in a fun cup, and these Tritan (aka durable and drop-proof) ribbed (for great grip) cups with a domed lid (leakproof) make a great case for toting along for your morning commute. While we've spotted it on resale sites for double the price, it's currently in stock in every color. And if you want to go all-out and pair it with the best Nespresso machine, we've compared the top models.

A coffee subscription

Trade Coffee Subscription

Help them find their new favorite roast and explore independent roasters and coffee shops from across the country. Once they take a flavor profile quiz, Trade will send them freshly roasted coffee (whole or ground beans) on a set cadence that accounts for their preferences and helps expand their coffee palate.

A coffee grinder for the freshest beans

OXO Brew Conical Burr Coffee Grinder

Forget pre-ground beans and improve their daily coffee prep. The closer to brewing after grinding, the better the flavor. The OXO Brew Conical Burr Grinder is our favorite budget coffee grinder, but you won't feel any compromises here. It can hold up to 12 ounces of coffee and has 43 grind settings suitable for drip, cold brew, French Press, and even espresso.

A way to show off their mug collection

Handmade Mug Stand

If they love coffee, it only makes sense that they likely have an extensive mug collection to match. Instead of indulging them with another mug, why not provide them with a way to show off their favorites with this handmade wooden mug stand?

An automatic pour over machine

Cosori Juni Automatic Pour Over Machine

Depending on their level of coffee obsession, we don't doubt they've tried every method of preparation, but what about an automatic pour-over — the next era of coffee gadget to get excited about? Beyond being extremely eye-catching on their counter, this is the intersection of coffee and technology. The glass basket rotates around the water spigot and vibrates to recreate the precision of hand-crafted pour-over techniques, while a smart connected feedback system (where users can rate the acidity, sweetness, bitterness, and body) will help guide them to their perfect cup.

A coffee and chocolate tasting set

Driftaway Coffee + Chocolate Pairing Box

Chocolate and coffee are the ultimate combination. This pairing box from Driftaway Coffee, a Brooklyn-based roaster, pairs three 2-ounce bags of coffee with single-origin dark chocolate bars from Raaka Chocolate, made in small batches with unroasted, vegan ingredients. The experience includes a tasting and pairing guide with recommendations to help you notice how flavors shift and complement each other.

A coffee table book about coffee

The World Atlas of Coffee, 3rd edition

Widely considered required reading for any coffee aficionado, the third edition of world-renowned coffee expert James Hoffmann's The World Atlas of Coffee charts coffee production and its influences across 35 countries and the various ways of preparation. For anyone looking for a deeper glimpse into the nuances of coffee, this book can shift them from casual appreciation to true knowledge.

A coffee-scented candle

Paddywax Cappuccino Candle

Presented in the most giftable box, Paddywax's Cappuccino candle smells of brewed coffee beans and cocoa powder, followed by decadent notes of salted butter and toasted caramel, a sweet, gourmand scent that makes their space smell like their favorite cuppa. Once the soy candle burns, the ceramic vessel can be repurposed as a latte cup or a cute trinket dish.

A knockbox for their espresso pucks

Auden Arctic Knockbox

If they're getting serious about their espresso prep, a dedicated knockbox is an affordable addition to their kit for dumping espresso pucks without having to carry their portafilter over to the garbage.

An iconic NYC-inspired coffee cup

Ceramic Greek Coffee Cup

The lore and history of this iconic coffee cup run deep; at one point, it was the familiar option served at every NYC deli and coffee stand. Channel the single-serve take-out classic into a hearty, reusable ceramic vessel.

Coffee syrup with globally-inspired flavors

Transcendence Coffee Syrup

The perfect sidekick for their coffee station, these coffee syrups from Transcendence Coffee turn their daily latte into a third-wave coffeehouse treat. Instead of too-sweet, artificially flavored syrups, all of Transcendence Coffee's globally inspired syrups are made with pure cane sugar, whole spices, and no preservatives. Flavors include Miso Salted Caramel, Cinnamon Social, or French Lavender Madelaine. Beyond coffee, you can pour it into tea, desserts, and cocktails to elevate the flavor.

A funky version of the best French press

Bodum - x World Market 8 Cup French Press

Bodum makes some of the best French Presses, admittedly. Typically, they follow a classic, utilitarian design, but we love this spunky Memphis-inspired take with a teal lid, yellow handle, and orange plunger knob. It's a cheerful way to start their day.

A mug that will keep their coffee from going cold

Ember Mug 3

Ember recently relaunched the mug that put them on the map. The third generation of its heated mug now includes temperature adjustment either on the mug itself or using the accompanying Ember app, a top-rack dishwasher-safe convenience, and a sliding lid. The mug can hold at its ideal temperature for up to three hours on a single charge. This is a big upgrade over the previous generation, which had a battery life of just 1.5 hours and was hand-wash only.

Proper coffee storage

Fellow Atmos Vacuum Coffee Canister

While it can be tempting to leave beans in their bag, especially if the container reseals, once it's opened, the best way to keep whole beans fresh for longer is to store them in an opaque, airtight container. Fellow's vacuum coffee canisters have an integrated vacuum pump that seals in air and reduces oxidation. It's available in several sizes, but the 0.7-liter can hold up to 11 ounces, or a typical bag of beans.

A cutesy bag charm

Stoney Clover Lane Dunkin' Iced Coffee Bag Charm

For the friend who never leaves the house without an iced Dunkin' in hand, this embroidered charm from the Stoney Clover x Dunkin collab lets them wear their caffeine addiction on their sleeve—or their tote bag.

Excellent coffee on the go

AeroPress Go Travel Coffee Press

If they're a frequent traveler or an outdoors enthusiast, just because they're not near their everyday setup, should they have to sacrifice their morning coffee? An AeroPress is one of our favorite methods for single-serve coffee. Its versatility is unmatched, brewing drip/French Press, cold-brew, and even espresso-style coffee in minutes. This travel set includes a portable 3-in-1 brewer, a lightweight, microwaveable mug with a silicone lid, and a travel filter holder.

Encourage their mini-me to unleash their future barista

Espresso Treats Wooden Coffee Stand Playset

If their mini-me is always in tow on the way to the coffee shop, this pretend-play coffee shop will let them practice taking your coffee order and get creative, dreaming up all the coffee concoctions they can squeeze onto the specials board.

A comfy sweatshirt

Ralph's Coffee Sweatshirt

No trip to NYC is complete without a visit to Ralph's Coffee; everything just feels right there. A cozy Ralph's Coffee Sweatshirt (perhaps packaged alongside a bag of their medium roast) is exactly what we'd like to settle into this fall.

The lingering scent of coffee

Tom Ford Café Rose Eau de Parfum

Tom Ford's Café Rose is not your typical floral rose fragrance. This scent layers dark roast coffee, earthy patchouli, and smoky incense, creating a scent that's both sophisticated and sultry.

A craft to show their love for coffee

The Embroidered House Croissant Iced Coffee Needlepoint Canvas

Analog hobbies, like needlepoint, continue to reign in 2026. Here, they can work on their coffee-themed canvas while sipping on their cold brew.

• Kelsey Fiegle spent seven years as a UX designer until a layoff forced her to take on extra work.
• After quitting and applying to 100 new jobs, she joined her husband in game development.
• Fiegle's dress-up game drew millions of plays, and the couple now lives a traveling lifestyle.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kelsey Fiegle, an independent game developer behind Vortella's Dress Up. She developed the game with her husband, Wes Thorburn. Their games are available on the browser gaming platform Poki. The essay has been edited for length and clarity.

I spent seven years as a user experience designer at a Chicago creative agency. When two people on my team were laid off,

I was expected to take on their work.

I remember thinking, "I can't do the work of three people."

I left without another job lined up. My husband, Wes Thorburn, who was already developing games independently, thought we could make games together, but I wanted to find another tech role first.

After about 100 applications, I decided to give the dress-up game I had been building a real shot, and it changed my life entirely within the month.

Client work wore me down

Wes and I met in a game design class while I was studying abroad in Australia in 2013. Neither of us was pursuing game design. I took the class because I needed extra credit and thought it sounded fun.

After we got married and settled in the US, Wes started experimenting with web games while waiting for his work permit. He eventually released games on Poki, and they began bringing in enough money to help pay our bills. I helped him with sound, 3D modeling, and user experience design while keeping my agency job.

For a long time, I was the agency's only UX designer. Some days, I tracked time for 10 different clients. There were weekly presentations, deadlines, and projects that changed when a client mentioned a requirement late in the process.

I learned a lot and had a really good team, but the work was stressful. I'd pour my heart into a project, only to find out it was all wrong because the client had forgotten to tell us something.

Once, a client needed work finished on short notice. I worked all Saturday and Sunday to get it done. When the client saw it on Monday, they decided they needed a week to review it instead of two days. Moments like that wore me down.

A layoff became the last straw

At a game developer conference in 2023, Wes and I asked the Poki team what kinds of games they wanted to see more of. They said dress-up games. I liked making things in 3D, so I began building a 3D dress-up game alongside my full-time job.

I had been trying to get more help for my team, so I wouldn't have to work so much. Then the agency laid off two of my coworkers and expected me to pick up their work.

I liked my team and didn't want to leave them in a difficult position, so I gave the agency a couple of months to find another solution. But they didn't, so I couldn't keep going.

Wes told me, "Kelsey, you can do this. We could do this together. It'd be fine. We could pull this off." I wasn't sure. I was applying hard for jobs because I wanted an in-house tech role, not another agency job.

It was difficult to make that move. Going through interviews and getting rejected hurt my confidence, especially when I really wanted a particular job. I told myself that if I reached 100 applications without finding anything, I would try game development.

That's what happened. I spent about four months working full time on my dress-up game. I needed income, including money for health insurance, so I eventually released it even though I didn't feel it was finished.

"Vortella's Dress Up" launched in December 2024. I was shocked at how well it did. It got about 10 million plays in its first month.

The game gave us freedom

Poki team members suggested that the game could do even better if it were multiplayer. Until then, Wes and I had mostly worked on separate games. He had experience building multiplayer features for his pizza game, so we decided to develop my game together.

Today, the game gets roughly 10 million to 15 million plays a month, though that changes with the season. It has so far reached 276 million total plays from 63.1 million unique players, with 50.6 million hours of total playtime. We keep adding clothing, minigames, and other features, and try to update it at least twice a month.

Wes and I had always wanted the flexibility to spend time with his family in Singapore and Australia. We visit them each year and add other destinations when we can. We've traveled to Vietnam and Hong Kong, visited relatives in Italy and Germany, and stopped by Poki's office in Amsterdam.

I think about the tech job I wanted so badly during my search. If I were offered it now, I'd turn it down. I have a way better job.

• My son was born when I was 19, and we grew up together.
• I've tried to show him what's possible if he's willing to work for it.
• I recently took him to a Michelin-star restaurant to show him the life he can have if he succeeds.

My first child was born a few days after I turned 19. Looking into his eyes as I held him, I told myself I wanted to give him a better life than I had.

I was a homeless teenager, and I had to raise myself. I had to figure everything out and start my adult life from desperation and struggle.

I wasn't going to let my son, Michael, experience the same things. I promised myself I would show him a better life and what's possible through my actions.

That's why I recently took my adult son to a fine-dining experience in Bangkok.

We grew up together, and he got to see my growth

By the time he was born, I had started my first business, and it grew quickly. As Michael grew up, he saw the small businesses I started and came to work with me.

My son was curious and asked questions about entrepreneurship, money, and what it means to live a good life. We had great conversations on father-son workdays.

His mother and I eventually got divorced. I worried it would put emotional distance between us and undo the lessons I was teaching him, but that wasn't the case. We kept building our relationship after the divorce.

Michael graduated from high school, went to college, and got an adult job. I was glad to see him applying what I taught him and putting in the work to build his life.

I moved outside the US when I became an empty nester

After years of traveling and living in a dozen countries, I settled in Bangkok, Thailand.

My son recently came to visit me in Thailand, and I wanted to remind him about the conversations we've had about what's possible.

Michael came to see his old man, and I took him around the city. I showed him all the touristy things in Bangkok, and he was excited to be on vacation from his job.

I took him to a Michelin-star restaurant

I've had many fun experiences traveling to 89 countries and have eaten delicious food in many places, but I've never eaten at a Michelin-star restaurant.

Michael and I went to Sühring, where I paid $900 for this three-Michelin-star fine-dining experience.

The service, the absolutely delicious food, and the time with my oldest child, enjoying the finer things in life, are something I'll never forget.

We took our time during the 3.5-hour meal. We savored each course and continued our lifelong conversation about goals, dreams, working hard, and what's possible if you're willing to take action.

But the meal was the real conversation: Each course's creativity used taste, texture, presentation, and flavor to create a unique eating experience.

I got to try German Whisky for the first time. It was expensive, but sipping it made me feel bougie.

Each course and the service gave us an experience we normally don't get. I sat there motivated to work even harder so I could have more experiences like this. I shared that with my son.

Even though it was expensive, it was worth every penny to show him the life he can achieve

I got to show Micahel he can experience the finer things in life if he's willing to work for them. It made the price worth it.

My son saw firsthand that my business's success could let me spend $900 on a meal without thinking about the cost.

I didn't get these kinds of experiences growing up, and it affected my mindset negatively. I started my adult life with so many limiting beliefs because I didn't have anyone to show me otherwise.

Thank goodness for therapy, which helped me overcome my past trauma and learn to see what's possible for my life.

I'm grateful for this Michelin-star experience, despite the price. My son left Thailand with a vivid life lesson in the best way possible. I feel I'm doing my part as a father to raise a strong young man.

• In their 70s, Kathie Schwartz and her husband found their three-story home difficult to navigate.
• They moved into a smaller one-story home and built a 480-square-foot tiny home in the backyard.
• The tiny home will eventually house a live-in caretaker, allowing them to age in place.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kathie Schwartz, 72, who built a tiny home in her California backyard. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

I wanted to get ahead of planning for old age. My husband and I are in our 70s and in very good health, but we've been losing friends and going to a lot of celebrations of life. At our age, that's pretty common.

After one celebration of life, my husband looked at me and said, "Promise me you'll never put me in a home." That was kind of my jumping-off point: What were our options?

I started thinking about whether our home was still right for us and whether we were living in the right place. I had gone through it with my parents and watched friends go through it, too.

At the time, we were living in a three-story, 3,600-square-foot home in Truckee, California, near Lake Tahoe. In the winter, we could get 22 feet of snow in our yard. There was one year we didn't see our front door for three months. At a certain age, there's a limit to how long you can live in that kind of snow.

We decided it was best to downsize and move, especially as many of our friends were leaving the area.

We don't want to live in a retirement community

At first, we considered living in a retirement community. We visited places all over — Nevada, Central California, and other areas where older people go for low taxes and to have a resort-style lifestyle.

I'll tell you, while these places have everything you could need, there's just something weird about them.

One of the places we tried out was a beautiful development in Arizona. It was in the middle of nowhere. You drive through nothing, and then all of a sudden, the gates open, and there are waterfalls, palm trees, stadium pickleball courts, mahjong rooms, and golf courses.

They had beautiful model homes lined up on a block. You could pick everything, from the furnishings to the lot you wanted, and they would just plop the whole thing down for you.

We stayed there for two or three days. As we were leaving, the gate opened, and beyond it was just the desert. My husband stopped the car at the gate, looked at me, and said, "There is no way I'm ever living here." I said, "I hear you." That crossed it off the list.

First, we downsized to a much smaller home

We eventually decided to move into a home we owned in Petaluma, California. It's a single-story, 1,100-square-foot house built in 1924. We'd bought it 35 years earlier and had always used it as a rental property.

It was quite a shock to go from our 3,600-square-foot Truckee home to 1,100 square feet. But this little home is worth well over $1 million. If we wanted a place with extra bedrooms or guest rooms, we'd be looking at close to $2 million just to get something comparable to our old home.

The house has a backyard, but it wasn't much of one. For a while, I kept thinking, "Okay, what would I put back there? How could we use it?"

Around that time, a friend of mine who lives with her mother bought a large piece of property. Her mother still wanted to maintain her independence, so she built her a tiny home in the backyard.

While my friend was researching and planning the construction, we talked about it all the time. It inspired me to build one of our own, though it took a while to convince my husband.

Then we built a tiny home in our backyard

We decided to build with Colorado-based Studio Home. For about a year, I played around on their website, designing what I envisioned. Eventually, we hired a landscape architect and decided to build a 480-square-foot unit, the largest we could on the property.

The permitting process took about a year before we could begin construction. And then, of course, there were so many decisions to make: what kind of windows we wanted, what finishes to use — it was a lot.

Once construction started, though, it went pretty quickly. The foundation took the longest, along with trenching for the sewer and electrical lines.

We completed building in 2022. The home has a kitchen and a bathroom, and instead of building a separate bedroom, I put in a Murphy bed. In all, the project cost about $280,000.

Adding this tiny home to our property was truly one of the best real-estate decisions I've ever made. Not only did it increase the value of our property, but it has also given us so much flexibility.

We plan to age in place here

We use our tiny home for many things. First, it serves as a guest house when people come through town, since our main house is too small to comfortably host guests. Living in Petaluma is expensive, so building the tiny home was a more practical option than trying to find a larger house.

Second, I teach mahjong, so I host classes there. And third, our longer-term goal is that, if I eventually need to hire someone to help care for us — as we don't have children — they could live in the tiny home. That way, we wouldn't have to move to a retirement community, which can be very expensive.

The goal is always to stay in our home as long as possible. By building this tiny house, we have so many more options depending on my health. It's given us so much freedom.

I have this conversation with my friends all the time. We don't have to go the route our parents went, right? We're a different generation; we don't need to end up in a retirement home.

We've decided to band together and plan for our futures. We've talked about buying a larger piece of property and putting a bunch of tiny homes on it so we can live together as a community.

As you get older, you want to live somewhere you're comfortable and be around the people you care about. Sometimes the people you consider family aren't necessarily your birth family — your friends become your community and support system.

The best rain boots for women have to do more than just keep your feet dry. They should be supportive enough to walk in for hours, grippy on slick stairwells, and easy to slip on as you're rushing out the door.

How I tested rain boots

To determine the most comfortable rain boots, I tested 19 pairs over three months in real-world conditions — from wet concrete and stairwells to flooded hiking trails. As I walked, I evaluated each pair for waterproofing, traction, comfort, and everyday style. I also tracked how well they lasted over time, in case I saw any cracked rubber or worn-out soles.

After miles of walking in wet Colorado weather, these are the rain boots I reach for anytime the skies turn gray. Whether you need a lightweight pair for fall errands, a durable option for rough, muddy terrain, or insulated boots that seal out the cold, damp air, these are all the top-performing styles. Learn more about how the Reviews team tests shoes at BI.

Best overall: Merry People Andie Ankle Rain Boot

They're stayed comfortable from light drizzles to torrential downpours . These boots passed all my real-world tests: I walked in full-blown rainstorms (hey, the dogs must be walked), stood in puddles, and walked through wet grass without having any water seep in. The rubber outer and neoprene ankle-lining combo kept my feet dry and comfortable.

As someone who loves a supportive walking sneaker, I wouldn't wear these on an all-day city trek. But for regular rainy-day errands and outdoor chores, these are my top pick. If you need rain boots for long walks with more arch support, I recommend Bogs Hazel Chelsea Boots instead.

If you're in shorts, the ankle collars are just wide enough to let in some rain. Yet for the most part, they were narrow enough to keep out water from over the top. I walked in the Andie rain boots for over an hour and found the bolded insole provided just enough arch support to prevent fatigue.

The low-calf height is ideal for most people. These are the Goldilocks height of rain boots. With a 7-inch shaft, they're high enough to reach above the ankles on tall ladies, while they're still short enough to hit mid-calf on people 5-foot-2 and under. I'm 5-foot-5, and these come up to my lower calves. I was able to wear them both with leggings tucked in, or jeans pulled up overtop. Either way, I never felt bunched up or restricted. If you plan to wade into calf-deep water or muck, you'll probably want something taller — but for day-to-day rain protection, these will do the trick.

They're easy to slip on — and your foot stays put. A common issue with pull-on rain boots is they're either too floppy or too stiff. The Andie boots strike the perfect balance. The back pull tab and wide neoprene-finished mouth makes them easy to get on and off, while the flexible rubber has enough structure to stay upright while you slide your foot in. Once you're in, these boots hug your foot so you won't slide around inside.

You can tell these are designed specifically for women's feet, which are typically more narrow in the midfoot and heel area, while wider in the forefoot. As someone who prefers a semi-wide toe box, these fit me comfortably. I typically wear a size 7.5, and while the Andies only come in full sizes, an 8 fit me perfectly.

Their fun, waterproof design instantly brightens a gloomy day. Merry People's Andie Ankle Rain Boots are a simple design, but they're the pair I kept reaching for when heading out into the rain. They're reliably waterproof and easy to walk in without any frills: the neoprene ankle collar is loose enough to easily get your foot into, and it doesn't rub against your skin. The slight heel makes them comfortable to walk in. But best of all, the design is playful — they feel like fun rain boots made for big kids. Offered in three bright colorways and one basic black (I tested the Wave Blue), these boots make a dreary day feel a lot less gray.

Best ankle boot: Hunter Play Short Rain Boot

They're stylish but practical. In true Hunter fashion, the Play Short Boot's design is clean, minimalist, and classic, so you can wear them with jeans or hiking leggings. They have a slight wedge design, which not only gives you a little height but is also good for your feet when walking long distances. All that said, their ankle height keeps them lightweight and doesn't restrict movement or trap heat the way a taller rain boot can.

They hit the sweet spot of protection and mobility. Like I mentioned, an ankle rain boot is ideal for staying dry while splashing through puddles or mud. The Play Short Boots are made of 100% natural rubber construction (a Hunter staple), which I found to be totally waterproof during testing. When I ran these under a faucet for 3 minutes straight, no water leaked in.

They're comfortable — but run large. After wearing these rain boots on dog walks, running errands, and walking through wet, grassy trails, I can attest they are very comfortable to walk in for up to an hour — although they don't have the best traction on mud. The footbed is supportive enough, the 100% recycled polyester lining effectively prevents heat build-up, and the boot, while not the most contoured, is fitted enough that I didn't feel like my feet were swimming inside the boot at all. That said, these boots run slightly large and don't come in half sizes, so I recommend sizing down.

Best for walking: Bogs Hazel Chelsea Boots

They're comfortable and reliable to walk for miles in. One thing about me: I have high arches and chronic lower back pain, so I am unyielding when it comes to supportive walking shoes. I've tested a lot of flat-soled rain boots, but Bogs' Hazel Chelsea Boots are great for taking long walks. These have more arch support and cushioning than the our top overall pick, Merry People's Andies. With Bogs' Biobased Rebound footbed, an internal steel shank for added stability, and a grippy outsole designed for slick conditions, I felt secure on slippery cement and fatigue-free after a 3-mile walk.

The fit is secure, even if you're between sizes. I wear a size 7.5, so I was surprised that the size 8 locked in my foot as well as it did. The toe box was roomy enough for my slightly-wide feet, the midfoot felt secure, and the heel stayed put without lift (which is a huge plus for being non-lace up boots, too). These feel clearly designed with all-day movement in mind.

They have a simple, understated design. The Hazel Chelsea boots have a minimalist look and seamlessly pair with everyday outfits. I could wear them under jeans on a walk about town, or tucked outside leggings for a long day of errands. There's no loud branding, bold colors, or chunky silhouettes — just a clean, functional look that blends in (in the best way). Their aesthetic doesn't scream "rain boots," which means I felt inclined to wear them even in dry weather (a huge pro for bringing them on shoulder season travels).

The ankle entry is a little fussy — but designed for a purpose. Getting these boots on does take a bit more coordination than the wide-mouth styles I tested. You'll need both hands to affix the interior pull tabs and slide them on, so they're not great slip-on-and-go boots. I learned this time and time again when I'd try and quickly shove my feet in to chase after my dog in the front yard. That said, once they're on, those soft and flexible cuffs becomes a huge pro. They hug your ankles just enough to keep warmth in and rain out, and do so without chafing or restricting your movement. It's a little annoyance at first, but it pays off in comfort and function once you're out the door.

Read more in our full Bogs boot review.

Best multi-season: L.L. Women's Bean Boots

Our fit tip: Bean boots run true to size. Choose the wide fit if you like extra wiggle room for thick socks.

This single pair of boots will serve you year-round. If you want a rain boot that can carry you through all four seasons — from spring showers to slushy winters — the classic L.L. Bean Boot is incredibly well-designed and easily adaptable to any forecast. Crafted from full-grain leather (which has a natural water-resistance) with the brand's signature, ultra-durable triple-needly stitching, these boots are waterproof, durable, and just roomy enough inside to let you layer thicker socks in the colder months without sacrificing comfort during the warmer ones. I wore them with standard socks in a 60°F rainstorm and my feet stayed dry and comfortable. I then layered thicker socks once the temperatures dropped to walk through park trails.

Their lace-up system intuitive and easy to adjust. These are the only lace-up rain boots on our list because the design is ideal for adjusting the fit to your sock warmth, as well as for foot security. They're easy to cinch down and keep your foot locked in place while walking. They're also easy to get on with a rear pull loop and V-stay design at the heel for added structure. The boot tongues are sewn to the sides, while the leather ages gracefully. Even straight out of the box, I didn't find the folds cumbersome to lace up. In fact, I liked how this created a seamless tongue to keep water from seeping in below the laces, even when I splashed through puddles.

They're nice for walking, but not ideal for mud. Despite having the brand's iconic chain-tread outsole, I felt they were way too slippery in mud puddles. That said, they were comfortable to walk in on all other terrain like terrain and pavement, and my feet appreciated the comfortable dual-density insole with their supportive steel shanks.

They're built to last decades. While the leather definitely has a break-in period, the material — and these boots — only get more comfortable with time. They're also built to last years (if not decades) thanks to the careful attention to details, like the triple stitch soles, strong lace holes, and durable rubber outsoles.

Best value: Xtratuf 12" Legacy Boots

You're scoring two boots in one. If you wear rain boots often, whether because you live in a rainy climate or you work in a wet environment, then the Xtratuf 12" Legacy Boots are a surefire hit.

The foldable shafts are a major win. Pull them up to their full 12-inch height when you're splashing through deep puddles, or fold them down to mid-calf when you need extra mobility. I was surprised to find their latex neoprene (an alternative to rubber) felt super pliable, making it very easy to fold. At the same time, it felt felt robust enough that there was no sign of cracking after repeated roll-downs.

The brand is built on durability in the field. Xtraruf is a name trusted by fishermen and outdoor pros because its boots are well-thought through and built to withstand the elements. The 100% waterproof Legacy Boot is constructed with a triple-dipped technique that creates a seamless barrier to fortify against incoming rain, as well as to make them more resistant against seawater, chemicals, and acids. The latex neoprene used is soft and light for easy mobility. These boots also have a chevron, slip-resistant outsole that provides grippy traction across slick docks and boat surfaces, wet underbrush, or muddy trails — in fact, these were one of the few pairs of rain boots I tested that felt safe to walk in slippery mud.

They're comfortable enough for all-day wear. Though these boots are uninsulated (read: wear good socks!), they are built with cushioned insoles that offered me solid arch support and kept my feet from feeling overly fatigued after a few hours of walking around in them. They're designed to hug the foot snugly, and because the neoprene upper is flexible, these boots will adapt to your foot shape over time, thereby reducing hotspots. Note they do run slightly small; I typically wear a size 7.5 and the 8 just fit me. They would definitely be too tight if wore them with thick socks.

They come at a great price. Considering the durability, intentional construction, and supportive footbed, these boots are a steal at under $100. Add to that that you're essentially scoring both a tall, highly-protective rain boot and a convenient short rain boot when folded down, all in one — the value of these rain boots is unbeatable.

Most stylish: Merry People Fergie Tall Rain Boot

They're fully waterproof. Perhaps surprising considering how good-looking they are, the Fergie Boots are indeed 100% waterproof. They're made from natural rubber with a flexible neoprene lining, which were effective at keeping my feet dry and cozy while walking around town and through damp parks. I also appreciated the hidden slider on the back, which you can adjust to fit wide calves.

These are the boots that make the outfit — at a decent price. With a sleek, high shaft, chunky block heel, and English countryside flair, these boots look great with a waxed trench coat on a leisurely stroll. What's more: at under $200, they're a good price compared to similar styles. We think they're a more elegant option than the Xtratuf boots, even if they take more intent to style.

They're not well suited for petite sizes. Here's the catch: If you're under 5-foot-6, these will likely be too tall on you. On my 5-foot-5 frame, these boots came right to the bottom of my knee, which proved to be very annoying once I was walking. With every step, the shaft would slightly catch at the top and get locked in, causing the boots to crease at the ankle and pop with every step. It's not a total dealbreaker or terribly uncomfortable, but the sound did get irritating after a while. For tall folks or those prioritizing style over all-day comfort, these are still an excellent pick.

Best insulated: Bogs Seamless Mid Boots

They're built to keep you warm on cold, wet slogs. These boots are crafted with a 5.55mm Neo-Tech upper, which delivers not only a 100% waterproof barrier, but also works to lightly insulate. I found these boots were actually too warm on a full dog walk at temperatures over 60ºF, but they were a cozy reprieve anytime I headed out when it was 55ºF or below (Bogs claims they're warm down to -40ºF). And, despite the insulation, they're pretty lightweight for walking around.

The contoured footbed is firm and supportive. Unlike a lot of rain boots that feel flat, these have a squishy but structured footbed that provided solid arch support for my high arches as I walked around town or a campground. Their contoured shape does a good job at locking in the midfoot and hugging the top and sides of the foot so you don't slide around. I did get some minor heel lift, but I suspect that's because I'm a half size and these only come in full sizes.

They're designed to be fuss-free. Bogs' Seamless line is designed without any seams between the outsole and the upper (which is where most rain boots tend to fail), so they're constructed to last for years and years. The Seamless collection comes in a handful of different variations, but I found the Mid Boots to be the perfect height to walk in. They're not bulky, but they offer more coverage than an ankle boot for muck and river wading.

The little details make them easy to put on and take off. I appreciated the reinforced handles that allowed for an easy yank on, and the built-in heel kick which lets you take them off hands-free.

Just make sure your socks are tall. The one big downside I found during testing: You must wear tall socks or full-length pants with these. I wore them with shorts on a three-day riverside camping trip, and while my feet stayed toasty dry as I waded into the water, the cuff's seam kept rubbing against my skin so much that I had to quit wearing them. I still recommend these for cold, wet weather — I'll just double check my sock length before I pack next time.

Best for extreme cold: LaCrosse Footwear Alpha Agility 1200g

They're seriously insulated. When the weather turns cold, wet, and miserable, these are boots built for the worst of it — as I learned while testing the LaCrosse Alpha Agility boots for over a year. Designed by a heritage hunting brand, these boots are overkill in the best way for navigating cold, gnarly rainstorms. With over 5mm of insulating neoprene and 1200 grams of Thinsulate Ultra, these boots are designed to keep you warm in extreme cold (LaCrosse says down to -60°F).

They make great winter boots, of course, but they're also extremely cozy whether you're schlepping through the wet woods on a late-fall hunting trip, getting through some mucky, frigid farm chores, or you simply live in an area where it rarely stays above freezing. That said, they're far too warm for temps above 40°F, in my experience.

Surprisingly, they're not too heavy. Despite all the warm tech packed in here, these boots don't feel overly heavy on your feet. They certainly have a thick sole, but the boots weigh just around 4 pounds, so they're lighter than most comparably insulated boots on the market.

They're fully waterproof and impressively grippy. Thanks to a fully seamless construction and thick, neoprene shaft, these boots have held up to everything I've thrown at them: river wading, puddle stomping, and wet woods trudging. I've also run them under a faucet to test for leaks, and no drops fell through. The tall calf offers great coverage (they reach just below the knee on me) and the rubber outsole has deep lugs that provide reliable traction, including on slippery mud.

They stay snug on long walks and are (mostly) comfy to stand in. One of the best things about the Alpha Agility boots is how well they are shaped to the foot and ankle. The fit is trim in the heel and forefoot without being constrictive, which makes them surprisingly secure for a slip-on boot. I can easily move though uneven terrain without any slippage inside the shoe or awkward clunkiness. They also have a rear cinch at the calf, which is a thoughtful touch if you want a more customized fit or need room for wider calves. I've also spent a lot of hours standing in these boots and their well-designed midsole is comfortable even after five hours of straight standing — except on concrete, in my experience.

Best budget: Baffin Prime Boot

They're durable, waterproof, and surprisingly reliable for the cost. These rain boots are constructed with Baffin's proprietary high-performance, breathable waterproofing technology (B-Tek), which gives them a fully sealed barrier that kept water out as I walked through puddles and shallow river crossings. The upper also uses an UltraFlex compound to make them more abrasion resistant. The outsole is rippled to make it more slip resistant, which I found to work quite well.

They're simple, but comfortable (albeit small). These boots are very simple and straight-forward — your classic rain boot, if you will, with a cylindrical rubber shaft that hits a few inches below the knee and a basic rubber heel for better traction when walking. The insoles aren't outstanding, but they provide enough cushioned support to stand in while fishing or walking wet trails for an hour or two. The upper material is pliable enough that they don't feel too stiff as you step or kneel.

The trade-offs are acceptable for the cost. Don't expect premium insulation or traction for serious terrain. The Prime boots' slip-resistance is solid enough for wet pavement and light trails, but it definitely won't keep you steady in deep mud or slick, steep slopes. They also run slightly small, so if you plan to wear these in temps below 55°F, I recommend going a full size up and pairing them with some warm, thick socks.

Other rain boots I tested

Xtratuf 6"Ankle Deck Boot Sport ($140): The style isn't for everyone, which is why I didn't choose them to be the best ankle rain Boot (that goes to the Hunter Play Short Boots). Still, this fully waterproof pair can seriously hold up in the elements. They also have super secure tread and are easy to pull on and off, meaning they're well worth the money.

Ariat Kelmarsh Mid Rubber Boot ($130): These were well constructed, hit mid-calf, and felt supportive and comfortable. They didn't make the top list, but are still definitely worth considering.

Ariat Kelmarsh Shortie ($120): With a neoprene ankle cuff and fully waterproof rubber body, these shortie ran boots are reliable against the elements. That said, I found the footbed wasn't the most comfortable after an hour of walking and there are better short rain boots out there at this price point (or below).

Baffin Brook ($90): Lightweight, flexible, and offering full coverage to the top of the calf, the Brook boots are a great no-fuss design with much-appreciated cushioned insoles.

Bogs Amanda II Mid ($95): These are another great, worth-your-money basic rain boot with elevated and reliable traction and a decently supportive footbed, all at a good price for the quality.

Loon'r Lo Rider ($150): Lightweight, insulated, and with top-tier traction on slippery surfaces, the Loon'r Lo Rider boots are a bit cumbersome for everyday rain boots, but they are a really great option if you need a warm, waterproof winter boot.

How I tested rain boots

Rachael Schultz, style contributor and outdoor gear expert: As a seasoned writer on apparel built for extreme conditions, I know firsthand what to look for in terms of materials, construction, and any potential lapses in quality. To determine the best rain boots for women, I trekked in 19 pairs over a three-month period through Colorado backcountry rainstorms.

• Tread: I tested each pair of rain boots on a variety of wet surfaces, including concrete, asphalt, matted down grass, seriously muddy trails, and slippery river rocks. Boots that hold firm on wet asphalt won't necessarily do the same in mud, so it's important to consider traction.
• Comfort on long walks: I wore each pair of women's rain boots for at least 30 minutes of walking, typically in 60-90 minute shifts, or the equivalent of 1 to 3 miles. I wore any contenders in the "rain boots for walking" category for at least two hours to make sure they didn't grow heavy or lack proper arch support.
• Waterproofing: I wore each pair of rain boots in the actual rain for at least 10 minutes to test how waterproof they are for the average storm. Additionally, I ran each pair of boots under the faucet for 3 minutes with a sock stuffed inside to make sure no water seeped in (either through the seams or due to cumulative pressure).
• Weight and clunkiness: Considering you'll be walking in these boots, a lightweight and agile design is key. As I took each boot out for walks, I considered whether my feet felt fatigued after 30-90 minutes of walking, and whether I felt tripped up by the toe of the boot.
• Style: This part is objective, but I tried to balance practicality with style when considering which boots are worth buying. I wore rain boots under jeans to go to the grocery store, over leggings for dog walks, and even with skirts when heading out to meet friends for dinner. In each of these scenarios, I noted where form met function.

Our top picks compared

Our pick	The winner	Standout feature	Best used for
Best overall	Merry People Andie	Stretchy, flexible design	Everyday wear
Best value	Xtratuf Legacy	Foldable latex shafts	Slippery surfaces
Best for walking	Bogs Hazel Chelsea	Cushioned insoles	High arches
Most stylish	Merry People Fergie	Adjustable calf width	Tall and wide calves
Best ankle boot	Hunter Play Boot	Slight wedge heel	Petite heights
Best insulated	Bogs Seamless Mid	Pull-on handles	Cold climates
Best multi-season	L.L. Bean Boot	Leather-rubber hybrid	All weather conditions
Best for extreme cold	LaCrosse Alpha Agility	1200g insulation	Campers, hunters, farmhands
Best budget	Baffin Prime	Rippled rubber outsoles	Climates with a brief rainy season

What to look for in the best rain boots for women

Materials: This category is very important for rain boots, where you need the waterproofness to stay reliable over time. Lower-cost PVC boots tend to crack over time, while the best rain boots are made from natural rubber or neoprene that can withstand the test of time without splitting or leaking. Look for construction details like seamless designs, triple-dipped rubber, reinforced outsoles, and double (or triple) stitching — all which signal longer-lasting performance.

Real-world needs: There are a lot of people who wear "rain boots" not as protection against the rain, but as waterproof protection against the elements. This may mean trudging through muddy fields on a farm, hiking in the wet woods while hunting, or standing against the many splashes and slips on a dock. Here, shaft height, durability, and material breathability and insulation are top priority.

Most people simply want something to protect their feet from puddles while they commute or run errands on a rainy day. If that's the case, you'll want to consider your preferred shaft height and how stylish the rain boot is, alongside its technical properties.

Waterproofing and Weather Protection: The best rain boots should be completely waterproof, meaning no rain or water can sneak in through the foot or leg shaft due to cheaply-constructed seams or insufficient material. Additionally, rain boots should keep water out of the top. They should stop high enough that puddles won't splash over the edge, and have a mouth narrow enough that rain won't drop inside from above.

Warmth and Insulation: A good pair of rain boots should keep your feet warm without overheating or feeling swampy. If you plan to wear rain boots in colder weather — whether on brisk fall strolls or through freezing temperatures — look for a boot with some amount of built-in insulation from a material, such as neoprene. A taller boot will also trap more heat than a shorter one. The thickness denotes how warm it'll be; insulated rain boots may feel too warm in more mild temperatures or during any activity where you'll generating a lot of body heat. If you'll be wearing rain boots across all seasons, consider sizing up for a boot you can comfortably add warm socks to.

Traction and Grip: Rain boots should have a grippy outsole to steady you atop slick, wet surfaces, like sidewalk pavement, barn concrete, muddy trails, or seaside docks. Look for rain boots with deep lugs or textured soles, which provide better traction and help prevent you from slipping. If you'll be walking in steeper terrain or through thick mud, opt for a more rugged tread pattern similar to what you'd see on a hiking boot.

Fit: Your rain boots should feel secure on your foot without sliding around or causing heel lift as you walk — especially if you'll be covering longer distances. Choosing a women's-specific rain boot is key for comfort, as these are contoured to the shape of a women's foot (usually with a narrower heel and midfoot, coupled with a roomier toe box).

Comfort: Comfort is crucial if you're wearing rain boots for extended periods or on daily walks. Look for features like cushioned insoles, arch support, and flexible materials that move with your foot. A boot that feels too stiff or flat may leave your feet sore after just a short time.

Shaft Height: The height of a rain boot shaft is a trade off between protection and comfort. Taller boot shafts (10-15 inches) are best for wading, unruly water (like being sprayed from a hose), and walking through wet woods. Shorter shafts (5-9 inches) offer more breathability and mobility for everyday wear and are usually sufficient to protect against puddle splashes or rain coming down. The majority of boots on our list hit just below the calf, as that's high enough to block splashes but low enough to stay comfortable across a range of heights.

Adjustability: Rain boots with features like adjustable calf straps, elastic gussets, or lace-up fronts offer a more customizable fit. These are especially nice for wider calves, or if you want to layer thick socks or pants underneath. A more tailored fit also helps keep rain from sneaking in through the top and secures the boot as you step.

Weight: Heavy rain boots can leave your legs feeling tired after a long walk. Look for boots made from lighter materials, like flexible rubber or neoprene.

Flexibility: A rain boot should bend and move with your foot, not fight against it. Flexible materials like neoprene or thinner rubber help prevent foot fatigue and make walking feel more natural, especially over long distances. Stiff boots may feel durable, but if they don't flex at the forefoot, they can quickly become uncomfortable.

Nice-to-Have Features: Look for pull tabs, kick plates that let you take the boots off hands-free, and adjustable straps or laces for when you're wearing thicker socks.

Sock pairings: The best socks for rain boots will be quick-drying, breathable, and tall enough to protect your skin from rubbing against the boot's interior. We like Merry People Crew Socks or Bombas Merino Blend Calf Socks, both of which are made from a merino wool blend to balance ventilation and moisture-wicking ability. They also add a slight extra layer of insulation.

• Every year, my wife and I have the same conversation about retirement.
• Another thing that happens every year? We realize that it's likely not doable.
• However, I'm OK with 'soft retirement.' Working gives me purpose.

I turn 40 in a few months. Every year around my birthday, my wife and I have the same conversation.

We make coffee, the kids disappear into a screen for an hour, and we pull up the numbers. Between our day jobs and my freelance writing side hustle, we earn enough to pay our mortgage, save a bit, and provide our kids with everything they need. On paper, we're fine.

What we don't have is what many people in our parents' generation had and worked toward: a date on the calendar when work stops, and retirement begins.

We keep running the numbers and landing in the same place

We've run the numbers with various spreadsheets and different assumptions, but always land at the same conclusion: There's no realistic version where I stop working at 60 or 65 and coast on savings for a few decades.

The honest projection is that I'll probably still be writing and working for myself in some form or another at 70 and beyond.

At first, this idea scared me. It felt like failure, like I'd missed a milestone everyone else was striving for. Both my parents retired with pensions and celebrations, so it's been ingrained in me that you work hard for 30 years, then kick back and relax.

But I don't buy it.

Planning around an ending I don't believe in

Traditional retirement planning assumes a cliff. You work, and then one day you don't, and everything after that is the reward. My wife and I have slowly stopped believing in the cliff. Not just because we don't think we'll be able to afford it, but also because I've realized I don't want it. I like working. It gives me purpose. I'd be restless and depressed within a month without it.

So our annual conversation has changed. It used to be 'How do we get to the finish line?" Now it's, "If we have no finish line, what do we want the next few decades to feel like?"

The part I can't put in a spreadsheet

There's a variable that no projection accounts for: whether my work will still exist in 20 to 30 years.

I write for a living, and I'd be lying if I said the rise of AI wasn't nestled in the back of my mind every time we open that spreadsheet. It's challenging to plan to write at 70 when I can't say for certain that the industry will need a human writer at 50. That uncertainty is newer than the retirement question, and in some ways it's scarier, because I may not even have the option to write for a living.

I can't control the wave, so my only real move is to get good at riding it. I've started folding AI into my own workflow, using it to research faster and handle the grunt work, so the part that's truly me, the judgment and the voice, is where I spend my time. Maybe that keeps me employable longer. Maybe it doesn't.

What we've landed on instead

The idea that intrigues me most is what people are starting to call soft retirement. Not stopping working altogether, but scaling back as I age and our finances are more secure.

It's the only version of the future that feels both realistic and good. I don't need to grind at this pace forever. But the plan where I keep writing a couple of days a week into my 70s on projects I choose, while doing more of the things I actually moved to a small town for, that one I can get behind.

• This post originally appeared in the BI Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Are you sick too?

"Anyone else not feeling well?"

That was a Monday morning text from one of my closest friends after we had spent a weekend with our crew to close out the summer.

And you know what? Yup, we were all feeling a little tickle in our throats. It didn't stop there; I saw more masks during my workday commute and even noticed a few extra sneezes in our newsroom.

After doing my own unscientific research, I was calling it: We're all feeling a bit sick. Whether it was the sudden drop in temperatures here in the Tri-State area, seasonal allergies kicking up, or back-to-school sniffles, it seems like a lot of people need their immune systems to kick into high gear.

So I asked Business Insider's health team for advice on how to stay healthy during this time of year, notorious for extra germs.

Mia de Graaf, executive editor: "Sleep is the Honda Civic of staying healthy: reliable, effective, just not sexy. While everyone is cold-plunge-obsessed, I'm catching Zs (or trying to, when my infant daughter isn't keeping me up). Sleep is when your immune system trains and deploys cells to fight off viruses. Skimp on it, and you're essentially showing up to flu season with a short-handed defense."

Hilary Brueck, correspondent: "When it's cold season, I endorse one essential mineral: zinc. It's the only supplement studies have reliably and consistently shown can shorten the duration of a common cold by about a day or two. I usually drink mine with powders like EmergenC and Airborne in my cupboard. Just don't overdo it, as getting too much of this antiviral compound blocks the absorption of other nutrients. 8-10 mg is a good baseline."

Kashmira Gander, senior editor: "I try to get my nutrients from food instead of supplements. That changes in the fall when it's difficult to absorb vitamin D from the sun in gloomy London, where I live. As a kid, my mom would give me a spoonful of cod liver oil each morning, but now I prefer it in pill form (because, obviously, gross). Whatever your preferred source, vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium and phosphorus from food, and supports the immune system."

Gabby Landsverk, correspondent: "My go-to when I can't afford to get sick, especially when I'm competing during roller derby seasons, is a homemade potion. It's a combo of lemon juice and honey with turmeric, black pepper, and cayenne — all of which have some solid science on supporting the immune system and reducing inflammation — mixed with hot water for a soothing boost."

This is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment. Consult a qualified physician or healthcare provider.

• Lufthansa's sarcastic reply to a customer got more than 15 million views before it apologized.
• While other airlines mock passengers to boost PR, that doesn't work for everyone.
• The rise of AI is complicating customer service, but experts said finding a solution matters most.

Does the customer always have to be right?

Germany's national airline has apologized after its snarky reply went viral this week, raising important points about customer relations and brand strategy.

After an X user accused Lufthansa of ignoring their messages about a payment issue, the airline appeared fed up as it issued a sardonic reply on Tuesday.

"We've already responded to you numerous times via DM on different social media platforms," they said. "The response isn't going to magically change just because you're asking the same question on X now."

While Ryanair, the Irish budget airline, has built a reputation for mocking its passengers on social media, that's not a germane strategy for everyone.

"The way an airline responds to customers online also has to be authentic to its established tone and personality," said Marc Cornelius, the founder and CEO of 8020 Communications, a PR firm specializing in aviation and travel.

"You might almost expect a provocative or cheeky response from Ryanair, because it has spent years cultivating that persona, but from Lufthansa it feels out of character and therefore jars."

Some social media users loved it, though. Lufthansa's reply got over 15 million views and 30,000 likes within two days. It was re-shared by meme accounts with millions of followers.

However, the airline backtracked within 24 hours, just as the post was picking up steam. "We sincerely apologize for our last reply to you," it said. "This is not the way we treat our passengers."

The customer said they appreciated the apology but were still annoyed that their payment dilemma hadn't been resolved and their emails remained unanswered.

Lufthansa did not respond to a request for comment.

"I feel for the CMO and larger support team at Lufthansa right now. Customers can be demanding, but they're why we exist," Latané Conant, chief marketing officer at AI customer service company Parloa, told Business Insider.

The rise of AI is making customer service a more pertinent issue. On the one hand, agents and chatbots make it easier for customers to send detailed complaints and follow up repeatedly. Meanwhile, more companies are using AI to answer them — adding to the pressure on humans doing the same job.

While Lufthansa hasn't said whether AI played a role in the incident, Conant said, "It appears to be either a poorly built AI agent or a human badly in need of a vacation."

"Which is unfortunate, because either way, it's entirely preventable," she added.

People are divided on how helpful AI is for customer service. Ada, an AI customer service firm, commissioned a survey of 1,000 Americans in April and found that half of travelers don't mind if they're answered by an AI or human agent — so long as their problem is resolved.

So even as the world of customer service is changing, one thing remains constant: finding a solution.

"When a company does get it wrong, a quick and sincere apology is usually the right response," Cornelius told Business Insider.

Conant also said that "the immediate apology was 100% the right move, even if it may already be too late."

However, Cornelius added, that isn't the be-all and end-all: "The customer needs to feel they've genuinely been heard and, crucially, that the underlying issue is followed up and resolved promptly."

• Energy and transportation costs are ticking up, stretching household budgets once again.
• Grocery chains are betting that price cuts will help attract cash-strapped shoppers.
• Tough times have helped value-oriented retailers like Aldi, Costco, and Walmart gain market share.

It looks like inflation is coming back from the dead, just in time for spooky season.

The conflict in Iran and other complications are driving up energy and transportation costs, and that's taking a toll on already-stretched household budgets.

But recent food price increases aren't yet showing up, and grocery retailers appear to be addressing shoppers' worries head-on with preemptive cuts.

Discount chain Aldi said Wednesday that it is rolling out approximately $86 million in discounts on fresh foods through November 3, and that one-third of its assortment is already priced lower than last year.

Meanwhile, grocery giant Kroger ramped up pressure on suppliers this week when it pulled Boar's Head and Red Bull products from some of its stores in what Bloomberg reported was a dispute over high prices.

And Instacart said Thursday that grocery chains across the US like Bashas, Fareway, Grocery Outlet, Raley's, and Super King Markets have joined its "no markups" delivery pledge, which gives online shoppers access to the same prices and deals that in-store customers get.

"Customers are gravitating towards value, and online, that often means retailers that don't mark up," Instacart CEO Chris Rogers said at the Groceryshop conference. Rogers also said that retailers who don't hike online prices grow about ten percentage points faster on Instacart than retailers who have higher prices online than in-store for the same items.

And Costco on Thursday continued its trend of highlighting each quarter's price reductions in its earnings report, with items like walnuts, coffee, and black pepper seeing markdowns during the most recent period. (Costco does not participate in Instacart's "no markup" option.)

"We work collaboratively with our vendors in dealing with these commodity increases and try and keep prices down the best we can, and it's a continual focus for all of our buyers in looking at how to reduce pricing," Costco CEO Ron Vachris said on the earnings call.

This week's moves harken back to Walmart's price cuts earlier this summer on 250 items in recognition of America's 250th anniversary. That was just a fraction of more than 11,000 discounts Walmart US CEO Dave Guggina said were in effect this year.

"Now it's really our job to work with our suppliers and take those rollbacks that we're working and turn them into the everyday low price for our customers, so that they can experience them moving into the back half of the year," Guggina said earlier this month at a Goldman Sachs retail conference.

Focusing on value to attract cash-strapped shoppers has been a savvy move for value-oriented retailers like Aldi, Costco, and Walmart.

Walmart and Costco have both reported significant market share gains during prior tough economic periods, and foot traffic data from Placer.ai shows Aldi gaining visits at the fastest rate of any grocer this year, thanks to its bargain value proposition.

And while these new shoppers may come for the initial relief from high prices, these chains have also been effective at turning them into loyal customers, according to their respective earnings commentary from recent years.

There's no silver bullet for inflation, but this approach could help soften the impact.

• Lucy Zheng has 10 income streams, including a W-2 job, content creation, and rental properties.
• Her content business is now her most lucrative income stream, matching her legal salary.
• Her advice for aspiring side hustlers: Start with user-generated content.

Lucy Zheng has a full-time job as a senior corporate counsel at a tech company, but it's only one piece of her family's income.

The San Francisco mother of three's household has 10 income streams, including her W-2 pay, her husband's business, out-of-state rental properties, options trading, dividend and interest income, and five revenue channels tied to her social-media business.

Zheng began looking for ways to earn outside her day job shortly after law school, when a low-paying role at a small firm left her struggling to cover student-loan payments and bills.

"I tried to start with side hustles that were very low barrier to entry," Zheng said.

Her first was a fashion blog in 2012. Apart from a camera, the startup costs were minimal.

Once she gained followers, she began reaching out to brands and agencies for partnerships and ran ads on the site. She still remembers her first major deal: TJ Maxx paid her $500 to shop at one of its stores and write a post about seasonal fashion trends.

"I was like, wow, I can't believe I'm getting paid $500 to do a blog post," she said.

The blog led Zheng to YouTube, where she learned another lesson about building income online: a video could continue generating advertising revenue long after she published it. She said she still earns money from videos she made years ago.

Her most lucrative income stream: content creation

Since 2012, Zheng and her husband have tried a range of businesses, from a bounce-house company to a real-estate-sign business. Not all worked out: among their flops were a men's leather-hat business and one selling totes made from recycled plastic.

One of Zheng's more successful ventures was a planner business that sold digital inserts and physical accessories. It generated six figures, she said, but she shut it down in 2025 after it became too operationally demanding.

Her goal, she said, was to make more money with less time.

In mid-2025, Zheng shifted her focus to content creation. An earlier attempt to build a real-estate-focused account had stalled while she was also running the planner shop, working full time, and raising three children. This time, she chose a broader focus: money.

For three to four months, Zheng posted every day, helping her build traction on platforms like Instagram, where she has more than 200,000 followers. She now creates content about building income streams, investing, real estate, and financial independence.

"Money and financial freedom had basically consumed my entire life for three years," Zheng said. "Money is what I want to talk about. It's what I could talk about every single day, and I would never run out of stuff."

She says her content business now generates enough income to replace her legal salary, though she does not plan to leave her job. She spends about 20 hours a week on content, usually during lunch breaks and after her children go to bed.

The business has five main revenue streams:

1. Brand deals and user-generated content. Brands pay Zheng either to publish content to her own audience or to create videos they can use on their own channels and in advertising.
2. Affiliate marketing. She earns commissions when followers use links to products or services she recommends.
3. Digital products. Zheng sells products including an out-of-state real-estate guide and a budget tracker.
4. Platform payments. Facebook and TikTok pay her based on views, watch time, and engagement.
5. A paid community. Members pay $50 a month for live calls, coaching, and forums about building income streams.

You don't need a following to get paid creating content

For people who have time but little money to invest, Zheng thinks content creation — particularly user-generated content, or UGC — is one of the most accessible ways to create an additional income stream.

UGC creators make videos for brands to use on their own social-media accounts or in advertising. Unlike traditional influencer deals, they do not necessarily need to publish the content to their own audience.

"You don't have to have a following for that," Zheng said. Instead, create three or four sample videos that demonstrate your editing and storytelling ability, then use them as a portfolio when pitching brands or applying for gigs.

Zheng said beginners can earn roughly $100 to $500 per video.

The equipment requirements are also modest: a phone, a roughly $10 tripod, and, if you need to film at night, a $15-to-$20 ring light. Editing tools such as CapCut and Instagram Edits are free.

"You just film videos on your own time," she said, "edit them with free software, and then start pitching yourself."

• Rob Waters was laid off from Google, then offered a new six-figure role there.
• He turned down the offer, walking away from six figures' worth of unvested equity.
• Waters moved to San Francisco and is living off savings while building his AI startup.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Rob Waters, a former Google employee who was laid off last November. The 42-year-old cofounded Kanawai AI and lives in San Francisco. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

In November 2025, I was on a flight to Los Angeles to meet with a customer when my laptop screen suddenly went black.

My laptop rebooted, but when I tried to log back in, it didn't work. Then I felt my personal phone buzz. I had an email from Google HR saying I'd been impacted by a layoff and my role was no longer necessary. I had no notice. My access was cut off immediately.

I had to email the customer I was flying to meet from my personal account and cancel our meeting. The timing felt like something out of a movie — like I couldn't make it up.

I'd spent nearly six years at Google. Working there had been a dream of mine, and by the end, I was leading the data analytics and AI sales specialist team for Google Public Sector.

Now, suddenly, it was over.

I had a chance to return to Google

I landed in Los Angeles around 12:30 in the morning. Before going to sleep, I checked my phone and saw an email from my manager setting up a call for 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.

That meant getting up around 5:30 a.m. on the West Coast. I got about two hours of sleep.

During the meeting, I was informed about a position on a new team Google was creating, and I was encouraged to apply once the opening became available.

In early December, Google offered me the role with a six-figure salary. Accepting the offer would have meant returning to the financial security I'd had at Google and allowing my stock to continue vesting. I estimated that turning it down meant walking away from about six figures of equity. I also had my wife and son to think about, which made the decision harder.

But the way my time at Google had ended changed how I felt about going back.

I'd grown frustrated with some of the bureaucracy within the company and how the reorganization was being handled. I'd also been working incredibly hard and dedicating myself to the job. After putting so much into my work, I felt like all I had to show for it was getting laid off.

Starting my own company had been a goal of mine for a long time, but walking away from a comfortable corporate job had always been difficult. The layoff ripped the Band-Aid off. I could return to Google and restart the cycle of a high salary and equity vesting, or I could see this as my opportunity to finally pursue my startup dreams. I looked at it as now or never.

Ultimately, I decided not to accept the offer. It was time to bet on myself.

I moved across the country to bet on my startup

I didn't start actively developing my startup until January, after my ties with Google had ended. I wanted to avoid any potential legal issues.

A few months later, a former colleague of mine left Google, and we began working together on a business idea that became Kanawai AI. We're building an AI system of record, where one platform provides AI visibility, governance, and security primarily for commercial and enterprise customers.

For the first six months of 2026, I traveled regularly between my home in Virginia and California. Being in California gave me greater access to other founders, builders, venture capital, and the startup ecosystem. Eventually, I decided to relocate to help accelerate the business.

On July 1, I moved across the country to San Francisco.

I left behind nearly all of my belongings. I arrived in San Francisco with two suitcases and a case of computer equipment. Finding a place wasn't easy. Because I had no income and was living off my savings, I didn't qualify for some apartments. But I eventually signed a lease on a two-bedroom apartment.

Earlier this month, about two months after I first moved, my wife and son joined me in San Francisco. The move — and putting my Virginia house up for sale — was part of betting on myself and the company.

You have to be a little bit delusional as a startup founder

Going from making six figures at Google to zero as an entrepreneur was a very hard pill to swallow. Since leaving Google, I have been living off my savings and haven't taken a salary.

The joke is that you have to be a little bit delusional as a startup founder. But I saw my situation as now-or-never. I'm not the stereotypical 22-year-old Stanford founder, but I have years of experience working with AI and data, including in challenging environments. I believe that experience can help me now.

We're still in the early stages of the business, but we're already onboarding clients to our platform, partnering with bigger technology vendors, and starting our pre-seed raise in San Francisco.

My biggest career advice for other tech professionals is to never get too comfortable. Being uncomfortable can mean pursuing a certification, a promotion, changing companies, or making a drastic career pivot. Only you know what that next uncomfortable move is.

I'd long dreamed of doing two things: working at Google and starting my own company. I got to spend nearly six years living out the first dream. Now I'm betting on the second.

Nothing is guaranteed, especially in Silicon Valley. But getting the chance to pursue both of my biggest dreams is what makes this all worth it.

Do you have a story to share? Reach out to the reporter via email at jzinkula@businessinsider.com, or via Signal at jzinkula.29.

• My husband and I bought a house in a beach town, just minutes from the water in either direction.
• We thought that was the next step we needed and wanted, but after a year, we realized we were wrong.
• We sold the house, broke even, and are now traveling full-time with no plan to settle down soon.

In the summer of 2024, my husband and I bought our dream house in a small town in Maryland.

We knew virtually no one in our new town, but at the time, that didn't matter to us. It had everything we wanted: brand-new construction, around our budget, and it was just minutes from two different beaches.

At the time, I was 33, my husband was 35, and after 10 years together in New York City, it felt like the right time for a change. After all, weren't adults supposed to buy a house and settle down at some point? Little did we know how hard that change would be for us.

We didn't realize what we'd be giving up

The number one thing I hear people in New York say when asked why they stay is "all my friends are here." We didn't take that to heart.

What we didn't realize was just how hard it would be to find our people in our new town. Our politics didn't align with most of our neighbors, and finding new friends felt like searching for a needle in a haystack, literally, since we lived in a rural area, much different from what we had been accustomed to.

My husband and I are self-admitted introverts, but what we didn't truly understand until we left a city is that we thrive when we are surrounded by life. I love nothing more than sitting on a balcony and reading a book while jazz music wafts up from the bar below, doors slam, people laugh, and dogs bark.

My mom always told me that when you're buying a house, it comes down to location, location, location. She was right. The beach was close and beautiful, but we still felt completely isolated. We missed our friends, our active social life, the ability to walk or take a train anywhere we needed to go, and, generally, living in a city that felt alive year-round.

A rule change made the decision for us

About a year in, we knew we had to go. We were unhappy and felt burdened by the cost of our mortgage, which was around $3,400 each month, plus everything else that went into maintaining a large house.

Then, our HOA decided to ban short-term rentals in the neighborhood. That had been one of the main reasons we bought the house in the first place. Since we both work remotely, we'd planned to travel and use the short-term rental income to help cover costs while we were away. Without that option, the house no longer made sense for the life we wanted to live.

We sold without a plan, and we don't regret it

After nearly two years in a small town, we were itching to travel and get back to a walkable city. We knew we were lucky to both work from home, and we didn't know how long that flexibility would last, so instead of buying again right away (or even committing to a year-long rental), we decided to sell without making a plan to settle down.

We packed almost everything we owned into a storage unit and booked a furnished short-term rental for a few months in Durham, North Carolina, where my husband grew up. It was so nice to be close to his family and friends and spend the beginning of the summer season with them. We spent August in Seattle, hiking, whale watching, enjoying the low humidity, and exploring a city we'd never been to. Now we've landed in Philadelphia for a few months, which is close enough to New York for easy day trips.

Most of our friends are settling down right now, buying houses, having kids, adopting dogs, doing all of the things you're "supposed" to do in your mid-30s. We're doing exactly the opposite, and I feel completely free.

The math didn't favor us, but we'd do it again

There's a general rule of thumb that you should hold onto a house for at least five years before selling, to come out ahead. We sold in under two, and after closing costs and everything else, we were lucky to basically break even.

We know it wasn't the conventional path, financially or otherwise, but we also know that it was the right decision for us. You can't put a price on happiness, and buying and selling this house in under two years taught us so many lessons about what we value and where we want to be, even if that means living out of a suitcase and only staying in one place for a few months at a time.

• GLP-1s aren't a quick fix for long-term health.
• Sophie Medlin, a dietitian, shared what she wishes patients knew about taking GLP-1s.
• She said making healthy lifestyle changes is essential, and your dose could be too high if you can't eat.

GLP-1s like Ozempic and Mounjaro can improve long-term health, but they can't be relied upon alone, Sophie Medlin, a dietitian who works with patients taking the drugs, told Business Insider.

For those who need to lose weight for medical reasons, the drugs can be life-changing by making it easier to eat in a calorie deficit. They do this by mimicking hormones that make us feel full, and slowing digestion.

However, in order for the change to be sustainable, it's important to make and stick to healthy habits, including exercising regularly and eating a balanced diet featuring protein. This helps to maintain muscle mass and bone density. "Otherwise, you can end up in real trouble," she said.

Medlin, who is based in London, said she has seen GLP-1 patients in their 40s and 50s with the muscle mass of the average 90-year-old, because they neglected their nutrition and exercise. Muscle mass and bone density are key for protecting our metabolic health and keeping us mobile as we age.

She shared three things she wishes people knew about taking GLP-1 medications.

You've heard you can lose up to 20% body weight on GLP-1s, but those patients likely worked with dietitians

GLP-1s are intended to be prescribed alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity. Participants in the clinical trials testing how effective GLP-1s are for weight loss were supported by dietitians and received lifestyle counseling, Medlin said.

In contrast, she regularly sees patients who lost and regained weight after coming off GLP-1s before they worked with her, because they didn't change their diet and lifestyle enough to maintain their weight.

Medlin said that most people who choose to stop taking GLP-1 do so either for financial reasons or because they've reached their goal weight.

"You have to use them in a way that helps you to change your habits and change your mindset around food. Otherwise, you're going to feel like you're stuck on them forever," she said.

A dietitian can help you get the most out of GLP-1s, and "make sure that you keep the weight off once you've lost it," Medlin said.

If you can't eat on GLP-1s, your dose could be too high

Medlin said that GLP-1s should help reduce food noise — the persistent, intrusive thoughts about food and eating that some people say make it difficult to regulate their appetite — making portion control easier. They shouldn't make eating feel "like an impossible task," she said.

The sweet spot dose might be lower than what a provider is recommending, she said. The optimal dose should balance health benefits and effectiveness with side effects, according to the American Diabetes Association.

If you're not losing weight as quickly as you'd hoped, or your progress seems to have plateaued, Medlin recommended looking at your diet before increasing your dose. That way, you'll spend less on prescriptions and lower the risk of side effects.

"If you can look at your diet and go, 'Well, actually, I could drink a bit less alcohol or I could reduce the calories that I'm taking in elsewhere,' then you don't need to increase the dose," she said.

Protein is key

If you do find yourself battling a low appetite on the appropriate dose, however, Medlin said to first focus on eating a good source of protein, such as fish, chicken or tofu. "That's going to really help you make sure that you're not wasting muscle mass," she said.

Muscle uses more energy that other types of tissues such as fat, so when someone loses muscle, their basal metabolic rate (BMR), or how quickly they burn calories at rest, drops. This makes it harder to lose weight and increases the risk of regaining weight if they stop taking the medication.

It's also important to eat fiber, carbs, and healthy fats, too, for a balanced diet.

• Dog lovers are giving their pets peptides — an unproven treatment that gym bros swear by for gains.
• Leaders of this trend believe peptides can help their dogs heal from injury and live longer.
• There is no clear evidence that peptides are safe or effective for dogs, and there is no agreed-upon dosage.

In August, Ryan Samluk's beloved Australian-German Shepherd mix, Finley, suffered a devastating sprain.

The 11-year-old dog had long lived with hereditary joint issues. Now, she could barely limp around the yard.

"I knew the vet visit would cost thousands of dollars I didn't have," Samluk, a 29-year-old project manager for a construction company in Dallas, told Business Insider.

Unwilling to watch his dog suffer, yet unable to afford costly diagnostics plus regular arthritis shots at $200 per dose, Samluk turned to the internet. For about $160, he bought his old girl a month's worth of peptide treatments, the unregulated shots that are taking hold in the fitness and longevity world.

Samluk had seen friends get shredded on retatrutide, a peptide for weight loss, and had heard similar success stories with BPC-157, a peptide for treating injuries or recovering from intense gym sessions. He tried them for himself and felt good. Why couldn't this same low-cost DIY shot strategy work for furry Finley?

Samluk is one of a growing number of pet owners who hope to help their dogs feel better and age more slowly by administering peptides, often for well under $100. Scientists and veterinarians are watching cautiously, concerned that we don't really know about the long-term effects of peptides on dogs, and apprehensive about a theoretical possibility that BPC-157 could promote tumor growth.

Peptides are a broad class of molecular compounds that help our bodies run. They include drugs like Ozempic and the natural hormone insulin. Pet owners are especially interested in the subset of peptide therapies marketed as hacks for wound healing and curbing arthritis-related inflammation, though the evidence is shaky and the potential risks are high.

Business Insider has spoken to pet owners pioneering the fringes of restorative peptide therapy for their animals. The trend cuts across income brackets, from pet parents who spare no expense in lavishing their pets with elaborate wellness routines to those who want the best for their animals but may struggle to afford conventional treatments.

The trend has some animal experts asking: Where are the guardrails for these drugs, and these dogs?

The 'most measured dog alive' is on peptides

Samluk's decision to spring for pet peptides was driven by success stories he saw online. He was particularly impressed by Choo Choo, a 14-year-old pit terrier who seemed to regain puppy-like energy and mobility after being put on the "Wolverine stack" of BPC-157 and TB-500, peptides that proponents say can aid recovery and tissue repair.

Choo's owner, Michael Morelli, is a Florida-based personal trainer obsessed with human performance and metrics like body composition and VO2 max. Morelli takes BPC-157 and TB-500 himself, crediting them with helping resolve a shoulder injury, as well as epitalon and pinealon, which he likes for supporting sleep. He's fascinated by longevity influencers like Bryan Johnson, a tech entrepreneur who has spent millions fine-tuning his health routine with the goal of aging in reverse, and who recently launched his own peptide label.

Morelli calls Choo the most measured and optimized dog in the world — a nod to Johnson, who dubbed himself "the most measured man in human history." Morelli started giving Choo a low dose of BPC-157 and TB-500 about a year ago when he noticed he was slowing down, struggling to jump, and cutting his daily walks short. Choo's current wellness regimen involves working with two different vets who make house calls, and a laundry list of diagnostics and treatments, including heavy metal testing, physical therapy, red light therapy, probiotics, and testosterone replacement therapy, a practice some vets increasingly endorse for dog anxiety and mobility.

Morelli's other dog, an American pit bull terrier named Bubba, had recently died after a similar decline, and he dreaded grieving again.

"He has become like another kid to us," Morelli said. "I don't want to go through this again. It just made sense for me to experiment."

The ethics of experimenting on man's best friend

Experimental pet therapies are tricky because, unlike a human patient, Choo can't consent to try an unproven treatment.

"My dog isn't going to look at me after a BPC-157 shot and say, 'Thank you, Dad, that feels good,'" Morelli said. "All you can do is really watch and see him limping less, breathing less heavy, more vibrant and full of energy."

Morelli started with what he considered a small dose of BPC-157 (500 micrograms), based on his own experience working with peptides and adjusting based on his dog's body weight. When he could see no side effects, he increased the dose gradually, up to 2 milligrams. It's important to note that there is no established dosage for dogs that is proven to be safe and/or effective.

Around the second or third week, he said Choo began running and playing again and could finish his half-mile walks without getting tired.

His niche pet peptide experiment got a major boost in July, when podcaster Andrew Huberman posted on X to his 1.8 million followers that he was hearing from "many people" who were getting "amazing results" by using BPC-157 in aging and injured dogs.

Morelli said interest surged overnight, and his following exploded after the post. He's leading his own canine longevity brand, Pawgen, that sells peptides like BPC-157, and now spends hours a day talking to people online about pet peptides. He said he hopes to channel this momentum into funding a pet rescue that he and his wife have always dreamed of running. To raise money, they're promoting a meme coin for Choo Choo, marketing it as a "meme with meaning."

Dr. Leilani Alvarez, a senior veterinarian at the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center in New York, said clients are asking her about unapproved peptides for their dogs.

While she is open to trying cheaper or emerging therapies with good evidence — stem cell therapy or massage — "BPC 157 is one I would be very cautious to use," she said. What happens when dogs take it long-term? How can we predict each dog's immune reaction to these shots? She wants to see controlled clinical trial data on unapproved peptides before recommending them to patients.

"Being innovative also means being rigorous," Alvarez said. "Before recommending a treatment, I want to know that it is safe and that it actually improves pain, mobility, healing, or quality of life in my patients."

Morelli said he is clear about some of the risks of dabbling in gray market peptides, including the risk of fake or contaminated products.

One of the biggest unanswered questions is whether BPC-157 use could increase the risk of cancer. Because the peptide appears to stimulate blood vessel growth — a process involved in wound healing — some researchers worry it could strengthen tumors in dogs with cancer, or even create new cancerous growths. There are no good long-term clinical studies that answer that question.

Celine Halioua, CEO and founder of Loyal, a startup developing longevity drugs for dogs, is concerned about this, too. She said recently on X that the potential for BPC-157 to stoke or start cancer is a "dealbreaker" for her. Halioua added that if people insist on trying this out for their pets, they should work with a vet to monitor for "invisible side effects" and use a "reputable" manufacturer.

"I hope someone uses the anecdotal data to develop a safe + optimized version, if the biology does indeed work!" Halioua continued. "We need better OA [osteoarthritis] drugs for dogs."

From human guinea pigs to at-home animal testing

Typically, experimental drugs are tested on animals before they're ever given to humans. The pet peptide boom has flipped that order: Owners experimented on themselves first.

Samluk was one of them. He'd used peptides himself after hearing about them through friends and online forums. When Finley got injured, he wondered whether those same compounds might help her recover — not least because they're cheaper than the conventional treatments the vet recommended.

"If I'm happy to put them in my own body, I'm happy to give them to my dog," he said.

He settled on a combination of KPV, marketed as a control for inflammation, and BPC-157, short for "body protection compound." While both compounds were recently shortlisted by an FDA advisory committee to be allowed for compounding in the US, neither has been approved, and there is no recommended dosing for dogs.

Samluk based Finey's dose on what he had read about human doses, adjusting the proportions to her weight. He buys from vendors that come highly recommended by friends, the same ones that initially sold him peptides for his own use. He has affiliate partnerships with some vendors, and said he has made less than $50 total from promotions.

"If people are on a Wolverine stack themself, they're asking if they should do it for their dog," Dr. Kate Elden, a veterinarian in Southern California, who's the chief medical officer at Dutch online veterinary care, told Business Insider.

If we know very little about peptides for humans, we know even less about peptides for dogs. "It might be processed or metabolized differently in a different species," she said.

Samluk said his trepidation faded after seeing Finley's symptoms fade. When he gave his dog the first dose of peptides, she could barely walk. Less than a week later, he said Finley was running around the yard. Sprains can heal in a few days, but Samluk feels confident that the peptide accelerated the process.

"It felt like I was playing God," he said.

Peptides as a low-dose supplement

Not everyone turns to peptides as an affordable alternative to traditional veterinary medicine.

For Sam Cheow, a top consultant for beauty and lifestyle brands, peptides are a small part of a wellness routine for his four Norwich terriers that costs thousands a year. Their regimen includes a curated diet and supplement routine of blueberries, caviar, Greek yogurt, turmeric, collagen, and kelp. They also receive injections of the Wolverine stack: BPC-157 and TB 500.

"Delivering peptides for them is like delivering a cherry on top of a cake. I'm not using 20 cherries. I'm using a very low dosage," he told Business Insider.

Cheow, who had stints at companies such as L'Oréal, NYX, and Estée Lauder, has been interested in peptides since 2007, when they were sold at a premium as skincare treatments for those in the know.

Now, anyone can buy peptides with just a few clicks.

For Samluk, peptides have been a mixed blessing. Weeks after Finley's extraordinary revival, he followed up with the vet about a potential flare-up from an old health issue. She was newly diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma, an aggressive form of blood cancer, and given a few months to live. It's not clear when the cancer developed: based on the timeline, it was likely hiding in Finley's body before she ever got her first peptide shots.

"It has been tough to wrap my head around, and the unknown immediate future scares me," Samluk said. "But we're hoping for the best and determined to help her somehow."

• Sarah Soule, the dean of Stanford's Graduate School of Business, sat down with Business Insider.
• She expressed two big AI-fueled worries: budgets and staffing.
• Stanford isn't alone. Most school leaders are "really worried about this issue," she said.

There's a fight for AI talent that's playing out in the classroom.

Sarah Soule, the dean of Stanford's Graduate School of Business, told Business Insider that frontier AI labs — with their enormous computing resources, data, and coming IPOs — are becoming an increasingly powerful draw for professors.

"There is an allure for faculty," she said about the trend. "I won't lie, I worry about this."

The pull is already evident at Stanford. Andrew Hall and Chad Jones, two GSB professors, are both on leave this year.

And Stanford University isn't alone. Soule had just gotten off a public panel with Aaron Chatterji, OpenAI's chief economist, who is on leave from Duke University.

Stanford lets its tenured faculty take two years of unpaid leave to join the private sector every seven years. Faculty can take longer leaves for government service, as the school's former provost, Condoleezza Rice, did to become the Secretary of State.

Professors often come back to the school, the University told Business Insider. Westley Hartmann, who has taught at Stanford since 2003, took seven months of unpaid leave to work for Amazon.

Still, the trend comes as AI labs continue to substantially strengthen their recruiting hand. Leading AI labs continue to amass capital, computing power, and market influence. Working inside one can offer researchers a chance to shape a technology with enormous economic and social consequences — and, potentially, share in its financial upside.

Stanford said it does not view faculty collaborations or industry leaves as zero-sum losses. The university described them as part of a broader ecosystem that can help professors stay close to technological development and bring those experiences back into their research, teaching, and work with students.

"There's no question that the opportunity to work with frontier AI labs is attractive to faculty," Kristin Harlan, the head of dean's communications for Stanford's GSB, said. "We see those relationships as complementary to Stanford's academic mission, not separate from it."

Soule said academia still offers something the labs cannot: freedom to pursue long-term research without the same pressure for immediate results.

"I suspect that the freedom to do what you want to do and to take a very long time to do it will be possibly something that won't be the case at the frontier labs," she said.

Keeping up is expensive

AI is also adding a budget problem for schools.

Stanford University entered into an enterprise agreement with Anthropic over the summer, Soule said, giving students, faculty, and staff access to Claude's suite of tools. Stanford also has shared computing resources, cloud capacity, and hardware investments for research.

Researchers doing the most advanced AI work often need far more than a chatbot subscription, and providing enough computing power is getting increasingly expensive.

Soule said Stanford's AI-related research costs are rising, while future spending is "super hard to forecast." Frontier labs, meanwhile, can offer the enormous compute and data resources that university leaders are struggling to match.

"I don't have a good answer for it," she said about the increasing budgets. "Probably, most deans and most college presidents are really worried about this issue, because it's really daunting to think about."

• We attended the launch party for Lora, a new astrology app, at a VC rooftop.
• Lora offers in-depth analysis about a user's birth chart, an AI chatbot feature, and more.
• We chatted with techies about their star signs and had a tarot reader look into our love lives.

It was the day after the Fall Equinox, and we were partying on a rooftop, pulling tarot cards about our love lives.

The location might surprise you: a venture capital firm's office overlooking the Manhattan skyline.

Wait, what's astrology got to do with venture capital? We were at a launch party for a social-astrology app called Lora. The party was hosted by Lora founder Michelle Parsons at the offices of her pre-seed backer — AlleyCorp — in SoHo.

Astrology is a hot subject in tech.

Co-Star, a leading social app for the star-inclined, was acquired by AI company Midjourney this summer, casting a spotlight on the space. Investors and the astrology-obsessed alike want to know: Will an AI-era app take the crown as the next big app in the sector?

"This is a space I've been thinking about for a long time," said Luc Ryan-Schreiber, an investor at AlleyCorp who spearheads the firm's incubation projects — including Lora. "With AI, there was an opportunity to do something a little bit more interactive."

Lora, for instance, lets users interact with an AI-powered chatbot that offers advice on personal development, relationships — pretty much anything you want — based on your astrological birth chart.

While there is a litany of other astrology apps ready for download, perhaps the biggest competitors in the market are the larger LLM models themselves. Anyone can upload their star chart to ChatGPT or Claude, and then spend hours on end prompting the machine to spit out answers.

Lora's founder, Parsons, said she didn't want to put out another app that gives people the answers they want to hear. Instead of "sycophantic" responses from an AI bot or a straightforward daily horoscope, Parsons wants Lora to help people recognize "patterns" in their lives, whether in relationships or in private.

There are still humans involved in Lora's experience, too, in the form of real-life astrologists, tarot readers, or coaches people can hire directly within the app.

Some of those humans were at the party.

We sat down with Anne Benveniste, a self-described alignment coach, who provides services on Lora, to read three tarot cards we each pulled. As two single women living in New York City, naturally, we had questions about our love lives. The biggest lesson we both took home from Benveniste: Pain is the price of love.

Techies and astrologers are both looking to the stars

On the elevator journey to the roof, we got cozy with fellow Lora party attendees. Not a word was spoken until someone broke the silence by asking everyone for their Big Three. (That's your sun, moon, and rising sign.)

Walking into the party, we were met with a manifestation board where guests wrote down their prayers for prosperity, love, and money. $50K monthly recurring revenue; that someone special, also $100K; no seasonal depression.

A DJ was blasting house music, and an open bar with astrology-themed cocktails was grab-and-go ready. Grace chose the Fixed sign margarita that had the lovers tarot card clipped to the cup, while Sydney sipped on a Mutable sign garden spritz with the strength tarot card.

Meanwhile, people in tech got busy talking about the stars.

"When I was a VC, I'd ask founders what their star sign was," said VC-turned-founder Zehra Naqvi. (She's a Pisces.)

She was one of several startup founders in attendance at Lora's launch party.

We asked Eric Phillips Waldstein, founder of dating app Beyond, what brought him to the rooftop shindig.

"Michelle, but you know, more broadly, the universe," said Waldstein (a Sagittarius). Lora's Parsons is an advisor for his company. He added that the vibes were certainly "better" than a typical VC party.

We chatted with attendees about topics including other astrology tools they've tried, AI, the state of dating apps, socializing IRL, and the brisk end of summer.

In line for a tarot reading, Mia Cooper, an attendee who works in tech (and is a Pisces), is considering a career change and hoping to get some clarifying answers at Lora's party.

"People are managing a lot of anxiety," Benveniste said. "So many of my readings ended up in discussions around how to release uncomfortable experiences in a healthy way and create space to hear their inner compass."

• Steph Curry loves to hit the infrared sauna to keep his brain and body at peak performance.
• The 38-year-old athlete said it's a key part of his longevity routine as he keeps playing at a high level.
• Emerging research on saunas suggests that

Steph Curry says his most important recovery tool isn't a fancy supplement or stretch. When he wraps up a tough workout or intense game, his first stop is the sauna.

At 38 years old, on his feet all day running up and down the court, a recovery routine isn't optional.

"It's so easy to just skip and be like, 'I'll be fine tomorrow,'" the NBA superstar told Business Insider, but he never does.

The sauna, he said, is one of the most essential. He's not alone: In recent years, saunas have grown beyond being a nice extra for athletes, becoming central to the modern-day wellness routine of an elite player.

Though the science is thin, the trend is booming, buoyed by buzzy research suggesting that saunas offer powerful benefits and by professional teams incorporating saunas into their routines.

Curry wasn't always strict about his recovery routine.

His "aha moment" about his health came around age 30, he said, when a manager noticed Curry was squinting during games and asked if he had gotten his eyes checked. Curry was diagnosed with keratoconus, which can distort vision and worsen over time, even leading to blindness.

He has a new partnership with eye health company Glaukos to raise awareness about proactive vision care, and said contact lenses and routine check-ups keep his vision crystal-clear.

But the health scare prompted him to rethink how small details can have a huge impact on performance.

"You have to be as intentional as I am on the court when I'm trying to beat my defender," Curry said. "It's the same exact energy. All these things add up to me being in my best shape as an athlete."

A new approach to longevity

The top point scorer for the Golden State Warriors has a stacked toolkit that he uses to stay in top shape, including a nutrient-dense diet and deep sleep.

Curry said his typical routine includes plenty of unglamorous, foundational health habits, such as a strict sleep schedule and a nutrient-dense diet.

In recent years, he's become curious about new ways to optimize his routine and isn't afraid to dabble in more experimental, high-tech strategies to get an edge on the court.

Curry has an active recovery area in his house that includes a tub for cold plunges and an infrared sauna.

He spoke fluent biohacker as he described the benefits of his sauna habit — how it enhances cognitive health, can "downregulate your neurological system," and support healthy testosterone levels.

The sauna works by temporarily activating the body's stress response, or sympathetic nervous system, increasing heart rate and blood flow to manage the strain of heat exposure. Then, as you cool down, your parasympathetic nervous system takes over, reducing stress hormones like cortisol and promoting relaxation.

Curry said he and his team rely heavily on research data in making the call on what recovery tactics to use and which to skip.

His protocol is to spend 20 to 25 minutes in the infrared sauna on rest days (he has one at home as part of a recovery suite), and 15 minutes immediately after a game or a big workout.

Curry isn't the only athlete using heat to boost performance.

Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James, and Travis Kelce have all incorporated saunas into their recovery routines.

The evidence, however, is more nuanced, said Nick Tiller, an exercise scientist at the Lundquist Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, and author of a new book, "The Health and Wellness Lie."

"In high-level sport, the difference between success and failure can be the fraction of a second," Tiller told Business Insider. "So if an athlete engages in a practice that is not particularly science-based, but it makes them feel better, even if it's 0.1% better, then there is an argument there for them using it."

Some evidence suggests that regular sauna sessions can lower blood pressure and relieve stress, which can lead to better performance in life and sports. Heat exposure can, over time, increase hemoglobin levels, which offer a small improvement in endurance by helping the body transport oxygen more efficiently.

Most of the claims about sauna benefits, particularly for heart health, stem from a major study done in Finland, where sauna is traditional. However, the study's design didn't account for changes over time or lifestyle factors like diet, working hours, or stress that could have explained why sauna users were found to live longer — as a result, it's tough to say the sauna itself offered a health boost.

It won't make anyone a superstar athlete on its own — exercise offers far greater benefits for health and performance.

"Athletes are getting all the benefits of cardiovascular adaptation from the training that they do," Tiller said. "That is a far more potent cardiovascular stimulus, a far better autonomic stimulus, a far better cognitive stimulus than sitting in a sauna. It's like bringing sand to the beach."

As an add-on, there's no reason to ditch the sauna if you enjoy it as part of a healthy routine. Those of us who aren't pro athletes may be better off putting those extra minutes into a workout instead.

• Xavier Sztejnberg founded Wall Street for McCombs, a leadership training program at UT Austin.
• He's helped hundreds of students land internships and jobs on Wall Street over the past decade.
• Extensive technical training, a strong alumni base, and good relationships with banks are key.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Xavier Sztejnberg, a finance professor at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas Austin, who previously worked in M&A. He founded the Wall Street for McCombs Leadership Program in 2016. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

When I started Wall Street for McCombs a decade ago, we sent fewer than 10 UT students to New York for investment banking. UT Austin was a powerhouse in Houston, but we realized we needed a major presence in New York to become a powerhouse school in finance generally. For the summer of 2027, we've helped around 150 students land internships at more than 50 banks, and we've focused on growing our market share at the very top firms.

There's a very rigorous admissions process for my program now that interest has swelled. Students apply during their sophomore year, and we usually get almost 500 applications for only 75 spots. Applicants draft resumes, write essays, and go through two rounds of behavioral and technical interviews, the first with student leaders in the group and the second with me.

The training program

The students who do get in focus on three things: formal training, one-on-one coaching, and mentorship from the alumni board. I view Wall Street for McCombs as a leadership program, not an internship training club. When we identify students, we look for the ones who will become successful alumni and give back to UT.

Interviews for junior summer internships are happening earlier and earlier, starting now in November of sophomore year. The timeline can be penalizing for later bloomers, but we've just had to adapt to the reality of the marketplace and have shifted our admissions timeline from October to September. The freshman-year investment banking clubs are helpful, since they train students who eventually enter my program and sit for early interviews.

Landing the internship is only half the battle — the other half is getting the return offer, so we spend a lot of time coaching kids to succeed at their summer jobs. We really focus on the fundamentals and technical skills, which are still important on the job, even with AI. They still have to understand the concepts of building a model, since they can't sit in a board meeting and open ChatGPT.

We run a banking simulation during the course, where students create a pitchbook for a real corporate client, like Nike or Pepsi. The project trains them to work in a team and with a client, and getting practice with the grunt work helps them hit the ground running at their summer internships. The winning teams present to the client, usually to the company's CFO.

The alumni base is incredibly engaged, and they make it a mission to hire more Longhorns. Alumni take ownership of a student every year, coaching them through the process, and ultimately try to grow the UT presence at their firms.

Unfortunately, it's a changing world, and a lot of schools are mimicking our model, so we've had to step up our game to make sure UT students still excel. The secret sauce is in the execution and finesse.

Succeeding when there

We have a nearly 100% return-offer rate, and placement is a big part of why. We've built strong relationships with the firms, and I know where students will thrive. Investment banks are like people, with different personalities and needs. It's about optimizing for cultural fit.

Beyond being well-prepared, UT students are uniquely humble. They're very collaborative, and the banks love that — I've even seen groups of students preparing for the same interview together.

My program has become a positive feedback loop: the more students we place in New York, the more people want to come to UT, which makes the student body even stronger and helps us place more people.

• You can get Costco groceries delivered from three delivery apps now.
• We compared the price of ordering on each using a basket of 15 Costco products.
• One delivery option was the most expensive, and all cost more than shopping in-store.

There are now three apps that will deliver from Costco to your door.

When it comes to price, though, there's a difference.

DoorDash and Uber Eats expanded their partnerships with Costco last week. DoorDash said it now delivers from Costco stores around the US, while Uber Eats now offers delivery from the chain in 47 states, up from its previous 17.

These complement Costco's existing partnership with Instacart, CEO Ron Vachris said on the company's latest earnings call on Thursday. Instacart has delivered from Costco stores since 2017.

Costco customers ordering via DoorDash and Uber Eats tend to be "significantly younger than our overall member base," Vachris said. Delivery customers use the option when they need a few items while still regularly visiting a Costco store, he added.

But are each of the three delivery services comparably priced? And how much of a premium are customers paying over going to the store?

To find out, I checked the cost of 15 items at a Costco store near me in Washington, DC. Then, I compared the total to the cost of ordering those same items through Instacart, Uber Eats, and DoorDash. Here's what I found.

The delivery apps carried a consistent markup

The 15 items I chose span the grocery categories at Costco, from Kirkland Signature Paper Towels to prime ribeye steaks. I also threw in a few items long popular with Costco shoppers, such as a rotisserie chicken and butter croissants.

To make the comparison with the apps fair, I made sure to order from the same store that I visited — and on the same day that I visited.

I also added my Costco membership to each of the apps. Uber Eats and DoorDash required this, while Instacart lets users order from Costco without a membership, though they might pay more. I did not use any of the paid memberships that the apps offer, such as Uber One, though shoppers who use those might save more.

Here's how much the items alone cost without tax, fees, a tip, or discounts:

Costco in-store: $300.83

Uber Eats: $336.75

DoorDash: $337.64

Instacart: $380.65

Every item on my list cost more through the apps than it did at the store. And while the prices on Uber Eats and DoorDash were usually close to each other, those on Instacart tended to be the highest.

Each app applied a consistent markup. Uber Eats charged about 12% more than store prices, while DoorDash was closer to 11%. On Instacart, prices were 24% higher.

An Instacart spokesperson said that retailers like Costco set item prices on Instacart. A DoorDash spokesperson said that the pricing structure varies between retailers on the app.

Initially, my list included two alcohol items: A 1.75-liter bottle of Kirkland Signature French Vodka and a 750-milliliter bottle of Veuve Clicquot Brut Champagne, both of which I saw were in stock at the store that I visited. I cut these two items because I couldn't find them on Uber Eats or DoorDash.

An Uber spokesperson said that the company plans to launch alcohol delivery with Costco, but did not provide a timeline. A DoorDash spokesperson also declined to confirm when the service would start delivering booze.

Fees and tips widened the gap versus store prices

The cost of delivery increased when I reached the checkout page. Here's how much my 15 products were with everything, including sales tax as well as fees, discounts, and a 5% tip that the apps applied:

Costco in-store: $318.88

Uber Eats: $373.20

DoorDash: $328.27

Instacart: $419.36

DoorDash was the cheapest delivery option, thanks largely to a $50 discount that the service is offering on Costco orders until November. Otherwise, the cost would be $378.27 all in.

Paying about $10 — about 3% — more than store prices to have everything delivered seems like a reasonable deal. The long-term question, though, is whether paying closer to 20% more will be worth it when the discount presumably goes away.

Instacart remained the most expensive option, with the total cost about 32% higher than shopping in-store.

Whether the higher costs are worth it depends on your needs.

Instacart customers have told me over the years that they appreciate not having to lug huge packs of paper goods up stairs. Many shoppers, especially in big cities, don't have cars, which makes it less practical to haul stuff home from Costco's stores, which are often in suburban neighborhoods.

For others, the value of having Costco items delivered might be what CEO Vachris mentioned on this week's earnings call: Getting those few things that you forgot to buy or ran out of since your last Costco run.

Do you have a story idea about Uber Eats, DoorDash, or Instacart? Contact this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com or via encrypted messaging app Signal at 808-854-4501. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.