• Sam Altman is throwing a party to celebrate OpenAI's GPT-5.5.
• Altman said Elon Musk could come 'if he wants.'
• The two AI leaders have a long-standing feud and are in the middle of a federal legal battle.

After battling it out in court this week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman made a surprising, if not full-throated, gesture to his rival, Elon Musk, on Saturday.

OpenAI is planning a small celebration on May 5 for the release of its latest model, GPT-5.5. Altman shared an online form for those interested in attending to RSVP, and said Codex, OpenAI's coding agent, would help the company choose people from the replies.

Registration closed quickly, and Altman later said that he'd plan bigger parties in the future.

It's unlikely Musk threw his name into the ring for one of those limited invites, but Altman said on X that his erstwhile OpenAI cofounder "could come if he wants to."

"The world needs more love," Altman added.

The kindness came days after US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who is presiding over their legal fight, warned both tech executives to "control your propensity to use social media to make things worse outside this courtroom."

Musk and Altman have been locked in an ideological battle for years.

The tech moguls cofounded OpenAI in 2015, but Musk left in 2018 after disagreements over the company's direction and leadership, particularly around safety.

Since then, Musk has repeatedly criticized OpenAI — especially for what he has characterized as a shift away from an open-source nonprofit mission to one focused on commercialization and profit — while launching his own competing AI company, xAI.

Their rivalry has escalated from public jabs into serious legal disputes. Musk sued OpenAI, Altman, and other cofounders in March 2024 over the company's direction. Musk says OpenAI and its other founders broke their original agreement.

In late April, the dispute moved into a high-profile federal trial in Oakland, where Musk and Altman are now testifying. The proceedings have already grown tense, with Musk clashing with OpenAI's lawyer before the judge stepped in.

The Run for the Roses returns for its 152nd outing. We've compiled everything you need to know about where to watch the Kentucky Derby, including free and global streaming options.

If you don't want to read any further, the Kentucky Derby will take place at approximately 6:57 p.m. ET and last around two minutes. Coverage will kick off earlier in the day, and we recommend tuning in on the early side to make sure you don't miss anything. The event will live stream on services like Peacock, DirecTV, and YouTube TV in the US, Sky Sports and Now Sports in the UK, and for free on Virgin Media 2 in Ireland. You can watch your service from anywhere by using a VPN, like Proton VPN.

*Sling TV's local channel coverage varies by region.

Where to watch the Kentucky Derby in the US

The Kentucky Derby airs on NBC in the US. Coverage will be available through several services, the cheapest of which is Peacock. Peacock Premium subscriptions start at $11 a month for ad-supported coverage, but you can upgrade to ad-free on-demand content and a full NBC live stream for $17 a month with Peacock Premium Plus.

American fans can also catch the action through a live TV streaming package, such as DirecTV or YouTube TV, both of which come with a free trial. YouTube TV's main plan normally costs $83 a month, but new users can get $15 a month off their first five months of service ($75 off in total) for a limited time. DirecTV carries NBC and other local channels in all of its signature plans, along with its MyNews and MySports genre packs, which cost $40 a month and $65 a month, respectively. Right now, new customers can get $20 a month off their first two months of MySports service.

If you don't mind not having a free trial, you can also catch NBC via Sling TV's Select or Blue plans, which cost $25 a month and $51 a month, respectively, when local channels are involved. However, local channel coverage varies by region on Sling, so we urge you to check what's available in your ZIP code before subscribing.

Where to watch the Kentucky Derby in the UK

The Kentucky Derby will be available through Sky Sports in the UK. Viewers can sign up for a Sky TV plan, but there's also an option to live stream Sky Sports coverage through Now Sports. Sky prices vary by plan and contract length. Now Sports offers month-to-month subscriptions, but there's also a single-day pass for £15, which can be useful for one-off events like this.

Where to watch the Kentucky Derby in Ireland

The Kentucky Derby will live stream for free on Virgin Media 2 in Ireland. The Virgin Media player carries loads of sporting events each year, often including several Champions League matches and other Triple Crown races.

How to watch the Kentucky Derby from anywhere

If you're away from the location where your streaming service works when the race kicks off, like Ireland, you can still keep up with your free watch options with the help of a VPN. VPNs, or virtual private networks, are easy-to-use tech tools that let people temporarily alter their virtual locations. They're especially popular services for those looking to keep up with their usual websites and apps while traveling abroad or boost their cybersecurity.

Proton VPN is one of the best VPNs on the market. It's fast, offers a massive selection of international servers, and comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee if you find that it's not helping you out.

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.

• I was in the room when Warren Buffett unexpectedly sat for an interview on Saturday.
• He warned of a "gambling mood" in markets during Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting.
• The legendary investor also underscored the threat posed by nuclear weapons and deepfakes.

I was in the room when Warren Buffett sounded the alarm on "gambling" in markets, nuclear weapons, and deepfakes on Saturday.

During Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting, the company's chairman and former CEO joined CNBC's Becky Quick backstage for a surprise interview.

The pair's conversation was broadcast live to a crowd of thousands seated in the CHI Health Center in Buffett's hometown of Omaha.

I had a bird's-eye view of the event from the press box overlooking the stage, and could see the crowd's excitement at the prospect of hearing the business icon speak.

Kartik Rangarajan, 54, a tech worker from Dallas, told me it was a "very good, pleasant surprise" that Buffett sat for an interview, as he was eager to "hear from him directly."

Brett Gardner, the author of "Buffett's Early Investments," told me that he saw lots of people milling around outside the arena for large portions of the Q&A.

But as soon as Buffett started speaking, he said, "everyone just crowded around the TV and it was like, 'We've got to listen to Warren.'"

Buffett, a renowned bargain hunter, has struggled to find deals on stocks and businesses in recent years. He told Quick that today's market is "not an ideal environment" for deploying cash.

The benchmark US stock index, the S&P 500, has surged by 27% over the past five years to record highs of above 7,200 points. Berkshire shares have slumped by 8% over the same period.

Berkshire sold a net $8 billion worth of stocks last quarter, boosting its cash pile to a record $380 billion at the end of March.

Addressing the challenging market and Berkshire's ballooning cash reserves, Buffett said the company has the right people and is set up to "pick our spots."

The business icon put his legendary patience into sharp relief when he said that out of the past 60 years, only "five of them have really been juicy."

Buffett, 95, is known to invest only within his "circle of competence." He told Quick that he has not learned about any new industries in the past decade, and doesn't plan to change that.

'Gambling mood'

Buffett described the market as a "church with a casino attached," referring to the divide between speculators and long-term investors focused on company fundamentals.

"The casino's gotten very attractive to people," he said, nodding to the boom in short-term trading and more aggressive use of leverage in recent years.

"If you're buying one-day options, or selling them, that's not investing, that's not speculating, it's gambling," Buffett said.

"We've never had people in a more gambling mood than now."

Buffett couldn't resist taking a shot at the "wonderful trading departments" that practically shut down during crises.

"Just try them out when the market is collapsing," he said, adding that if they do pick up the phone, they'll use any information you give them to "go out and kill you some other way."

"It's really like going to a slaughterhouse," Buffett said. "You don't feel like eating hot dogs for a while."

Rangarajan told me he perceived Buffett's comments "not so much as a grim picture," but as a message to shareholders that he was patiently waiting for opportunities to arise.

From worry to hope

The mood in the arena turned dour as Buffett described the threat posed by countries with nuclear bombs and the risk that something could "fall out of the sky" at any moment.

The investor said it was important to be aware of that danger, but added that it does "no good to worry about it."

Buffett restored the room's good vibes when he joked about his lack of travel in recent years. When Quick asked if he had met the new managers of some of Berkshire's key holdings, he sent ripples of laughter through the audience by quipping: "I haven't met the old managers."

The former Berkshire CEO, who made way for Greg Abel at the start of this year, also sparked chuckles in the crowd when he discussed the perils of marriage.

"But you can make mistakes with people, just look at the divorce rate," he joked.

Along with his late business partner, Charlie Munger, Buffett is known for saying that a person's choice of spouse is one of the most important decisions they'll make in their life.

Buffett briefly commented on the rise of deepfakes and other forms of imitation, calling it a "scary" trend, especially at a time when several countries possess nuclear weapons.

He lifted the crowd's spirits with his final comments. He heralded America's remarkable longevity and lasting appeal as a place to live.

Then he reiterated his faith in the "golden rule," which Quick clarified was the biblical advice to "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

"I've never seen anybody unhappy that behaves that way," Buffett said.

Ranganaran, who told me he's been a Berkshire shareholder for over 25 years, noted that Buffett has spoken more about "giving and helping others and being kind" in recent years.

"All of it is a good message for us to take back," he added.

Quick ended the conversation to whoops and applause with the words: "Warren Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway."

• I started letting my toddler help cook to improve his picky eating.
• At first it was messy and frustrating, but he became more engaged with food.
• Cooking together built his confidence and made mealtimes more enjoyable.

I never thought I'd be the kind of parent who lets their child loose in the kitchen but, honestly, it's the best thing I've done.

Like many toddlers, my 4-year-old was always interested in what I was doing, but amidst the daily grind of parenting I just wanted to get chores done as quickly and easily as possible.

I had enough to do without having to worry about little fingers getting caught under a knife or that resigned feeling where letting them "help" somehow creates more mess than what you were trying to clean up in the first place. I had heard of the Montessori school of thought that involving children in shared household chores helps foster independence, but honestly, I just wanted to get through the day without making life harder (or messier) for myself.

Everything changed when my son's fussy eating became too restrictive. He screamed at the sight of food, refusing to touch it, let alone take a bite. A dietician told me I should try to improve his confidence by involving him in cooking tasks. How do you do that when mealtimes are already a mess? Then I started thinking, when is it appropriate to teach him how to cook? If it's introduced out of the blue one day will he completely resist it?

I left home at age 18 barely able to cook toast, that's not what I want for my children.

I started introducing simple cooking tasks

Still unsure, I started small by introducing simple cooking tasks like using cookie cutters to cut shapes into cucumber. And that was the day he started eating cucumber.

It grew from there.

From using knives to cut vegetables (with careful supervision and age appropriate tools), to turning on the oven, he's now cooked all sorts of things. Nothing is off limits, one day he'll be preparing vegetables, the next day we're making sandwiches.

It has not all been smooth sailing. Learning to crack an egg has had its ups and downs — I don't recommend tackling that particular skill unless you've got a few spare. I thought using the food processor would be a hit — but the noise resulted in a lot of crying. I tried using a hand blender instead, but in a moment of chaos the mixture ended up hitting the walls. Sometimes the clear up really does take longer than the actual cooking.

Embracing mess and enjoying the results

Yet despite my initial horror at the mess, it's not the disaster I thought it would be. I had no idea the impact cooking independently would have on him. He has all the boisterous, insatiable energy that 4-year-olds have, a happy and chaotic whirlwind of physical activity.

But when he's cooking his body becomes still and absorbed with concentration. All his energy becomes harnessed into a laser sharp focus. There are some things I tell him are grown up jobs only — moving anything hot, like a frying pan, is for him to watch, but not to do. He is careful not to get too close if there's a spitting pan.

So when he asked me to let him cook dinner I didn't hesitate to say yes, it felt like a natural progression. First of all he helped prepare the vegetables — peeling carrots is one of his favorite tasks. After the carrots he chopped a cucumber with careful precision. Then he measured out the spices into a bowl.

We used a kitchen stool so that he could reach, stirring the mixture around with a wooden spoon. He washed his hands thoroughly in the sink before and after tipping a piece of chicken into the mix. I reminded him which buttons to press to turn the air fryer on.

It seems so simple now, why didn't I realize it before? Like any other skill, it doesn't take long for the eggs to start hitting the bowl rather than the floor. And if there is any mess, we can clear it up together.

When there are constant demands on us to play or entertain, sometimes connection can be found over the simplest of tasks. In the kitchen we have become a team, and there's nothing more satisfying than eating the resulting meal.

• Octogenarian Jacob Watson has opted to "age in place" at his three-bedroom, two-bathroom home.
• He shares it with tenants who spend eight hours weekly helping with chores, like shopping and cooking.
• In exchange, they pay reduced rent. He said it's a win-win: they save money and he gets assistance.

This interview is based on a conversation with Jacob Watson, 84, an ordained interfaith minister, writer, and former grief counselor, from Portland, Maine. It has been edited for length and clarity.

My late wife, Kristine, and I were grief counselors, which inevitably led us to discuss our own arrangements for the end of life.

We decided we wanted to "age in place" and stay in our 2,100-square-foot home, built in 1915.

The downstairs bathroom was converted into a handicapped-accessible bathroom with the intention of us living on the first floor as we got older.

But the "we" never happened. On August 3, 2021, a few days after our 33rd wedding anniversary, Kristine died of a heart attack at 71. It was a terrible shock to me and everyone in the family.

I considered an assisted living facility

After that, I lived alone. However, since I have macular degeneration, my vision has gotten progressively worse. I found it increasingly difficult to see everyday things like the numbers on the stove or microwave.

Three years ago, I began to think, 'I can't do this by myself.' I seriously considered selling the house and moving into an assisted living facility.

I thought it would be a relief to know that someone else was taking care of me and would fix anything that went wrong with the property.

But I got almost physically sick when I visited the facilities. I knew the lifestyle wasn't right for me, and I wouldn't feel independent or stimulated.

Besides, those apartments are in such high demand that I could have been on a waiting list for two years or more.

It dawned on me that, if I wanted to stick to my original plan, I'd need to take a deep breath and ask for help.

I needed help with my eyesight issues

I figured it would be a good idea to have someone live under the same roof who could watch out for me. They could take over the upstairs — which had two bedrooms, a living room, and a full bathroom — and I could live downstairs.

In 2024, I actively started looking for a housemate or two. In return for a reduced rent, they'd do a few things for me, like cooking an evening meal twice a week, going to the grocery store, and occasionally driving me places.

My acquaintances shared the blurb I wrote with their own contacts. The rent would be $1,350 a month, including utilities, in exchange for 8 hours a week of help with my eyesight issues.

It could be anything from assisting me with my Mac to putting out trash and compost for pickup. I also asked for a weekly check-in when we could discuss the division of the chores and other matters.

My first housemate, Karrie, a 50-year-old physiotherapist, whom I met through my massage therapist, arrived in November 2024 and stayed for a one-year lease.

My daughter, Sarah, 56, who lives about 20 minutes away, made a point of coming over to help me interview her. She obviously wanted to know who this person was who was coming to live with her dad.

Then my current helper, Kathleen, 39, who works for a nonprofit, moved here in January 2026. She is due to move out at the end of May, so I'm hoping to find another natural caregiver to replace her.

We don't live in each other's pockets

Both Karrie and Kristine proved to be an excellent match. They're very independent, and out of the house most of the day, either working or socializing.

It definitely helped that we had our own interests and activities. I've always kept busy with my writing, which includes books about grief and meditations, and I have a large network of friends and family.

It wouldn't have worked so well if my housemates and I lived in each other's pockets.

One of the most useful things is being able to compose a grocery list and have someone else shop for me. I also really benefit from being able to share the household cooking.

We have a whiteboard in the communal kitchen to keep track of our weekly dinners. Kathleen often prepares larger meals that last for a couple of days, which is a great idea.

It's been an adjustment to have housemates

There's also something very reassuring about knowing someone is there in an emergency, such as if I have a fall. Our house is old, and I used to think the creaking and groaning of the floorboards were bad.

Now, when I hear them, I think of them as a positive thing because I know I'm not alone.

It's been an adjustment to open my house to other people. But so is aging in general. I feel blessed and grateful to be living this interesting situation as I get older. It feels like a win-win.

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang criticized leaders who stoke fear around AI's impact on the world.
• Huang called the doomerism "ridiculous" and urged industry leaders to rely on facts.
• His criticism appeared directed at tech leaders like Anthropic's Dario Amodei and xAi's Elon Musk.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has had enough of your AI hot takes.

While discussing AI adoption during the "Memos to the President" podcast on Thursday, Huang said industry leaders should "be mindful" of how they talk about the significance of the technology.

At one point, he referred to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's prediction that AI could replace 50% of entry-level white-collar jobs in the coming years.

"These kinds of comments are not helpful," Huang said. "They're made by people who are like me — CEOs. Somehow, because they became CEOs, you adopt a God complex and, before you know it, you know everything."

He added, "I think we have to be careful and really ground ourselves to talking about the facts."

During the interview, Huang also criticized claims that AI could destroy the world.

"Saying nonsensical things, which are not going to happen, that this is an existential threat to humanity, there's 20% chance that it's existential. That's ridiculous," Huang said.

He was likely referring to Elon Musk, who made the claim during a February appearance on "The Joe Rogan" podcast. Musk said humans faced a "20% chance of annihilation" from AI.

Although AI has permeated nearly every layer of the economy, the long-term effects of the technology on the workforce and humanity as a whole are largely unknown.

Some AI supporters believe the tech will make us more efficient, create more jobs, generate wealth, and solve afflictions of all kinds. Others worry it will replace humans in the workforce, isolate us from each other, and ultimately usher in some kind of apocalypse.

A stark example of this uncertainty is the so-called "Saaspocalypse." The idea that AI was bringing about the end times for the once-lucrative software-as-a-service industry was, until recently, accepted logic.

A series of earnings reports this week, however, upended that logic. Atlassian, Twilio, and Five9 all reported strong earnings on Thursday.

• "The Devil Wears Prada 2" beefed up the cameos from the first movie.
• Memorable faces from the world of music, fashion, the internet, and sports all appear in the movie.
• Here are the most memorable cameos.

"The Devil Wears Prada" was all about glamour, down to its star-studded cameos. So it makes sense that the sequel would up the ante with a slew of famous faces.

In "The Devil Wears Prada 2," Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) is hired back to the fictional fashion magazine Runway as its features editor, bringing her back into the orbit of the magazine's tyrannical boss Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep). Andy is tasked with beefing up Runway's editorial cache, but also finds herself working alongside Miranda to keep Runway afloat in the midst of ownership turmoil that could destroy the brand.

Amid Andy's journey back into the fray are plenty of parties, red carpets, and fashion shows that are filled with big-name celebrities. Here are the most memorable cameos in "The Devil Wears Prada 2."

Lady Gaga

The multi-Grammy winner appears in the movie's third act as a last-minute replacement for John Legend at Runway's big fashion show in Milan. Miranda calls in a favor to get Gaga to perform, but when the two exchange barbs in her dressing room, it's clear they have history and aren't fond of each other.

Donatella Versace

The famed fashion designer shows up in the scene where Andy is trying to track down Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt). Andy finds her old Runway coworker at a cafe with Versace, who grows impatient when Emily steps away for a moment to speak to Andy.

Ciara

The singer is one of the many stars who is featured in the Met Gala scene.

Amelia Dimoldenberg

The "Chicken Shop Date" host can also be seen in the Met Gala sequence.

Paige DeSorbo and Hannah Berner

The "Giggly Squad" podcast hosts and Bravolebrities can be seen in the Met Gala scene.

Ashley Graham

Model Ashley Graham is also there.

Rory McIlroy

Two-time Masters champ, PGA golfer Rory McIlroy, and his wife Erica can be seen chatting with Emily Charlton's boyfriend, Benji Barnes (Justin Theroux), at the gala.

Kara Swisher

The famed tech journalist is part of the elite group who are invited to Miranda's Hamptons get-together.

Jenna Bush Hager

The daughter of former President George W. Bush and "Today" third-hour host also gets the invite.

Karl-Anthony Towns

New York Knicks All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns was also at the Hamptons lunch, where Andy has a brief chat with him. (Hathaway is a loyal Knicks fan.)

Jon Batiste

The Grammy and Oscar-winning musician brings some rhythm to the Hamptons lunch.

Ronny Chieng

Also in the Hamptons scene is this "The Daily Show" correspondent and host.

Tina Brown

Media heavyweight Brown can also be seen at the lunch. Brown is the former editor of Vanity Fair and founding editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast.

Law Roach

The famed stylist of Zendaya and Ariana Grande appears at Runway's big Milan fashion show at the end of the movie.

Heidi Klum

Would it really be a high-fashion event without an appearance from this GOAT?

Naomi Campbell

No, Naomi, the filmmakers wouldn't dare cut you out of that scene either!

• Warren Buffett is no longer Berkshire Hathaway's CEO, but he's still top of mind at its annual meeting.
• As well as a surprise real-life appearance, Buffett also appeared in digital form.
• A deepfake of the legendary investor asked the first question at new CEO Greg Abel's Q&A session.

Warren Buffett is no longer the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, but he's still at its annual conference, in both physical and digital form.

For years at Berkshire meetings, Buffett held lengthy question-and-answer sessions with the company's shareholders, covering everything from the inner workings of its businesses to geopolitics to his favorite foods.

At 2026's shareholder meeting, however, new CEO Greg Abel hosted the annual Q&A, and the first question came from a familiar face.

After concluding a discussion with Berkshire's insurance chief, Ajit Jain, Abel opened the floor up to questions, and beaming around the CHI Health Center was Buffett's likeness, wearing his trademark suit and tie.

"Hi, my name is Warren, from Omaha," said the familiar, gravely voice. "I've recently undergone, let's say, a significant change in role."

"My question is a simple one. I'm 95 years old, I've got nothing but time and Cherry Coke, and I want to know, just so I have something to tell my fellow shareholders, why should they hold their Berkshire shares for the long term?"

A laughing Abel called it a "very astute question" before giving a lengthy answer about the strength of Berkshire's businesses and the importance of its huge cash pile.

"As you've all picked up, that was a deepfake," Abel told the crowd.

"Here's the interesting thing: That was done with zero input from Warren. We were able to obtain that with information that's out there and replicate those actions and that voice," he said.

Abel then went on to use the deepfake Buffett to make a point about the growing risk to businesses of cyberattacks and fake information.

"The reality is that's what we're dealing with when we think about Berkshire and how we have to protect it every day," he said.

Not long before AI Buffett's question, Abel made clear to Berkshire watchers that he's cautious on employing the technology across the company.

"We're not going to do AI for the sake of AI," Abel said, adding that the tech has to be "additive to our businesses."

• Berkshire Hathaway won't be betting the farm on AI, Greg Abel said on Saturday.
• Warren Buffett's successor as CEO said Berkshire would be prudent during the annual meeting.
• The AI boom has divided investors, with some saying it's a bubble and others heralding a revolution.

Warren Buffett is known for not chasing the latest technology trend, preferring to invest within his "circle of competence."

Greg Abel, who succeeded the legendary investor as Berkshire Hathaway's CEO at the start of this year, signaled he's also cautious about jumping on any bandwagon during the company's shareholder meeting on Saturday in Omaha.

Business Insider's Theron Mohamed was watching from the press box of the CHI Health Center in Buffett's hometown when Abel told the crowd that Berkshire wouldn't be going all in on AI.

He struck a very different tone to tech executives such as Tesla's Elon Musk, OpenAI's Sam Altman, and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, who have committed to spending hundreds of billions of dollars to win the AI race.

"We're not going to do AI for the sake of AI," Abel said, adding that the tech has to be "additive to our businesses."

Berkshire's new boss said the conglomerate's subsidiaries would employ AI prudently, in areas where it creates genuine value.

Business Insider spoke to the CEOs of See's Candies, Dairy Queen, Brooks Running, and Jazwares on Friday. They said their companies were embracing AI to different degrees, but were broadly positive about how it can save time and make workers more efficient.

The investment world is divided on the immense buzz around AI.

The likes of "Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary and fund manager Ross Gerber have dismissed comparisons to the dot-com bubble, telling Business Insider that the tech is driving measurable productivity gains and generating enormous growth in profits.

In contrast, Michael Burry of "The Big Short" fame and veteran investor Jeremy Grantham have warned that AI is a bubble of historic proportions that's bound to burst with devastating effect.

• I struggled with loneliness after my divorce, especially on holidays.
• I built a support system with other single moms who became like family.
• That community changed how I experience motherhood and connection.

After my divorce, I braced for loneliness on holidays, but it hit hardest on Mother's Day.

My first one alone, my best friend from college texted me a photo of her proudly wearing the necklace her son, the same age as my daughter, had cobbled together. Its colored pieces were dotted with pieces of torn felt.

"Isn't it cute?" She wrote.

I felt a lump in my throat instantly. No one was around anymore to remind my kids to acknowledge the day. That day I cried walking to the playground past what felt like swarms of brunching two-parent families drinking mimosas, flowers still in their wrapping nesting amidst gifts on tables.

I dreaded Mother's Day for years

For years after that, I continued to dread Mother's Day, even though within a short time, my children did acknowledge the day with sweet gifts and words. Still, the day always felt hollow for me, a reminder of the partner and family I didn't have. It was a day to get through rather than a celebration of motherhood — I resigned myself to that fact.

That is, until I became part of what my kids call my "single mom club."

It started when I struck up an online correspondence with a few other moms in a similar situation. Before long, our digital support group spilled over into real life. We got together frequently to share copious amounts of wine, comfort, advice, and laughter.

What they have helped me discover is that there are surprising benefits to being a single parent, which one rarely hears about. And now, more than a decade after my divorce, I can honestly say that I am grateful for the experience of parenting alone.

Single motherhood is hard

Don't get me wrong: single parenthood is hard. When one of my daughters is sick at 2 a.m., when both kids melt down simultaneously, when I'm depleted and desperate for a minute of silence, there's no partner to tag in. Every doctor's appointment, every permission slip, every birthday party is my responsibility alone.

Which is why, when married friends sometimes announce that they're "single parenting for the weekend," I bite my tongue.

What I've discovered, however, is that the four-alarm fire that is single parenthood can actually force a more thoughtful approach to building a family and the community around it.

I built a group of single moms

What began as a practical necessity and a hedge against loneliness, my single mom club has become the envy of my married friends. Anyone can ask their neighbor for a cup of sugar, but how many, on half an hour's notice, can ask them for a lesson in Excel or to weigh in on a legal document?

One time, one of our single moms had an impromptu meeting and couldn't find a sitter. Four of us took turns rotating in and out of her house so she could make it. When another mom was hospitalized and terrified, all seven of us showed up at her bedside, some with overnight bags.

I make the most of my free time

My kids both need to see their dad, and I'm fully supportive of that relationship. But it also means I get enforced, and therefore guilt-free, time off to nurture the parts of me that motherhood doesn't feed. Perhaps we should all be doing this.

Last weekend, I spent Saturday morning at a coffee shop working on an article while my kids were with their dad. That afternoon, I met my single mom club for drinks. We spent three hours laughing until we cried, sharing the kind of dark humor about parenting that only other people in the trenches can appreciate. Sunday, I took a yoga class, went to a museum, and read a book in bed without interruption.

I have a home without resentment

I grew up in a home suffused with smoldering resentment. My kids get focused time with both parents, rather than the distracted time I remember from my own childhood. They may not have both of us simultaneously, but they have each of us much closer to our best.

It's impossible to predict the twists and turns that parenthood will take. It's certainly not what I expected. Being a parent is the ultimate exercise in intermittent reinforcement: bursts of grace that feel so hard-won, so fragile and transient. Sometimes, when one of my daughters falls asleep on my lap while I'm reading to her, and I feel her body shift into heaviness, I stay there for a while, inhaling her smooth skin and passionfruit shampoo.

When these things happen, my single mom friends are my witnesses. They may text me hours later: "How did bedtime go?" They remember that my daughter had that big presentation in school and want to know all about it. They ask about the small things that make up my actual life.

If I had to do it all over again, would I choose this path? I'm not sure. I would miss a warm body in bed next to me, and the day-to-day presence of a partner. But I know that what I've built in its stead feels like mine in a way that my marriage never did.

Parenthood is still a wild ride; I still experience all the twists and turns. But I don't carry that hollow feeling anymore. Not because being a single parent has become less complicated (no one with a teenager would ever say that), but because the family I constructed, piece by deliberate piece, turned out to be more solid than all that I took for granted by saying "I do."

• JetBlue says it will "fill the void" created by the collapse of Spirit Airlines.
• It plans to fly 11 new routes from Fort Lauderdale, including six all-new destinations.
• JetBlue says it expects to operate nearly 130 daily departures from the Florida city this summer.

Just hours after the collapse of Spirit Airlines on Saturday, rival low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways announced plans to add 11 new routes from its — and what was once Spirit's — primary Florida hub, Fort Lauderdale.

With the earliest flight starting on July 9, JetBlue listed six new destinations:

• Barranquilla, Colombia — October 1
• Baltimore — July 9
• Cali, Colombia — October 15
• Charlotte, N.C. — July 9
• Columbus, Ohio — November 2
• Indianapolis — November 2

JetBlue said it also would add new nonstop service from the following cities:

• Nashville, Tenn. — July 9
• Detroit — July 9
• Houston — July 9
• Chicago — July 9
• Ponce, Puerto Rico — July 9

"This is really tough news for the thousands of Spirit team members affected, as well as the customers who were planning trips on Spirit," JetBlue chief executive Joanna Geraghty said.

"We got to know many of their crew members during our acquisition talks, and we're thinking about everyone whose lives are being disrupted. We want to help fill the void created by this loss."

JetBlue expects to operate nearly 130 daily departures from Fort Lauderdale this summer, marking the largest operation in its history from the airport, with 75% more daily flights than in 2025.

JetBlue is among several airlines offering to help stranded Spirit passengers in the coming days. Carriers like United and Southwest have published price-capped rescue fares on Spirit's former routes; fares are roughly $200-$400, depending on the airline.

Spirit collapsed and ceased operations early Saturday after talks with the Trump administration for a bailout fell through. In its absence, prices on routes it once served but now have less competition will likely go up.

• Warren Buffett thanked Tim Cook for making Apple such a stellar investment for Berkshire Hathaway.
• The investor unexpectedly invited the Apple CEO to take a bow during Berkshire's annual meeting.
• While Berkshire has pared its Apple bet, he said that Cook grew their investment to $185 billion.

Warren Buffett trumpeted his Apple bet and invited outgoing CEO Tim Cook to take a bow during Berkshire Hathaway's shareholder meeting on Saturday.

Greg Abel, who succeeded Buffett as Berkshire's CEO at the start of this year, unexpectedly announced that the legendary investor and chairman would say a few words.

Buffett — sitting in the front row and fully embracing his retired status by wearing a sweater instead of his usual suit — began by saying the transition to Abel's leadership had been "100% successful" with Berkshire's new boss "doing everything I did and then some" and "doing it better than I did."

The business icon, 95, then recalled his decision to turn over 10% of Berkshire's resources to a person "not that well known at the time." He was referring to Berkshire's roughly $35 billion investment in Apple between 2016 and 2018, and the tech giant's CEO, Cook, who announced he would step down earlier in April.

Business Insider's Theron Mohamed was watching from the press box of the CHI Health Center in Buffett's hometown of Omaha as the famous stockpicker spoke.

Buffett drew chuckles from the crowd when he joked that Berkshire had turned over management of the money to Apple to make itself "look good," and that was its "preferred way of operating."

He then underscored that Apple has turned that $35 billion, including dividends and both realized and unrealized appreciation, into $185 billion before tax.

"And I didn't have to do a damn thing," he quipped.

Apple remains Berkshire's largest position, despite the company selling the majority of its stake over the past few years.

Buffett then reflected on Apple celebrating its 50th anniversary in recent weeks. He said that Cook "succeeded a legend" when he took over as CEO from visionary cofounder Steve Jobs in late 2011, and that only a "very few percentage points of American investors had even heard" of the new boss.

"When we made our investment and turned over 10% of the resources of Berkshire, we were turning it over for Tim, and I say he's turned that into $185 billion or something pretax," Buffett added, joking that he "won't bother to compare his record to that."

Cook has overseen a massive increase in Apple's market valuation during his nearly 15 years in charge, from around $350 billion to $4.1 trillion as of Friday's close.

He's been widely credited with scaling Apple's manufacturing and distribution of hit products such as the iPhone, improving its global supply chain, and catering to China's mushrooming middle class.

"So I think it's appropriate if Tim would take a bow and our shareholders would say thanks to him," Buffett said.

Cook, sitting a few rows behind Buffett in front of the stage, stood up to cheers and applause, waving and clasping his hands together to thank the crowd.

Buffett has repeatedly heralded Apple as an incredible business and Cook as a world-class leader in recent years.

"Tim Cook has made Berkshire a lot more than I have made Berkshire," Buffett said at last year's meeting.

• My family of four sold our house in Connecticut and moved to a rental apartment outside of Madrid.
• Downsizing into a rental abroad has given us more flexibility and a more minimalist lifestyle.
• Now that I don't have to maintain a house, I have more time and energy to allocate elsewhere.

After my husband and I bought our dream house — a 2,100-square-foot ranch-style property in a peaceful Connecticut neighborhood — we never thought we'd rent again. Owning it felt like the culmination of everything we'd been working toward.

But at some point, our house stopped aligning with what we wanted. With increasing frequency, my husband and I talked about wanting a more balanced, simple life for ourselves and our two young sons.

So, less than five years after buying the home, we sold it and moved our family to a 1,345-square-foot rental apartment in Las Rozas de Madrid, Spain.

I hadn't rented a property in over a decade, but it made practical sense for our move abroad. We'd never been to Spain before booking our one-way flight, and renting gave us flexibility in case we wanted to change course later.

After 14 years as a homeowner, renting again terrified me. Thankfully, it's turned out to be one of the most liberating decisions we've made.

Going from a home I painstakingly curated to a nearly empty rental apartment was an adjustment

When we closed on our Connecticut house in 2021, I wanted to make it perfect. We upgraded the windows and doors, customized the bedroom closets, and chose every piece of furniture and decor as if we'd have it forever. That was always the plan.

Moving to a rental apartment abroad with only a few suitcases (and none of the furniture or pieces I'd curated) was daunting. I wouldn't describe our apartment in Las Rozas as beautiful — it's dimmer and more enclosed than our bright, open Connecticut house — but it has everything we need.

When we arrived at the largely unfurnished apartment, it had two single mattresses, a few pieces in the living room, and a bookshelf. We got almost everything we needed — furniture, trash cans, cookware, and more — from Ikea and selected the pieces based on functionality.

Although the apartment lacks aesthetic interiors and has furniture I probably wouldn't have chosen before moving here, it has perks that our house didn't.

For example, it's located in a walkable, bustling neighborhood rather than a wooded, quiet one. When we exit our building, we're steps away from public transportation, parks, cafés, and the suburb's main street.

Where we lived in Connecticut, we had to drive everywhere. Here, we're always on foot. That shift has been one of the biggest adjustments and greatest gifts of our move.

Apartment living has forced us to embrace minimalism, but downsizing has its challenges

For years, my husband and I talked about wanting a more minimalist lifestyle. Yet somehow, we still managed to fill every room in our house, including the attic and garage.

As we prepared for our move to Spain, we finally achieved the pared-back lifestyle we'd talked about for years, getting rid of most of our belongings.

Our apartment here doesn't allow for accumulation, and having four people in one apartment has quickly taught us what we actually use.

Of course, the day-to-day realities of downsizing with a family aren't all roses. Counter space is limited, so I've had to keep only the kitchen essentials: a coffee maker and an air fryer.

And we've had to get creative with storage, finding nooks for Christmas stockings, Halloween costumes, winter coats, and school supplies.

Because I don't have to maintain a house, I have more time to do activities I enjoy

Although we gave up square footage during the move, we've gained so much more.

Since I no longer feel like I have to maintain a sizable home, I now spend weekends walking to parks, taking the train to Madrid, lingering in cafés, and going on adventures with my kids rather than working on the house.

Seven months into the move, I rarely think about the Connecticut property we left behind. The furniture I agonized over, the custom closets, and the sideboards I hunted down feel like distant memories. Items that I once placed so much importance on turned out to be just stuff.

Downsizing was worth it. Our apartment isn't better than our house by any measure and isn't saving us money — our mortgage payments cost about the same as our monthly rent — but we gained so much during the move that I don't mind.

Maybe one day we'll buy a property in Spain, but for now, having the freedom to pick up and go anywhere feels like a dream.

• Many young adults are moving back home to save money for future homeownership.
• But a study found that young adults who moved back home were less likely to own a home later in life.
• Luke Howland, a 24-year-old who moved back in with his parents, shed some light on why he did it.

Luke Howland, 24, moved back in with his parents this year. It wasn't part of the plan.

At 19, while many people his age were heading to college, Howland used his savings from high school jobs to open an electric bike retail store in Flagstaff, Arizona. After selling the business last year and moving out of the retail space where he also lived, he found himself back in his childhood home.

"For someone who has been on their own for so long and found success in business, I kind of acquired this ego in myself," Howland told me.

Returning to his parents' house was a tough decision, he said, but the right one. It's made his relationship with his family stronger, and not having roommates — something he would likely need to do to afford rent in Arizona — has helped him stay focused on his goals. Without rent payments, he's also been able to save money to put towards eventually buying a home of his own.

"I'm lucky enough to be able to move back in with my parents," Howland said. "Even though I sold the business and was able to make some money from it, it just didn't make sense to get right back into a lease or an apartment before I found another job or created another business."

Howland is far from the only one moving back in with mom and dad. A 2025 Pew Research study found that in 2023, 18% of adults ages 25 to 34 lived with their parents. Young men were more likely than young women to do so, at 20% compared with 15%.

For many young adults, the decision is a financial strategy. As the job market tightens and wages lag behind housing costs, living with parents is a way to cut living expenses and work toward longer-term goals, such as starting a business or pursuing homeownership.

Still, moving back home doesn't necessarily speed up the path to homeownership. A 2019 Urban Institute study found that adults who lived with their parents between the ages of 25 and 34 were less likely to become homeowners or household heads a decade later, which could hurt their long-term financial success.

"Since 2019, increasing rents and housing prices and increasing mortgage interest rates have made it even harder for young adults who are co-residing to move out and form their own households, further pushing back marriage and childbearing projects," Arthur Acolin, an associate professor in the Runstad Department of Real Estate at the University of Washington, told Business Insider.

Howland, who turns 25 next year, is determined not to become a statistic. When I asked him what he thought about the Urban Institute's study and his prospects of becoming a homeowner someday, he told me moving home was part of setting himself up to succeed and that he's determined to become a homeowner sooner rather than later.

"There's definitely an argument to be made that people who move back home can become complacent, but I think it depends on the person," he said. "For me personally, I have active motivation to leave and work toward homeownership."

He's given himself a two-year deadline to fly the coop.

• I'm from Argentina and a huge fan of Lionel Messi.
• While vacationing in Miami, I decided to attend an Inter Miami game at their new stadium.
• The $1 billion brand-new stadium is impressive, and my tickets had me so close to the players.

When my coworkers found out I was pregnant, they gifted my unborn son a teeny tiny Lionel Messi jersey. That was his first of many jerseys he has had in his eight years of life.

I'm from Argentina, and a huge soccer fan. I'm the kind of person who watches every World Cup match and any other time Argentina plays. I'm also, obviously, a huge Messi fan. I once even became a viral meme when my shadow resembled his face, and 12 years later, people still tag me on social media.

While vacationing in South Florida, I took my family to see Messi play for Inter Miami at their brand-new stadium. While it was an expensive outing, our group, ranging in age from 6 to 81, had a blast.

We were seated so close to the field

Because it was the first time my kids were seeing Messi play live, we decided to splurge on tickets close to the field. We were seated in row 5 and paid $230 per ticket for the seven of us.

I'm used to other stadiums in the US, where you end up not being close to the field at all. I was surprised at how close we were to the players this time. We were able to see Inter Miami warm up right in front of our section, and had players wave and interact with us.

Once the game started, Messi took a corner kick right where we were, and my kids were amazed to see their idol so close up.

The stadium is great, but accessibility isn't

The Nu Stadium, which opened in early April, reportedly cost $1 billion to build, and as someone who has attended many soccer matches, I can see why the price tag was so high.

We paid $47 for a parking pass despite it being recommended to use the train to get to the stadium. It was the right thing for my family since my kids still use car seats, and the walk from the train station to the stadium is 1.2 miles.

The outside area of the stadium is covered in turf, where you can find plenty of food trucks and drink carts. The area also has picnic tables, portable bathrooms, and tons of activities for kids and adults. My daughters and I got our cheeks decorated with pink glitter, we took photos with pink inflatables, and all my kids got pink sunglasses and tons of pink candy.

Inside the stadium, the seats are so incredibly comfortable, which really surprised me. There are screens all over the stadium, so you don't miss any key plays while buying more drinks or going to the bathroom. Speaking of bathrooms, I never had to wait more than a minute to use them, even during halftime.

That said, accessibility wasn't great. The parking lot area is still being finished, and my dad — who uses a walker — had a hard time navigating the dirt areas that were still left untouched. When we arrived at our gate at the stadium, we were told we needed to walk past two more gates because only one elevator was working. That said, the employees were super helpful, helping us store my dad's walker once we got to our seats and offering a wheelchair to help us get to the parking lot after the game.

Beers were $20, and waters sold out

While I know prices in stadiums are inflated because you can't bring anything inside, I was still surprised by the $20 beers. I still bought one because the Miami heat in April is no joke.

During halftime, my kids wanted water. It took me the full 15-minute break to find water, since every stand I went to had sold out, even at a $7 price per can.

While it was an expensive outing that took up half of our day (and went way past our kids' bedtime), we all had such a good time. My kids can't wait to tell their friends about seeing Messi play, and I've caught my dad sending photos of him and his grandchildren in the stadium to all of his friends.

Even though it feels like winter just ended, the warm weather of late spring and summer will be here before we know it. When preparing for warmer weather, ensuring that you have one of the best air conditioners to keep you cool should be at the top of your to-do list. As people who hate being hot, we know how important it is to find an air conditioner that's effective, quiet, and energy-efficient.

We tested over 20 window units and consulted Enesta Jones, an EPA spokesperson, to make our picks for the best air conditioners. Our picks are energy-efficient, have helpful features, and performed well in our tests. As you shop, keep in mind that you'll need single- or double-hung windows to properly install a traditional AC. All other window types will benefit from the best portable air conditioners. Our portable air conditioners versus window air conditioners story details the differences between these styles if you're unsure which is best for your needs.

The best air conditioners

Best overall: Frigidaire Gallery GHWW085TE1 - See at Frigidaire

Also great, but not for everyone: Midea U MAW08V1QWT - See at Amazon

Best portable: LG Smart Wi-Fi LP1419IVSM - See at Wayfair

Best for large rooms: Frigidaire FHWW145WE1 - See at Amazon

Most attractive: Windmill Air Conditioner - See at Amazon

Best overall

Our top pick crushed it during testing. The Frigidaire Gallery led the pack in nearly every test we performed. On high, this AC dropped the temperature in my bedroom by 10 degrees over eight hours. By the time I went to bed, my room was a frosty 63 degrees. For those who don't need to sleep in an igloo like I do, the unit has three fan speeds and an eco mode to choose from.

It's so quiet and energy efficient. On high, it registered at 47 decibels, which is quieter than any AC we've tested. The sound is incredibly smooth, too. It's just one consistent whoosh with no interruption or rattling. It's also one of the few units to receive Energy Star's "most efficient" award. In my tests, it clocked in at 0.46 kWh after an hour of use, just 0.06 more than the Midea U. Assuming about eight hours of use each day, it'll cost me just $51 to run this AC all summer.

Its excellent performance is thanks to its inverter technology. Inverter compressors have variable-speed motors that adjust to maintain the desired temperature. This constant low-level operation is more efficient and quieter than cycling high output on and off like traditional units do.

A unique feature is its air quality sensor. A light on the front of the unit changes between green (good), yellow (not so good), and red (bad), depending on the air quality of the room. I notice it switches to red when I'm burning a candle or cooking. The AC alone won't do a ton to improve the air — you'll need an air purifier or Frigidaire's PureAir allergen filter for that. Still, it's a nifty reminder of the effect actions have on indoor air quality.

I wish I could turn the air quality indicator light off. I'm a super sensitive sleeper, so having a bright light on in my room all night is a no-go. The only option for turning it off is the AC's "sleep mode." Unfortunately, this setting also raises the temperature 4 degrees over the course of the night to conserve energy, and I woke up feeling hot when I tried it out. I ended up covering the light with a strip of construction paper; it works, but also ruins the otherwise pleasant aesthetic of the AC.

Also great, but not for everyone

You can actually open the window when using this unit. The Midea U was the first AC to offer a true innovation over the classic window unit design: the ability to open the window while it's installed. This is owed to its U-shape, which keeps more of your window accessible for some fresh air and more light. Unfortunately, the very design that made it so innovative also caused it to accumulate mold, and in the spring of last year, Midea recalled the units. Recently, Midea began selling the U again with repair kits included, so we retested it. It's still a fantastic AC with unique features, but it's not for everyone (more on that below).

The repair kit is easy to install, but installing the AC is a pain. The repair consists of replacing one drain plug on the back of the unit. It's as simple as pulling the old one out and popping the new one in. General installation, on the other hand, is more involved than most ACs. You need to install a support bracket into the window, slide the unit on, and then cut foam to do the job that accordion folds do on most ACs. The whole process took me an hour. A lot of my time was devoted to making sure the unit was level, an extra important step to prevent the known mold issue. That said, our previous tester was able to do the install in 25 minutes, but noted — as I did — that the instructions aren't super clear.

It looks great and doesn't block light. My small NYC apartment has five windows total, so blocking out one makes a big difference in the amount of light that comes in. I love that the open sides of the Midea allow for more light. Like many, I leave my ACs installed year-round, so the option to let in fresh air by opening the window with the AC still in place is great for the shoulder season, where some days can dip into the 60s and others can creep up to the 90s. The unit itself is minimalist and sleek.

It cools powerfully and efficiently. Like the Frigidaire, the Midea U uses inverter technology to achieve impressive efficiency numbers. It consumed 9.6 kWh over a 24-hour period, which works out to 0.4 kWh each hour. Based on average electricity rates, it will cost you about 55 cents to run it for an eight-hour day. I was also impressed with how quietly the AC runs. The sound meter registered 48 decibels while it was operating at its highest setting.

But it's not for everyone. Because of the unique installation process, I don't recommend this AC for those who move homes often. Every window is different, and installation of the Midea U requires different parts for different window types and sizes. The AC comes with all these parts, but you have to hold onto them, so now I'm storing a drawer's worth of AC installation accessories for when I eventually move. There are also special considerations for city dwellers. Like many high-rises, my building requires ACs to be installed in specific windows with pre-installed support brackets. I had to DIY the Midea's required installation bracket around my pre-installed one. I made it work, but not everyone will be able to. Finally, mold remains a concern. Midea now recommends you drain the AC once a month — upkeep you don't have to do with traditional models. I wouldn't recommend this unit to anyone with severe allergies or asthma until we know more about how the repaired units resist mold growth.

Read our full Midea U-Shaped Air Conditioner review.

Best portable

If you don't have space for a window AC, this is the model we recommend. Portable ACs vastly underperform compared to window ACs. While window AC units suck in hot air and vent it directly out the window, portable ACs rely on a long tube to carry air from your room to the outside. Along the way, heat radiates from the tube and stays in the room, and the pressure differential from removing the hot air attracts more hot air. It takes a lot more energy (and money) to cool a room with a portable AC than a window AC. If a window unit is not an option, the LG Dual Inverter Smart Wi-Fi (LP1419IVSM) is your best bet.

For a portable AC, it's surprisingly quiet, efficient, and powerful. The LG portable AC is the top pick in my guide to the best portable air conditioners because it's quieter and more efficient than most models — all thanks to its dual-inverter compressor. Based on average electricity rates, it costs about 85 cents to run for an eight-hour day. It'll take about double the time to cool a room than a window unit, but it's very easy to install and use.

It's easy to set up and transport. Thanks to its handles, smooth casters, and a dedicated slot for the window slider when in transport, it only took about a minute to reinstall it in a new room. We like that it can accommodate a wider range of windows than the other units in this guide. It's Alexa-enabled and also has smart capabilities through the LG ThinQ app, which lets you schedule when the unit runs.

Read our full LG portable air conditioner review and check out our guide to the best portable air conditioners.

Best for large rooms

Large rooms need powerful ACs — and this option from Frigidaire delivers. With 14,000 Btu of cooling power, it can comfortably handle lofty and open spaces. The AC features an inverter compressor that adjusts its speed to maintain the room's target temperature rather than just turning off and on, as most ACs do. The Frigidaire FHWW145WE1 is one of the most powerful air conditioners I've tested, dropping the testing room's temperature by four degrees in one hour. However, it was also one of the loudest units I've tested and used the most electricity. Fortunately, it features an Eco mode that balances noise, power use, and cooling. When running it on high, the electricity cost will be about $1.56 on average for an eight-hour day.

It's super easy to set up. I was especially impressed with the seamless installation, considering our previous best air conditioner for large rooms pick, the discontinued LG LW1517IVSM Dual Inverter Smart Window Air Conditioner, took two hours to install and aggravated my chronic back pain with its 100-pound weight. 

It has basic smart features. You can change the temperature, mode, and fan speed. Plus, you can set schedules, so the AC automatically turns off when you aren't home or during your utility's surge pricing hours. Overall, this is an outstanding choice for cooling large rooms.

Most attractive

If you want to balance aesthetics with cooling, this AC is for you. While most air conditioners are boring-looking at best and an eyesore at worst, the Windmill Air Conditioner features an aesthetically pleasing, minimalist design and several additional front panel color options to match your home's decor. Side panels hide the ugly accordion folds, so the unit looks like an extension of your walls.

It took minutes to install. The Windmill comes with everything you'll need to get it into your window, including a pair of scissors. The process took our installer just 10 minutes from start to finish. You can control the AC via buttons discreetly placed on the top of the front panel, a remote, or the Windmill app. The app even has some features we haven't seen in other ACs, like the option to set the air temperature to adjust with the sun's position.

It has average noise levels and efficiency. In an hour, the 12,000 Btu version of the Windmill used 0.67 kWh. Based on average electricity costs, it will cost you about a dollar to run for eight hours — and less if you opt for a less souped-up Btu model. The unit was about 54 decibels on high speed, or a little louder than a refrigerator. Overall, this is the best air conditioner you can buy if aesthetics and easy installation are major considerations.

It also has air purification. For about $40 extra, you can add on a pack of air purifying filters, which eliminates the need to keep another bulky appliance around and might make you feel a little better about breathing in the city air.

Read our full Windmill Air Conditioner review.

Our top picks compared

What to look for in an air conditioner

When shopping for an AC, there are four primary factors to consider: type of AC, Btu, energy efficiency, and extra features. Below I detail more about what to look for in each category:

Types of air conditioners

There are four primary types of air conditioners: window units, portable air conditioners, ductless mini split, and through-the-wall units.

• Window ACs: This guide primarily recommends with window air conditioners because they're relatively inexpensive, easy to install, and can be used by both renters and homeowners. I think window ACs are the best for most people.
• Portable ACs: You may consider a portable air conditioner if you don't have windows that will fit a traditional unit. However, they're less efficient at cooling than window units. Read more about the best portable air conditioners and when you should buy a window AC vs a portable AC.
• Ductless mini-split air conditioners: Mini-splits are a more permanent cooling solution. They feature a wall unit connected to a compressor that sits outside your home. We only recommend this AC type for homeowners who do not want to invest in a full HVAC system.
• Through-the-wall ACs: These units should only be considered when you're aiming to cool a room with an exterior wall that does not have windows, or if this is the type of unit already installed in your home or rental. 

Btu

Btu is short for British thermal units. One Btu is equal to the amount of heat needed to raise 1 pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit. In cooling, Btu is used to measure how much heat is removed from a room. The more Btu per hour an air conditioner is rated for, the better job it does cooling. That said, you shouldn't just leap to buy the air conditioner with the highest Btu possible. For maximum cooling and efficiency, you need a unit that isn't too big or too small for your room size.

If you get a unit that is too big for your room, it will cool too quickly without removing the moisture, which will create a cold, clammy environment. Alternatively, an AC that is too small will be overworked, boosting your energy bills. Use the table below (from the Energy Star website) to determine the best air conditioner Btu for your room size:

Your Btu needs will be greater if the room has a ceiling more than 8 feet high, is very sunny, is regularly occupied by more than two people, or it's a kitchen.

It's common for model numbers for the same units to vary by one or two digits. This usually denotes different Btu ratings and colors, so choosing a model number that reflects the Btu rating right for your room is crucial.

Energy efficiency

Air conditioners have come a long way in terms of energy efficiency, but you'll want to look for a few things that will ensure you're getting the most efficient unit possible:

• Energy Star certification: The easiest way to determine if you're getting an energy-efficient appliance is to look for Energy Star certification. This program is run by the US Department of Energy and EPA to promote energy efficiency. "Any window AC model that earns the Energy Star label is independently certified to save energy, save money, and help protect the climate," says Enesta Jones, a spokesperson for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA oversees the Energy Star program.
• CEER: If you want to get deeper into the numbers, look at a unit's CEER. "The CEER, or Combined Energy Efficiency Ratio, is a measure of energy efficiency for a room air conditioner," Jones says. "The higher a room air conditioner's CEER value, the more efficient the room conditioner is when comparing across models with the same cooling capacity." The CEER is measured by dividing the Btu output by the amount of energy consumed both while the unit is running and while it's in standby mode.
• kWh: Finally, consider kilowatt-hours (kWh). This is a unit of energy that most electricity utilities use to measure your power use, and it's what I use to measure the energy consumption of the air conditioners I test.

Extra features and other considerations

Below are some other features and qualities you might consider when shopping for an AC:

• WiFi connectivity: Some ACs have WiFi connectivity that allows you to use your phone to schedule and control the unit remotely. You can crank the AC before you get home or turn it off after you leave to save energy. Many pair with smart speakers for voice operation. Smart ACs don't always work as advertised. In my reviews, I note if smart functions work well. In general, though, you're probably better off using a remote control, offered with all ACs in my guide.
• Noise: All AC units make some noise, but if you're installing a unit in a bedroom, you want to keep sound output consistent and at a minimum. I note the noise output of the picks above. 
• Window access: Some newer AC models (notably the Midea U) offer window access even when the AC is installed. This is a nice option if you live somewhere where the weather fluctuates a lot during the season.

How we test air conditioners

Our testing methodology

Here is how I test the main attributes I look for:

Installation: You'll probably only install and uninstall your AC once a year, but it can significantly impact your unit's performance. I timed how long it took to install each model, noted if I needed special tools, and assessed how easy it was to uninstall. I also looked at the window sizes each air conditioner would fit. Most will fit windows 27 to 36 inches wide. 

Cooling: I set up a digital thermometer on the opposite side of a 650-square-foot room from the air conditioner and determined its cooling capabilities by comparing the temperature before and after running the AC on its highest setting for an hour.

Noise: I took a decibel reading using a sound meter positioned 6 feet away from the AC running on high. I also noted any jarring sounds as the compressor turned on and off.

Air quality: Using an air quality monitor, I measured the particulate matter and volatile organic compounds in the air before and after running the AC for an hour. I noted any significant changes in air quality in my reviews, but the air quality never entered the "harmful" range during the tests, and I don't weigh this category heavily.

Power use: Using a smart plug, I measured how many kWh of power each unit used when on high for an hour. 

Extras: Almost all ACs have fan and dehumidifier modes, a window installation kit, a delayed on/off function, and a remote control. These are the basics. I give extra points if a unit has foam seals, curtain insulation, WiFi connectivity, or other bonuses.

Meet the experts behind the guide

James Brains, former senior reporter: I tested 14 different air conditioners for this guide with a series of objective tests. I use my testing results to make recommendations for every type of person, whether you need a budget-friendly window unit or a portable AC.

Lauren Savoie, former deputy editor: I completed an additional testing round with new releases to update our list of the best air conditioners. I used James' methodology for consistent results.

Air conditioner FAQs

How can you use your air conditioner efficiently?

Jones recommends you keep the unit level, circulate cool air with a fan, keep heat-producing objects away from the AC thermostat, and use a low fan speed on humid days. You can also save on energy costs by installing your air conditioner in a shaded spot and keeping the thermostat as high as is comfortable.

Can I use an air conditioner in a room without windows?

Yes. However, the hot air your AC produces needs a way out of the room. Otherwise, you'll cancel out your unit's cooling effects. If you don't have a window, pick an AC that sends its hot air out the back. You can install these in an exterior wall.

A portable unit gives you more options since the opening to the outdoors only needs to be as large as the exhaust hose.

Which is better: a portable air conditioner or a window/room air conditioner?

I cover this topic extensively in my comparison of portable air conditioners vs window air conditioners, but the short answer is: window units, for most people.

According to Jones, window ACs are more efficient than portable units, which aren't part of the Energy Star program. I found this to be true in my testing. The most efficient portable AC I tested used 60% more energy than the top window pick.

Portable ACs are great in spaces where there isn't a window that can support a window air conditioner. But, in general, if you have a single- or double-hung window, the best air conditioner is a window unit. It will offer better cooling and efficiency along with lower upfront and long-term costs.

What should you do if your air conditioner is too powerful for your room size?

If your AC has too much Btu for your room, it will cool faster than it can dehumidify, creating an uncomfortable, clammy environment. Consider purchasing a dehumidifier to remove excess moisture or replacing the AC with a more suitable unit. Another solution is increasing the space you are cooling. You can do this by keeping internal doors open.

How do you clean an air conditioner?

The most frequent maintenance task on your air conditioner is cleaning the filter. This should be done once or twice a month and is pretty simple. Just remove the filter, use a handheld vacuum to remove any debris, then wash it with soap and water, allowing it to dry completely before reinstalling it.

You should clean your AC's coils, fins, interior, and exterior every year. For details on how to do that, visit my article on how to clean window air conditioners.

What's the best air conditioner for a bedroom?

When shopping for the best air conditioner for a bedroom, look for an option with low noise levels, dimmable displays, and mid-range power. Our top pick is an excellent option for bedrooms, though you'll have to cover the air quality light if you're bothered by lights as you sleep.

• I'm a restaurant owner who shops at Trader Joe's for high-quality snacks and quick meals.
• I love the store's ranch-seasoned cashews, Thai wheat noodles, and chicken gyoza potstickers.
• The Everything But The Bagel seasoned smoked salmon and lobster bisque always end up in my cart.

As a restaurant and bar owner in New York City, I spend most of my days refining menus. Unfortunately, though, as fun and fulfilling as my job can be, it's turned me into a picky shopper — one who's unwilling to compromise on quality for the sake of convenience.

That's why I love turning to Trader Joe's for my own personal shopping. I find the store offers a great variety of high-quality items, from produce and snacks to ingredients for quick meals.

Here are my must-have items from Trader Joe's that always end up in my cart.

The Everything But The Bagel smoked salmon gets my stamp of approval.

As a New Yorker who has had my fair share of lox, I love Trader Joe's Everything But The Bagel seasoned smoked salmon. This miracle of a product delivers major flavor and makes me feel like I just picked up my favorite breakfast item from a local New York bodega.

Lately, I've been topping seeded crackers with this salmon and some labneh. I also like to add a few slices to a bowl of cottage cheese with tomatoes, green onions, and capers.

When I need a quick meal, I grab the tomato and roasted red-pepper soup.

Whenever I need an easy dinner with decadent flavor, Trader Joe's tomato and roasted red-pepper soup is on my shopping list.

The peppers in this soup are accompanied by a rich, silky body that avoids the tinny aftertaste some brands tend to have.

Trader Joe's lobster bisque tastes like it could be served in a restaurant.

Meal hackers, rejoice: Trader Joe's lobster bisque really shines as the quickest killer pasta sauce.

Just sauté some diced garlic and onions, add shrimp (or even the Trader Joe's langostino tails, if you can find them), toss in your pasta, and you'll have a restaurant-quality meal in no time.

The chicken gyoza potstickers are my secret to speedy weeknight dinners.

If I'm being honest, you can't go wrong with any of Trader Joe's different dumplings.

When I have an itch to take my weeknight meals to the next level, these chicken potstickers can elevate a basic stir-fry or instant noodles with minimal effort.

Speaking of noodles, I love Trader Joe's take on ramen.

Despite being just as easy to make, I think Trader Joe's ramen noodles are better than other instant versions, due to their chewy texture and delicious taste.

I recommend combining these with green onions, hard-boiled eggs, or leftover veggies to create a culinary masterpiece.

The Thai wheat noodles are super tasty.

In the past, I've had trouble finding Thai wheat noodles at other grocery stores. So, I'm always excited when I see them on the shelves at Trader Joe's.

To say that these have helped elevate my stir-fry, soup, and yaki-udon to another level would be an understatement.

Trader Joe's ranch-seasoned cashews have become my favorite snack to munch on.

Trader Joe's ranch-seasoned cashews have become an irreplaceable part of my snack arsenal, helping me power through those days where the time between meals can drag on.

It doesn't hurt that they're a huge hit on a cheese board, either.

A trip to Trader Joe's isn't complete without picking up the extra-hot habanero ghost-pepper salsa.

As someone who tends to stress-eat as much as he snacks, this salsa provides the best of both worlds.

Not only does it have the intense spice I crave — something I rarely find in store-bought foods — but it's also hot enough that I genuinely can't eat too much in one sitting.

Keep reading our Trader Joe's diaries here.

• I recently spent a few nights on Norwegian Cruise Line's newest ship, Norwegian Luna.
• The delicious food, kid-friendly perks, adults-only amenities, and live entertainment impressed me.
• This sailing reminded me why I recommend Norwegian's Prima Plus-class ships to first-time cruisers.

On paper, Norwegian Luna — with its over-the-top roller-coaster-waterslide, thrilling 10-story free-fall slide, and high-tech mini-golf course — might sound like an overstimulating cruise ship.

Yet, when you step on board the new 1,056-foot-long vessel, you'll quickly realize it feels more like a peaceful upscale hotel than the overwhelming family vacation you were secretly dreading.

That's the beauty of Norwegian's Prima Plus-class ships, including Luna and its preceding sister ship, Aqua: the ability to blend contemporary spaces with an impressive lineup of amenities, making it a great option for cruise-curious travelers.

It's why Norwegian Luna has become one of my go-to recommendations for first-time family cruisers.

Norwegian invited me on Luna's complimentary three-night non-revenue test cruise in late March, almost a year after I first sailed on (and loved) Aqua. After my many years of reporting on cruises, I still found myself impressed.

Upon stepping on board, I was instantly met with a list of amenities for all ages, from excitable children to their weary, piña-colada-seeking parents.

The youngest travelers are sure to be drawn to the Moon Climber (a netted obstacle course), the water playground, and the Glow Court's LED walls and floor that can instantly transform into different sports courts.

Its crème-de-la-crème amenity is the Aqua SlideCoaster, a hybrid roller-coaster-waterslide.

Its robot arm catapults riders upward of 31 miles per hour into the waterslide tube, which then becomes an unexpectedly slower, leisurely ride. The thrill, followed by the peaceful chill, makes it one of my favorite amenities on Luna.

It's sure to accrue long lines during a traditional sailing — but at least it's free, unlike the $5-per-player 12-hole mini-golf course and the pay-to-play arcade games, which range from open-air country fair-like booths to high-tech virtual-reality simulators.

Parents won't feel left out: The ship also has grown-up-friendly spaces, such as an adult-only pool club.

Drop the youngsters off at the kids' day-care center and head to Vibe Beach Club, an outdoor adult-only lounge with pool chairs, hot tubs, a bar, and little perks like chilled towels and fruit — although you will have to pay an admissions fee.

For those who enjoy an afternoon walk, the wraparound open-air walkway on deck eight, Ocean Boulevard, is free (albeit not age-exclusive) and lined with more loungers, infinity pools, and a glass walkway with views of the ocean below.

Or, head to one of the 16 or so other bars and lounges on the ship.

Some lounges are exclusive to travelers staying in studios (solo cabins) or the Haven (the ship's highest-end suites). The rest are open to all guests, and average about $15 per drink without a beverage package.

I'm especially partial to Swirl Wine Bar, a cozy nook with an expansive global wine list and decor that makes it look like an upscale New York City watering hole.

For a more rambunctious evening, head to Syd Norman's Pour House for the cover bands. Or, for a daytime hang, head to the Bull's Eye Bar for a cocktail and a round of high-tech darts.

If you'd like a taste of a popular chain at sea, travelers can even stop by Luna's full-service Starbucks.

The ship also has about 15 restaurants.

Of the ship's 15 or so restaurants, around half are up-charged.

Venues such as the Mexican, Mediterranean, and French restaurants all cost extra, ranging between $40 to $60 per person. I'm partial to the Thai restaurant Sukhothai, which serves dishes such as papaya salad and red curry with roasted duck breast.

My favorite onboard dining option, Indulge Food Hall, is free.

The Local Bar and Grill serves sandwiches and bar-food classics, while Surfside Cafe dishes up casual burgers and pizzas. The ship also has traditional main dining rooms and buffets.

Skip these and head to Indulge Food Hall, which features 10 diverse stations (ranging from Spanish tapas to Texan barbecue) that can be ordered using digital tableside tablets.

Forget the "cruise food is bad" stereotype — it doesn't apply at Indulge.

The noodle station served surprisingly authentic dan dan noodles, while the Indian stall prepared better-than-expected curries paired with tandoor-fresh naan. For warm Caribbean afternoons, the plant-based stand's refreshing salad bowls were a perfect light lunch.

Indulge is quick, convenient, and stacked with more options than you could try in one sailing.

Be sure to catch a post-dinner show.

Norwegian Luna has a slew of options for live entertainment.

"Elton: A Celebration of Elton John" marries the classic song-and-dance show format with a well-choreographed rotating stage, acrobatics, and even a (clothed) pole dancer.

If you love acrobatics, you'll enjoy "Hiko: Innovation meets Wonder," an elaborate production with aerial silks, trampolines, and impressive projections. It's less song-and-dance, more Cirque du Soleil.

If you hate audience participation, skip the intimate $45-per-person, 21-and-older "LunaTique: Pop Circus" show.

The raunchy show features some lightweight burlesque (as in, a bit of cheek) and endless explicit jokes.

The biggest perk? Your $45 ticket includes four cocktails served throughout the show.

The biggest downside? You could be called onstage to perform humiliating tasks. I felt sorry for the young woman who was called up, bent over, and asked to say something suggestive into the microphone.

Wind down in one of the ship's 1,809 staterooms.

Accommodations range from a windowless inside cabin for solo travelers to a two-bedroom, two-story penthouse in the Haven.

The cruise line assigned me an aft family balcony cabin on the tenth deck, which had all the expected stateroom amenities: a queen bed, a separate pull-out couch bed, large closets, and a spacious shower.

When booking, cabin placement is definitely worth considering. My stateroom overlooked Ocean Boulevard, which meant I heard a steady stream of loud (and at times, drunken) chatter throughout the day whenever I left my balcony sliding door open.

The cheapest stateroom starts at $860 per person — a price inclusive of exciting shows, diverse amenities, and some of the best food at sea.

The ship is spending its inaugural year operating weeklong round-trip cruises from Miami to Caribbean destinations such as Great Stirrup Cay (Norwegian's private island), Mexico, and the Virgin Islands.

Prices range from $860 per person for a windowless inside cabin to over $6,580 per person for a Haven suite.

The cost could be worth it if you're looking for a cruise vacation with a high-end hotel ambiance but plenty of kid-friendly amenities.

The lounges feel sumptuous with their contemporary and minimalist decor, while the activities offer micro-theme park-like amenities without looking too flashy or contrived (which Carnival and Royal Caribbean can lean into). And perhaps just as important: The food is great. I still miss the curry from Indulge Food Hall.

If you're looking for the biggest, most exciting cruise ships on the market, Royal Caribbean's mega-ships (like Icon of the Seas) should still be your go-to. However, if you like a balance of fun amenities with well-designed spaces, then I think Norwegian Luna is one of the best options on the market.

• Berkshire Hathaway posted its first quarterly earnings without Warren Buffett in charge on Saturday.
• New CEO Greg Abel followed Buffett's lead by selling stocks and building a record cash pile.
• Abel will take questions from Berkshire shareholders on Saturday at his first annual meeting as CEO.

Greg Abel's tenure as Berkshire Hathaway's CEO is off to a robust start.

Abel, who succeeded Warren Buffett at the start of this year, oversaw a 17% jump in operating earnings to $11.3 billion in the three months to March 31, Berkshire's first quarter earnings report revealed on Saturday.

Berkshire posted strong growth in insurance-underwriting profits, and higher earnings across its BNSF Railway, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and manufacturing, service, and retailing units. However, its earnings were flattered by a foreign-exchange gain.

Abel and his team offloaded a net $8 billion of stocks last quarter, purchasing $15.9 billion of shares but selling $24.1 billion worth. The disposals marked the 14th consecutive quarter in which the company has been a net seller of stocks. The last time they bought more stocks than they sold was the third quarter of 2022.

Berkshire refrained from stock buybacks in January and February, but resumed repurchasing shares in March. It repurchased $24 million worth of Class A shares at an average price of about $730,000, and $210 million worth of Class B shares at an average price of around $487.

For comparison, it bought back around $17 billion worth of Berkshire shares over the course of 2022 and 2023.

The stock sales and relative lack of buybacks catapulted Berkshire's pile of cash and Treasury bills to a record $380 billion, after deducting about $17 billion of payables for Treasury bills.

Berkshire's cash pile has almost tripled in size over the last three years, from around $130 billion at the end of 2022. It now exceeds the current market capitalizations of some of the world's biggest companies, including Netflix, Chevron, and Bank of America.

Buffett, a renowned bargain hunter, has struggled to find stocks and businesses worth buying in recent years. Abel said in his first letter to shareholders in February that he wouldn't roll out a dividend or strike deals just for the sake of putting the cash pile to work.

The quarterly results are the first set since Buffett ended his six-decade tenure as Berkshire's CEO. While the firm released Q4 results in February, after Buffett had stepped down, the "Oracle of Omaha" was still in charge when the results were compiled.

Abel, long groomed to be Buffett's successor, will preside over his first annual meeting at the helm of Berkshire on Saturday.

He will take the stage for a Q&A with shareholders from 9:30 a.m. local time (10:30 a.m. ET). The Q&A is expected to be much shorter than Buffett's traditional appearances onstage, which often ran to several hours as he discussed everything from stocks to politics to his favorite food and drink.

Business Insider's Theron Mohamed will be in the press box watching the event live and reporting on what unfolds.

• Naomi Holbrook's 92-year-old dad is one of the biggest priorities in her life.
• He has dementia and had a stroke last year, and she's his sole caretaker.
• She says it's been difficult to maintain friendships and a work-life balance.

This as-told-to-essay is based on a conversation with Naomi Holbrook, 51 who is based in Sussex, UK. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Being 51, single, and child-free, I've stopped counting the number of times people have commented on how easy it must be to take care of my 92-year-old dad, because to them, I have no other commitments and therefore all the time in the world to dedicate to him.

Other people I know who are juggling caring for older parents with raising children often comment on how they believe my situation is far easier than theirs. I have had many people say to me, "You haven't got children, you haven't got a partner — you've only got you to think about."

The comments have been coming for years. In my 30s and 40s, it was all about how I needed to settle down. Then I would get asked whether I was worried about who would take care of me when I get old. I've always felt subject to other people's opinions. Even when they don't say something, I often have this feeling as though I'm being judged.

My dad is one of my biggest priorities

I made the decision in 2023 to move my dad 300 miles from where we grew up in Devon to Sussex, where I live, so I could be close to him as his age advances and his health deteriorates. He's become one of the biggest priorities in my life.

My dad lives in an independent living complex for seniors about five streets away from me. He has a carer twice a week, but more for socializing than domestic and personal tasks, which, despite his dementia, he's able to manage. He showers, shaves, and dresses himself every day, opting for a shirt and tie. He has a daily routine: catching the bus into town to get coffee and cake, and heating up a microwave meal every evening. I see him regularly throughout the week.

I'm appreciative of how close we are, especially when it has been complicated at times. My mom died when I was 19, and my dad is of the generation where you don't talk about your feelings — you just keep calm and carry on, as the British mantra goes.

I do have an older sister, but she, her husband, and their child live in Cheshire, about 260 miles from where my dad lived before. She's not involved in his care at all, and we don't really speak about it. I've just accepted that he's my responsibility.

My life has been greatly affected by caring for my dad

Now, I'm very much my dad's main companion and source of support. Since he's moved, he's had Covid twice, an acute head injury, multiple falls, fractures, and a stroke, which have involved hospital stays and appointments, and further confusion when you take into account his dementia.

Because I'm self-employed, I've been able to be flexible with my work whenever I've had to drop everything to be by his side. I've done client Zoom calls from my dad's living room while he's been asleep. I published my book last year, which I wrote from hospital waiting rooms.

There is no work-life balance — everything is just integrated, which is something I talk to my clients about a lot. I work full-time on my coaching and mentoring business and spend weekends catching up on not just my life admin but my dad's, too. Or I will be catching up on work I couldn't do because I took time out during the week to take him to a hospital appointment, which I have to make for him, and put in his calendar.

Socializing with friends has had to take a back seat, because caring for my dad can be so all-consuming. And while I haven't dated for about 10 years, I would like to be in a situation where, if I met the right person, I could pursue it, but it's just not possible right now. I hardly go on vacation as it is, and keep work trips short, in case something happens to my dad.

I'm trying to make the best of the situation. I started to feel like the relationship with my dad had turned into me being his secretary, so I am now conscious of having a fun day out with him every few weeks.

I'm aware that the time I have left with him is limited, so however things are with him now, it won't be forever. There will be another chapter in my life.

• Airlines are stepping in to help stranded Spirit customers after the budget carrier folded.
• United is offering price-capped, one-way tickets until May 16.
• American Airlines, Delta, JetBlue and Frontier are among others to offer support.

United Airlines is offering price-capped tickets to Spirit customers who have had their flights canceled following Saturday's announcement that the budget airline has shut down.

"If you had a ticket booked on Spirit and your flight was canceled, for the next two weeks you can visit united.com/specialfares to find price-capped, one-way tickets from most cities where Spirit flew, including Atlanta, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, Newark, New Orleans and Orlando," United said in a statement.

It said most of these special fares are capped at $199, with longer flights priced no higher than $299.

It advised travelers to visit united.com/specialfares and share their Spirit confirmation number, proof of purchase for travel between May 2 and May 16, and their United MileagePlus number (sign up to United MileagePlus is instant and free).

In a message to stranded Spirit employees, United said: "We're extending pass travel benefits on United to you for the next two weeks to help you get home safely, and you can book in the ID90 portal."

ID90 is a booking platform for airline employees for travel on other airlines at discounted rates. In addition, Spirit employees were encouraged to apply for open roles at United.

American has similarly capped fares on routes it overlapped with Spirit. Customers can book via its website or app. It's also helping rescue stranded Spirit employees and encouraging them to apply for jobs at American.

Budget airlines JetBlue and Frontier offered to help Spirit customers with canceled tickets in posts on social media, while the Department of Transportation said Delta, Southwest, Allegiant, Avelo, and Breeze had also agreed to support impacted passengers in different ways.

In a statement in linked to on X, JetBlue said: "If your travel plans have been impacted by the suspension of Spirit Airlines' operations, JetBlue is here to help you find alternative options.

"To assist stranded customers with imminent travel to and from cities we serve, we're offering $99 one-way fares for travelers with proof of a valid Spirit itinerary for the same route for travel through May 6, 2026. If you're stranded, call 1-800-JETBLUE to discuss your situation."

Frontier posted on X, ahead of news of the closure: "We are ready to support customers who may be impacted if Spirit Airlines ceases operations, with a focus on helping people continue their travel plans with low-fare options."

Spirit customers who booked with credit or debit cards shouldn't be out of pocket. In its advice to customers, Spirit said: "While we are not able to help rebook your flight on another airline, we will automatically process refunds for any flights purchased through Spirit with a credit or debit card to the original form of payment."

• Meagan and Scott Edson moved from a 2,000-square-foot home in Illinois to a shed in Colorado.
• They turned the $12,000 shed into a tiny home for themselves and their three dogs.
• They said the experience has changed their life for the better.

Meagan and Scott Edson's home has been intentionally designed, to say the least.

From their bunk bed to the loft that hides their water tank, they didn't waste an inch of space in their home. They couldn't, as their house is actually a 380-square-foot shed.

What was supposed to be a temporary solution has become a tiny home for the Edsons since 2020. Nearly six years after they moved in, they told Business Insider the house has changed their lives.

Meagan and Scott Edson didn't plan to live in a tiny home when they moved from Illinois to Colorado in 2020.

Meagan Edson, 55, and Scott Edson, 41, bought a half-acre of land in Leadville, Colorado, in 2017.

They were living in Barrington, Illinois, and happily running their gym, but they planned to move to Colorado eventually, as Meagan Edson's daughter was in college there and her son intended to end up in Denver.

Then, in 2020, they had to shutter their gym amid the pandemic.

"We had to close our doors, and we thought, 'Why not just go?'" Meagan said.

They sold their house, bought a camper, and set out for Colorado with their four dogs in July 2020. They started working with a company to build a barndominium on their property, planning to live in a camper as the work was completed.

Today, Meagan owns her business, Bear + Scout, upcycling lucky horseshoes and other products, and Scott is a sales manager for a law enforcement equipment company. They now have three dogs.

When the barndominium plans fell through, the Edsons needed to find a more comfortable housing solution.

By September 2020, the Edsons learned that the company they had hired hadn't actually prepared plans for their barndominium, so they had to find alternative housing as winter approached. Their camper was too small to live in for an extended period, particularly with their dogs.

The Edsons decided to buy a 380-square-foot shed from Shed Depot and turn it into a tiny home. It cost $12,000.

The shed had plywood floors, solar panels for electricity, and no electric heat. It also wasn't connected to a plumbing system, and they didn't have time to get it hooked up before the colder months started.

Instead, Scott Edson installed a water tank in the yard that can hold 150 gallons at a time, which they fill from a nearby hydrant. It functions similarly to an RV pump.

They hard-connect the tank to the neighborhood water system in the warm months, but for the bulk of the year, they just use the hydrant as their main water source.

They updated the shed after realizing they would be there more permanently.

The Edsons made the shed work for around two years as it was, dealing with the lack of electric heating and other creature comforts, while deciding whether to stay put or find an alternative housing solution.

"In 2021 and 2022, we contemplated buying a house somewhere else and waiting on this property, but everything was so crazy up here price-wise," Meagan said. "We live in a very desirable area for recreation, so a lot of people were buying second homes and paying cash. And to rent something, we had four dogs, so that was not an option."

In 2023, they decided to make the shed work until they could afford to build a larger home on their property. Since they would be there longer, they invested in renovations to make it more comfortable. Scott said they spent around $30,000 in renovations over the years.

They swapped their plywood floors for laminate, upgraded the electrical system, and got a heating unit. Three years later, they've come to love their tiny home.

When you walk into the shed, you're greeted by a kitchen and mudroom.

To the right of the Edsons' entryway, hooks hang from the wall where they stow jackets and hats. Their shoes sit below the hooks, and their trash can sits nearby, away from their sink and counterspace.

When they bought the shed, the kitchen was pretty basic.

"We started off with a commercial sink and a separate metal restaurant table," Scott said. "Since then, we put in real cabinets and a butcher block countertop."

They also have open shelving sitting above the sink, using baskets to store some items. Plaid curtains under the sink add to the cozy, cabin feel.

The shed is mostly one large space.

The kitchen sits at the front of the shed, separated from the living area by an archway.

Past the kitchen, an open-concept room serves as an office, living area, bedroom, and dining room, while the bathroom and closet sit at the back of the shed.

Scott splits his time traveling for work and working from home, so he uses the desk as his office when he isn't on the road.

The Edsons have leaned into the cabin aesthetic with antler decor and iron light fixtures.

Their dining area sits across from the office.

The Edsons have upgraded the seating in their tiny space since moving in, creating a dining nook.

A bench sits against the wall that separates the kitchen and living room, while a chair is on the other side.

They use hanging storage wherever possible. For instance, a guitar hangs on the wall rather than sitting on the floor.

The couple has a bunk bed that works as a couch during the day.

Rather than a traditional bed, the Edsons have a bunk bed in their home.

The bottom mattress is full-sized and mostly serves as a couch for the Edsons. A TV sits across from it, so they often lounge there, as do their dogs. When they have guests, they can sleep on that mattress comfortably.

A queen-sized mattress sits on the second level, which is where the Edsons sleep.

They don't have a ton of storage, but they make it work.

They have a closet in their bathroom and two lofts, both of which they use for storage. The loft above their bed houses their additional bedding and water tank, while the one above the kitchen houses their out-of-season clothing.

They also have a storage unit for their larger furniture that doesn't fit in the shed. Overall, though, they try not to have too much stuff.

"We got rid of a lot of stuff," Meagan said. "I do have some stuff back in Illinois that eventually we'll get down here, but otherwise, we're pretty much starting from scratch."

The bathroom and closet sit together.

When you walk into the Edsons' bathroom, the shower sits directly in front of you, while the sink and composting toilet are to the right. The composting toilet doesn't bother the Edsons.

The walls surrounding the bathroom serve as their closet, thanks to a combination of shelving and hanging storage.

The shower and lack of laundry are two of the biggest downsides of the shed for the Edsons.

Because of their water system, they don't have much hot water. It's one of the biggest pain points of the shed, particularly for Meagan.

"We only have a 10-gallon hot-water tank, so the showers suck, especially for me as a woman," she said. "Between shaving and hair washing, I always say I have to pick one or the other. So one shower gets the shaving, and the next shower gets the hair washing. That's challenging."

They also don't have a washer or dryer in the house, which is tough for the couple.

"I never thought that I'd be going to the laundromat at age 55, but I do," Meagan said. However, she makes it more fun by taking one of her dogs, Levi, with her, turning it into an outing for both of them.

The Edsons also added an outdoor leisure space and an additional shed to their property.

The second shed is 135 square feet and sits a few yards from their tiny home. It serves as a gym for the couple and a studio space for Meagan's business.

They also fenced in their yard for their dogs, and they created a seating area between the two sheds.

"We have a little outdoor fire pit. Our grill is out there," Scott said. "There's a little outdoor living space. Where we live, we have eight months of winter, but the four months of summertime and fall are beautiful to be out."

The comfortable outdoor living area makes their home feel bigger.

Overall, the Edsons have been surprised by how much they enjoy their small space.

The Edsons have everything they need in their shed, and they appreciate that it's simpler to clean than a larger home.

"I vacuumed yesterday, and it probably took 10 minutes," Scott said.

Likewise, they don't have a mortgage, so they're only paying for utilities each month. And despite the small space, they've still been able to entertain and have loved ones stay with them.

"We had a full Thanksgiving early on," Meagan said. "That was before, when we had plywood floors. My daughter and her boyfriend at the time came up, stayed, and brought another dog. We had five dogs, four adults, and a full Thanksgiving dinner."

And their dogs might be the biggest fans of the tiny space.

"Two of them are pit bulls, so they're Velcro dogs," Meagan said. "They are just on top of us all the time, so they're like, 'This is great.'"

Now, the Edsons are building a house, but they're taking lessons from the shed into the design.

Six years after they moved to Colorado, the Edsons are finally getting a larger space. They bought a 1,000-square-foot kit home for their property, which should be finished in the fall of 2026. They're looking forward to having laundry in their home and to taking longer showers, but they also said they'll miss the shed in some ways.

"It's really changed my perspective on everything, to be honest," Meagan said. "I grew up in a pretty affluent family, so nice houses, and the typical suburban life like you see in the movies. I never felt like I fit in there."

"Here, you're really present," she continued. "There are no distractions. Scott and I have connected more than we ever have. I couldn't be happier. I don't feel the need to rush out because I'm bored and go to Target and buy random stuff that I don't need. I've never felt more grounded in my life, who I am, and what matters to me."

• Warren Buffett may be out as CEO, but he's still central to Berkshire Hathaway's image.
• The iconic investor appeared on all manner of products at Berkshire's shareholder shopping day.
• We spotted a muppet-like Buffett embracing a giant rat, and a product dubbed "Warren's Oracle Orb."

Warren Buffett may have retired as Berkshire Hathaway's CEO, but he's still the face of the company.

Business Insider is on the ground for Berkshire's annual meeting on Saturday, and ahead of the start of proceedings, we went hunting for the best Buffett merch ahead. We spotted the "Oracle of Omaha" on T-shirts, tote bags, tea towels, plush toys, rubber ducks, and more.

Roughly two dozen of Berkshire's subsidiaries — including Geico, Nebraska Furniture Mart, and BNSF Railway — set up shop on Friday and Saturday in the CHI Health Center, the venue for its annual shareholder meeting in Buffett's hometown of Omaha.

Shoppers lined up in droves to snag the deals on offer.

Berkshire lures shoppers every year with discounted prices for shareholders on a broad range of products.

Friday's shareholder shopping day didn't start until 12 p.m., but people began lining up several hours earlier to nab the best deals.

Once the doors opened, eager buyers rushed to score limited-edition Squishmallows and beat the lines for Fruit of the Loom apparel.

We didn't expect to see Warren Buffett with his arm around a giant rat.

Bell Labs, a manufacturer of rodent-control products that Berkshire acquired last August, featured a muppet-style Buffett with his arm around a huge stuffed rat in its booth.

While they weren't for sale, it was striking to see the newest member of the Berkshire family put its billionaire chairman's likeness to good use.

The Buffett memorabilia ranged from mainstream to niche.

Berkshire's subsidiaries didn't shy away from dressing up Buffett's image to suit their wares.

Justin Brands, a footwear business, was selling a Buffett-themed cowboy boot jack in small and large sizes.

Buffett, in cowboy apparel, also appeared on golf-club covers, socks, and air fresheners.

Buffett shared the spotlight on several items.

The key theme of this year's meeting is Berkshire's leadership transition, as Greg Abel succeeded Buffett as CEO at the start of this year.

Nebraska Furniture Mart used official meeting imagery of Buffett alongside Abel on products such as tote bags and tea towels, along with the tagline: "The Legacy Continues."

BNSF Railway showcased Buffett and Abel in plush form.

Shareholders scrambled to buy one of only 2,000 boxes of Buffett and Abel plush toys that Squishmallows made in partnership with BNSF Railway.

Squishmallows, toymaker Jazwares' flagship brand, also teamed up with Geico, NetJets, and See's Candies to make special-edition plush toys for each of those subsidiaries.

Pilot stocked some of the most unusual Buffett merch.

Pilot, the truck stop chain that Berkshire acquired outright in 2024, showcased several fun items at its booth.

They included an item reminiscent of a Magic 8 Ball called Warren Oracle's Orb, as well as ornaments and T-shirts featuring Buffett's hairline and glasses.

Pilot was also selling Berkshire-themed onesies, trucker hats, golf balls, and coffee. Another highlight was a T-shirt listing some of Buffett's favorite things: bridge, ice cream, books, peanut brittle, Omaha, and investing.

Oriental Trading had the widest selection of Buffett items by far.

A traffic jam quickly formed in Oriental Trading's booth as shoppers crowded around the Buffett-themed items on display.

Those ranged from craft kits and bobbleheads to rubber ducks, T-shirts, bibs, beach towels, mugs, flip books, miniature busts, chocolate bars, and pull-back racers.

Buffett was decked out in ice hockey gear at See's Candies.

See's Candies celebrated Abel's favorite pastime, ice hockey, with its packaging this year.

The boxed-chocolate seller imagined Abel, Buffett, and founder Mary See fully geared up and playing the sport.

Perhaps the hidden message for shareholders is that, like Wayne Gretzky, Abel skates to where the puck is going to be.

Charlie Munger wasn't forgotten.

Buffett's late business partner, Charlie Munger, was much less of a presence in Berkshire's booths.

We enjoyed seeing a plush Munger munching on a box of his beloved peanut brittle — the result of a collaboration between Squishmallows and See's Candies.

• Hotel Grande Bretagne, which opened in 1874, is the oldest and most famous hotel in Athens, Greece.
• The hotel survived both World Wars and was where the modern Green government was formed.
• Its rooftop restaurant, which has a perfect view of the Acropolis, was my favorite part.

Tucked into the beating heart of Athens, with a perfect view of the Acropolis and mere steps from Greece's former royal palace, stands the Hotel Grande Bretagne.

It's a noble name with a reputation to match, attracting powerful leaders and royals from all over the world, including British kings (Charles III) and American queens (Lady Gaga).

Hotel Grande Bretagne, a Marriott property, is not only the oldest hotel in the city that birthed democracy, but it's also the most famous. So when I planned a trip to Greece, I knew I had to stay there.

Could the 5-star hotel live up to its royal reputation?

The Hotel Grande Bretagne has always had a prime spot in the capital city.

The Grande Bretagne sits in Syntagma Square, which was renamed in 1843 to commemorate the first constitution granted to the Greek people ("Syntagma" means "constitution" in Greek).

Many hotel rooms have views of the Greek Parliament, allowing guests to watch the famous Changing of the Guard ceremony from their balconies. Also across the street is the National Garden — a lush escape with flowers, ponds, and even some ancient ruins.

Additional tourist attractions — including the Monastiraki flea market and Acropolis museum — are within walking distance from the Grande Bretagne, and a metro station is just around the corner.

I was immediately impressed with the towering columns and ornate touches in the opulent lobby.

Men in forest-green jackets with gold buttons and matching hats opened the front door, inviting me into a lobby already bustling with energy on a Sunday morning.

A cornucopia of patterns, including the iconic meander motif that borders so much ancient Greek architecture, covered the marble floors. Heavy gold mirrors hung from the walls, adding to the regal atmosphere.

I admired the marble and gold accents as I checked in.

"You're Greek!" a woman at the front desk happily exclaimed after looking at my passport. She then sent me up to the sixth floor so I could see how the VIP check-in differed.

A receptionist delivered a heavy flute of Champagne and apologized that my room wasn't ready, revealing that the hotel — which has 259 guest rooms and 61 suites — was "fully booked, again."

She noted that guests staying in the hotel's suites have access to a 24-hour butler service, which includes a WhatsApp number you can text to book reservations or ask for recommendations.

I decided to head to the pool while I waited for my room, sharing an elevator with a British couple and their teenage son.

"How's the Champagne?" the man asked his wife.

"Pretty good," she replied. "Not as good as the one on the flight."

For the record, I thought the Champagne was delicious.

The hotel's outdoor pool overlooks Mount Lycabettus, the highest point in central Athens.

It's a stunning sight, especially as you look out across the sea of hundreds of white-roofed apartment buildings.

The pool itself was packed, no surprise since I was there during the peak summer season. When I tried to sit on a daybed that appeared unclaimed, a staff member ran up to me and said it was reserved. In fact, all 16 daybeds were occupied.

He asked if I wanted to be added to a waitlist, but I opted to grab some lunch instead. When I went back to the pool right after breakfast the next day, there were plenty of open daybeds.

For lunch, I decided to try the Winter Garden restaurant in the hotel lobby.

With its elaborate stained-glass ceiling, high-tea offering, and classical music playing in the background, the atmosphere felt more like a British palace than a Grecian resort.

The menu similarly leaned on dishes you could find in any European or American hotel: Caesar salad, burgers, lobster rolls, carbonara pasta, and avocado toast.

It was a bit of a mishmash, but I spotted a few Greek classics to order.

I opted for the Greek salad and avgolemono soup.

My parents immigrated to the US from Greece in the 1980s and cooked dishes like avgolemono soup and Greek salad (also known as horiatiki) weekly. I'm a tough critic when it comes to both, but I also find them deeply nostalgic.

The Greek salad at Winter Garden was solid, albeit unmemorable. It didn't compare to the fantastic version I had eaten at Ella — a nearby Athens restaurant — a few nights prior, or to the best I've ever had (my mother's, obviously).

My father's avgolemono soup also reigned supreme, though I did enjoy this version's lovely, light broth and tender chicken.

The presentation for both dishes was also sloppier than I'd expect at a luxury hotel. I'm currently taking a monthslong cooking course, and my teacher won't even let us serve our classmates' dishes without wiping the plates. When you're operating at a 5-star level, these small details make all the difference.

When I reached out to the hotel for comment regarding the presentation of Winter Garden's food, a spokesperson apologized that it wasn't as "refined as it should have been."

My room was ready by the time lunch was finished.

The Grande Bretagne offers a variety of rooms and suites, some with views of the Acropolis. Room rates start at $641 per night, while suites start at $985.

Business Insider received a media rate for two nights.

My suite opened into the living room, which featured a small couch, a desk, a large window, and a balcony with a view of the Greek Parliament.

Heavy drapes, a chandelier, and the patterned rug added to the palatial feel, but the dependence on yellow and beige tones was a bit one-note.

Instead of being transportive, it made the room feel a little stuffy and old-fashioned. A few splashes of color would have made the space feel a tad more welcoming.

A spokesperson for Grande Bretagne said the hotel's rooms "reflect a classic design inspired by the heritage and character of the hotel."

The bedroom featured a plush king bed underneath a chandelier.

Illustrations and lamps flanked the bed, while a floor-to-ceiling window, framed by fringed drapes, provided natural light.

I sank into the deluxe bed and, with the help of its soft sheets, immediately surrendered to an afternoon nap.

The marble bathroom was huge, a rare find in a European hotel room.

The bathroom featured a separate shower and tub, along with double vanities. It was easily one of the most spacious showers I'd seen during my travels across Europe — always a huge plus.

That night, I headed upstairs to have dinner at the GB Roof Garden Restaurant & Bar.

Located on the eighth floor of the Grande Bretagne, the open-air restaurant features beautiful, uninterrupted views of the Acropolis and Parthenon.

The restaurant's interior design is kept relatively simple and chic with comfy sand-colored chairs, wooden accents, and white marble columns.

It's a smart choice — why try to compete with the most famous landmark in all of Greece?

Watching the sun set over the Acropolis was a moment I'll never forget.

The Parthenon appeared to glow as it basked in the sun's rays. The sight of it was so beautiful, I couldn't help get emotional. And I wasn't the only one.

"I don't care what this meal costs," I overheard a man softly tell his wife at the table next to me. "You can't put a price on this."

GB Roof Garden's dishes were fresh, creative, and beautifully plated.

At the recommendation of my server, I kicked things off with the seafood trilogy — a carpaccio-style dish seasoned with chives and lime. The fish was oh-so-tender, and I loved the splashes of chili oil, which added some heat and artistic flair.

An appetizer of wild artichoke stuffed with pickled artichoke and anchovy was another standout. The dish was topped with a generous serving of caviar, roasted leaves for crunch, and a sauce made with additional leaves and infused with mint and cumin.

Unexpected and extremely memorable, it was fine dining at its best.

The breakfast buffet is also served at GB Roof Garden, offering fresh Greek pastries and beautiful morning views.

I have always had a deep love for hotel breakfast buffets, especially when they're unafraid to stray from the classics.

GB Roof Garden embraces its roots with a plethora of sweet and savory phyllo-covered pies, including spanakopita (stuffed with spinach) and tiropitakia (stuffed with cheese). They both get my stamp of approval.

The strapatsada, a Greek dish of scrambled eggs with tomato and feta, was another highlight. The eggs were cooked to creamy and cheesy perfection, a rare find when they aren't made-to-order.

I also really appreciated that the hotel's breakfast opens at 6:30 a.m., allowing me to grab a hearty meal before my 14-hour flight back to Los Angeles. It turned out to be necessary, since I was flying with the budget airline Norse Atlantic.

Even if you can't stay at the Grande Bretagne, the rooftop restaurant is a must-visit in Athens.

Grande Bretagne is a 5-star hotel with 5-star prices, but you can still experience some of its magic with a dinner or some drinks at the GB Roof Garden.

There are many places in Athens that advertise Acropolis views, but this was the best I saw during my week in the city.

Who knows, maybe you'll cry too!

• This post originally appeared in the BI Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

'Your LinkedIn is trash'

Those were the blunt words I heard from Latoya Antonio, a Spencer Stuart advisor, as she gave a presentation on how to ensure executives are prepared to join boards and other forms of executive leadership.

I was sitting in an ornately decorated conference room at ExcelerateHer Women's Leadership Summit, founded by PMM Agency CEO Kimberly Blackwell.

Still, Antonio's wise words made my ears perk up because even though it was harsh, I knew it was true for many. How often are we poring over our LinkedIn profile and not just listing our experience, but curating it to strategically position us in our careers?

Business Insider's newsroom is filled with LinkedIn fans, and it reminded me to take a peek at my own profile to ensure it's up to date with best practices. So, I reached out to LinkedIn for their advice on how to boost your profile.

LinkedIn Career Expert Catherine Fisher told me to "think of your profile as your digital first impression." Here are her three tips to improve it:

1. Choose a strong profile photo. "Your photo is the first impression people get, so make it count. Professionals with a profile photo receive up to 2x more profile views. You don't need anything fancy, just a clear, well-lit headshot with a simple background where you look like yourself. It's a simple way for your friends, colleagues, or former classmates to recognize and discover you on LinkedIn."

2. Showcase your Education and Experience. "To help recruiters find you on LinkedIn, make sure your Experience section clearly highlights your strengths and key wins. Add in your education, side projects, and volunteer work so they can see the full scope of what you bring. And don't overlook the Featured section; this is a great place to drop in articles, presentations, or other work so recruiters can easily scan your previous work."

3. Add a Verification badge. "It's worth taking a minute to verify your profile. People with a verified badge stand out. By confirming your info, you're telling the community and future employers that you're the real deal. Plus, it works! Verified members get a massive 60% boost in profile views. It's more than a badge; it's your professional edge."

• The 152nd Kentucky Derby starts on Saturday morning at Churchill Downs Racetrack.
• The first-place winner receives $3.1 million and the coveted Kentucky Derby trophy.
• Here are some of the billionaire owners who could cash in.

Horseracing is an expensive sport.

So it's no surprise that among the crowd cheering on 20 thoroughbred horses during the Kentucky Derby's main race at Churchill Downs Racetrack on Saturday are at least eight billionaires.

The annual event has once again descended upon Louisville, bringing with it a blur of pastel outfits, flamboyant hats, and mint juleps. The annual event, entering its 152nd year, is the pinnacle of American horse racing and draws competitors from around the world.

Horse racing often involves spending millions of dollars at horse auctions, as well as money for training fees, transportation costs, veterinary care, jockey payments, and other expenses. Plus, entering the Kentucky Derby alone can cost about $50,000.

That's why the sport tends to attract the billionaire class.

Here are the eight billionaire owners who have their eyes set on the $3.1 million top prize, the gold trophy, and — of course — bragging rights at this year's race.

Robert and Lawana L. Low

Robert and Lawana L. Low will compete with their horse, Renegade, at this year's Kentucky Derby. The horse, also owned by billionaire Mike Repole, has a 4-1 odds of winning the race.

Robert Low amassed an estimated $5 billion in net worth through his freight transport and trucking company, New Prime Inc, according to Forbes.

Mike Repole

Mike Repole of Repole Stables will compete with Renegade alongside the Low family on Saturday.

Repole, who Forbes estimates has a net worth of $2.5 billion, made his fortune in the sports and energy drink businesses. Coca-Cola acquired a minority stake in BodyArmor — a drink Repole cofounded — in 2018 before purchasing the remaining stakes for $5.6 billion three years later.

Repole also cofounded Glaceau, which makes Vitaminwater and Smartwater.

Sheik Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, the emir of Qatar

Qatar's Emir Sheik Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani entered the Kentucky Derby with his horse, Commandment, and has a 6-1 chance of taking the gold on Saturday. His horse racing group, Wathnan Racing, launched in 2024.

While the royal's exact net worth is unclear, his family's net worth was about $172.9 billion in 2024, according to Bloomberg.

Brad Kelley

Brad Kelley, representing Calumet Farms, has a 50-1 chance of winning the Kentucky Derby with his horse, Robusta.

Kelley is the founder of Commonwealth Brands, which made USA Gold and Sonoma cigarettes. He later became a major private landowner in the US, ranking number 15 on The Land Report's 2026 largest landowner survey.

He has a net worth of $1.4 billion, according to Forbes.

Seth Klarman

Seth Klarman, an investor and CEO of The Baupost Group, is competing through Klaravich Stables, Inc. His horse, Emerging Markets, has 15-1 odds of winning.

Klaman cofounded The Baupost Group, a hedge fund, in 1982. Forbes reports that he has a net worth of $1.5 billion.

Vincent Viola

Vincent Viola, who founded trading company Virtu Financial in 2008, is also competing in the Kentucky Derby this weekend. Virtual Financial went public in 2015 and, at the time, Reuters reported the firm's valuation hit about $2.60 billion.

In 2013, Viola purchased the NHL's Florida Panthers for $250 million. The team won back-to-back Stanley Cup Championships in 2024 and 2025.

Viola, representing St. Elias Stable, is competing with Golden Tempo and has 30-1 odds of victory. Phipps Stable, led by Daisy Phipps Pulito, also owns the horse.

Barbara Banke

Several owners are hoping Litmus Test will win the Kentucky Derby, including Jackson Family Wines Chairman Barbara Banke.

Banke and her late husband cofounded Jackson Family Wines in 1982. The company started with a winery in California, and it has since expanded its reach with properties across the globe. Forbes reported that Banke and her family have a net worth of $2.5 billion.

Her horse has 50-1 odds of winning Saturday's race.

Masahiro Noda

Japanese billionaire Masahiro Noda is also taking part in the Kentucky-based festivities. Noda is the CEO and chairman of Obic, a company focused on system integration, system support, automation, and packaged software services. He has a net worth of $3.3 billion, according to Forbes.

Noda entered the race under Danox Co. Ltd., and his horse —
Danon Bourbon — has 20-1 odds of winning.

• Private jet travel is on the rise, and new routes underline the behavior of the wealthy.
• These popular routes highlight new financial centers and how the rich split time between multiple homes.
• Private jet traffic soared along these 11 routes last year.

A surge in private jet travel along key routes last year points to a new map of global wealth.

Eleven routes saw at least a 65% increase in private jet traffic last year, according to real estate consultancy Knight Frank's annual wealth report that included data from private aviation company VistaJet.

While established routes, like those between New York and London or New York and Miami, continue to dominate overall traffic, these growing routes offer a glimpse into the behavior of the ultra-high-net-worth set and where capital is moving.

Some destinations, like Nantucket, New England, have long been popular among the wealthy, and the uptick in private jet travel can be attributed to the overall increase in private jet travel. There were 3.9 million private jet flights last year, a 4.6% increase over 2024, according to data from aviation intelligence firm WingX published earlier this year.

Other routes, like that between Abu Dhabi and London, reflect current market conditions and real estate shifts.

"We see global wealth becoming increasingly mobile, with clients living across multiple cities and continents," Ian Moore, the chief commercial officer at VistaJet, said in a statement.

Looking ahead to 2026, one important caveat that could change the private jet map is the war in Iran, which has slowed down travel to Middle Eastern hubs.

Here are the 11 private jet routes with soaring traffic in 2025.

Jeddah and Riyadh: up 269%

The triple-digit increase in this domestic route, between the Saudi capital of Riyadh and the port city of Jeddah, reflects Saudi Arabia's transformation into a global wealth capital.

The country's billionaire population is projected to nearly triple over the next five years, and luxury real estate prices in Riyadh increased 78% price between 2020 and 2025, according to the Knight Frank report.

Abu Dhabi and London: up 238%

Investments in Abu Dhabi have boomed over the past five years, with private equity firm KKR and hedge fund titan Ray Dalio opening new offices in the city.

With wealthy Londoners, in particular, looking to move capital out of the city due to more stringent tax codes, Abu Dhabi has come to rival Dubai as a financial hub of the UAE.

Nantucket and New York: up 192%

Nantucket has always been a popular vacation destination for the uberrich, with billionaires like former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Charles Schwab.

The increase in flights between New York and Nantucket "underlines the rise of dual-location lifestyles in the US," the report says. Rather than spending a week or two on Nantucket in the summer, the wealthy are flying back and forth between their primary and secondary residences more frequently.

Nice and Palma: up 137%

This Mediterranean route between Nice, France, and Palma, on the Spanish island of Mallorca, points to popular summer vacation destinations of the wealthy — and their superyachts.

Last summer, David Geffen's yacht floated off the coast of Mallorca, hosting Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, and Kris Jenner, while Jeff Bezos' superyacht Koru traveled through the French Riviera.

London and Samedan: up 137%

Private jet travel between Farnborough Airport, near London, and Samedan Airport in Switzerland, near luxury ski resort St. Moritz, has seen an uptick as multi-location living grows.

It's about more than vacationing, though. With a harsher tax regime affecting the wealthy in the UK, some are moving their capital to Switzerland, a more tax-friendly destination.

Washington, DC, and White Plains: up 107%

The route between D.C. and White Plains, a suburb of New York City, makes up the "government-finance corridor," the report says.

Cannes and Paris: 100%

Global festivals and events, including the Cannes Film Festival and the Cannes Lions, bring celebrities and businesspeople to the city in southern France every year. Cannes also sees a surge of jet travel in the summer, with the wealthy traveling to the luxury resorts and superyachts that dot its coast.

Boca Raton and New York: 70%

Boca Raton, like many other South Florida destinations, has experienced an influx of wealth. As the "dual-location lifestyle" becomes more popular, the number of flights to the Palm Beach County city has increased.

Mumbai and New Delhi: up 66%

As in Saudi Arabia, India's growing economic power has led to more domestic flights between its major hubs.

Along with the US and China, India was a major engine of global wealth creation growth over the past five years, and that isn't expected to slow down. The country is expected to see its billionaire population increase 51% over the next five years, with Mumbai, in particular, becoming a wealth hub, according to the report.

Milan to Paris: up 66%

Flights between Milan and Paris, the world's fashion capitals, increased due to the industry's ties to wealth.

Rich Europeans are also flocking to Milan as a tax haven, due to Italy's flat tax structure.

Hong Kong and Tokyo

Private air traffic increased along the route between Hong Kong and Tokyo, two of Asia's wealth hubs.

Tokyo, in particular, has experienced a boost in demand among the rich, reflected in a 58.5% price increase for luxury residential real estate between 2024 and 2025, according to the report.

• Walmart is rolling out digital price tags in its US stores, and public reaction has been mixed.
• I visited two locations to see how the tech works for employees and customers.
• The change for shoppers is small right now, but the tech could lead to some interesting improvements.

A big change is afoot at Walmart, and some shoppers are starting to notice.

It all comes down to one of the smallest (but most important) features of any store: price tags.

The retail giant's adoption of so-called digital shelf labels in place of traditional paper ones is causing a bit of confusion and concern about whether shoppers will get a fair deal.

Several lawmakers have filed bills to prevent the tech from being used for surveillance pricing or surge charging. A proposal in New York State would prohibit electronic shelf labels in stores altogether.

Walmart said in March that about half of its stores have the technology, and the remaining ones are expected to get it within the next year.

To learn more about these shelf labels and see how they behave in the wild, I visited two Wisconsin supercenters to talk to employees who are navigating the change.

I visited the Walmart in Portage, Wisconsin, where staff were setting up the new shelf labels.

Most of the store still had paper labels, and the team had been working around the clock for two days before my visit to install the digital labels.

Walmart employee Elizabeth Nigh showed me the typical price change process with the paper tags.

As many as a dozen employees can be busy during a shift, working through the changes.

On Tuesday morning, the store had nearly 1,200 prices to change across departments.

Walmart prices are set by the corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, and managed by store workers with an app on their devices.

The paper price tags are made using small portable printers.

Other hardware is sometimes needed, such as colorful frames and pop-ups, to help a special price stand out on the shelf.

Each four-foot section of the store has a code to scan that calls up labels to print for that location.

Walmart assigns every item a location in the store, typically including the aisle, segment, shelf, and position.

Nigh then fishes the old label out of its plastic sleeve and slots the new one in.

If there is a discrepancy between the shelf price and the register price, consumer protection laws generally require retailers to honor the lower one.

Customers don't typically complain if they're rung up for less than they expected to pay, but it can be a rude surprise for a shopper (and lost money for a retailer) if a price increase isn't yet reflected on the shelf.

The printer handles up to 10 labels at once, so larger runs are done in batches.

Each shade of lip gloss had its own product code, so each one needed a label.

That can add up fast in categories with a lot of variations, like health and beauty.

The typical Walmart supercenter carries around 120,000 products, and prices in some departments, like grocery, can rise and fall in a matter of days due to market conditions.

I then spoke with Derek Gordon, who was installing digital shelf labels in the toys and games section.

He said it takes him about six minutes to adapt a standard shelf section for electronic labels. It's a few minutes of extra work up front, but he said it saves time down the line compared to paper labels.

In most cases, a rail clips onto the shelf face in a few clicks.

An integrated battery in the rail can power the electronic labels for up to eight years. A spokesperson told me the design was more economical than having each label contain its own battery.

Gordon scans the tag's barcode with an app to make sure it's on the correct product.

Like with the paper price tags, each four-foot section has a particular plan that store employees must follow and match.

The system Gordon set up had no sensors or cameras that could capture information about who was shopping.

He said that meant the labels couldn't gather or transmit any personal information about shoppers.

A proposed bill in New York state would ban retailers from using shoppers' personal information to adjust prices selectively.

Once scanned, Gordon taps a button, and the tags flicker on to reveal the prices in the system.

Walmart told me prices are set by the corporate office in Bentonville, and changes are pushed out to stores overnight.

Some social media videos have captured the prices changing on the electronic labels in the early hours of the morning, before most stores are open for business.

Gordon had a box of the old tags and a bin full of the new ones.

Employees at another store I visited said the digital tags are more durable than the paper ones against shopping carts and other hazards, but they still sometimes get banged up. If a tag breaks or goes offline, it alerts the staff via the app.

Store manager Zach Zeman told me he has the authority to lower prices to stimulate sales, but he can't raise them above the range set by HQ.

"There's no way for us to be able to adjust that price up higher," he said, adding that there's an error alert if someone accidentally enters a number above the authorized price. The store manager at another location I visited said the same thing.

Store prices generally match what is displayed on Walmart.com, Zeman said.

The new tags are also less likely to slide side to side on the rails, which means that displays are more consistent with the planned layout.

The workers called this concept "modular integrity" and said it helps make restocking easier when there's enough space for each item.

It's here, faced with dozens of similar items on a shelf, that digital labels could make a difference for shoppers.

Walmart plans to roll out a feature for shoppers in its app that would activate an LED light on the shelf tag to help customers find what they're looking for.

The feature is already available for employees and Spark delivery drivers, but the company hasn't said when it'll be available for customers.

These little blinking lights are shortening pick times and increasing order accuracy, an employee told me.

"It's definitely made it a lot faster with grabbing things," said Ben Leikness, the digital fulfillment team lead at another store I visited in Wisconsin. "As long as it has a digital shelf label, I can just hit scan, and it flashes right away."

As we were talking about the lights, a Spark driver rounded the corner and picked a Kinder's salt blend that she had activated the tag on.

"It's so handy," she said of the feature.

Walmart's stores are powering double-digit e-commerce growth, and the digital labels are making order fulfillment more efficient.

In addition to finding exact items more quickly, Leikness said his team spends half as much time hunting down products in the back room after his store installed digital shelf labels last fall. Part of the reason is that the time workers used to spend updating price labels can now be spent making sure shelves are stocked.

The iconic paper price signage that marks large displays isn't going away — yet.

Walmart told me it has some tech in the works for this kind of display, but that's not rolling out yet.

Another store I visited had midsize displays with clearer product information than I'm used to seeing on conventional labels.

I generally found these electronic displays easier to read than their paper-based counterparts.

The main benefit for in-store shoppers right now seems to be more confidence that the price on the shelf is the same or better than what's online.

The addition of the flashing LED option would likely be a welcome feature when it finally rolls out. In the meantime, store employees are being reassigned from adjusting prices to assisting shoppers.

Online shoppers — who never come into the store — stand to benefit most, since their orders can be fulfilled more quickly.

While I understand why people might be uneasy about this new technology, Walmart's approach isn't really built for selectively setting prices. It looks like the larger impact would be time savings for workers, which would also benefit shoppers.

Digital labels enable everyone — shoppers, employees, and the company — to get on the same page.

• Companies need to start measuring their AI token usage, BCG's Sylvain Duranton told Business Insider.
• Duranton said that companies should also understand the risks of holding back too much.
• "I think you need to start the pump," he said.

There's pressure on employees to up their AI token consumption.

Sylvain Duranton, global leader of BCG X, Boston Consulting Group's tech build and design division, said companies need to ensure they are preparing for the future.

"I think you need to start the pump," Duranton told Business Insider.

Asked about how companies should think about a "Tokenmaxxing" culture, Duranton said early on, companies will go all out before steering their token allocation more.

"I feel in the early days, companies will be pushing for massive usage and then progressively allocation, thinking around that, all of that will progress," he said. "But today being too restrictive, I think from the get-go on that usage, I'm not sure it's good."

Tokens are how large language models break down words into numerical inputs and outputs, and are essentially the building blocks of AI chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT or Anthropic's Claude. The conversation around token consumption has changed drastically in the past month or so, as the explosion of AI agents has altered how users and companies consume AI.

Not everyone is fully embracing the push.

Duranton said C-suites are strained between CFOs who are seeing the explosion in AI budgets and CIOs who are saying that "Engineers who are not burning one million tokens per day, they're not doing their job."

"There's a tension between all CFOs who start to go, 'My God, this is going to cost a lot,' and the notion that that's how you will make a difference, because those super users will be super effective, high productivity, they need to use the tokens," he said.

There's also tension within teams between engineers who want to keep doing that work and those who are deploying all the AI tools they can.

"We see even in software engineering teams, you have some people who burn, burn, burn, burn, burn, and you have super strong engineers who stay out," Duranton said, adding the latter group is putting themselves "on the trajectory to become obsolete."

For companies looking to find their bearings, Duranton said "the first thing" companies need to do is to start measuring token consumption, if they don't already.

One criticism of "Tokenmaxxing" leaderboards is that token consumption alone doesn't reveal what an employee is doing.

"If everyone is burning tokens to write poems and do pictures, there's not much benefit," Duranton said. "If those tokens are burned to create a massive jump in productivity or sales conversion in the customer center, it makes a huge difference for the company."

Duranton said companies will compete over the most efficient use of tokens, just as they do with recruiting.

"Companies have been competing from a strategic standpoint on resource allocation, and those resources were people and they were capital," he said, adding, "I think tokens will be the next one."

• A social media post sparked a string of jokes about Jane Street's notorious interview process.
• Posts about fake interviews mention orange chicken, cardio machines, and New York City pigeons.
• The trading firm, which offers recent grads $300,000 base salaries, is known for top talent.

The interminable Trader Joe's line. Chess tables in Bryant Park. An Equinox StairMaster.

These are just some of the locations social media users are linking to Jane Street in an increasingly absurd string of jokes about the trading firm's notoriously difficult interview process for quantitative researchers and traders.

It all started after Deedy Das, a partner at the venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, posted about Jane Street's reported record trading haul and what he said was his own sixth-round interview in 2014.

"What is the next day after today in DD/MM/YYYY where all the digits are unique?" he recalled being asked in a post on X.

After he answered, the interviewer asked him to rate his confidence on a scale of zero to one, Das said. He said he initially answered "0.95," but moments later realized he could flip the digits to get a closer, and ultimately correct, date. The interviewer "chuckled" about Das' confidence rating.

"That's when I knew I failed," Das wrote.

His post, with more than 640 reposts as of Friday morning, spawned a pile-on, with people drafting elaborate, seemingly fictitious tales of their interviews. Jane Street is known as one of Wall Street's most lucrative, selective trading firms. In recent years, it offered some interns a base salary equivalent to $250,000 annually; an open quantitative trader role for recent graduates with "a strong quantitative mind" who enjoy "solving interesting problems" offers a $300,000 base salary.

Jane Street's website says the interview process begins with phone conversations and culminates in an in-person interview with a quantitative trader, which includes questions on problem-solving, probability, coding, and data analysis. A source familiar with Jane Street's hiring process said that mental math no longer plays an important role.

Sean Sweeney, a managing director at CW Talent Solutions, a recruiting firm for hedge funds and quantitative investment firms, doesn't work with Jane Street, but does recruit for similar firms.

"If we have a candidate that was exceptional anywhere else, they might not even make it past the first-round screening with Jane Street. The bar is just so high," he said.

The math and trading games emphasize how someone thinks more than their final answer, he said. Some of the employees have been tracked since they were teenagers, Sweeney said, though they don't all have strictly mathematical backgrounds.

Many of the most outlandish social media jokes take Jane Street's penchant for quantitative expertise and creativity to the extreme.

A representative for Jane Street declined to comment for this article.

No job offers

One 384-word post talks about standing in a long, snaking line at the Trader Joe's on 14th Street in Manhattan, orange chicken and cold brew concentrate in hand. A man in a Patagonia vest and a quarter-zip stood ahead in line, so the story goes, and held a box over his shoulder.

"Ant on a corner of this box. Walks to the opposite corner along edges. How many shortest paths," the evidently made-up interviewer asked. The interview questions grew increasingly difficult, and, as is characteristic of the joke posts, the interviewee was asked to rate their confidence in their answer on a scale of 0 to 1.

Eventually, the post ends with the offer rescinded and the applicant banned from the 14th Street Trader Joe's.

Another post jokes about a seventh-round interview at chess tables in Washington Square Park, where the applicant was instructed to "optimize" the game and "market make this game." In the end, he lost $60 and didn't get the job.

"Failed to recognize that the park itself was the market and the pigeons were the only rational actors," the post ends.

One user came up with a story where an interviewer walked in with coffee and an Ikea tea candle, but no laptop or notebook. The fake applicant was told to "optimize" a budget that allocated $3,600 for candles and specified that their family was "dying." After the applicant built a model and debated when to sell the candles, the family was "still dying, but now in a more capital-efficient way."

And though Jane Street boasts its own on-site gym, one of the joke posts recalls an interview at Equinox at 6 am. The interviewer was on the StairMaster, commenting on an imagined Goldman Sachs MD who used the rowing machine every morning.

It ended with the applicant throwing away an untouched smoothie — and, of course, no job offer.

• Noor Al has been moderating the wild Wall Street Bets subreddit since 2014.
• The investing forum rose to fame during the GameStop short squeeze that gave rise to the meme stock movement.
• Al credits Wall Street Bets for his trading success and highlights its virbrant meme culture.

Noor Al compares his work as a WallStreetBets moderator on Reddit to tending a garden. Sometimes it's a mess but it's always rewarding

The retail trader has been helping moderate the popular investing forum since 2014, long before the GameStop short squeeze of 2021 that made the Reddit forum famous.

"I kept complaining about [stuff] until another moderator stepped in and said, 'Well, why don't you fix it?' And that's what I did. I did for many, many years in the background, just quietly fixing things in auto moderator, cleaning up posts and sharing my own ideas."

Founded by Jaime Rogozinski in 2012, the Reddit investing forum would be the breeding ground not just for the GameStop short squeeze, but for the entire meme stock movement

Al recalls the early days of WallStreetBets, long before it became a hub for the retail traders looking to duke it out with Wall Street short-sellers, many of whom would go on to be inspired by fellow user Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty.

At the time, he was still working in corporate finance after graduating from Canada's Wilfrid Laurier University with a degree in economics. He noted that he wasn't prepared for what would eventually unfold on the forum.

"It was really intense," he noted. "I remember taking time off work, just sitting in voice chat with the other moderators and we were just filtering posts 24/7."

He added that much of the challenge came from communicating what Wall Street Bets actually is, and what is allowed versus what isn't. At the time, the forum had users who saw it as a platform to try to pump up stocks for their own benefit, something that Al described as "unjustifiable."

While Al noted that this was far from easy, he feels confident that he and his fellow moderators kept the platform safe for novice traders as its user count surged, growing by as much as a million a day for multiple days in a row at the peak of meme mania.

"Wall Street bets has always been a place where smart people come and act stupid," he noted. "I recall that famous quote, 'any community that gets their laughs from pretending to be idiots will eventually be flooded by them.' And I think that was definitely very true for GameStop."

Indeed, Wall Street Bets refers to its users (and they refer to each other) as "degenerates." The forum is known for a culture of playful insults, but Al attributes much of his success as an options trader to the platform and the connections he has made there, highlighting the culture of idea-sharing and feedback that thrive there.

"The great part about Reddit is, unlike with equity reports or analyst coverage, you can easily go out and ask people questions about their research," he said.

Al also highlighted the benefits of being part of a community in which people deliver blunt feedback on trade ideas, which he says can often save people from their own egos and prevent what could have been ill-fated market moves.

Al advises traders to take a contrarian position when it comes to popular ideas and argue with fellow users until they get to the bottom of something they're interested in.

"I think if you're a new investor, you want to deeply understand what the trades are that you're making and why they're available," he noted. "There's a ton of information out there."

While he happily recalls the helpful trading insights he's gained from the Reddit community, Al also advises new and aspiring traders to be careful. Reddit is home to many people sharing screenshots of big gains, but that doesn't mean the information is always reliable.

"If you see someone with a consistently high win rate making tons of money hand over fist, don't believe that they're going to sell you their secrets for $500 a month," he cautioned.

• People aged 65 and older own 34.1% of US homes, according to Census data.
• As expected, areas with warmer temperatures have higher shares of older homeowners.
• Florida leads in the number of metros with a high share of homeowners aged 65 and older.

Even as millennials and Gen Z buyers get a taste of homeownership, older generations still make up a large share of property owners.

Data from the latest American Community Survey from the US Census shows that people 65 and older own 34.1% of all owner-occupied housing units in the US. The Census also found that the same group — an estimated 61.2 million people — has a homeownership rate of 78.6%.

An analysis of Census data by the National Association of Home Builders mapped out where homeowners 65 years and older own the largest share.

"Given the outsized share of homes occupied by baby boomers, the release of this housing stock will have a significant effect on housing markets," the report said. "However, the effect across regional markets will vary greatly depending on the prevalence of aging householders, migration patterns, and the severity of affordability constraints."

Florida, unsurprisingly, has the most metro areas with 65-plus-year-old homeowners, anchored by warm weather and retirement communities like The Villages.

Save for Barnstable, Massachusetts, every metro listed is in a warm area. So if you're looking to buy a home in one of these areas, prepare to live next door to someone of retirement age. Read on to see what areas are packed with older homeowners.

Population and median age were cited from Census Reporter, an independent website that uses data from the American Community Survey.

15. Sierra Vista-Douglas, AZ metro area

Share of households 65 and older: 41.0%

Population: 125,773

Median age: 42.8

14. Port St. Lucie, FL metro area

Share of households 65 and older: 41.0%

Population: 556,336

Median age: 47.4

13. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL metro area

Share of households 65 and older: 41.9%

Population: 860,959

Median age: 48.4

12. Santa Fe, NM metro area

Share of households 65 and older: 42.7%

Population: 157,765

Median age: 49.3

11. Ocala, FL metro area

Share of households 65 and older: 44.6%

Population: 428,905

Median age: 47.3

10. North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL metro area

Share of households 65 and older: 46.1%

Population: 934,956

Median age: 53.7

9. Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ metro area

Share of households 65 and older: 46.3%

Population: 226,479

Median age: 54.2

8. Sebring, FL metro area

Share of households 65 and older: 46.6%

Population: 109,778

Median age: 54.2

7. Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ metro area

Share of households 65 and older: 48.0%

Population: 252,013

Median age: 55.3

6. Barnstable Town, MA metro area

Share of households 65 and older: 48.4%

Population: 232,570

Median age: 56.1

5. Naples-Marco Island, FL metro area

Share of households 65 and older: 49.0%

Population: 416,233

Median age: 53.6

4. Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor, FL metro area

Share of households 65 and older: 50.9%

Population: 172,139

Median age: 55.6

3. Punta Gorda, FL metro area

Share of households 65 and older: 52.5%

Population: 20,278

Median age: 66.3

2. Homosassa Springs, FL metro area

Share of households 65 and older: 52.7%

Population: 170,174

Median age: 57

1. Wildwood-The Villages, FL metro area

Share of households 65 and older: 68.2%

Population: 154,693

Median age: 68

Before I first set foot inside a tiny home, I assumed people only lived in them out of necessity. I had imagined they were a last resort for people priced out of traditional housing.

I began to question my assumption, however, during the three days in February I spent visiting Dutch tiny-home villages.

The villages are three of five sites across the southern Netherlands run by the Minitopia Foundation, which works with local municipalities to transform derelict land into tiny-home communities. I visited Eindhoven, the largest of Minitopia's sites with space for 100 homes; the original site in 's-Hertogenbosch; and a smaller village in Valkenswaard.

The people I met in these communities came from all walks of life: young couples to divorcees, retirees to families with small children. Many had chosen to go tiny, not because they had to, but because they wanted to.

For some, it made financial sense. One family said they could work less and save more without having to sink most of their income into a mortgage. A retired woman described feeling liberated by living mortgage-free in her 60s. And a couple in their 30s told me they created a pitch deck to convince their parents that tiny home living was a great idea. In their minds, building a tiny home of their own — using ChatGPT, no less — would help them achieve financial autonomy.

Others said tiny-home living fit their lifestyle, like a single dad who said it gave his son a freedom-filled childhood and a divorced woman who said she loved how easy it was to make friends.

Tiny homes, I learned, aren't just a last resort. For many, they represent a rejection of the bigger-is-better mindset and a belief that less space can equal more freedom.

This series explores why people are choosing tiny homes, what they gain, what they give up, and whether living smaller delivers on its promise.

• Jason Grad, CEO of a startup called Massive, said the pace of life in Prague helps him avoid FOMO.
• He used to live in NY and SF, where he said he constantly socialized and networked.
• It's easier to stay focused on work in a smaller city, since there are fewer distractions, said Grad.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jason Grad, the CEO of remote startup Massive. He is based in Prague. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I'm the cofounder and CEO of Massive, a 20-person startup that provides web access infrastructure for AI agents, LLMs, and data pipelines to reach the public web in real time, at scale.

We've always been remote, and it's a recruiting superpower. We can hire the best people from all over the world without geographic bias. The sheer number of people in our talent pool is much greater than that of any city. We can access people who don't want to be in those cities and who would never want to work in person.

I live in Prague, but I'm in New York and San Francisco roughly one out of every three months. Lately, it's been more San Francisco. I lived in big cities for many years, but they can be a huge distraction. There's so much going on that it's really hard to separate signal from noise.

I socialize a lot when I go to big cities every two to three months, but it's definitely less than when I lived in New York or San Francisco. In those cities, it feels like I'm constantly socializing because there's always so much to do.

When you live in a smaller city, it's much easier to focus on what matters.

We work hard. We've grown by over 4X this past year. That requires a lot of focus, and being in a major hub is a huge distraction. There's so much going on. There's so much FOMO. It's a lot easier for me to say "no" if I don't have the distractions around me.

The "996" debate feels irrelevant to me

If you're a cofounder of a fast-growing company, that means you have a lot of conviction in what you do, and you do whatever it takes to support your team, the company, and its goals.

I wake up at around 5:30 a.m., and I go for a run as my first workout. I work during the day. When I want to take a break, I make and play music, or I go to the sauna and cold plunge. Whenever I'm not doing those things, I'm spending time with my partner.

Being a founder, depending on what you're building, takes a considerable amount of work hours. I wish I could do what I do in fewer hours.

I don't want to glorify how many hours I work, but I'll put it this way: The "996" debate feels irrelevant to me. Everyone has different thresholds and working styles, and I've found the one that works for me.

I see the value of working in a big city

Everyone has different thresholds and working styles. Each story is different.

Big cities are amazing because of this kind of serendipity you come across — from a random coffee meeting to a founder dinner or event that you happen to be close in proximity to.

There are many amazing events and dinners in New York. While living in New York, I hosted around 350 events, from 15-person dinner parties to 100+ person startup conferences. I understand the appeal. I grew a huge network from hosting dinners. That's why I did it.

I still go to a lot of events, but nowhere near as much as when I lived there. From January to June, I'm at peace in Prague.

Going to those kinds of events all the time is time away from focusing on what really matters when you're a fast-growing company, which requires laser focus to do the right things. I describe it as the difference between working in a quiet, private office versus working in an open, coworking space.

Once the company reached a certain point, it made more sense to focus than to continue building my network that way.

If it serves you to do that in person, as it did for me earlier in my career, then do so. If it is more beneficial for you, as it is for us, to be focused and not in a major hub most of the time, then you do that.

• I went to an "AI Psychosis Summit" in New York City that was an art party for AI-pilled techies.
• The event was thrown by a group of friends passionate about AI and attracted hundreds of people.
• Artists presented projects made in an AI-obsessed mania. Others showed off their vibe-coded apps.

"One, two, three — AI PSYCHOSIS!"

No, a bot didn't say that. The hosts of an "AI Psychosis Summit" on Thursday shouted those words at a jam-packed New York City gallery space.

Put together by a hodgepodge group of friends who, for the most part, met online, the AI Psychosis Summit was an attempt to bridge the New York tech scene with the downtown art world in the name of AI.

Artists presented projects made in an AI-obsessed mania. Others showed off their vibe-coded apps. The crowd sipped on Diet Coke while a DJ played booming techno beats.

"This all started from a tweet," said Wesam Jawich, one of the event's hosts.

Jawich, a former Google engineer, teamed up with digital artist Matt Van Ommeren (better known online as "Quasimatt"), artist Macy Gettles, and crypto startup founder Mauricio Trujillo Ramirez (who goes by "Bunny" online and in the tech scene).

"Thank you for joining us in our psychosis," Van Ommeren told the crowd, which drew in everyone from finance bros to AI-pilled software engineers and content creators.

The party drew in hundreds of people, with a line down the block at one point in the evening. After blowing up on X, the party drew in over 1,000 RSVPs. Ramirez claimed the event landed on Andreessen Horowitz's radar and that the VC firm gave the organizers some bitcoin to support the party. The event organizers didn't share how much A16z sent, and the firm didn't provide a comment.

Ramirez thanked A16z at the event, as well as the crowd-favorite AI models from Anthropic, OpenAI, and Gemini.

Walking around, I caught snippets of conversations dropping "AI" and "psychosis" left and right, though people weren't talking about actual mental health crises emerging from too much AI use.

It was more of a vibe.

"We are not here to define AI psychosis," Gettles said at the event.

Let me bring you into the night.

The Agenda: Discuss AI until you're on the verge of insanity

At the door, a stack of papers with "WAIVER, RELEASE, AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF AI-INDUCED PSYCHOSIS" awaited signatures.

Upon entering, there were paintings on the wall surrounded by AI-generated text. It's part of a project by artist Kevin Esherick, which involves him training an AI model on himself and other artists.

"I'm trying to dissolve the boundaries of myself," Esherick told me, defining his state of AI psychosis. "I've had a consistent AI hypomania for some time now, but I have not had a psychotic break."

Before I could even make my way across the room, I found myself in conversations with several people building apps. One was an AI dating app called "Soulmate" that uses an LLM-powered companion to help people date. Another was "Shake," a social app that one of the event hosts, Van Ommeren, coded using Anthropic's Claude Code. (The premise: you physically shake your phone near someone else and get added to an ever-growing social graph displaying your degrees of connection.)

The remainder of the show felt like an artsy science fair run by a bunch of 20-somethings who are really, really into AI.

A quick overview of the art on display:

• A map of the New York City subway system that generates jazz music based on train stops by design engineer Joshua Wolk.
• An AI-journaling app, pitched to the crowd as a "psychosis journal to be the best you." I downloaded it, but haven't used it. The app was apparently launched on the Apple App Store midway through the event.
• A video game where you wander Central Park while chatting with an AI bot, until you meet your ultimate fate: AI psychosis. Game over.
• An app called The Cosmic Quant that "makes investment decisions for you based on astrology."
• Oh, and how could I forget, a giant TV with an AI-generated video (emphasis on AI-generated) of President Donald Trump performing oral sex on former President Bill Clinton. It played on loop. I'd like to forget it.

AI was celebrated as a creative unlock for those in the room.

"If I had an idea two years ago, I'd have to find a friend to help me build that. Now, I can just get started," Wolk told me.

I asked him what his go-to AI product is. Anthropic's Claude, he said.

"I have Claude at home right now looking for planets," Wolk said. He's having Claude scrape a dataset from NASA. "I'm paying like $200 a month for Claude Code, I might as well have it do something. Fingers crossed."

The Style: Tinfoil hats and indie sleaze

I won't lie, it was mostly dudes when I first arrived. And it smelled a tad like a locker room.

There was one person wearing a literal tinfoil hat, while nearby, the DJ wore a lobster-claw headband (which I can only assume was an homage to the Openclaw, FKA Clawdbot).

Besides the man wearing a tee-shirt of a woman's body in a Grok-embellished bikini — or the one or two guys in suits — the crowd was dressed like an early aughts party where "indie sleaze" style ruled.

The Menu: Diet Coke and Claude Code

To my one coworker's dismay — as well as my other non-tech friend I dragged with me to this event — there was no alcohol.

There were plenty of cans of Diet Coke, and boxes of La Croix and Spindrift seltzers. In true New York style, some guests had BYOB intuition.

Yes, tech can be quite sober now, but the Diet Coke here was a "kind of a meme," Van Ommeren told me. And if there's free booze, people will come for the booze, not the psychosis.

The Takeaway: AI needs a hit of culture to stay grounded

"There's all these AI events that happen that are kind of corporate and are attracting people who work in tech," Van Ommeren said. The AI Psychosis Summit wanted to change that with a sceney party with a crowd that's more in touch with culture.

The event let people poke fun at the surrealism of AI, at times in very ironic or hyperbolic ways, while also seriously acknowledging how powerful some of the tools can be.

"When the AI Psychosis Summit organizers say AI psychosis, we usually mean it in a very positive way," Van Ommeren said. "I think I am sort of in this recent state of AI hypomania where I have this excitement, and maybe a little bit of anxiety, about all of the new opportunities that feel available."

• Gary Shilling is predicting a recession and a steeep stock plunge by year's end.
• The top economist said a downturn was almost inevitable, as consumer spending is likely to decline.
• He sees the S&P 500 dropping as much as 30% as stocks get punished for inflated valuations.

Gary Shilling thinks there's almost nothing that can stop a US recession this year.

The legendary economist and Merrill Lynch alum laid out a grim outlook for markets and the economy in an interview with Business Insider this week. In his view, it's almost inevitable that the US will tip into a recession this year, given ongoing vulnerabilities in multiple areas of the economy.

He's also eyeing a big correction for stocks as valuations reach dizzying levels. Shilling said he believes the S&P 500 could end up tumbling by as much as 30%, with the bear-market decline potentially arriving by the end of the year.

Shilling said he believes the only things that could prevent a downturn at this point were a burst of fiscal stimulus or continued strength of the US consumer, both of which he thinks are unlikely.

He pointed to several signals suggesting the economy is on the verge of a downturn.

For one, the housing market remains largely frozen as markets expect interest rates to remain elevated. Despite a brief spike in existing home sales last year as mortgage rates dipped, buying activity has slowed significantly as rates have climbed higher in recent weeks.

Second, capital expenditures, a measure of investment by businesses into things like new hires and physical equipment, have collapsed across the private sector in recent years. While AI capex is booming, broader capex grew 3.9% at the end of last year, down from its peak of over 24% during the pandemic.

Consumer spending — which makes up around two-thirds of economic growth — has been a ballast for the US economy. Real personal consumption expenditures growth held steady at around a 2% yearly pace in March, but Shilling said it's likely that spending will decline in the next year, given ongoing pressures on consumers.

Americans, who were already under the weight of cumulative price increases since the pandemic, are starting to feel the pain of the latest inflation surge from the Iran war. Energy prices increased 12.5% year-over-year in March, the largest increase since 2022 due to the surge in oil prices, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Real disposable income growth, meanwhile, slowed to a 0.4% yearly pace in March, its lowest level in about three years.

The annual personal savings rate also slowed to 3.6%, also its lowest level since 2022.

"That's really on very thin ice in terms of income, in terms of people's willingness to spend," Shilling said.

Dizzying valuations

In markets, Shilling said he thinks valuations have swelled to worrying levels in recent years, pointing to three metrics in particular that suggested stocks were overvalued.

The first is the inflation-adjusted price-to-earnings ratio of the S&P 500, also known as the Shiller CAPE ratio, which is hovering at its highest level since before the dot-com crash.

The other two metrics — the price-to-sales and price-to-book ratios of the S&P 500 — tell a similar story, Shilling said, with both measures at all-time highs.

"Stocks are very expensive and there probably is a major correction coming somewhere in the relatively near future," Shilling said, adding that his timeline for a correction was the end of 2026. "A decline of 20% or 30% is no big deal by historical standards. So I would say that's probably in the cards."

Shilling noted that it's unclear what might trigger the decline in stocks. Market drops of that magnitude are typically caused by excesses in the market, though he now disagreed with the idea that the AI boom was necessarily a sign of excess.

"I've sort of made a career looking for those hidden flaws, and I don't see anything right now that is just screaming for a big sell-off, but that doesn't mean it isn't there," he said.

Shilling, known for his persistently bearish views in markets, has cautioned investors about potential recession and a broad decline in stocks for the last four years. Last year, he said the stock drop could be triggered by "extreme speculation" in financial markets, pointing to the hype around AI and crypto in particular.

As a first-generation college student, my diploma meant the world to me, even before I had it in hand. Being the first in my family to obtain a degree wasn't just a personal achievement; it was a ticket to a more secure financial future.

Fifteen years later, with my college loans only recently paid off, I sometimes think a lot about the value of that degree, versus its costs. It turns out that questioning is becoming more and more common. Last year, only one-third of Americans agreed that a four-year college degree is worth its cost because it leads to better job prospects, according to an NBC News Poll.

The boom in artificial intelligence (AI) is contributing to college skepticism, too. A recent Gallup poll found that 47% of current college students have considered changing their major due to AI (and 16% have actually made the change).

With so much in flux about the future of higher education, I reached out to nine tech CEOs and execs to hear how they're talking with their own kids about college. Nearly all of them agreed that college remains important — but not for the reasons you might think.

Go to college, but not for a particular job

Entrepreneur Matt Blumberg has two children in college (studying business and psychology), and one who's a junior in high school. Blumberg, the CEO of Markup AI, says he encouraged all of them to get a degree, but "not for the reasons my parents' generation would have given."

"College does not have to funnel you directly into a particular job, especially in a world where that job might not exist in five years," he explains.

Many tech leaders shared this sentiment. Stephen Upstone, CEO and founder of LoopMe, encourages his three kids (23, 21, and 17) to go to college to "get independence as adults, develop reasoning, and make friends for life."

Ali Kashani, co-founder and CEO of Serve Robotics, will have two children in college, come the fall. The value for them, he says, isn't just the degree.

"It's where you learn how to learn, how to think critically, how to work hard, and how to become an independent adult," Kashani said. "It's also where many people build some of their most important, lifelong relationships."

Gain skills that are valuable in a changing workforce

Greg Brown, CEO of Illumia, sees the value in college for his 16- and 18-year-olds. But he's encouraged his own kids and others to avoid a too-narrow course of study, since that could weaken their career prospects.

Instead, a college education is best used to hone communication skills, critical thinking, judgment, and adaptability, according to Brown.

"When I discuss it with my children, I frame it less as a box to check and more as an opportunity to build capabilities that will stay valuable for decades," he says.

Blumberg agrees, saying he hopes his kids use college to build skills computers can't replicate, including having nuanced conversations with people who think differently. In that way, he says a college degree offers the chance to "become someone who can learn anything, adapt to anything, and lead through change."

Don't shy away from AI

Kashani and other CEOs say they're encouraging their children to incorporate AI into their college education.

"AI is going to shape nearly every industry, and having fluency in that space will be incredibly valuable," he said.

Tim Sheehan, co-founder and CEO of Greenlight, is helping his 17-year-old college-bound son learn AI tools.

"We bought him a ChatGPT Plus subscription because we've found it to be helpful in explaining, step-by-step, how to solve complex problems in his physics and advanced math classes," Sheehan says. "When it's used the right way and with guardrails, it can really support how he learns."

He emphasizes that his son should use AI to further his education, not detract from it.

"AI is a tool to help him learn; it should not do the thinking for him," Sheehan says. "If he's just copying answers, he's not actually learning, and that's something we make sure to reinforce at home."

College remains key for many

Doug Hughes, CEO of Codio, says that obtaining a college degree is a "core expectation" for his 10-year-old son, Jackson.

"College remains the most proven path to the type of life and opportunity he is seeking," Hughes says. While Jackson is too young to have a specific career path in mind, he's interested in aviation, so Hughes has discussed different educational paths that could lead to a career in commercial aviation, including military colleges.

Justice Eroline, chief technology officer at the software development firm BairesDev, knows it's possible to be successful without a college degree — but he still thinks that's the exception, not the rule. Because of that, he's encouraging his children, ages 12, 10, and 8, to pursue a degree.

"While I think my kids are exceptional," he says, "I don't want to plan for exceptions."

Fostering hands-on skills

Amy Kopelman, founder and CEO of Pathlitics, wants her 16-year-old daughter to know that a four-year degree is just one of many viable options after high school. She's helping her daughter gather real-world experience by volunteering in preschools and working with young children.

That allows Kopelman's daughter "to lean into her strengths with hands-on work and passion caring for others," Kopelman says. "It exposes her to the actual work to see if she has continued interest long-term. Not to mention, we feel it's unlikely that AI will take over caring for young children."

Calculating value based on connections

Dan Ye, co-founder and CEO of CollegeNode, says that the value of college "depends entirely on the institution."

He wouldn't encourage his sons (3 and 11) to study Shakespeare in college, as he did. He'd rather see them study business or engineering: "fields that teach my sons how to think."

Now and in the future, even more of the value associated with a college degree will come from the networking that takes place on campus, Ye says.

"The act of putting a group of ambitious young people together and showering them with new ideas has a lot of value, both to the students and to society," he says. And yet, "Unless they can get into a top-30 university, I'm not sure it's worth the investment of their time.

• Lindsay Mustain is a former Amazon recruiter who now runs a business helping people with career design.
• According to Mustain, the job market is psychological, not logical, and perception is everything.
• She explains how the four Ps — product, promotion, place, and price — along with perception, can help career growth.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lindsay Mustain, a former Amazon recruiter in her 40s who lives in Washington. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Before I began my business about intentional career design, I was a recruiter. My most recent role was at Amazon, where I led talent acquisition and employer branding strategies.

Over my career, I've hired thousands of people and reviewed countless résumés.

At Talent Paradigm, which I started in 2017, my small team works with thousands of clients on generating salary increases for them, based on what I call the "theory of hireability."

Think about bottled water. You can get water from your sink for basically free; meanwhile, people are willing to pay $9 for a bottle of water at an airport. Fundamentally, they're the same thing — H2O — but they have completely different perceived values.

The same thing happens when job searching.

The forces that determine what the market would pay for a product are the way people would pay for your candidacy. Those are rooted in the four Ps of marketing: product, promotion, place, and price.

In my theory of hireability, there's a fifth principle that changes everything: perception. I believe the job market isn't logical; it's psychological, and the only thing you need to change is your perceived value.

Together, these form what I call the five Ps of career ascension.

1. Product

When I was recruiting, I'd sit with a hiring manager before a job was posted and ask what they wanted: Who are they looking for? What kind of experience? If a candidate looked like the answer to that specific problem, they were at an advantage.

Many people market themselves with facts like, "I have 10 years of experience in operations." What actually works is marketing the benefit — what you actually can do for the company.

For example, if you're shopping for a new vitamin C serum, you're not going to buy it based on how much vitamin C it has; you'll buy the one that says it reduces dark spots in two weeks.

Your résumé is basically the same thing. The commodity candidate only markets their features — tasks, duties, years, titles — while the candidate of choice markets the transformation: What did they change? What impact did they make? It's powerful to include a percentage, a dollar sign, and numbers. Make it clear what the company gained because you were in the room.

2. Promotion

In marketing, promotion is what you do to get people to know about and purchase the product. For job candidates, the goal is for employers to want to meet with you.

A lot of times, people's go-to move for promotion is the open-to-work banner on LinkedIn. However, from my observations, I don't think it actually helps — and could actually hurt.

Strategic visibility is real promotion. Building your brand on LinkedIn attracts people into your world and creates referred opportunities. It can be a virtuous cycle — you share content and thought leadership, engage with others, and create visibility in your field.

When you intentionally shape that narrative, a hiring manager feels like they already know you.

3. Place

You can buy a product in-store or online; for candidates, place is where employers find you.

I asked hundreds of hiring managers what they'd think if someone applied 17 times over 12 years. The overwhelming response was that there must be something wrong with the applicant — if they were any good, the company would've hired them already.

Shift yourself from being active to being perceived as passive, so you don't come across as trying too hard. The goal is to be found, or to be referred.

With active applicants, it's very apparent they're job searching, whether it's the open-to-work banner on their profile or a post about how they were laid off from their last job and asking if anyone could help. They're spamming DMs with their résumé and asking about job openings.

Passive job seekers are typically those who are employed, who recruiters source, or who are referred by others. The underlying belief is that people who are good at their jobs are usually too busy to look for other jobs.

As a recruiting leader, I aimed for at least 40% of my hires to come through employee referrals, because that's where I consistently saw the highest quality and best hires.

4. Price

There are different ways to price products. There's commodity pricing, like the rollback price at Walmart. In the job market, this is the job board pool of commodity candidates, and the salary floor wins.

Then, there's asset pricing, which is paid according to the value, such as a limited release of Air Jordans. Last year, I was at the mall, and the line for the sneaker store was out the door. The competition is what's driving up the price; the line actually increased the perceived value.

When your product is premium, has a strong brand, and is not widely available, you stop negotiating for a number; instead, you become an asset that everyone wants to have.

You don't have to take the minimum because there's somebody willing to pay more right behind that first person.

5. Perception

Focusing on perception is the most important thing that you can do when you're job searching.

I've talked about perception in each of the other four Ps. It isn't its own individual thing; it's the multiplier — the difference between being the commodity candidate and the candidate of choice.

It's why, when I was at Amazon, one of the first questions I asked candidates was, "Are you interviewing anywhere else?" I wanted to know if they were top talent, and if so, I could fast-track the process. The only time I could do so was if they had other options, because we didn't want to lose them.

It can be the exact same candidate, exact same talent. It's not experience. It's not qualifications. The only thing that's really changing is what everyone around them now believes to be true — perception.

• Entrepreneurs with a libertarian streak have been creating private cities around the globe.
• The one that has advanced the most is Próspera on an island in Honduras.
• We got a look at the biohacking and building plans underway.

When Lonis Hamaili steps out of the elevator on the 10th floor of Duna Tower, he looks out over an avenue of palm trees, blue sea stretching to the horizon, and a barrier guarded by a man with a pistol. In front of the roof terrace of the residential and office tower, the world lies neatly arranged before him like a string of shells. The handful of buildings in the private city of Próspera line a single road. Hamaili looks at the barrier, which sits on the main street like a higher authority. Access matters, says the 28-year-old. Perhaps the barrier is the most important piece of infrastructure in this city on the Honduran island of Roatán.

Honduras' laws apply only as far as the guarded barrier. Beyond it, Próspera's laws prevail. What those laws look like is determined by the city's owner: the US company Honduras Próspera Inc. Hamaili, a Swedish-born former startup founder, is an employee of that corporation, the vice president for growth at this strange place.

Hamaili looks out at what the private company has already wrested from the jungle in the way of civilization: the paved road, a restaurant, a futuristic dome, and a robot-operated factory. Beyond the palms, a luxury hotel with its own school is nestled by the water. In the café next door, a machine exchanges Bitcoin for dollars. There is not much more infrastructure in Próspera. Not yet. Hamaili is supposed to change that.

"We are going to cut a road through the jungle," he says. Four residential towers are soon supposed to rise above the palm canopy on the lawn in front of it. "In the coming years, we want to settle thousands of people here." Hamaili has in mind entrepreneurs, project managers, and digital nomads with their laptops and ideas. Próspera has about 200 residents and roughly 400 companies. Hamaili says it has already raised around $200 million in capital. He and his fellow builders are not just putting up buildings and infrastructure. They are building a state.

What sounds crazy has become a trend among a small but global and deep-pocketed elite: the founding of largely autonomous private cities. Bitcoin millionaires, tech millionaires, startup founders, and libertarians form the core of this close-knit circle, which challenges the order represented by the 193 UN member states. Like Hamaili and his colleagues, they are working to build private cities that are meant to grow into mini-states, projects that are beginning to take shape around the world.

Off Thailand's coast, a Bitcoin millionaire couple set up home on a habitable platform at sea. In Venezuela, the so-called CryptoCity for "freedom-loving" entrepreneurs is being built. In Norway, the Liberstad project is being created on 860 acres and is seeking the status of a private city. Between Croatia and Serbia, a 2.5-square-mile island in the Danube was occupied in 2015 and declared a sovereign state that issues citizenship.

When President Donald Trump did not rule out taking Greenland, if necessary by military force, and appointed PayPal cofounder Ken Howery as the new ambassador to Denmark, Dryden Brown spoke up. Brown is CEO of the US company Praxis, which a few years ago wanted to buy Greenland and build a private city there. Now Brown sees that goal as closer.

The Próspera philosophy

None of these projects has advanced as far as the Próspera in Honduras. To lure investors, the economically weak Central American nation in 2013 allowed the creation of autonomously administered special economic zones known as Zones for Employment and Economic Development, or ZEDEs.

Instead of police, private security personnel keep order in Próspera. Taxation and state oversight of companies take place independently of Honduran law. The city is run by a technical secretary and a city council, elected in part by the operator and in part by residents. Voting rights depend on the size of one's landholdings.

The idea of having one's own state is not new. The hippies dreamed of it. In Copenhagen, they occupied the Christiania neighborhood in 1971 and declared it an autonomous free town. There were attempts at sea to found independent nations. In 1968, the Italian engineer Giorgio Rosa built a roughly 475-square-yard platform off Italy's coast and sought UN recognition as a nation in its own right.

Now those dreams are returning — only this time the politics are reversed. Instead of hash and world peace, most of the new nation-builders swear by the blessings of capitalism in the face of sweeping change. They are backed by tech billionaires from the United States. Peter Thiel, cofounder of PayPal, provided the movement's theoretical foundation in his 2009 essay "The Education of a Libertarian."

"I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible," it says. Thiel's proposed way out: the creation of private cities at sea, in cyberspace, or in outer space. Thiel is considered one of Próspera's first investors. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has also invested and has put money into Praxis.

The imagined neo-nations serve as testing grounds for a radically new economic order. States are supposed to function like companies. Instead of simply being born into a nation, residents and the governing authority are meant to consciously enter into a contract on mutual rights and obligations.

Think of it like a cellphone plan: Services are booked as optional extras. Anyone who wants schooling or social insurance has to dig deeper into their pockets. Whether the whole thing becomes a democracy or something else depends on the provider. For some observers, these plans set off alarm bells. Sarah Moser, a professor at McGill University's Department of Geography in Montreal, criticizes the libertarians' "aggressive rhetoric," saying it could sow overall mistrust of state institutions.

Moser and other critics fear that the tech elite want to use such private cities to create tax havens and retreats where their activities will no longer be questioned. At the same time, more startups, digital nomads, and people in search of meaning are drawn to these places.

Light regulation exerts a magnetic pull on drone makers, crypto firms, and medical companies. Biotech firms are already using these largely autonomous zones to push technologies beyond the reach of state oversight. In February, I spent several days in Próspera with leading figures in the movement and earlier attended a conference of libertarian state-builders in Prague. I had unrestricted access in both places and got a glimpse into a parallel world that is increasingly pressing into the real one.

A bio-hacker's paradise

It is a gloomy afternoon in Próspera. Raindrops strike the windows of the coworking space on the first floor of Duna Tower. Leaning over his phone at one of the standing tables, Richard Lee swipes through his photo gallery. One picture shows his hand, smeared with blood. In another, he stares into the camera with pain written across his face.

On the screen are images from Lee's earlier projects. The American carries the results beneath his skin. He grabs the back of his right hand and pulls the skin together. The outline of a plate pushes outward. The 47-year-old stands the implant upright beneath his skin; it stretches like a sail in strong wind. "That's the chip from a credit card. I can pay directly with my hand," Lee says.

He has seven such implants in his body. An RFID chip sits in the tissue between his thumb and index finger, allowing contactless identification, tracking, and data storage via radio waves. Wireless headphones have been embedded in his ears. His favorite implant is a magnet surgically inserted into the nerve endings of his middle fingertip. "I can feel magnetic fields with it," Lee says. "I call it my sixth sense."

The American has lived in Próspera for roughly a year and a half. What he does to his body is called "biohacking." A tight-knit group around the world, connected through social media, carries out such experiments on themselves. It all takes place in a gray area. Lee cannot say whether self-injury of this kind is legal in Próspera. But that is not really the question here. The real question is: Can money be made from it?

Life in the fast lane

The sky above Próspera has cleared a little. Ivan Syrtsov strolls across the terrace in front of the coworking space. With his blond mane, he looks like a surfer. Syrtsov walks past a white satellite dish and looks over the railing at a sign planted in the grass in front of the jungle. "Darien Village — Coming soon," it says. The picture above it shows four towers.

"We will begin construction in a few days," says Syrtsov, 26, a native of Ukraine and the project's manager. He has raised more than $5 million for it through crowdfunding. The towers are due to be completed in November 2026. Syrtsov says he completed a larger construction project back home and considered building in Portugal, but chose Próspera. "If I want to build in Europe, I wait at least four years for a building permit. Do you know how long I waited here?" Syrtsov asks, before answering himself: "Exactly two weeks. Then the project was approved."

Inside the coworking space of Duna Tower, there is a door covered in stickers: "Peace. Love. Bitcoin." "Inflation is theft." "SB 535. Montana's Longevity Law." "Make Death optional." They are common slogans in the movement. The wall in the office behind it is decorated with a huge jungle-tech cyberpunk mural. Niklas Anzinger's head looks tiny beneath it. The German, in his mid-30s, is one of Próspera's most important residents, the man who gets investor money onto the island.

"Two years ago, I set up a venture capital fund. It raised $3.2 million and invested in 32 startups," Anzinger says. The venture capital fund, he says, focuses on businesses in heavily regulated industries such as biotechnology, finance, insurance, crypto, or drones.

One of those companies, Minicircle, became known to millions of viewers through a Netflix documentary. For the cameras, US multimillionaire venture capitalist and longevity guru Bryan Johnson underwent gene therapy at the company in Próspera in search of rejuvenation.

What the companies funded by Anzinger have in common is that they are headquartered in Próspera. That is also the fund's key advantage: There is no drug regulator in Próspera, no building inspection agency, no oversight of drone traffic. Ask Anzinger whether that is risky, and he waves the question away, pointing to what he says is the decisive condition for every project in Próspera: They have to find an insurer willing to price and cover the risk.

Utopia via Powerpoint

What rules and laws should govern these private cities? That question has sparked a debate within the scene. It is being waged in forums, at conferences, and in books. One of the most widely read books on the subject is "The Network State" by Indian-American entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan. In it, he sketches the blueprint for a post-democratic state: a community that comes together on the internet, is administered through blockchain technology, and is ultimately meant to find its way into real life and win recognition as a state.

Srinivasan's concept is no longer purely theoretical. The Network School, a community of "tech optimists," is located on an island off Singapore, in the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone. A German is also shaping the post-democrats' theories of statehood. "Free Private Cities: More Competition in the Most Important Market in the World" is the title of a book by the German lawyer Titus Gebel. Within the scene, it is regarded as a standard work. The author lays out the model of a state with which citizens actively enter into a contract. All services, in his view, should be available as optional add-ons.

Each private city would have to decide for itself how such a state is designed. The spectrum ranges from drug-and-party communities to zero-tolerance states. The market should decide which offerings prevail. In Gebel's system, citizens would vote with their feet, and their money, by moving in or moving out.

The libertarians' chief enemy is the welfare state. "The welfare state corrupts people by encouraging antisocial behavior. It creates massive incentives to behave dishonestly and indecently," Gebel's book argues.

That puts democracy squarely in the crosshairs of the nation-builders. "Every mass democracy, whether direct or parliamentary, will inevitably develop sooner or later into a welfare state," Gebel writes. He posits that the financial ruin of welfare states would be "only a matter of time."

Gebel is also the organizer of the annual Free Cities Conference. Last November, the event series invited guests to a conference center in downtown Prague. The audience was international. Merch stands in the foyer offered economics textbooks, flags with ominous coats of arms, and T-shirts advertising drug legalization. A slogan on stickers and signs seemed to capture a common denominator of the eclectic crowd: "Tax is theft."

Some conversations offstage went like this: "How many Free City conferences have you been to?" a conference attendee from Germany asked a woman also from Germany who had sat down next to him at the lunch buffet.

"This is my first conference. I travel a lot because I work remotely. That's how I discovered these free cities," she said. "And what do you expect from these cities?" he asked. "On the one hand, it's good when you travel and find contacts and infrastructure in places like these. But I also think our states and Western democracies no longer work. Maybe this is a Plan B," she said.

The man, who works in real estate, nodded in agreement. "You know, I've been going to these conferences for five years. At the beginning, they were pure utopias. But now these cities are actually being built," he said. The two learned which projects had been added over the past year immediately after lunch.

Speakers had traveled to Prague from across the world to show photos of construction sites in their presentations. Hardly any forgot to mention why they wanted to flee Western states in the first place.

"Deep reform is nearly impossible," read one presenter's slide, referring to the condition of Western democracies. Another slide spoke of "Europe's dark times." Next to it stood the names of countries, paired with numbers: "United Kingdom, 12,183. Belarus, 6,205. Germany, 3,500." The legend explained what the numbers referred to: "Countries with the most arrests for online comments."

The speaker's implicit promise was that in private cities, everyone could post whatever they wanted, incitement and hate speech included. Broadside after broadside against migration and unprotected borders ran through many presentations. Joe Quirk, a member of the Seasteading Institute, which wants to advance colonization on the ocean's surface, also lashed out at socialists and the media.

The source of Quirk's anger: A few years ago, he and his allies planned a floating island off Tahiti. Because of bad press and protests by islanders who did not want a Big Tech island on their doorstep, the plan had to be abandoned. Other seasteading projects, were carried out — temporarily, for instance, a platform off Thailand.

A project is now planned in the Philippines. The platforms are supposed to be far enough away from coastal states to lie in international waters, yet close enough to shore to allow supplies and transport to reach the island easily. The seasteaders enjoy prominent backing from Silicon Valley. The founder of the Seasteading Institute is Patri Friedman, a former Google engineer and grandson of the famed economist Milton Friedman.

The speakers also brought news to Prague about projects on land. Tim Stern, founder of CryptoCity, had come from Venezuela and presented photos of construction work on the 98-acre project on the Venezuelan holiday island of Isla de Margarita.

The pictures showed excavators leveling the ground and sealing off the site from the outside. According to Stern, 1.3 million square yards of earth have already been moved for the project. Construction of the first houses is due to begin later this year. Plans call for 300 villas, several public buildings, and a harbor. The project is meant to attract wealthy, crypto-oriented businesspeople.

A full delegation from a Danube island between Croatia and Serbia — its president included — had also traveled to Prague. The occupiers call the narrow strip of land Liberland. In their view, the territory belongs neither to Serbia nor to Croatia — and therefore to them. Citizenship documents and flags of Liberland were for sale in the foyer. Flyers advertised a longevity event on the island.

Few of the would-be state founders at the conference were as openly anarchic as the people from Liberland. Most of them are betting on negotiations and contracts, not confrontation with established states. That strategy appears to be working, especially in Central and South America. Poor countries such as Honduras and Venezuela seem willing, in exchange for fees, to hand over small parcels of land — and with them part of their sovereignty.

In the middle of Germany, there appear to be moves away from the territorial state. In the Saxon town of Döbeln, the Central Saxony Citizens' Cooperative is pursuing the goal of having companies take over state functions. Energy supply, schools, and even arbitration courts are supposed to be put on a private footing. The German newspaper Die Zeit reports the project has also found support among politicians from the far-right AfD party.

Trey Goff, Próspera's chief of staff, came to Prague to tout the jungle city. The tax model, in particular, was meant to be alluring. His presentation promised "10 percent flat income tax," "2.5 percent retail sales tax," and "1 percent land value tax." Another slide read: "Accelerated growth and increasing market penetration."

Whether in population numbers, taxes, or arriving air and sea passengers, the curves on the charts all pointed sharply upward. Anyone listening to Goff could easily conclude that in Próspera, every libertarian promise had been fulfilled. Is that really true?

'Make death optional'

Night has fallen over Duna Tower. The lights in the coworking space are dimmed. The cyberpunk motifs on the walls glow phosphorescently. Richard Lee, Ivan Syrtsov, and a dozen other residents and visitors of the city eat fish salad and drink soda from plastic cups. Stickers are laid out on the tables for people to take; the motifs "Make Death optional" and "SB 535" are everywhere. It is a get-together to wind down the evening together.

Syrtsov talks about the problems plaguing him. The rain, which has not stopped for days, is throwing his building plans off. "We will probably have to postpone the start of construction by a few days," he says. The project's website says construction was supposed to have started in December 2025. It is not just the weather that makes projects in Próspera difficult. "We have the infrastructure of an island," another partygoer notes. They feel that, for example, in the power supply. Because there is only one gas-fired power plant on the entire island, supply keeps fluctuating.

Expensive and unreliable, too, is the state-builders' most important infrastructure: the internet connection. Syrtsov runs through how much more expensive a megabit is in Próspera than in other parts of the world where he has lived. The connection sometimes collapses altogether, which is why they installed the white dish on the terrace. It is the Starlink receiver for Elon Musk's internet service.

Richard Lee is wrestling with problems of his own. The credit card embedded in the back of his hand is causing trouble: "It has expired." This card can't be reprogrammed from the outside. "At least once, I'll have to cut open my hand to replace the credit card," he says.

The implant business is unlikely to become mass-market anytime soon. Lee is already eyeing another line of business: gene therapies that promise high profits and higher risks. The subject keeps coming up in the coworking space that evening.

In this procedure, genetic material is introduced into cells. Diseases can be cured by replacing or switching off defective genes. The risks are enormous: immune reactions, liver failure, potentially death in a short time. That is why the treatment is generally allowed only for incurable and life-threatening illnesses. In Próspera, several startups are working on such gene therapies, testing them on perfectly healthy people.

Fueled by the trend toward longevity — the idea of extending life through technical interventions — they are experimenting here with gene therapies meant to make muscles or hair grow. Because muscle loss in old age is seen as a cause of physical decline, the hope is to outsmart death. Hence the slogan "Make Death optional." To pull off that maneuver, you first have to stare death in the face. Participants in such gene therapies must consent to the possibility of dying. In return for those waivers and a payment of roughly $25,000, you can a serum injected at a clinic affiliated with Próspera.

There is demand. Wealthy, experiment-minded medical tourists take part in such programs in Próspera, though the companies reveal no numbers. A new round of testing began again as recently as February.

Outside the private city, such experiments would be unthinkable, and critics are appalled by the experiments. Only recently, an article in MIT Technology Review accused a biotech startup in Próspera of working unscientifically and irresponsibly, an allegation the company rejects.

In the coworking space of Próspera, they speak openly about the pros and cons of gene therapies. "Yes, you can die from these gene therapies," says a serial founder from the United States who is active in Próspera's biotech sector and wanted to remain anonymous.

"No one here is forced to take this risk," he says. Every participant does so voluntarily and in full awareness of the risks. After all, he says, in Germany everyone is also free to smoke. "Smoking will probably kill you. Gene therapy might, too. But if it works, it extends life," the founder says. "Why should adults be forbidden from taking that risk if they want to take it?"

Growing pains

For all the innovation Próspera likes to project, resistance to the experiments coming out of the jungle is growing. Head of growth Lonis Hamaili has left his post on the roof and is now sitting at the living room table on the eighth floor of Duna Tower. Despite the progress in Próspera, he is grappling with a problem beyond his control: the reluctance of large parts of Honduran politics toward the private city.

"The period leading up to the last elections really held us back," Hamaili says. He says the communists, in particular, would have liked to pull the plug on the libertarian project. Other parties are also critical of the private city. In 2022, the Honduran Congress repealed the law creating the ZEDE special economic zones. Since then, Próspera has been considered illegal.

The operators turned to the World Bank's arbitration court in Washington, where they filed claims for damages worth billions. The matter has not yet been decided. Próspera got a tailwind from Honduras' presidential election last November. The winner, the conservative businessman Nasry Asfura, is considered a supporter of the private city.

Hamaili hopes investment will flow again into the private city and let the state within a state flourish. Próspera is to keep growing. More companies are supposed to come this year, more gene therapies to be tested, and more buildings to be constructed. Richard Lee, too, wants to make progress. In just a few months, he plans to test on himself the gene therapy for muscle growth that he developed.

"I'm scared to death of the trials," he says. So why put himself through this ordeal? "Because the curiosity is simply greater." Ivan Syrtsov is also still working on his construction project. At the end of March, another message arrives from him. He sends a photo of the construction work that has now begun.

Not everyone sees the island's future so positively. Moser, the researcher, stresses that under Honduran law, Próspera is now unlawful. She describes the project as "fundamentally a colonial initiative that emerged in the context of extreme corruption and political abuses under the previous Honduran presidency."

It was designed, she says, "as the short-term pursuit of profit by people" who "have no ties to Honduras and are not rooted there." She notes that Próspera has a 50-year contract, of which just under 38 years remain. In practice, she says, that all but rules out "long-term chances of survival."

Other projects also show how uncertain the future of private cities like Próspera is. The Netflix-dramatized example of engineer Giorgio Rosa's Rose Island illustrates how forcefully established states respond to parallel state-like constructs: The Italian navy ultimately sank the island.

There are also tensions with Croatian police in Liberland. The seasteading project off Thailand was cleared by the local navy as far back as 2019. Had the two fugitive builders, Chad Elwartowski and his partner Supranee Thepdet, been caught, they could have faced the death penalty.

Yet Elwartowski now appears to have found a place at sea where he wants to try again with his floating mini-state: off the coast of Próspera.

This story originally ran in Welt and appears on Business Insider through the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network. The network publishes major stories from the Axel Springer network of publications, a worldwide group of news outlets that includes Business Insider.

• New research provides insights into what's been powering the US's K-shaped economy.
• Lower earners are affected more by inflation and gas prices.
• Many of them also don't get to benefit from the stock market, unlike higher earners.

The prongs of the K-shaped economy are being propped up by two dreary economic realities: lower earners are getting hit harder by inflation, and left behind by blockbuster stock market gains.

A new analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York looks at how the US economy slowly morphed into a K-shape where higher earners are thriving, or at least holding steady, and lower earners' economic fortunes are backsliding. It's a post-pandemic development, after a robust labor market and pandemic-era stimulus bolstered the economy's lowest earners. As inflation surges again and the stock market continues its roller coaster ride to the top, lower earners probably won't be working their way up the K anytime soon.

As lower earners started to see their wages grow at a higher rate in the wake of the pandemic, higher prices were lurking in the shadows, ready to take a bite out of those increases.

"We see that beginning in late 2022, low-income households consistently faced higher inflation than middle- and high-income households did," NY Federal Reserve researchers Rajashri Chakrabarti, Thu Pham, Beck Pierce, and Maxim L. Pinkovskiy, wrote. "Specifically, the lowest-income households have experienced inflation above the national average, restraining their spending."

Oil shocks and disruptions to traffic through the Strait of Hormuz have erased recent progress on inflation, pushing it to its highest rate since May 2024 in March. Gas prices rose 18.9% year over year in March, the largest increase since August 2022.

Lower earners tend to allocate more of their spending toward gas than the top; Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed 3.5% of spending was on gas in 2024 for the lowest 10% of consumer units by income, compared to 1.9% for the highest 10%.

A report from the Bank of America Institute said "higher gasoline prices are stretching household budgets," but affecting lower-income households the most.

"Some consumers can cushion higher fuel costs through wage growth or increased use of credit, but this flexibility is more limited for lower-income households, which have the most stretched credit card utilization rates relative to 2019," the report said.

Boosting the top end of the K is the rip-roaring stock market. The S&P 500 has nearly doubled since the start of 2023. Higher earners tend to hold a higher share of financial assets than lower earners, helping their financial fortunes and net worths balloon.

There's a distinct K-shaped pattern in real net worth, which measures consumers' assets and wealth minus their debts. The New York Fed report found that the top 1% of earners saw their real net worth grow by 30% since 2023, while the bottom 20% saw just 13% growth, although that was slightly better than the middle 40%. That's likely powered by blockbuster — and uneven — gains in financial assets, which include holdings like equity, bonds, or crypto.

All told, the K-shape hasn't necessarily worsened in 2026 — everyone is spending less and feeling the pinch a bit more. Instead, it's in a holding pattern, rather than recoiling: We're in a K freeze, and that's still a disadvantage for the lowest earners in America.

• Insider traders on both Kalshi and Polymarket have been caught recently.
• But the prediction market industry's critics on Capitol Hill still say they want a crackdown.
• AOC said that enforcement actions were being taken to "preempt any federal action."

If you thought nabbing a few insider traders would quell politicians' concerns about prediction markets, think again.

"I don't think it's enough," Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said. "I think there's a lot of work that we have to do on prediction markets."

Last month saw several high-profile cases of prediction market insider traders getting caught. Three congressional candidates were fined and suspended from Kalshi for betting on their own elections, while the Department of Justice indicted a US Army soldier who was involved in the raid on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro for using classified information to make more than $400,000 on Polymarket.

In both instances, the prediction market companies played a key role: Kalshi levied the fines for violations of their own rules, while Polymarket flagged the Maduro trade to US authorities.

Yet even as the companies aim to demonstrate that they take insider trading seriously, the burgeoning industry's loudest critics on Capitol Hill remain unassuaged.

"These prediction markets serve no legitimate function. There is no reason that they should exist," said Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut. "Thus, it's a stupid approach to try to find all the bad actors when there's no reason to have the market in the first place."

Proponents of prediction markets argue that they offer useful services, including financial hedging and the ability to tap into the wisdom of the crowd for forecasting. But many see them as essentially a form of gambling.

Insider trading has perhaps been the biggest concern, given that many markets involve trading on questions and events where some individuals may already know the outcome.

Kalshi has moved to preemptively block politicians and athletes from trading in politics and sports markets, while Polymarket has beefed up its market integrity rules and partnered with companies like Palantir and Chainalysis to flag suspicious trading activity.

And in line with those concerns, particularly around trading on government actions, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution banning senators and their staff from trading on prediction markets — a move that both Kalshi and Polymarket publicly applauded.

But at this point, the problem for prediction market companies is that their critics in Washington — and in state capitols — have concerns that go beyond insider trading. In many cases, lawmakers view the mere existence of the markets as objectionable.

Murphy and Democratic Rep. Greg Casar of Texas have co-authored a bill that would ban all sorts of prediction markets, including those based on the Oscars or the Super Bowl halftime show.

"I mean, we just shouldn't have gambling around issues of war and peace," Casar said, adding that the Maduro trade wouldn't have happened "in the first place, if we just went back to this not being allowed."

Kalshi does not offer prediction markets on war because it's subject to US regulations. Polymarket, on the other hand, is an international platform that includes such markets. Americans are officially prohibited from using the international platform, and the company is rolling out a US-based platform that remains invite-only. But in practice, many Americans use VPNs to trade on Polymarket.

There's also the ongoing legal battle with states over whether sports markets should count as sports betting, and thus be subject to state laws and regulations.

Kalshi and Polymarket maintain that what they offer is not gambling but trading, and the Trump administration has signaled its agreement. Still, plenty remain unconvinced.

"It's flat-out online gambling. And states, if they don't want to do online gambling — my state doesn't — should not have to do online gambling," Republican Rep. Blake Moore of Utah said. "The loophole should not exist there."

The companies themselves are also still dealing with suspicion from lawmakers, even as they crack down on insider trading.

Ocasio-Cortez said that the recent enforcement actions by Kalshi against the trio of congressional candidates were simply done "in order to preempt any federal action" against the platforms.

"This is a classic cycle," Ocasio-Cortez said.

• Joby Aviation's electric air taxi demo over Manhattan impressed spectators with its futuristic flight.
• Joby says its eVTOL will cut NYC airport travel time to under 10 minutes with zero emissions.
• I was there for the flight demonstration.

Electric air taxis buzzing over Manhattan are moving from sci-fi fantasy to something much closer to reality.

Along the Manhattan waterfront on Friday, a small crowd gathered to watch what would have seemed implausible just a few years ago: a piloted electric flying car lifting off and cruising down the Hudson.

The new flying contraptions by US-based Joby Aviation — which has a market value of about $9 billion — have six propellers on top and promise to cut travel time from downtown Manhattan to metro airports like JFK and LaGuardia from more than an hour to fewer than 10 minutes.

And unlike traditional helicopters that run on fossil fuels, these eVTOLs, or "electric vertical takeoff and landing" aircraft, are, as the name suggests, electric and zero-emission. They take off like a helicopter — but are much quieter — and can tilt their rotors forward to fly forward fast, similar to a propeller-driven aircraft.

I have seen Joby's eTVOL at a number of airshows and events over the years, watching them develop into the product they aim to soon certify — but I've never seen one in flight. This was one of a handful of demo point-to-point flights over NYC this week; Joby's first-ever was on Monday.

Highly-experienced Joby test pilot James "Buddy" Denham flew the eVTOL — which carries up to four passengers and one pilot — down the Hudson River to the 34th East St heliport from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. I was a spectator, not onboard.

After seeing it in a full-flight demonstration, I'm almost convinced the future of aviation is here.

Though key hurdles remain, namely certification by the Federal Aviation Administration, the funding for new charging infrastructure, and whether New Yorkers — and the public as a whole, since Joby wants its eVTOLs flying all over the US — will embrace the Jetsons-like aircraft overhead.

In the air, the aircraft proved it is significantly quieter than a helicopter — about 45 decibels, or less than half that of its noisy sister craft. When the eVTOL took off for its return to New York-JFK airport, it lifted off vertically before shifting its rotors 90 degrees into forward flight over the water.

During its takeoff, a chase helicopter capturing video and monitoring the craft flew past, its louder engines rumbling. Although not the primary purpose, it was a great example of the noise difference.

The six tilting propellers, powered by electric batteries, rotate more slowly than traditional helicopter blades and can independently adjust their tilt, pitch, and rotation, contributing to the eVTOL's low noise, safety, and controllability.

Rob Wiesenthal, the founder and CEO of Blade — the company that sold its passenger transport business to Joby in August 2025 for up to $125 million — told me at the event that the recharge time would be just five to 10 minutes, making turnarounds quick and efficient.

Joby is one of a handful of startups and legacy manufacturers trying to capitalize on a race to design air taxis that will soon be seen across the skylines of US cities.

Other US companies, like Archer Aviation and Beta Technologies, are also using high-profile demos to show how their aircraft could shuttle passengers through traffic-clogged corridors.

Joby plans to market and sell its flights through a partnership with Delta — essentially, travelers deplane from their jetliner near Manhattan or Los Angeles and transfer to the eVTOL to fly into the city. Delta would handle the bookings and customer interface, Joby would operate the flights.

"Showing the Joby aircraft in the wild with the noise of fire engines and the New York City noisescape, it fades into the background," Wiesenthal said. "That's something that's never happened before, not to mention the appreciation for this new aircraft type that was built from the ground up."

He added that as fuel costs and availability remain unpredictable amid the oil crisis triggered by the war against Iran, electric air taxis could have an edge over helicopters that burn expensive jet fuel.

Wiesenthal pegged Joby's eVTOL fares at roughly the price of an Uber Black — though on a per-seat basis, not per ride. He didn't give an exact number, but the Uber Black price around 2 pm Friday between JFK and the heliport is just under $150.

Blade's helicopter transfers (which operate under Joby), by comparison, are about $250 on the same route at the same time. These can be as low as $195, depending on the day and route. Joby is partnered with Uber, with the hope of eventually deploying a rideshare app using air taxis instead of cars.

Joby's demonstration flight is part of a broader push by the US Department of Transportation to accelerate the rollout of electric air taxis in major cities.

The electric air taxis can use a city's existing heliports. A network of chargers and vertiports has been or is planned to be constructed across Joby's planned network, which also includes Florida and California.

Its acquisition of Blade's passenger arm also gave it access to existing heliports and air shuttle operations knowledge needed to support the eVTOL business.

Wiesenthal said he expects to get regular air taxi service up and running in New York City by the end of 2026; its eVTOL is roughly two-thirds through the certification process, though it could still face delays in the evolving aviation industry.

Its competitors are on similar timelines, but the rollout depends on how well these companies can prove to regulators the reliability, safety, and functionality of the new technology.

"This administration has accelerated the advancement of advanced air mobility like no other," Wiesenthal said. "[Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy] wants to beat China; it's leaning into these aircraft, so the ability to embrace this new technology is so important."

• Marines face a new strain as tens of thousands of drones are set to enter the force.
• Lithium batteries require special measures, and can catch fire if stored improperly.
• Marines say they need more drones that can speak a universal language.

The Marine Corps is preparing to field tens of thousands more drones for troops to watch and attack enemy positions, and leaders say the challenge isn't just getting them into the hands of trained Marines — it's the behind-the-scenes prep that comes with.

Think: batteries.

Small drones rely on lithium batteries that need to be specially stored, monitored, and kept charged — and the Corps is set to receive 40,000 more drones later this year, meaning a surge of volatile batteries will need to be safely and properly managed.

"If they get wet, they catch fire, and then you've got a runaway fire. You can't put it out with water because it's already wet," Col. Jeremie "Hank" Hester, director of the services' Combat Development and Integration Aviation Combat Element, told Business Insider during the service's annual Modern Day Marine symposium in Washington, DC on Wednesday.

Many military systems already rely on lithium batteries, and units have procedures in place to manage them. But scaling that up across a service with 170,000 Marines comes with new demands for personnel, considering that ill-maintained batteries will go bad and could even cause a fire.

"We've got young kids right now that are going out, and their sole job is to make sure that these things are keeping their charge," Hester said of batteries currently stored in modified shipping containers.

That administrative load doesn't stop with storage.

The Corps sees drones as critically important for Marines to prepare for future combat, and are experimenting with them across a wide range of tasks, from surveilling their enemies and probing their defenses to resupplying Marines at far-flung outposts. One of the primary ones they've been using is the Neros Archer, a remotely piloted quadcopter that can carry around five pounds beyond 12 miles.

As drone use increases, including courses focused on counter-drone measures, Marines will be required to maintain proficiency. Hester said new requirements for drone operations could take a page from the Corps' aviation branch, which mandates pilots log enough hours to stay qualified.

"We're heavily reliant on incidental operators," Hester said of Marines trained on drones now, meaning troops who operate them as part of their broader job — such as infantry who usually specialize in things like machine guns or mortars — rather than as dedicated specialists. Those operators don't yet have formal requirements to maintain their skills over time and stay sharp.

Even getting pre-approved systems into units has proven complicated. Small military drones need to be approved for operation in US airspace and must comply with federal regulations governing the electromagnetic spectrum, which also supports civilian systems like cellular networks and aviation.

At the same time, the Corps is preparing to absorb a growing mix of drone systems, which may need different types of maintenance and use different batteries.

Under a Pentagon push to expand drone use, Marines are expected to receive at least six types of small drones, Hester said. As those systems move into units, Marines will have to work across platforms from different manufacturers, each with its own controls and communications.

Getting them to operate in tandem with other drones or aircraft, and to transmit information to create a sensory picture, remains a technical challenge, a problem Hester compared to making different brands of phones connect seamlessly with a universal language.

"You should have a Rosetta Stone, so no matter what waveform all these things are talking in, you have this one central hub that allows it to not only interpret whatever is being said digitally, it knows where to take that command to and be useful to the decision makers."

• The ultra-low-cost airline announced it is shutting down after nearly 50 years.
• A proposed bailout fell through. The US government offered $500 million in exchange for a 90% stake.
• Spirit said it would automatically process refunds for flights bought with a credit or debit card.

After two bankruptcies and a failed federal bailout, Spirit Airlines is out of moves.

The ultra-low-cost airline announced early on Saturday that it is shutting down and ceasing operations immediately.

"All Spirit flights are cancelled and customer service is no longer available," the airline said on its website. It said customers booked on flights should not go to the airport.

Directing travelers to links offering advice and information, it said: "Thank you for choosing Spirit — we are grateful to all our Guests who flew with us over the past 34 years."

The collapse comes after a proposed $500 million bailout from the Trump administration in exchange for an up to 90% stake fell through. About 17,000 jobs could be impacted, the company said.

As far as refunds, flyers with tickets may not be totally out of luck.

A company document shows Spirit's credit card processor has been holding up to $3 million a day since August in the event of a collapse, meaning those with canceled tickets should be able to get their money back.

Refunds policy

In its advice to customers, Spirit said: "While we are not able to help rebook your flight on another airline, we will automatically process refunds for any flights purchased through Spirit with a credit or debit card to the original form of payment.

"Guests who booked flights via a travel agent should contact the travel agent directly to request a refund. Compensation for Guests who booked flights using any other methods, including a voucher, credit or Free Spirit points, will be determined at a later date through the bankruptcy court process."

Credit card holders may be able to do a chargeback if the refund from Spirit falls through. It's unclear how long the refunds will take.

Any spent points are likely gone, as without Spirit, they're worthless.

Spirit's President and CEO, Dave Davis, referred to a March agreement "with our bondholders on a restructuring plan that would have allowed us to emerge as a go-forward business."

He added: "However, the sudden and sustained rise in fuel prices in recent weeks ultimately has left us with no alternative but to pursue an orderly wind-down of the Company. Sustaining the business required hundreds of millions of additional dollars of liquidity that Spirit simply does not have and could not procure."

Spirit's collapse comes after decades of flying bare-bones planes to leisure destinations across the US and Latin America.

Rising costs

It was consistently profitable before the pandemic, but rising labor and operating costs post-COVID, mixed with changing traveler habits and the oil crisis amid the war in Iran, proved too much to bear.

The airline tried to adapt to the premium demand trend, as flyers are increasingly willing to pay extra for greater comforts in the sky.

It added extra legroom seats and a refreshed "first class" experience, but it still never offered long-haul international routes or the fancy airport lounges its legacy rivals could curate.

Its departure means customers no longer have access to the rock-bottom fares it's famous for. Its key leisure routes to places like Florida, Las Vegas, and the Caribbean may see fare increases since Spirit is no longer present to pressure prices downward.

A fare analysis previously conducted by Business Insider shows Spirit's exit from dozens of routes in 2024 and 2025 pushed fares up by roughly 14%. Some shot up more than $100.

President Donald Trump has taken the unprecedented step of having the government pursue a range of investments and equity stakes in private companies, but Spirit was in some ways different.

Davis thanked Secretary Howard Lutnick and the US Department of Commerce "for their extraordinary efforts to try to preserve jobs and service across the country, along with the US Department of Transportation for their assistance to minimize the disruption to our Guests in the days and weeks ahead."

• The author was in the Oakland courthouse when Elon Musk testified in his case against OpenAI.
• Musk's testimony started with his life story and ended with a lengthy spar with OpenAI's attorney.
• The presiding judge runs a tight schedule and is not shy about putting billionaires in their place.

The air in Downtown Oakland felt different the morning Elon Musk showed up to testify at the federal court in his high-stakes lawsuit against OpenAI.

"What's going on out there?" a cyclist asked as we waited for the traffic light just shy of 7 am on Tuesday, gesturing to the swarm of police vehicles on the block ahead of us. "Is someone in trouble?"

"That depends," I said, as I rushed to cover the legal soap opera drama unfolding between the world's richest man and his former AI partner, Sam Altman.

Entering the courthouse is a challenge

Musk claims Altman deceived him into donating $38 million to OpenAI's nonprofit, only to abandon its mission to develop AI for the benefit of humanity. He is asking for billions in damages and for Altman to step down as an officer of the for-profit entity.

From day one, the courthouse grounds were teaming with people trying to make a point or just be seen. Protesters against AI and Musk showed up each day. Some wore robot costumes and walked around with a chain around their neck, while others brought a life-sized cutout of Musk. It was like Halloween in April.

I live just a few blocks from the Oakland federal court, and I learned very quickly that the small courthouse is not equipped to handle the frenzy that followed Musk.

Getting inside the courtroom was its own circus show. The court coordinator had to call out line cutters daily and send them to the back of the line. I consistently arrived at the courthouse before 7 am, with a fully charged laptop and a Hydro Flask full of coffee, but I was never able to snag one of the 10 unreserved seats in the main courtroom, forcing me into the overflow room instead.

By 8 am each day, the line would start to snake through the courtyard, taking me to an airport-style security check by 8:15 am. It never gave me enough time to make it inside for the 8:30 am start time.

Mingling with Musk and Altman

It surprised me that both billionaires showed up in person, given the security risks and their work schedules. Altman was present each day for varying lengths of time since Monday, which was jury selection. He always wore a jewel-toned blue suit and brown Oxford shoes and could sometimes be seen in the room during Musk's testimony. Whenever he entered or left the courtroom, his pace was usually very fast, often leaving his legal counsel scrambling to catch up.

Musk, who moved around the courthouse with a noticeably larger entourage compared to Altman, skipped jury selection but showed up Tuesday morning. He took the witness stand that afternoon through Thursday. He wore a solid black suit and black Chelsea boots, and could sometimes be seen snacking during recess.

Musk's initial testimony focused heavily on his life story before he was the world's richest man: He told jurors he was from South Africa, once worked as a lumberjack, and came out of college with $100,000 in student loans. During cross-examination, Musk got cut off many times for giving lengthy explanations to yes-or-no questions, and could not resist the urge to argue with OpenAI's attorney, William Savitt.

Attendees laughed when Musk became flustered over questions about Shivon Zilis, who is the mother of some of his children and his former chief of staff. His repeated references to "The Terminator" also drew chuckles. The room also appreciated the humor of the presiding judge, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who told the jury about how, when she was still a young judge, she made the mistake of having a big lunch and had to pinch herself to stay awake in the afternoon session.

It is clear that both tech giants highly value this case and are eager to make a good impression on the jury, some of whom shared negative perceptions of Musk and AI during jury selection.

"Look, the reality is that people don't like him," Rogers said of Musk when his attorneys griped about comments made about the Tesla CEO during jury selection.

The non-nonsense judge

Rogers has a very exacting courtroom style and is not shy about putting billionaires and their lawyers in their place.

The presiding judge made it clear from day one that the jury's time must be respected and that the day will start at precisely 8:30 am with a hard cutoff time of 2:00 pm. As early as day two of the trial, she demanded that the lawyers tell her exactly how much time they need with each witness and how long their closing statements will be.

It may be hard to exert authority over the wealthiest person in the world, but Rogers always cuts straight to the point. During Musk's cross-examination, she asked him to "just answer the question" multiple times when he went on tangents, and told him that he is no longer allowed to talk about a hypothetical AI doomsday. On Thursday, when Musk interrupted Savitt's final question and called it "leading," Rogers was quick to remind him that he is not a lawyer.

"Yes, I'm not a lawyer," Musk said. "I did take Law 101, technically."

"You don't have statements on the law," Rogers responded, "At least not in this court."

While I may never become a lawyer either, I do hope that the crowds will trickle out next week enough for me to make it into the courtroom just for a day, preferably without camping on the federal building lawn at 5 am.

• Meta acquired Assured Robot Intelligence (ARI) on Friday, a startup developing AI for humanoids.
• The move is another step for Meta toward building out its robotics efforts.
• Several startups are working on the brains for humanoids and other robots.

Meta has deepened its stake in the robotics intelligence race.

The social networking giant has acquired Assured Robot Intelligence (ARI), Xiaolong Wang, the startup's cofounder, said in an X post on Friday. ARI is a small San Diego-based startup with about 20 employees.

Meta and AIX Ventures, which was the first institutional investor to commit to ARI when it was founded last May, confirmed the news to Business Insider. Bloomberg first reported the acquisition.

"We acquired Assured Robot Intelligence, a company at the frontier of robotic intelligence designed to enable robots to understand, predict, and adapt to human behaviors in complex and dynamic environments," a Meta spokesperson said.

ARI is developing AI models that will power humanoid robots.

Nick Crance, a partner at AIX Ventures, told Business Insider that the startup is focused on high-precision dexterity and manipulation in robotics. Dexterity and manipulation cover a robot's ability to physically interact with real-world objects. Both elements are crucial to making robots useful, whether that's in industrial settings or at home.

The startup is led by two "world-class roboticists," Crance said.

Cofounders Wang and Lerrel Pinto both have academic backgrounds. Wang was a researcher at Nvidia and is a member of the electrical and computer engineering faculty at the University of California, San Diego. Pinto, who is also CEO of ARI, cofounded Fauna Robotics and is a computer science professor at New York University.

ARI is not the only startup focused on robotics intelligence.

Startups like Physical Intelligence, Generalist AI, and Genesis AI are focused on the intelligence layer, or the brains, of robots rather than the hardware. Their AI systems are designed to help robots of various form factors, including humanoids, perform across different environments.

Meta's acquisition of ARI is another indication of the company's push toward robotics. In 2025, Meta formed a robotics group within its Reality Labs division, according to a memo obtained by Business Insider.

Since then, the company has tapped new leadership and expanded its hardware team for Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). MSL is a separate division from Reality Labs. Both are increasingly becoming intertwined through AI hardware and robotics.

AIX Ventures and Meta declined to comment on the size of the acquisition.

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• Apple's Mac Mini starting price rose this week as the company reported a surge in demand.
• The cheapest model is now $799, and the $599 model no longer appears on Apple's website.
• CEO Tim Cook says AI is driving the unexpected demand for the device.

Apple's "most affordable Mac" just got more expensive.

The starting price for the Mac Mini jumped $200 this week as the company reported an AI-fueled increase in demand for the compact computer.

The $599 base model with 256GB of storage, touted on the website as the "mini-est, most affordable Mac with mighty performance," had disappeared from Apple's site as of Friday.

The website now says the starting price for a Mac Mini is $799, which comes with 512GB of storage. Earlier this week, the website listed the starting price as $599, the Internet Archive shows.

While it's not an increase in price for the model that comes with 512GB of storage, it means the entry point for a Mac Mini is now higher.

Apple, which did not respond to a request for comment, said on its quarterly earnings call this week that it hasn't been able to keep up with an AI-related clamor for the Mac Mini.

The line got a boost in popularity earlier this year when tech enthusiasts sought them out to use with OpenClaw, an open-source, autonomous AI agent previously known as Clawdbot.

CEO Tim Cook attributed the boost to the device's abilities as a "amazing" platform for "AI and agentic tools."

"The customer recognition of that is happening faster than what we had predicted," Cook said on the call. "And so we saw higher-than-expected demand."

Cook said it could take "several months" for supply to balance out with Mac Mini demand.

• I got my kids Canadian citizenship to give them more options for their future.
• It opens doors for lower-cost college, global work, and easier travel.
• It also gives me peace of mind about healthcare and long-term security.

My children have been to 28 countries on six continents. I like to think that makes them citizens of the world.

However, crossing borders isn't that easy, even for my well-traveled family. We still need to apply for visas for many countries, and ensure we don't overstay our welcome. I'm always looking for ways to make freedom of movement easier, and to give my children advantages I never had.

While doom scrolling one night, a post from a neighbor stopped me in my tracks. Her children and husband had recently become Canadian citizens through a new law that allows almost any descendant of a Canadian to claim a passport emblazoned with a maple leaf.

My children are descended from Canadians on their father's side, and I didn't waste any time getting their citizenship applications submitted.

I want my children to have more options to follow their dreams

As newlyweds, my husband and I visited British Columbia. We fell in love with the province's beauty and slower pace of life. We immediately started looking into various paths to moving to Canada, but none were viable.

At that time, nearly 20 years ago, my husband wasn't eligible to claim Canadian citizenship, even though his Grandfather was born and raised in Ontario. We spent several hours researching our options and even visited a Canadian consulate to make sure we weren't missing anything. Eventually, my husband and I realized that the only way we could legally spend time in Canada was as tourists, so we gave up on our dream of living there.

Canada is a viable option for college

Because I have two children in high school, we often talk about the best options for college and a realistic budget. With Canadian citizenship, my children have more options for higher education.

Since applying for citizenship, the discussion has changed radically.

In Canada, my children will be able to get a great education for a fraction of the cost of attending college in the United States. Because Canada borders the US, instruction is in English, and there are many cultural similarities, attending college in Canada is a viable option.

Even though my husband and I had help paying for college and graduate school, we still spent many years paying down student loan debt. With the lower cost of higher education in Canada, I hope my children can avoid a similar fate.

Canadian citizenship opens work options for my children when they become young adults

Even if my children stay in the United States for college, Canadian citizenship opens up the possibility of living and working abroad — and not just in Canada. International Expereince Canada, colloquially known as the Working Holiday visa, allows young Canadians ages 18 to 35 to work in more than 35 countries and territories worldwide.

When I was fresh out of college, I wanted to spend a couple of years working abroad, but I couldn't get a visa. Although I traveled as much as I could, it wasn't the same. I'm glad that, as Canadians, my children will have more opportunities to experience working anywhere from Costa Rica to Korea as they launch into adulthood.

Canadian citizenship means more secure access to healthcare

Although my family has excellent health insurance in the United States, I always worry that our access to medical care could change at any point. That's especially true for my oldest daughter, who is disabled and medically complex.

Although we don't want to burden the Canadian medical system, I can sleep better at night knowing that my children will be able to access Canada's national healthcare system if they need to.

Canada has a more powerful passport than the United States

Every year, Hensley and Partners issues the Passport Index ranking the most powerful passports in the world. The United States currently stands at the 10th most powerful passport, while Canada is ranked at number seven.

With a Canadian passport, my children will have visa-free access to more countries, which makes travel easier. I want my children to be able to explore every corner of the world, and anything that makes that easier is an advantage.

The best stretchy work pants for women make two things true at once: You can follow a formal office dress code and feel like you're kicking back in your favorite sweats.

If you have a job that requires you to look presentable and sit for long periods of time, you know that the most important item in your office wardrobe are your work pants. They're the foundation of your entire outfit, and the right pair will make you feel ready for a schedule leaden with meetings.

Below is every holy grail of stretchy work pants we've ever worn, washed, and even re-purchased over the years (because once you find some solid black work pants that fits, it's better to stock up). We tested their comfort by wearing them for long hours at our desks and checking for skin indentations (especially around the waist and calves). The final pairs we chose are made especially for those of us who work best seated in bizarre cross-legged positions.

Top 5 pairs of stretchy work pants we tested:

Best overall: Athleta Endless High Rise Pant

When it comes to the best stretchy work pants for women, Athleta's best-selling Endless High Rise Pant stands above the rest. I've worn these to work and to work out, and they remain superiorly comfortable and look incredibly put-together for either occasion thanks to their moisture-wicking, breathable, wrinkle-resistant, quick-drying fabric made from recycled polyester. 

The pull-on bottoms with a faux fly and two front zip pockets are available in seven colors, and they come in 25.5-inch, 27.5-inch, and 30.5-inch inseams. The brand also has a cargo version of the pants, which adds a touch of casual flair in the form of two additional cargo pockets and snap cuffs at the ankles that let you transform the hemline between a straight leg or jogger-style silhouette.

Best budget: Halara Wide Leg Micro Waffle Work Pants

These affordable wide-leg slip-ons from Halara are like pajama pants you can wear to work, thanks to their plicated tailoring. They'd also be perfect for long plane rides since they're cozy enough to snooze in.

After hours of wear, they didn't wrinkle at all. Crafted from Lycra, the pants have a fine waffle knit that's designed to resist wrinkles. I wore these all day both sitting and standing and they didn't get a single wrinkle. They packed nicely, and once unfolded they were still crease-free.

The fabric is stretchy and breathable. According to the brand, the material absorbs sweat and you can even work out in it. There are functional side pockets, too. Unfortunately, there's only regular and long inseams available — I'm 5-foot-7 and the regular length grazed the floor when I go barefoot.

With their stretchy fabric and elastic waistband, these pants are definitely comfortable enough to be worn for business travel on long plane rides. Then, you can rewear them as part of a casual or dressy outfit during your trip, saving you precious luggage space.

See more in our guide to the best travel pants for women.

Best lightweight: M.M. LaFleur Bala Barrel Pant

"There is nothing I appreciate more than stretchy work pants that still look polished," writes Insider Reviews' executive style editor Sally Kaplan. "This pair is made from a wrinkle-resistant technical material that looks and feels cool and silky. At 5-foot-2, the pants are the perfect length for a slightly slouchy but not messy look."

You may assume polyester pants would be scratchy or flimsy, but high quality polyester does exist. M.M. LaFleur's poly-blend is, in our experience, much more soft, smooth, and durable than the name suggests.

"The Bala Barrel Pants are extremely sleek with heels and boots, but I love to pair them with an unexpected shoe like a sandal for a more casual look," adds Sally. "I also really appreciate that the waistband is super stretchy in the back but looks tailored in the front."

Read more in our full M.M. LaFleur review.

Best flare-leg: Luxeire High Rise Flare Trouser

If your office has a business casual dress code, you'll appreciate these polished Luxeire trousers that sneakily feel like yoga pants. The secret is in the lightweight technical fabric with two-way stretch and a hidden high-rise elastic waistband. Elegant front pintuck detailing further distracts from the pants' undeniable comfort. I wore the flare bottoms while sitting for hours and never felt any pulling or digging. Plus, I love that they have a UPF 50+ rating.

Best wide-leg: Vuori Elevation Trouser

If you value comfort above all else, these Vuori bottoms are a near-perfect pick. They are about as close as it gets to wearing sweatpants to work — in the best way possible. The fabric feels identical to my favorite Vuori joggers: soft, stretchy, and perfectly cozy. Despite that, they still manage to look put-together thanks to the tailored silhouette and hook-and-eye closure. I was a little skeptical about the heathered color options (I usually associate heathered fabric with loungewear), but the Ecru shade surprised me with how sleek it looked. The texture is barely visible and looks much more polished in person.

That said, these lean more toward casual offices than business formal settings. I wouldn't reach for them in a setting that requires suits or blazers. They're especially well-suited for business travel (or any travel, for that matter) since they're comfortable enough to snooze in but polished enough to head to the office straight from the plane. They are fairly wrinkle-resistant, too. I had them shoved at the bottom of my (clean) laundry hamper for a couple of days, and was able to shake them off and wear them without ironing. The only real downside is that popular sizes and colors tend to sell out fast.

Best cropped: Cozy Earth Always Cropped Pant

Cozy Earth makes my all-time favorite pajamas, so I was excited to try the brand's daywear. I tested the Always Cropped Pant and found it aptly monikered, thanks to its versatility.

I wore these elastic-waist travel pants with sandals and a T-shirt for a day of running errands. The nylon-Spandex blend fabric was about as comfy as yoga pants, but looked more put-together. In the evening, I switched into heels and a blouse for a dinner date. I was impressed with how polished the pants looked, especially since they were forgiving after a pasta dinner. The faux fly helps give a more flattering look, too.

Thanks to the cropped silhouette and lightweight, stretchy fabric, these pants kept me plenty cool in 80-degree weather.

I love that I could wear these for long travel days since they're comfortable, stretchy and don't wrinkle. They're equally great for packing, though. They fold up nicely and are compact.

Though the website says these run true to size, I found they run a touch small, though it wasn't too bothersome for me. I'm 5-foot-7 and they hit me right above the ankle — shorter people might find they fit more like long pants.

Best pull-on: Everlane The Easy Barrel Pant

An elasticated waistband is the first sign of a good pair of stretchy work pants. You'll find just that in the updated version of one of our favorite Everlane styles, the Easy Pant, now with a contemporary barrel leg. They have a nice roomy fit that's perfect for warm weather commutes, plus a drawstring so you can adjust the rise however you see fit.

The Easy Barrel Leg Pants are made with a lightweight cotton twill that holds its structure just enough to maintain the wide silhouette, making them an easy gateway if you've never tried a barrel leg pant before. Their breathable shape and airy fabric creates an ankle-length four-pocket pant that's the total comfort ideal. You can find them in five neutral colorways (which pair perfectly with Everlane's legendary Day Glove flats).

Best tapered: Aday Turn It Up Pants

Like many of the best stretchy work pants, these cigarette pants from Aday offer a snug and pleasant fit thanks to an elastic waistband, which is partially exposed. They're crafted from a high-stretch fabric that's breathable, quick-drying, and thermoregulating. The Italian-made vegan bottoms hit at ankle length, with a tapered silhouette similar to joggers, and they pair equally well with a pair of sneakers as they do with heels.

Former Business Insider commerce reporter Kelsey Mulvey tested the Turn It Up Pants when they first dropped and claims they're worth the splurge. "I've been wearing the Turn it Up Pants for the past two months and they're arguably one of the most versatile pieces I have in my closet. They're not too loose or too fitted and are incredibly comfortable. Best of all, I can wear them with anything from a crisp white button-down, to an oversized sweater, to a casual T-shirt," says Mulvey. 

Best luxury: M.M.LaFleur The Foster Pant

M.M.LaFleur's cigarette pants offer yoga pant-level stretch, a comfy high rise, and their durable fabric makes them one of our favorite machine-washable work pants to boot. Most notably, the Foster pants come with an innovative feature we can't believe more brands aren't imitating: an adjustable hemline. 

"These pants don't wrinkle easily because they stretch to fit your curves perfectly. Plus, the concealed button hem makes it absurdly easy to shorten the pants to the perfect length for my 5-foot-2 frame. I wish every pair of pants had that ingenious hem!" — Malarie Gokey, Director of Learning and Development

Read more in our full M.M.LaFleur Foster women's work pants review.

Best suit pant: Commando Neoprene Wide Leg Pant

"I tested this pair of stretchy work pants along with Commando's Neoprene CEO Blazer, and together the suit almost feels like my favorite buttery-smooth sweatsuit from Spanx. The fit is roomy in the thighs and calves, but draws in slightly around the knee. This way you don't feel like you're wearing baggy sweats, but they still have a powerful shape that takes up space.

The Neoprene Wide Leg Pants are made with an Italian blend fabric with high elastane content in both the fabric and waistband. The main thing to remember is to dry them on low heat after they've been through the washing machine, or else the dryer can wreck their stretch factor.

This soft, pill-resistant fabric also does a pretty decent job at repelling my cat's fur, which tends to cling to all my other black work pants. I wear a size 4 and am 5-foot-9, so I loved the fit of the extra long inseam. They might too long on petites, but they could also be the perfect length with the right pair of heels." — Gabrielle Chase, senior associate style editor, Insider Reviews

Best black work pants: Spanx PerfectFit Ponte Slim Straight Pant

Spanx recently rebranded their Perfect Black Work Pant collection as the "PerfectFit" line. Executive editor Sally Kaplan swears by hers as reliable, stretchy slacks. In our experience, these are pants you can pull on and forget about because they go with everything. They're more of an investment piece, but definitely worth the cost even if you wear them just once a week.

"The Perfect Black Pant borrows from the trademarks Spanx is renowned for, such as a smoothing, elongating effect. But unlike its shapewear, you won't feel constricted. The Ponte material has four-way stretch and a pull-on band that's easy to get on. In other words, it's a really well-made iteration of the black work pant," she writes.

Read more in our full Spanx Perfect Black Work Pants review.

Best petite: Quince Ultra-Stretch Ponte Straight Leg Pant

We've tested over a dozen of the affordable, high-quality basics from Quince, and can attest that these sleek Ponte pants are a must-have for anyone looking to update their petite workwear wardrobe. They have just the right amount of elasticity to fit comfortably even when sitting for long periods, and they're available in inseams that suit a short frame. Another bonus: this pair is wrinkle-resistant, so don't worry about wearing them right out of your suitcase. The straight-leg style comes in nine colors, including classic black and an eye-catching burgundy.

Read about more pieces we've tried and loved in our full Quince review. 

Best tall: Gap High Rise BiStretch Flare Pants

Though these flare pants feel just like your favorite yoga pants, this Gap pair looks a lot more elevated and work-appropriate thanks to a sophisticated pintuck pleat down the front of each leg. The ultra high-rise waist sits above your hips, for a super comfortable feel that looks great with a top tucked in or draped with an oversized blazer. The pants, which have a zipper and a snap closure, are available in black or navy with inseams that fall past the ankles and drape handsomely over shoes.

Best pleated: Abercrombie & Fitch Sloane Tailored Pant

What I love most about these wide-leg bottoms is how many colors and fits they come in. Abercrombie & Fitch offers a whopping 23 shades to choose from, ranging from classics like black and tan to statement jewel tones like a bright red or emerald green. Beyond that, these pants tout a partially stretchy waistband to maximize comfort, and also come in a curvy fit that offers an additional 2 inches through the hip and thigh. I've found this pair versatile enough to dress up with comfortable heels and a white button-down shirt, or dressed down with crisp sneakers and a T-shirt.

Best plus-size: Universal Standard Stephanie Wide Leg Ponte Pants

Universal Standard is one of our favorite brands to find plus-size clothing for women because it considers how differently bodies are shaped in order to design fits that flatter them. It uses its own letter sizing system that equates a medium to a size 18 (the average size of a woman in the US), and its unique Fit Liberty program lets you exchange many items for a different size up to a year from your purchase date, no matter how used the clothing is.

These stretchy wide-leg Ponte trousers from the brand's best-selling Stephanie collection are among our favorites because they have a high-rise, fully elasticated waistband comfortably pulls on over apron bellies. They also have pockets with invisible zippers, so you can secure your valuables on your person. 

See more inclusive brands in our guide about where to buy plus-size work clothes.

Meet the expert behind this guide

Talia Ergas, style contributor: After taking her career fully remote in 2020, Talia has accumulated a stacked collection of work-from-home outfits that blend polish with comfort. From her home office she determines which designs are best equipped for long days seated at a desk, looking for elasticated waistbands, roomy pant legs, and soft, breathable fabric blends.

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