• Hospitals are using gig work apps to fill nursing shifts.
• While lucrative, many of the shifts can be difficult and stressful for nurses.
• Three nurses who have used the apps explain how much they've earned — and what they've experienced.

Nurses are using gig apps to make money. Doing so often involves working some of the most stressful jobs in nursing.

Some hospitals have trouble retaining full-time staff because they have a stressful work environment. That could be a trauma center, for instance, or a facility with many homeless patients who aren't getting support for chronic conditions, one nurse who picks up shifts for CareRev in Southern California, told Business Insider.

The problem has been compounded in the years since the pandemic, with many nurses feeling overwhelmed and considering a career change. Private-equity-owned facilities looking to reduce costs have also driven the rise of these apps, a report summary from the Roosevelt Institute released last month says.

One solution that hospitals are using is apps that allow nurses to pick up shifts — similar to the way that Uber drivers claim gigs driving people to the airport. Apps like CareRev, ShiftMed, and Clipboard Health pitch themselves to medical facilities, including those with staffing problems.

"We are that emergency help that they need to keep their hospital going," the nurse in Southern California said. The nurses who spoke to BI asked that their full names not be published for fear of retaliation from the apps, but BI has verified their identity and work.

CareRev, Clipboard, Medely, and ShiftMed did not respond to requests for comment from BI.

Nurses often find themselves 'thrown into' gigs

One nurse in California who has used the apps CareRev, Clipboard Health, and Medely said that many hospitals in her area that offer work through the apps don't appear to have the resources to hire as many full-time nurses as they need.

"Well-known hospitals like the Mayo Clinic are probably not going to be using ShiftMed," the nurse said. "It tends to be kind of smaller facilities and less-funded facilities."

At some facilities that use gig apps, nurses working through the apps can outnumber employees. At one intensive care unit where she has worked, the nurse in Southern California said, "There were eight of us, and seven didn't actually work there."

"When I go to these hospitals, especially some of them, you'll see only the app people and some travel nurses, and that's it," she said.

What orientation those hospitals provide to nurses who work there through the apps can affect the kind of care patients get.

"Every hospital has policies and procedures when they do things and we don't get training," the nurse in Southern California said. "We can read the booklet real fast in the morning, but we don't always know we're doing our best."

"There are instances where you get thrown into something and you do the best that you can, and care can unfortunately suffer because of that," the nurse on three apps in California told BI.

Sarah, a nurse in Wisconsin, said that most hospitals she's worked in have required workers hired through the apps to have at least one year of nursing experience. However, she said stepping into a new hospital with limited training can be challenging — and that this level of experience might be insufficient.

"You have to have a solid foundation — this is not the environment to build your skills," she said. "You really have to be solid."

Challenging nursing gigs often come with higher pay

Despite the challenges that come with these gigs, Sarah said the pay motivates many nurses to give them a shot.

"Everybody wants to chase the money," she said.

While the hourly rates for these gigs vary by hospital, the nursing role, and other factors, nurses told BI that they often pay roughly double what they make in their regular nursing jobs — as much as $115 an hour.

Sarah said that $75 an hour is a fairly standard rate in her experience — which would earn her $900 over a twelve-hour shift.

"What I'm making in CareRev is about double what I would be paid as a staff nurse for the hospitals in this area," she said.

The nurse in Southern California said that she considers roughly $90 an hour to be a typical hourly rate. That's compared to the roughly $80 an hour she estimated that a very experienced nurse would make at a large hospital in her area.

"I've seen it get to $114 on a holiday like Christmas," she said.

The nurse on three apps in California said she earns between $30 and $40 an hour at her main nursing job but often makes between $50 and $70 an hour through gig apps.

"If you're just picking up shifts on your own through these apps, it's more profitable to do it that way," she said.

Are you a nurse who works as an independent contractor and has a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected]

• At least six retail brands have said they're closing US stores this year, totaling over 2,000 locations.
• Twice-bankrupt Party City is the largest chain on the list, with 700 stores facing closure.

A Business Insider tally of disclosures from six retail chains found more than 2,000 stores have closed or are set to close across the US in 2025.

The number is up slightly from last year's total but down from 2023, when the collapse of Bed Bath & Beyond contributed to the shuttering of more than 2,800 locations.

UBS analysts last year estimated US retail closures could reach 45,000 stores by 2029, led largely by smaller stores going out of business.

Meanwhile, larger firms such as Walmart, Costco, Target, and Home Depot continue to expand.

Topping this year's list is the twice-bankrupt Party City, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in late December with 700 stores facing closure.

See the list of major closures below.

Party City: 700 stores

Party City filed for Chapter 11 protection in late December, after CNN reported that the company was closing all of its stores.

Big Lots: 480 stores

Big Lots received a last-minute lifeline to remain in operation after bankruptcy, but its new owners are selling the leases to 480 stores.

Walgreens: 450 stores

Walgreens said it is on track to close 450 locations through the end of 2025 as part of its multi-year effort to reduce its store fleet.

Family Dollar: 370 stores

Dollar Tree said it will close 370 locations as leases expire, following last year's closure of 600 stores as it leans away from the Family Dollar brand and expands the Dollar Tree footprint.

Macy's: 66 stores

Macy's has identified 66 stores across 22 states that will close this year, the first of 150 locations that the retailer plans to shutter through 2026. Following the closings, there will be about 350 Macy's left.

Kohl's: 27 stores

Kohl's said it will close 27 locations across 15 states, which represent a small fraction of the overall 1,150-plus store fleet the company says is healthy, strong, and profitable. The closures are expected to be completed by April.

• The thought of taking our tired kids out to a dinner they likely wouldn't enjoy wasn't appealing.
• Instead, we left them in our rental armed with devices, made sure they were safe, and set out.
• This experience allowed us to embrace our kids' independence once we were back home too.

It was the summer of 2022 when my family of four descended, via bus and train, from the relatively temperate and isolated peaks of Switzerland into a hot, crowded, Italian summer. My Pacific Northwest children, then 7 and 9, were not built to handle heat. When I pulled out my camera on a crowded ferry my daughter let her head loll back and moaned, "Document my misery!"

They recovered slightly when they ate their first real Italian pizza for lunch. But when it came time for dinner, no one wanted to leave the sanctuary of our air-conditioned Airbnb rental. I didn't know what to do. I had to eat something but I felt exhausted at just the thought of coaxing the kids through walking into town, searching for a ristorante-pizzeria — the only acceptable choice — that could seat us, and then waiting for our food with them.

As it happened, there was a restaurant on the ground floor of where we were staying, but it wasn't a pizzeria. I knew our very picky eaters wouldn't touch anything on the menu.

Maybe it was the heat. Maybe it was the time we'd spent in Switzerland watching our friends' kids walk themselves to school, head out to the store, and navigate a complex train system without help. Maybe we were just sick of the kids. Whatever it was, my husband had an idea:

"We could just leave them here," he suggested cautiously.

If we'd been home in Seattle, I would have flatly rejected him. I would have said something like, "Good parents don't leave their kids unattended."

But they say travel lets you become a different person, just for a few days. So maybe that's why instead I said, "If we give them their tablets, they literally will not move."

"There's leftover pizza from lunch," my husband pointed out. "We could just heat that up for them here."

We fed them the leftovers, handed them their tablets, made them practice unlocking the door (but not for strangers!), and warned them not to eat any food lest they choke. My husband and I went downstairs and had a peaceful dinner looking out over the sparkling waters of Lake Como.

It was glorious

When we returned to our rental, as predicted, the kids had not moved an inch. We felt like we'd gotten away with something, and also like we'd all just passed some sort of parenting test. The kids reported not feeling scared or abandoned at all. There was no reason not to do it again.

And we did, venturing out a few blocks away the next night, and many of the nights that followed as we wound our way through Italy.

Our perspective changed at home

"You know what's crazy," I said at a leisurely dinner along a piazza in Rome, feeling not at all rushed, not needing to apologize for my boisterous American kids. "We would never do this at home, and yet we're totally fine doing it in a country where they have no local knowledge and they don't even speak the language."

"Maybe we should do it at home, then," my husband said.

And that's exactly what we did, similarly tentatively, with frequent check-ins and warnings to help ease any anxiety on our part or theirs. We stopped letting some vague sense of what we were supposed to do direct our parenting, and started living our life in a way that made sense for us. Now we assess the situation and make a decision based on what we think our family is capable of.

In the years since then we look for opportunities to encourage our kids' independence and ability to be self-sufficient. So far they've risen to the occasion. My son, now 12, in particular, likes it when I can send him to the corner store on his electric scooter to pick up some forgotten ingredient I need for dinner. When I watch him pull out of the driveway, perched on his silly scooter seat, his helmet atop his head, you could almost imagine he's on a Vespa, heading out on a solo adventure through the Tuscan countryside.

• Return-to-office mandates risk eroding trust between employees and employers.
• Remote work and other flexibility that arose during the pandemic often fostered employee goodwill.
• Companies enforcing RTO could lose some workers if the job market strengthens.

"Trust me, I'm getting my work done."

That's the sentiment coming from some workers who have bridled at the return-to-office orders flowing from some C-suites.

Many bosses who call their employees back talk about wanting to boost productivity, teamwork, and innovation. What they don't often talk about is trust.

Yet trust — or the absence of it, amid reports of sly employees deputizing Fridays as de facto weekend days — is at the heart of why many bosses are demanding workers resume their commutes, workplace experts told Business Insider.

The surge in remote work during the pandemic engendered goodwill between workers and their employers "in a way that we haven't seen since the old days of retiring from IBM with the gold watch," Dan Kaplan, senior client partner at the recruiting firm Korn Ferry, said.

Now, though, as more CEOs push for workers to return to the office — often against the advice of HR teams, Kaplan said — workers' faith in their employers is also at risk.

"This is going to be studied as a time where companies forfeited the trust that they worked so hard to build," Kaplan told BI.

Autonomy breeds employee trust

Disagreements over how work gets done can erode relationships. PwC has reported that companies that offer remote work but monitor how often workers show up at the office or track things like when workers log on can diminish workers' sense of trust in their employers.

In early 2024, PwC found in a survey of some 2,500 workers in the US — a mix of business leaders and employees — that nearly nine in 10 execs said they had a high level of trust in their people, yet only six in 10 workers said that leadership regarded them as highly trusted.

PwC found that when employees feel a sense of autonomy, trust in employers tends to go up. In the survey, for example, seven in 10 workers said flexibility around when they do their work would build trust.

Employers have reasons for concern

Reports about "over-employed" workers holding multiple remote jobs or others quiet vacationing — thanks, mouse jiggler — are sure to give some leaders heartburn.

That potential abuse of trust by workers has frayed bonds built during the pandemic. When COVID-19 emerged, many bosses checked in on workers, and many employers provided information and resources for workers to help them stay safe, Kaplan said. Often, that included permission to work remotely.

Even as the pandemic ebbed, workers could still focus on family, go to the gym, or walk the dog, he said.

Now, thanks to the tight job market facing many white-collar workers — and fewer remote roles — employers wanting people back in the office have regained power.

Workers got used to WFH

Peggie Rothe, chief insights and research officer at Leesman, which tracks employee experiences, told BI that when the pandemic hit, employers trusted employees would get their work done from afar. This set many employees' expectations for what life would be like when the pandemic subsided.

In part, many workers wanted to keep their setups because logging on from home is something people often enjoy, she said.

Rothe also said the pandemic showed that the average home is better at supporting work than the average office. That's left some workers struggling to understand why they'd need to head back to the office every day, she said.

"Unless you communicate a clear why — why do you need your employees to be back — inevitably employees are going to feel like they're not trusted anymore," Rothe said.

Workers who say they don't trust their employer tend — no surprise — to be less happy at work. That dissatisfaction can then cut into productivity, innovation, and teamwork.

I can't see you

Randall Peterson, a professor of organizational behavior at London Business School, told BI that the biggest factor animating CEOs' decisions to call people back to the office is the fear that they can't see their people and that they might be slacking off.

Yet Peterson said one concern for CEOs should be that by making people go back to the office, employers are taking away a way of working that many people have come to see as a right, not a privilege, as was the case before the pandemic.

'The fact you're forcing me back is taking something away from me," he said. "I don't think enough employers have really figured that out yet."

Kaplan, from Korn Ferry, echoed a similar concern. He said if the US economy heats up as he expects, there's a risk companies could start losing workers who've grown frustrated by bosses taking attendance.

"I suspect the companies that are more flexible are going to look really, really smart in six months," he said.

Do you have something to share about your RTO experience? Business Insider would like to hear from you. Email our workplace team from a nonwork device at [email protected] with your story, or to ask for one of our reporter's Signal numbers.

• Private-credit investors are hiring. BI spoke to recruiters to figure out where.
• Workers who get their hands dirty in workouts, restructuring, and operations are in demand.
• Hiring for private-equity dealmaking is likely to pick up as more companies trade hands.

Private-credit fever is heating up on Wall Street as large financial companies, from Goldman Sachs to Point72, pour capital and talent into non-bank lending.

Of course, "private credit" is a broad term for a wide variety of lending — everything from the staid business of writing loans to blue-chip companies to the bare-knuckle brawl of distressed debt with its penchant for "creditor-on-creditor violence" (when lenders try to box each other out for higher returns in a restructuring).

So, what roles are private-credit investors hiring for in 2025? And what might that tell us about how the industry is growing and evolving?

Business Insider spoke to two top recruiters who highlighted roles in restructuring, special situations, and even portfolio operations as signs that private lenders are increasingly looking to get their hands dirty to make money while lending — even if it means turning from loaner to owner.

"They're now comfortable with owning businesses versus just taking the keys and trying to get out of it as quickly as possible," said John Rubinetti, cohead of the private equity and credit recruiting practice at leadership advisory firm Heidrick & Struggles.

Firms are also searching for professionals with specialized skills, like asset-backed finance — a sign the non-bank lending industry is looking to get creative with how it lends. Robin Judson, the founder of the recruiting firm Robin Judson Partners, said that while her firm is seeing demand "all over the map" at all levels of seniority, there's been less interest in generalists.

Most of the demand is "not the straight-down-the-fairway, plain, vanilla lending," she said. Instead, firms are looking for talent where they see returns: in the less traveled areas of finance.

Here are four hiring trends in the booming industry of non-bank lending, also known as private credit.

Loan-to-own

Private credit has seen an increase in defaults in the last few years, especially with senior lenders. The default rate for senior loans nearly tripled between mid-2022 and September 2024 per MSCI. But distress can also provide opportunities for lenders who have the right talent.

Rubinetti said he has noticed a "significant uptick" in roles for restructuring professionals over the last year as more direct lenders look to invest in opportunities where they might become owners of the companies they are lending to.

Lenders are also following in the footsteps of their private-equity cousins and investing in portfolio operators who can help steer businesses that defaulted on their loans.

"I've also seen, for the first time ever, credit firms hiring private-equity-style portfolio operations professionals," Rubinetti said.

Rubinetti estimated that a majority of the largest credit-only players now have someone on their team with some operational portfolio management skills, but said it's still an emerging trend at pure-play, lending-only firms.

Special situations

Judson is seeing a lot of demand in a related corner of the market: special situations. Special situations lenders step in when a company is dealing with some sort of, well, special situation and needs a lender willing to write a complicated, risky, and, conversely, very lucrative loan.

For example, a fund may have loaned money to a company, and the loan is now not performing, putting the fund in trouble, too. The fund may reach out to another fund, which will take on some of the risk of that loan but also gain more control over the business in the meantime. Writing that loan involves a lot of risk, but also stands to generate very high returns.

"You have to have a very acute sense of risk and reward," Judson said about special-situations loan professionals.

"It really requires somebody who understands credit and leverage, and understands how to put together a transaction that is going to benefit everyone involved," Judson said. "How to provide the financing a company needs and a return that a fund is looking for."

Judson is seeing demand for special-situation credit experts from independent private credit funds and megafunds as well as private-equity firms with industry-specific, multi-asset funds.

According to job listings, lender and asset manager Golub Capital is hiring an associate for its direct lending workout group and special-situations team. The associate would help the firm with "maximizing recoveries and minimizing losses" and may require "operational turnarounds." The base salary for New York-based hires is $170,000 to $185,000 and likely includes a bonus as well, the listing said.

Asset-backed finance and other specialties

Professionals who specialize in complicated and lucrative types of loans or lending to in-demand industries are also getting a lot of attention in today's job market, recruiters said.

"The demand we see is in the corners of the market where the structures and the issues are more complex and juicy," Judson said. In these niches, lenders can differentiate themselves from the competition through how they structure and manage their loans, and drive higher returns as well, she added.

Rubinetti said that he's seen the most interest recently in niches such as alternative credit, asset-based lending, and specialty finance.

"If firms don't have this capability now, they want it," Rubinetti said. "It's a small area, but far and away, it's been the most active area."

Corporate consolidation shows just how much interest there is in some niche lending strategies. Janus Henderson acquired asset-backed lender Victory Park at the end of last year to provide its clients a "highly in-demand asset-backed-focused private credit strategy," according to Ali Dibadj, CEO of Janus Henderson, in a press release announcing the deal.

Rubinetti has seen job demand for lending roles in equipment leasing, aviation finance, consumer finance, or any industry with real assets. "Infrastructure and energy transition credit have been hot areas," he added.

Sponsor finance poised to bounce back

While demand for loan generalists has been soft, non-bank lenders may see a return to the business that started the whole industry: providing the leverage for private-equity buyouts and recapitalizations, also known as sponsor finance.

At this point, Rubinetti said, hiring has been very slow for these roles, as most origination teams are fairly well-staffed for the low volume of deals. But 2025 is likely to see "a significant increase in PE deal flow," according to PWC. And firms that feel fully staffed up now may see things differently as more deals unfold.

"That will change in 2025," Rubinetti said.

At the end of December, Apollo posted for two "US Sponsor Origination" roles: an associate position with a base pay range of $175,000 to $200,000 and a principal earning $300,000 in base pay, according to job listings that also note that the positions are eligible for an annual bonus.

• Zara Dar left her doctorate in bioengineering to become a full-time creator, including on OnlyFans.
• She switched to content creation after becoming frustrated with academia.
• Her content combines STEM education with more adult OnlyFans, where she's earned more than $1 million.

A bioengineer who once thought she'd be a professor decided to abandon her doctorate program and become a full-time creator, including making content on OnlyFans.

The 24-year-old from Texas, who uses the pseudonym Zara Dar on social media, knew this was a gamble, but she couldn't see herself following in her professor's footsteps.

Dar sent Business Insider her OnlyFans dashboard, which shows her net income since she started on the site in January 2022 was $1.4 million, putting her among the top 0.1% of creators. In an interview with BI, she said the sum was "something I never imagined possible."

She earned $50,000 in her first three months on OnlyFans. She now posts more regularly. Her earnings for December 2024 were $240,000.

After starting OnlyFans, Dar began posting lectures to YouTube and Pornhub in 2023, focusing on science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM. Her YouTube and Pornhub accounts both link to her OnlyFans page and funnel users there.

On OnlyFans, in addition to posting STEM content, she posts erotic photoshoots and exchanges messages with fans, a major source of revenue for creators on the platform. According to her dashboard, Dar's total income from messaging is $661,000.

Dar said doing both STEM lectures on YouTube and PornHub alongside adult content on OnlyFans "makes my approach not only unique but also more relevant to who I am."

She chose OnlyFans after becoming frustrated with academia

Dar spent two years in grad school at a top-tier university, achieving a master's degree and working toward a doctorate in biomedical engineering. Dar doesn't share where she studied publicly for privacy reasons. BI has verified her degree and confirmed the institution.

Dar told BI she left her doctorate program at the end of 2024 after realizing "it wasn't the right fit."

Her doctorate research was in computational biology and drug discovery, where she explored how computational models can replace drug experiments on animals.

But her research was less hands-on than she thought. Her professors seemed to spend more time trying to secure funding than working in the lab, she said.

"I think, as a professor, I would feel disconnected from the actual work associated with my name," Dar said.

Dar said she received the stipend as a doctorate student was "barely enough to cover basic living expenses," which was stressful. She started to think about other ways to earn a living.

Her STEM niche led to OnlyFans promoting her work

Dar found that her STEM niche set her apart on OnlyFans, which promoted her videos on its main page.

Her YouTube channel recently reached 150,000 subscribers. Her videos include explanations of neural networks, machine learning concepts, and how she developed her own OnlyFans notification robot.

"This made me realize I can have an actual career by continuing to share educational and artistic content on OnlyFans," Dar said.

Dar has had setbacks. Her Instagram, where she discussed topics such as the Leidenfrost effect and Schrödinger's cat, was banned for sexual content because she was showing cleavage, which put a dent in her earnings. The account has since been reinstated.

She has focused more on her social media presence since quitting her studies.

Her YouTube video about dropping out of her doctorate made Zar $40,000 in just 24 hours — more than her annual stipend as a graduate student, she told BI.

Dar said several management companies have approached her to offer their services to help her run her page, but she has declined them so far.

Dar said OnlyFans isn't for everyone

For many, OnlyFans doesn't provide a steady income. The total paid out to creators in 2023 equalled nearly $1,300 per creator, according to an analysis by Variety. Dar said she has to continually post videos and photos and interact with fans to stay popular. The main funnel to Dar's OnlyFans is her STEM content on YouTube and Pornhub, which is hard work but something she enjoys.

She also worries about her privacy. "Being so visible on the internet has its downsides," she said.

She said many people assumed she had abandoned STEM by doing OnlyFans.

"The truth is quite the opposite. OnlyFans has given me the freedom to learn, research, and share whatever I'm passionate about," Dar said.

Despite how much she makes, Dar said she is careful with her money, investing it, trying to live frugally, and avoiding luxury purchases.

Dar advised creators considering OnlyFans to find a niche and to "never do anything you're uncomfortable with."

"My experience on OnlyFans proves that you don't need to create porn to earn a substantial income," she said.

Dar said there is a diverse range of content on OnlyFans, and she aims to be unique with her erotic content by posting only artistic photoshoots that she feels reflect who she is.

"One of my photoshoots explores the two paths I face in life: continuing to work for others or working independently," she said.

"In that set, I wrote a poem inspired by Robert Frost's 'The Road Not Taken' and wore a hard hat while being topless to symbolize the choices in front of me."

Dar told BI that, besides her content creation, she would like to offer online STEM courses or start a social-media consultancy. She is also pursuing another master's degree in computer science online.

"Working full-time online enables me to continue my education at my own pace and research what I enjoy," she said.

• Brett Shannon Johnson, an ex-cybercriminal, now advises on cybersecurity to prevent identity theft.
• He once ran a darknet network and was arrested by the Secret Service.
• Johnson said freezing everyone in your home's credit is one of the first safety steps.

This as-told-to-essay is based on a conversation with Brett Shannon Johnson, a former cybercriminal turned cybersecurity professional. Business Insider confirmed Johnson's criminal history using court documents and contemporaneous news reports. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

I'm a reformed cybercriminal who used to commit credit card fraud and identity theft, but I've thankfully turned my life around.

I helped build and run an early version of the "darknet," which provided a trust mechanism that many criminals continue to use to this day. In October 2004, the Secret Service arrested 33 people associated with my network. They picked me up four months later and offered me a job as an informant. I'm the idiot who continued to break the law for the next 10 months while working for the Secret Service until they found out about it.

I was arrested, escaped, caught, and then sent to prison to serve seven years. Still, I was given the opportunity to turn my life around, and I took it. I'm well aware that I didn't deserve that, but I'm very blessed.

I now consult and speak as a cybersecurity expert, and I help protect internet users from the types of crimes I used to commit.

How to build a toolbox for online safety

Protecting yourself from someone like I used to be, starts with understanding your place in the cybercrime spectrum — everyone has a place.

If you work in food service, that's different than if you're a CEO or working payroll. I'll still get you, but it differs. It's not likely that I'll hit a food service worker with a business email compromise or send them a deepfake. Understand what's realistic and design security around that.

Whenever I give a presentation about protecting yourself online, I tell people to think of it as building a toolbox. The criminal has a toolbox, and in it, they have a variety of tools with which to attack you. As a defender, you need to have a toolbox, as well, to prevent a stolen identity.

The good thing is that the tools you need aren't horribly sophisticated.

1. Use situational awareness online

People tend to have very good situational awareness in the physical world. If we're in a store, we know if something's off or if something just feels wrong. That doesn't translate very well in an online environment, but it should.

Understand that every platform and every website that you go to has predators — every single one. That doesn't mean not to go there, it just means to be aware of that. If we can just have that awareness in the back of our heads, that will automatically raise our security level.

2. Freeze the credit of everyone in your house

Contacting the three main credit agencies to block access to your credit accounts is the best tool to stop new account fraud.

Credit freezes are free. Unfortunately, only about 12% of the population has one. A credit freeze stops all new account fraud, so, as a criminal, I cannot pull your credit report.

It's a good idea to freeze the credit of every single person in your family, including kids, because kids are often targeted for identity theft. Most adults have existing accounts. It doesn't stop fraud on those. So you also have to monitor those accounts.

3. Place alerts on accounts where you can

You must also be aware of your email, retail, social media, bank, and credit card accounts. Every account has value to an attacker.

Make sure you have alerts on those accounts that communicate whenever they're accessed or used.

4. Practice good password security

Make sure that you're practicing good password security. Most people use the same or similar credentials across multiple websites, and hackers know that. This opens you up to credential stuffing.

It's an automated program. I can fish you out, get your password, and log in to your Hulu account. I go to sleep, plug those credentials in and this program will actually ping tens of thousands of different websites overnight and see what it gets access to.

If you use the same credentials for Hulu as you do for your Chase account, Bank of America, tax records, or whatever, I have access to those as well.

To avoid this, I use the free Google Chrome password manager, which generates unique passwords for every login and saves them for you.

5. Set up multifactor authentication for your accounts

Multifactor authentication is an outstanding tool. It's not bulletproof, but when you use it in conjunction with other tools, you become much more secure.

I used to preach about password managers. These days, I'm not explicitly recommending them because they've had some issues. I use a combination of passkeys, authenticators, and a password manager.

6. Watch what you share on social media

Understand that those 3,000 Facebook friends aren't friends. One of the things that I used to do was see what a person had on Facebook. I'd pull your identity profile and see what you had posted of interest. I'd find out your birthday, your mother's maiden name, when you're going on vacation, those types of things.

So, watch what you share on social media.

Getting inside the mind of a cybercriminal

You need to understand that these attacks happen for one of three reasons. It's status, cash, or ideology.

Most attacks are cash-based. When cybercriminals attack for status, it's to impress their criminal peers. They're trying to do something that no one else can do and gain respect — that equates to more money at the end of the day. When it's done for ideology, someone's pissed them off, and they're looking to attack them.

The criminal is simply looking to profit at the end of the day. That means they attack the lowest-hanging fruit. They're looking for the easiest access that gives them the largest return on that criminal investment.

If you just put the base level of security, you're not that lowest-hanging fruit anymore. That matters because, as a criminal, I'm not going to waste my time trying to hit you when there are much easier targets that are out there.

Editor's Note: This article was originally published in September 2022 and has been updated.

• Supper clubs — dinner parties hosted at someone's home — are trending among Gen Z, a forecaster told BI.
• Professional hosts and chefs shared their best practices for pulling one off.
• Their tips include putting your personality on the menu to joining guests at the table.

Gen Zers are increasingly ditching late nights out for cozy nights at home.

They're also seeking out supper clubs — dinner parties hosted in people's homes, often by professionals — as an "affordable alternative to traditional bars in a trendy setting," Elizabeth Tan, WGSN Insight senior culture strategist, told BI.

BI spoke to three professional supper club hosts about their tips for hosting your own.

Accept you can control what comes out of the kitchen but not the conversation at the table

Aidan Brooks worked as a chef at the Chiltern Firehouse, a luxury hotel and restaurant in London, before he founded his supper club, Eleven 98. He's been hosting paying customers in his home in London for six years.

He keeps lists and documents on his laptop to plan the menus and asks guests about their dietary requirements, but he said one of his biggest tips was to let the dynamic and conversation at the table flow.

"I'm a bit of a control freak, as most fine dining chefs are," Brooks said.

"I can ensure that I execute the food on point but the one thing that's out of my control is the unique dynamic that's created at the table. I have to allow that to flow organically," he added.

Share personal stories and anecdotes about what you're serving

Punam Vaja, a self-trained chef who has run a supper club since 2018, said that personal stories can help people connect with cuisines they aren't familiar with.

She told BI that, when hosting, she takes time to introduce herself and share anecdotes or stories that inspired her dishes throughout the evening.

"People can really tell when somebody is being authentic," she said.

"If someone's sharing something or even being a little bit vulnerable, it's really easy to kind of be like, 'Ok, I've never had this food, but I'm really open to trying it because that story or that moment or the experience they're sharing reminds me of my own,'" she added.

Vaja said she liked her dishes to reflect her feeling of being "very British" and her Indian Gujarati heritage. She also aims to reflect influences from East Africa, where her father was born, and Mumbai, where her mother grew up, she told BI.

Take a seat at the table

Ariel Pastore-Sebring, a supper club host in Portland, Oregon, swears by several rules. These include setting a definite end time so she's not up until the early hours, cleaning for hours, and never serving "family-style," where food is placed on platters for diners to serve themselves.

But she said her main rule was hosts should sit at the table.

Pastore-Sebring said that the host's presence can make people feel more comfortable when they are strangers to each other.

"If I'm in the kitchen the whole time, they'd be like, what are we doing here?" she added.

Pastore-Sebring, who started her supper club in 2023, carefully plans meals and limits the number of guests to 10 to ensure she can be at the table.

"I've gone up to 13, and it was too much," she added. "I want to be able to sit at the table and have us all be in the same conversation. More than 10 people and it really starts to get broken up and lost."

• The owner of an NYC brownstone that plays a recurring role in "Sex and the City" is installing a gate to keep fans at bay.
• The owner of the New Mexico home used in "Breaking Bad" is selling after years of testy encounters with fans.
• A filmmaker who's chronicled famous homeowners said it can be "like living in a fishbowl."

This month, the owners of homes made famous by "Sex and the City" and "Breaking Bad" both said they were tired of the hordes of fans.

Manhattan resident Barbara Lorber, whose three-story brownstone was used as the exterior of Carrie Bradshaw's apartment in the TV and film versions of "Sex and the City," this week asked the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission for permission to install a gate to keep fans off her historic stoop.

"That house shouldn't be gated, but what was beautiful in the late 19th century is unfortunately in need of more protection in our century," Lorber, who appeared to be holding back tears, said at a hearing on Tuesday.

The commission approved a plan for a gate by architect Isidoro Cruz that will blend in with the other homes and structures in the West Village and Greenwich Village.

About 2,000 miles away in Albuquerque, New Mexico, homeowner Joanne Quintana recently listed her four-bedroom family home, which served as the exterior of drug-maker Walter White's home on the hit TV series "Breaking Bad."

Quintana originally had a friendly relationship with the home's fame, she told local news outlet KOB4. She baked cookies for actor Bryan Cranston, who played White, while he was shooting and welcomed early fan visits. But incidents including a bomb threat and bigger crowds of onlookers eventually made her conscious of the safety risks, she told KOB4.

The house, which had been in her family since her parents bought it in 1973, is on the market at $4 million.

She said she thinks the house could become a full-time memorial to the show. The $4 million listing price, which is more than 10 times its estimated value according to Realtor.com, reflects her belief in the potential business opportunity.

"I hope they make it what the fans want. They want a B&B, they want a museum, they want access to it. Go for it," she told KOB4.

Living in iconic residences isn't for the faint of heart

Tommy Avallone has become an expert on living in famous homes.

In 2024, the New Jersey-based film director released a documentary "A House From…" which chronicled the real families living inside iconic homes from "Home Alone," "Back to the Future," and "Full House."

The movie shows how many famous-home residents adjusted their lifestyles, like the owner of the "Mrs. Doubtfire" house in San Francisco, who regularly entered through the back door to avoid crowds.

"It's a lot to handle. You're living in a fishbowl," Avallone told Business Insider.

Avallone, who has visited Lorber's "Sex and the City" brownstone multiple times, said he's not surprised she finally took action. He saw multiple fans simply step over the chain currently in place for privacy.

"I don't think people plan to be rude when they're there," Avallone said. "They're just so excited to meet this thing that they have a deep, personal connection with. All their manners go to the wayside."

Avallone said that, like celebrities themselves, the featured homes can be classified as A-list, B-list, or C-list. Less famous homes might be easier to live in, he said.

"Living in the 'Home Alone' house would be real tough, living in the 'Full House' house would be real tough," he said. "But the 'Roseanne' house might be perfectly fine."

• I got a body composition analysis through my gym, with a trainer explaining the results to me.
• While my BMI and muscle mass were in healthy ranges, my body fat was not.
• The results encouraged me to add more weights at the gym and drink more water.

If there was ever a time for me to scan my body for any health weaknesses, it was now. As the new year began, I got back into working out almost every day and kicked off Dry January.

I was ready: I booked a 30-minute body composition analysis at Life Time, a popular athletic club. A trainer met me and explained the process: I would take off my shoes and socks (of course when I forgot to repaint my toenails) and stand on an InBody body composition analyzer.

The scanning process took about five minutes. First, the machine weighed me, then scanned my skeletal muscle mass, body fat, and water content when I held the hand electrodes.

At first, my stats looked good. I quickly glanced at the printout and saw my BMI was in the healthy range. So was, to my pleasant surprise, my muscle mass — strength training seemed to pay off!

It was when he reviewed my body fat percentage that I panicked a little. I'd like to say it was an overdue wake-up call, but it was more a confirmation of what I already knew: I needed to change my routine.

The hot new trend of measuring body composition

The scanner, made by InBody, was first developed in South Korea in the late '90s as an alternative to traditional scales. By the early 2000s, the first InBody body composition scanners hit the US market.

In 2020, InBody unveiled new technology at CES, a high-profile science conference. This update could ostensibly analyze abdominal fat and total body water, advancing the accuracy of body composition results.

In the years to follow, body composition scans became popular due to their ability to better measure overall health than BMI does.

An InBody 570, like the one I tried, can cost up to $15,000. Getting an InBody scan is considered to be a more affordable and convenient alternative to a DEXA scan, which uses X-ray images to measure how much muscle, fat, and bone you have. New DEXA scanners cost anywhere between $45,000 to $80,000 and can only be used by healthcare providers, while personal trainers can operate InBody machines.

DEXA scans are considered to be more accurate than InBody, which can produce skewed results if you eat right before, drink alcohol 24 hours before, or apply hand lotion.

BMI doesn't tell the whole story

I've known for a long time that BMI isn't a great health metric because it doesn't separate the weight differences between muscle and fat.

Still, because mine was always in the "healthy" range, I used it as a quick barometer of my overall health, the same way I listen to my horoscope if it tells me I'm crushing it at life.

While my BMI and skeletal muscle weight were both in healthy ranges, my body fat percentage was slightly over the healthy limit. I also had the maximum healthy limit of visceral fat, fat stored near my internal organs.

Right now, my trainer said, I'm at a "crossroads" with my visceral body-fat ratio. It's still easy enough for me to reverse through diet and more challenging exercise. But if it keeps increasing, he said I'll be at a higher risk for developing heart disease later on in life, even if my BMI remains the same.

The analysis gave me targets for how much body fat to lose and muscle to gain to be maximally fit. Knowing my body, hitting those targets would require me to essentially live at the gym and be incredibly strict with my diet, two things I'm not willing to do.

However, I agree with the broader goal: lose some body fat and gain a little bit of muscle, which requires monitoring my diet and getting my heart rate up at the gym.

My diet needs work

My trainer said that most of the work will be in my diet, meaning I would need a calorie deficit. He said I should prioritize whole foods like lean protein, fruits, vegetables, and grains, essentially following the Mediterranean diet.

I've already been focused on getting more protein and eating enough plant-based foods. My breakfast is either oatmeal with berries and peanut butter or scrambled eggs. Every week, I meal-prep some variation of fish with vegetables and grains. Even when I make pasta at home, it's always whole wheat with a homemade sauce.

When the new year started, I cut alcohol to improve my health, something that will definitely help me lose body fat. I've also been working on eating smaller portions. When I was training for a marathon or preparing to deadlift my heaviest, I got into the habit of eating a lot more than I used to. Now that I'm not doing either, all that extra food is being converted into fat I'm not burning off.

I still have room for improvement. He said I should drink more water, which can help with fat loss. Reflecting on my diet, I could be more mindful about how many little treats I give myself in a day (probably should be less than three!). Given his emphasis on unprocessed foods, I knew I had to tweak my diet to include more fruits and vegetables.

The same day I got the assessment, I texted my husband: our comfort dinner of miso-butter pasta was going to come with some salad.

Heart rate is key

When I started running a decade ago, I quickly dropped about 15 pounds without changing much about my diet.

More recently, I started going to strength classes about two to three times a week, and running between two and five miles on the other days, with usually one rest day. I also live in a city, so I often walk or bike to get places.

Done together, I thought this would keep me lean and healthy.

My trainer explained that it isn't so simple: if I'm more leisurely with my runs (which I am), I'm not getting my heart rate up high enough to burn fat. It matters less that I can run a marathon than how fast I can go.

The same thing goes for strength training: if I'm not actively increasing the weight I lift, I'm not building enough muscle to experience the fat-burning benefits.

When I had a strength training class later that day, I challenged myself to sprint more in the running portion and lift heavier on my bench press.

Additionally, I wrote down my weights so I could track my improvement.

A few days later, I chose to join a faster pace group in my run club. It was challenging, but doable — exactly what the trainer said I should aim for.

He also said HIIT classes could help me burn fat and gain muscle, so I'm planning to try one soon.

While it initially stung to hear that I wasn't in as excellent health as I thought, I also learned how in control I am of my body. I was already working on fine-tuning my eating habits and gym routine. The body composition analysis is just there to remind me why I do it.

• As Donald Trump returns to the White House, loyalty will be a key aspect of his second term.
• Unlike 2017, Trump is no longer a political outsider adjusting to Washington for the first time.
• On Inauguration Day, Trump will be sworn in with a firm grip on the Republican Party.

When President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in for a second term on January 20, a lot will have changed since his 2017 inauguration, when he came into office as a political outsider who still elicited skepticism from many in Washington's Republican political class.

"They just weren't expecting to win," Peter Loge, an associate professor and the director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, told Business Insider about Trump's victory in 2016. "This time, there's an entire infrastructure. He has plans. There's Project 2025. He's much more like a traditional candidate who's ready to start governing on Day One."

Here's a look at how Trump and the country have entered a whole new era as the start of the president-elect's second term approaches:

Trump has raked in post-election cash

From Meta and Amazon to Ford and GM, a wide range of businesses and CEOs have contributed to Trump's inaugural fund.

In 2017, Trump raised $107 million for his inaugural committee, a staggering sum at the time. Just four years earlier, then-President Barack Obama's inaugural committee raised roughly $43 million.

Trump has so far raised at least $170 million for his second inaugural, according to The Associated Press. A full accounting of his inaugural funds isn't due until after he takes office.

Trump's business and tech support has grown

Ahead of Trump's first term, there was optimism among many in the business community over what they saw as his pro-growth agenda.

Trump's $1.5 trillion tax bill, which cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, was applauded by leaders who had been vocal about the need for American businesses to remain competitive in a global marketplace.

However, Trump's relationships with many of these leaders fizzled after the August 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., where white nationalist groups unleashed a wave of violence. And many top leaders steered clear of Trump in the immediate aftermath of the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol, where legions of pro-Trump supporters stormed the complex in an effort to stop the certification of President Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory.

After Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in November, though, many business and tech leaders actively began to renew or establish relationships with the incoming commander-in-chief.

Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, was ahead of the curve. He spent lavishly to help elect Trump and other GOP candidates last year, and Musk is now seemingly never too far away from the president-elect during major public appearances.

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Apple chief executive Tim Cook, and Musk will be guests at Trump's inaugural, according to NBC News and Bloomberg.

Loge told BI that many businesses have decided that it's "better to be on the Trump train than under it," pointing to the president-elect's penchant for dismissing the traditional workings of Washington and the desire for business leaders to have access to power.

"As a result, a lot of businesses are lining up behind Trump pretty rapidly," he said.

A Cabinet evolution

During Trump's first term, several high-profile members of his Cabinet, like onetime Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and ex-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, had turbulent tenures and were fired by the president.

This time around, Trump is leaning heavily on loyalists and longtime supporters in selecting his second-term Cabinet picks and other high-level appointees.

Many of the names stand out. Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York has been tapped to serve as US Ambassador to the United Nations, pending Senate confirmation. Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth underwent a tough confirmation hearing but is likely to win enough GOP votes to secure the post. And ex-presidential candidate and Health and Human Services secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who backed Trump's campaign after ending his own candidacy — has emerged as a popular figure in Trumpworld over his stances on food and vaccine policies.

The million dollar question of Trump's second term is whether or not picking loyalists for his Cabinet will give him the sort of stability that he lacked in his first administration.

A less shocking win compared to 2016

Many Americans, who saw the multitude of national polls showing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ahead of Trump in 2016, were genuinely surprised when he won that November.

Dan Schnur, who teaches political communication at the University of Southern California and the University of California-Berkeley, told BI that Trump's first election "caused much more disruption" than it did in November 2024.

"The idea of Trump beating Clinton was inconceivable to most of the political universe," Schnur said.

After Trump's tumultuous first term and his lonely exit from Washington after losing to Biden in 2020, a large segment of the public saw the president-elect's political career as finished.

Still, Trump retained his hold over the GOP base, which powered his dominant caucus and primary wins last year. This was the case despite his myriad legal problems, which threatened his general election campaign.

Even as Harris' presidential candidacy spiked enthusiasm among Democrats after Biden stepped aside as the party's nominee, Trump still retained an advantage on the economy — which was a top issue for voters last November.

So when Trump won, it wasn't a shock to many. And the results showed that Trump broadened his appeal, as he won every major swing state and even secured a plurality of the national popular vote.

Congress will be more obedient

Trump is entering his second term with perhaps his strongest influence over Republicans to date. Lawmakers who may have been reluctant to align themselves with Trump in the past have largely put old feelings aside, embracing the fact that Republicans will now control the levers of power in Washington.

Republicans who defy the party on critical votes are more likely to be met with swift repercussions this time around, mostly in the form of primary challenges and pressure campaigns on social media platforms like X.

Trump is also going to be reliant on GOP leaders in Congress — namely House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana and Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota — to get his ambitious immigration and tax legislation passed.

However, while Republicans will enjoy a 53-47 edge in the Senate, they currently have a razor-thin 219-215 House majority, which is set to shrink even further following the expected departures of two members for roles in the Trump administration.

The wind is at Trump's back

In 2017, Trump was still a political novice and leaned on the legislative relationships that then-Vice President Mike Pence had amassed during his years on Capitol Hill.

"Back then, he tended to rely on establishment figures whom he felt would give him the necessary credibility in Washington," Schnur told BI. "But he learned over the course of those four years that many of those figures weren't nearly as loyal to him as he had expected."

"This time, he's put much more of a premium on personal relationships and loyalty. He's much more confident that the team around him is motivated toward the same goals as he is," Schnur added.

Trump now has a unified Congress, and he won a second term on the strength of his prior economic record, giving him a level of public support that he lacked early on in his first term.

Once he's is back in office, it'll clearly be a new day in Washington.

When a new year rolls around, social circles split into two groups. The dividing line: alcohol. There are the people doing Dry January, swearing off booze for the month to regroup after the holiday season's indulgence. Then there are the people who have no plans to shift gears — if anything, they're excited that all the January teetotaling means smaller bar crowds. But increasingly, the sober/drinking split is stretching beyond the confines of January into other months and across American culture.

The conversation around sobriety and sober curiosity has become louder and more open in recent years. Whereas 20 years ago a decision to abstain from alcohol was often kept hush-hush (the implication being that the abstainer had a shameful problem), nowadays people are much more open about sitting drinking out. They're skipping happy hours, going on booze-free dates, and laying out their reasoning for sobriety online. The beverage industry has been happy to cater to them, too. IWSR, which covers the alcoholic-beverage industry, said volume in the nonalcohol segment in the US grew by 29% in 2023, driven by young people in particular.

Before everyone does a victory lap about how America's given up on alcohol, it's important to note that the nonalcohol segment is still pretty small — IWSR expects it to make up 4% of the overall alcoholic-beverages market by 2027. And while the modern temperance movement is growing, so too is the high-alcohol-content segment. Americans are increasingly opting for spirits over beer, and ready-to-drink cocktails and high-ABV beers are becoming more popular than middle-of-the-road options.

Polling from Gallup suggests men, white people, college graduates, and higher-income people are among those with a higher propensity to drink. And heavy drinkers consume the bulk of alcohol volume in the US. But many drinkers are incorporating nonalcoholic options into their routines without giving up on booze altogether. They're looking at occasional abstention as a form of moderation. After all, per the market-research firm NIQ, more than 93% of nonalcohol buyers also buy alcoholic drinks.

"The people who are drinking a lot of NA stuff, they just are interested in more flavors and more beverage profiles and things like that," said Dave Infante, a contributing editor and columnist at VinePair who writes a Substack about drinking called Fingers. "So they're just drinking more interesting shit out of everything."

To some extent, drinking culture is moving toward the extremes. Sure, more people are abstaining on a given night — but when people do order an alcoholic drink, they're really going for it. They're getting an old-fashioned, not dialing down to a light beer or two. Instead of forgoing the real thing altogether, Negroni lovers are mixing in a phony Negroni from time to time.

The surgeon general's recent warning that alcohol can cause cancer reiterated for a lot of people something they already (begrudgingly) knew: Drinking is not good for you. The proportion of Americans who say drinking is bad for health has risen quite steadily over the past two decades, per Gallup, even if the amount they drink hasn't changed much. The polling also suggests that the proportion of Americans who consume alcohol has for decades remained relatively stable, at about six in 10. Per-capita consumption of ethanol from alcoholic beverages has stayed at about 2 to 2.5 gallons.

"There's just a lot of evidence that suggests even though we have more alternatives than ever, people are still happy to consume and indulge in something, especially if they feel they can do it responsibly," said Bryan Roth, the director of insights at Sightlines, an analyst group that covers the alcohol industry.

For some people, drinking responsibly means strategically turning alcohol time on and off — sometimes throughout the year or week, sometimes just in a night — and moderating without giving up the bottle entirely. They think it's healthier, even if their doctor might not entirely agree. It's a way to slow down, to get a check on how much they're drinking. And sometimes they just can't afford to be too hungover ahead of a big workday.

"If all people who were buying Athletic beers and Bud Zeros were 100% sober, that would be one thing, but what we find is a good majority of people are sort of mixing and matching," said Nadine Sarwat, an analyst who covers the beverage and cannabis industries at Bernstein.

Some people set rules for themselves about when alcohol is allowed. They eschew alcohol on weekdays and leave it only for the weekends — so they'll drink alcoholic beer on a Friday but a nonalcoholic beer at lunch on a Wednesday. Or they'll replace that bottle of cabernet with a 0% option a few nights a week to take it easy. Some drinkers take part in Damp January and reduce their alcohol intake instead of going totally dry. Or there are those who attempt a harder and longer reset with the "75 Hard" challenge, which says no alcohol (or cheat meals, or, seemingly, fun) for 75 days. (There's a "75 Soft" for those who want some semblance of joy.)

Day to day, at the bar or a party, some drinkers are doing what's been dubbed "zebra striping," where they alternate between alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages — a Manhattan one round and a mocktail the next. It's a more festive — albeit expensive — tactic than chugging a glass of water between drinks. In other instances, they incorporate "bookending," where they begin and end the night with an NA option. Or they go NA for the "fourth quarter," finishing off the night with a few alcohol-free drinks, emulating what stadiums do toward the end of sporting events.

"It then becomes a method of pacing so you can just kind of maintain," said Joaquín Simó, the global brand ambassador and mixologist for On the Rocks Cocktails. "What I am hearing anecdotally a lot more too is just people who are like, 'Yeah, I know I have to tone it down, but I don't want to give it up entirely. So I'm doing this as a means of dipping my toes not necessarily into sobriety but more into temperance.'"

Kaleigh Theriault, an associate director of beverage-alcohol thought leadership at NIQ, said that while nonalcoholic options appeal to people of many ages in many locations, higher-income people tend to favor them. Even as young people drink less overall and look for more ways to have booze-free fun, many are still imbibing. That NA IPA is combined with an 8% IPA that will knock their socks off.

"What we see with Gen Z is they want non-alc, but they also want those high-ABV beers as well," she said.

But the strongest indicator that someone will be into an NA option is that they're also an alcohol drinker, or at least a buyer. (Some proportion of NA purchasers are probably buying for parties and gatherings for other people to drink.) That many NA drinkers would also be alcohol drinkers tracks. If you don't really have a taste for alcohol, you might spring for a fun mocktail from time to time, but you may also just go with a Diet Coke, which you like better, has fewer calories, and is cheaper. And if you've never been a beer drinker, you're probably not jazzed about downing an NA one.

"No one likes the taste of beer when they first drink it," Sarwat said. "I think that's a universal truth."

For people who have given up drinking, NA options can be appealing, especially as the offerings get better in stores and at restaurants and bars. But as Laura Silverman, the founder of Zero Proof Nation, which is dedicated to the NA-beverage industry, told me, some people who have experienced problem drinking may opt to steer clear of them as they work on their sobriety.

"For people who have had problems with alcohol, many doctors and psychiatrists and stuff, they recommend not going down the path of some of these nonalcoholic beverages because they can be triggering for some people," she said. "I think it's completely individualized."

There's also a divide in the types of nonalcoholic beverages people are consuming — some categories are doing better than others. Most of the analysts and people in the industry I talked to for this story said NA beer was pretty good and close enough to the real thing price-wise that it's compelling to swap in. Many were not so bullish about wine and cocktails — Simó said that besides the sparkling options, most NA wine was "not good," and he described NA distillates as "hot trash." Silverman was more optimistic about the taste and price points.

"Where we were before, everything was sort of premium because it was the only thing that was available," Silverman said. "Not everything has an exorbitant price point anymore, but there is a wide range, and some things are quite expensive."

On the whole, Americans aren't drinking markedly less than they were in the past, but they are drinking differently. Some of the divides and distinctions are complicated to parse.

Gallup has found that while young people report drinking less than previous generations did, older people report drinking more. Gen Z is, for now, straighter-edged than the generations before them in terms of alcohol, but that doesn't necessarily amount to "the kids will be saints forever." With marijuana legal in so many states, some may be opting for cannabis products instead. Drinking is a social activity, and as young people socialize less, they skip out on imbibing, too. Many Gen Zers are still under the legal drinking age, and their consumption habits might change once they're not breaking the law. Roth, from Sightlines, told me that so far, as Gen Zers hit 21, they appear to be drinking about the same amount millennials did when they got into their 20s.

"What we see younger people do in terms of their attitudes toward drinking is very in line with how adults are shifting their attitudes and thought processes toward it as well," Roth said. "It's just a greater understanding of how it impacts you."

Consumers have more options now for drinking than ever. A lot of those options are concentrated at the bottom and at the top, with a sort of hollowing out of the middle. Instead of a 4.2% ABV Bud Light, they're going for a 0% Athletic or a 9% Voodoo Ranger IPA. Or they're swapping a six-pack of Miller Lite for a martini that really packs a punch.

"Demand is gravitating either to the high end of the ABV spectrum or the zero-ABV spectrum," Infante said.

Meanwhile, younger and older generations alike are thinking about their habits and choices — maybe never drinking, or maybe opting in sometimes and out others.

"We do see this broader trend of moderation happening across the industry," Theriault said.

In the ideal, healthiest world, Americans would probably give up on drinking, perhaps except for the most special occasions (and even the surgeon general would likely say that's a no-no). We'd also have a perfectly balanced diet of fiber and proteins and get in those 10,000 steps a day plus strength training and eight hours of sleep. But we do not live in the ideal, healthiest world; we live in the real one, where drinking is not going to "poof!" disappear. Part-time sober — or mindful drinking or whatever you want to call it — might be the best some people can do, or are at least willing to do, right now. And in an alcohol market that's increasingly split between super sober and hella boozy, it's an understandable impulse. That lunchtime beer was never a good idea anyway — let alone the lunchtime martini. Swap it out for a Heineken 0.0 or a mocktail, and leave the good stuff for Friday night.

Emily Stewart is a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and the economy.

• Universal basic income is recurring cash payments for participants, no strings attached.
• Traditional welfare restricts spending to specific categories, like healthcare or groceries.
• Basic-income policy could supplement welfare but likely wouldn't replace the existing safety net.

As America's cities look to alleviate poverty, universal basic income has been proposed by local leaders as a complement to existing welfare.

With a housing-affordability crisis and high healthcare costs, more Americans are leaning on government aid than in previous decades. Government transfers of funds from safety nets such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid accounted for about 18% of total personal income in the US in 2022, a 9-percentage-point increase from 1970, the equivalent of $3.8 trillion, per an Economic Innovation Group analysis of Bureau of Economic Analysis and Census data between 1969 and 2022.

Giving people no-strings-attached cash has been piloted in over 100 areas, including Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Chicago, as a supplement to existing aid programs. It offers participants cash to spend on whatever they choose, rather than being restricted to a specific category, as with SNAP and Medicaid.

Some economic-security advocates have told Business Insider that recurring cash payments give families a financial boost to pay bills and land stable work, and tech leaders like Tesla CEO Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have suggested that basic income might become necessary as artificial intelligence disrupts the job market.

With Republicans set to hold a majority in Congress and President-elect Donald Trump about to return to the White House for his second term, the country's budget and policy priorities for welfare programs could change, shaping how benefits are funded and who qualifies.

BI looked at the distinctions between basic income and welfare, and what it means for future benefit programs.

How does UBI differ from welfare?

The US's welfare system — also known as the social safety net — consists of a series of federally funded programs that help lower-income people afford essentials. This includes SNAP for food, Medicaid for healthcare, housing vouchers, Social Security, and various programs for families with young children.

Largely, welfare is part of the federal budget, though most states have localized programs, too. Beneficiaries must have a household income near the federal poverty line and are restricted in where they can spend the benefit money. SNAP, for example, covers most food at the grocery store but cannot be used to buy personal-hygiene items like toothpaste or soap.

Basic income, by contrast, is a set of recurring cash payments that can be spent however participants choose. There are two main types of basic income: universal basic income and guaranteed basic income. UBI programs give payments to all members of a population, regardless of income, and don't have an end date. GBI programs give payments to a specific group of the population — such as people experiencing homelessness, single parents, or low-income artists — for a set period of time, typically one to five years. Most of the basic-income pilots in the US have been short-term GBI, not UBI. Other countries have also run GBI pilots.

Could UBI replace welfare?

Basic income is unlikely to replace the existing safety net because of funding and political challenges.

US GBI pilots are financed through a combination of government funds and philanthropy. Still, most of those programs are limited to a couple hundred people for a set period, meaning they cost funders a few million dollars.

Sustaining UBI across the country would require more significant funding through a value-added tax, a progressive tax system based on wealth, or a tax on resources, like a carbon tax. The Alaska Permanent Fund, for example, gives residents an annual stipend that's drawn from the state's oil revenue.

True UBI hasn't been implemented in the US, but some politicians have introduced basic-income policies. During his campaign for the 2020 Democratic primaries, the former presidential candidate Andrew Yang proposed a "Freedom Dividend," which would've given $1,000 monthly to every American over the age of 18. The 2020 census found there were about 258 million Americans over 18, which would've made the total gross cost of that plan more than $3 trillion each year. Yang suggested the dividend be funded through a value-added retail tax.

For comparison, the Social Security Administration reported in 2024 that the benefits cost $1.5 trillion annually. The average monthly payments were $1,788 in November and are largely funded through payroll taxes. Seventy-two million older adults and people with disabilities currently receive benefits.

Any federal change to the social safety net would also need congressional approval. Many Republican leaders have opposed implementing ongoing basic income, arguing that it's not financially sustainable and gives people "free money."

"We were never designed to have the federal government supply a salary," Rep. John Gillette of the Arizona House of Representatives previously told BI.

Is UBI a better alternative to welfare?

In most of America's basic-income pilots, cash aid is seen as a supplement to welfare programs, not a replacement. GBI pilot leaders often consult with participants to ensure their basic income will not disqualify them from means-tested programs like SNAP or Medicaid.

Basic-income participants have told BI that the cash helps them afford essentials that might not be covered by traditional safety nets: such as a new crib for their baby, school supplies for their kids, steady childcare, and car repairs.

"Anyone who's had a child knows that this is not like a luxury income," a new mom in Michigan receiving $500 a month previously told BI. "This is just assisting us in our time of need."

Some Republicans and economists have argued against basic income, calling it a "welfare trap" and an "unconstitutional" use of public money. This has led to states such as Iowa and Arizona introducing basic-income bans and lawsuits against GBI programs in Missouri and Texas.

Research from recent GBI pilots suggests that basic income can help lower rates of domestic violence, aid participants in landing higher-paying jobs, and increase housing and food security. Some financial-security advocates also say that basic income can boost local economies by making it easier for lower-income people to maintain steady work and buy consumer goods.

"We are allowing folks to stabilize and to then plan for the future," Sukhi Samra, the executive director of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, a national advocacy network, previously told BI.

To be sure, much of basic-income research is based on short-term trials. Basic income's financial impact on participants in the long run remains unclear, and some participants struggle to afford essentials after their programs end.

Traditional safety-net programs typically do not have an end date, and participants can continue to receive benefits as long as their household income meets qualification thresholds.

• The ex-aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy began its final journey to the scrapyard.
• The decommissioned vessel was the last conventionally powered flattop built by the US Navy.
• The Kennedy namesake will continue with the future Ford-class nuclear-powered supercarrier.

The decommissioned aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy embarked on its final journey to be dismantled earlier this week.

The Kennedy was moored at the Navy's Inactive Ships Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia for nearly two decades before being sold to scrap dealers for just a cent.

The Kennedy namesake will live on in the future Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. PCU Kennedy, the second-in-class ship, is scheduled to be commissioned in 2025, three years behind schedule.

Navy's last conventionally powered carrier

Commissioned in September 1968, the Kennedy was the fourth and final vessel in the Kitty Hawk class, initially designated as an attack aircraft carrier.

Comprised of the first-in-class Kitty Hawk, USS Constellation, USS America, and the Kennedy, the vessels were the last group of carriers to be powered by fossil fuels, which were replaced by the Navy's Nimitz-class nuclear-powered flattops.

The name honored the president slain five years before, who had served as a naval officer during World War II. After his motor torpedo boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, he famously helped save his men from the water and relayed their stranded location to nearby allies by writing on a coconut husk.

Only ship of its class

After undergoing heavy modifications to adapt to a broader range of missions, the Kennedy became a class of its own, changing its classification to CV-67.

Nicknamed "Big John," the Kennedy completed 18 deployments over nearly four decades in service, including operations in the Mediterranean, Tyrrhenian, Ionian, Ligurian, Aegean, and Adriatic Seas.

In 2005, the Navy decided the cost of the maintenance overhaul for the aging carrier outweighed the benefits, opting to retire the ship instead. The aircraft carrier was taken out of service in August 2007 and towed to Philadelphia, moored alongside other inactive Navy vessels.

Deployed to the Mediterranean

The Kennedy was notably involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict in the 1970s and deployed to the Middle East as part of the US response to the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

The vessel was also sent to waters off the coast of Lebanon after a suicide bomber struck the US Marine Corps Multi-National Forces Barracks at the Beirut International Airport, killing 241 Marines.

Aircraft aboard CV-67 launched the first major strikes on Iraq on the night of January 17, 1991, lighting up the night sky as the 80 sorties flying over Baghdad were pummeled with heavy fire from below.

"Imagine the Disney World light show, then magnify it 100 times," one pilot said. "That's what it looked like from the sky last night… it was incredible!"

9/11 terror attacks

The Kennedy and its battle group were also briefly deployed to the mid-Atlantic coastline to support the Nimitz-class carrier USS George Washington, establishing air security following the terror attacks in New York City on September 11, 2001.

"While John F. Kennedy Battle Group's services were needed for only a brief time, every member of the Battle Group was proud of their role in Operation Noble Eagle, providing security along the eastern seaboard of the United States," an observer with the Kennedy's battle group wrote, per the Navy.

The Kennedy also played an early role in the war in Afghanistan, launching the first air strikes off the coast of Pakistan that commenced Operation Enduring Freedom.

One of the greatest military pranks

Not only will the Kennedy go down in history for its involvement in key conflicts in US history, but it was also the setting of one of the greatest military pranks of all time.

A Navy tradition dating back to the 1960s, crews aboard Navy aircraft carriers would prank the sailors aboard the relieving ship by releasing greased pigs on its flight deck.

When the Kennedy was set to relieve the Kitty Hawk-class supercarrier USS America in 1986, aviators aboard the America dropped off an unusual payload on the new arrivals: three greased pigs dyed with red, white, and blue food coloring.

It's #NationalPigDay! Dating back to the early 60s, a prank played by carriers in the Mediterranean was to surprise their relieving carrier by releasing greased pigs on the flight deck. This 1986 video is of a helicopter from USS America dropping off pigs on USS John F. Kennedy. pic.twitter.com/LL6UHnfk0V

— U.S. Naval Institute (@NavalInstitute) March 1, 2022

Final journey

In 2021, the Navy sold two old aircraft carriers — the Kennedy and the Kitty Hawk — to scrap dealers for just one cent each.

Though towing and breaking down the ship for scrap is a costly process, the profit from selling scrap steel, iron, and non-ferrous metal ores will benefit the company.

After 17 years at the Navy's decommissioned ship facility, Big John embarked on its final voyage to International Shipbreaking Limited's scrap metal yard in Brownsville, Texas.

Departing from the Philadelphia naval facility, the ship is set to sail into Delaware Bay and into the North Atlantic Ocean before transiting south, around the Florida peninsula, and then across the Gulf of Mexico.

The next JFK

The Kennedy namesake will live on in the future Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier.

Expected to be delivered to the Navy in the summer of 2025, the second-in-class PCU John F. Kennedy touts a hefty $11 billion price tag — albeit $2 billion shy of the $13 billion first-in-class USS Gerald R. Ford.

Measuring 1,092 feet in length — only a few feet shy of the height of the Eiffel Tower — the future Kennedy will be able to accommodate more than 75 aircraft.

Powered by two nuclear reactors, the Navy said its newest warship will incorporate nearly two dozen technological upgrades to make it more efficient, including improvements in propulsion, power generation, ordnance handling, and aircraft launch systems.

''USS John F. Kennedy will carry the legacy of its namesake and the power of our nation,'' then-acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said in a 2019 statement. ''The advanced technology and warfighting capabilities this aircraft carrier brings to our global challenges will strengthen our allies and partners, extend our reach against potential adversaries, and further the global mission of our integrated naval force.''

Carrying on the Kennedy legacy

At just 9 years old, Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of the 35th president, was chosen as the sponsor for the first carrier named after her father.

Fifty-two years later, Caroline Kennedy was once again selected to be the sponsor of the future CVN-79, christening the ship in December 2019 in a ceremony attended by over 20,000 people at Newport News shipyard.

"Having a chance to get to know the people who served on the USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) really gave me insight into who he was and what kind of leader he was in a way that I wouldn't have had any other way," Caroline Kennedy said. "And I know that's going to be just as true now with a whole new generation."

New construction approach

Navy Capt. Todd Marzano, then the commanding officer of the Kennedy, told Business Insider said the Kennedy's construction was streamlined by improvements from the inefficiencies and delays that plagued the Ford.

"We are definitely benefiting from being the second aircraft carrier in the class," Marzano said in 2019. "We're leveraging their lessons learned, which has helped not only from the construction side but from our sailor training."

Using a modular process, workers built smaller sections of the ship to form a superlift, a structural unit fitted with piping, electrical equipment, cable, ventilation, and joiner work, before bringing it to the assembly area on the dry dock.

The second-in-class carrier was launched into the James River three months ahead of schedule in October 2019 — then set to be delivered to the Navy in 2022.

Plagued by delays

Despite being leagues ahead of schedule compared to its predecessor, the Kennedy was not immune to shipbuilding delays of its own. The carrier's delivery date kept being pushed back, due in part to supply chain issues brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and delays in the ship's capability upgrades.

At first, PCU Kennedy wasn't designed to launch fifth-generation stealth fighters, prompting Congress in 2020 to step in and pause the delivery of the $13 billion flattop until it was retrofitted to support the aircraft, which cost over $100 million.

Testing its catapult

In February 2024, the future supercarrier tested its new electromagnetic aircraft launching system by catapulting 80,000-pound wheeled carts into the James River to ensure it could handle actual loaded aircraft.

An improvement on the Nimitz class' steam-powered catapult, the EMALS has a higher launch capacity, sending aircraft barreling down the 300-foot track at over 150 miles per hour.

The modernized catapult and arresting gear are also optimized for more accurate end-speed control, reducing stress on the aircraft.

Joining the Pacific Fleet

The Navy said the second-in-class carrier is now expected to be delivered in July 2025 to perform more work and prepare it for its first deployment in the Indo-Pacific.

The Navy said that assigning the Kennedy to the Pacific fleet would cut down the amount of time the carrier needed at the shipyard to identify any issues with the ship's systems, equipment, or performance.

Deploying the Kennedy to the Indo-Pacific is also intended to strengthen the US' naval presence in the region amid heightened tensions with China.

"Our adversaries are modernizing at speeds akin to the Germans and Japanese during the Interwar period — both in the physical and technological sense," US Fleet Forces Commander Adm. Daryl Caudle said in June 2024.

"Winning this competition means achieving an overmatch of our adversaries," he added. "That necessitates having a fleet of technologically advanced warships with the readiness and lethal capabilities to answer our nation's call at a moment's notice."

• TikTok shut down on Saturday night for its 170+ million US users.
• A message appears on TikTok indicating that the company is relying on Donald Trump to save the app.
• TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew recently thanked Trump for his "commitment to work with us."

TikTok stopped working on Saturday night.

And in its final message — for now — to its 170 million-plus US users, the app indicates who TikTok is relying on to save the platform: President Donald Trump.

"A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the US. Unfortunately that means you can't use TikTok for now," the message that popped up in the app on Saturday night said. "We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!"

Trump, set to take office on Monday, hasn't committed to a solution to save TikTok.

On Saturday, however, the president-elect told NBC News that he will "most likely" give TikTok a 90-day extension from the ban.

"I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at. The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it's appropriate. You know, it's appropriate. We have to look at it carefully. It's a very big situation," Trump told the outlet.

Spokespeople for TikTok and Trump did not respond to a request for comment.

In the days leading up to the ban, TikTok hasn't been shy about pointing fingers at who has and hasn't been helpful in the company's efforts to keep the app alive in the US.

On Friday, after the Biden administration said it was leaving the enforcement of the ban up to Trump, TikTok issued a statement saying "both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok's availability to over 170 million Americans."

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement on Friday that President Joe Biden's position was that TikTok should remain available to US users but under American ownership.

TikTok hasn't publicly expressed interest in selling the app despite interested investors.

The same day, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew praised Trump and thanked the president-elect "for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States."

That TikTok and its CEO are relying on Trump to save the app represents a 180-degree shift from just a few years ago, when Trump, in 2020, also wanted to ban the platform.

Trump's position on the ban changed on the campaign trail last year and the president-elect in December made a last-ditch effort to save the app by asking the Supreme Court to put a hold on the law.

On Saturday, before the app shut down, the Biden administration called TikTok's statement on going dark a "stunt" and that there was "no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump Administration takes office on Monday."

• TikTok has turned off its app for US users.
• The move comes after the company lost a legal challenge to a divest-or-ban law in the Supreme Court.
• The shutdown may not last forever, as TikTok hopes President-elect Donald Trump will step in.

TikTok shut down its app for its US users on Saturday, shortly before the January 19 deadline ordering the app to go dark.

The stoppage came after the company waged a monthslong legal battle against a law that required its Chinese owner, ByteDance, to divest from its US app or effectively cease operating in the country.

"Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now," a message popped up on the screen starting around 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time. "A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the US. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!"

The final blow for TikTok came on Friday when the Supreme Court ruled against the company's legal challenge. President Joe Biden's administration signaled on Friday that it would not enforce the ban. A spokesperson said that given the "sheer fact of timing, this administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next Administration, which takes office on Monday."

Still, a TikTok spokesperson said the same day it would need to go dark unless the Biden administration stepped in and offered assurances to its "most critical service providers" that the law would not be enforced.

The White House said Saturday that TikTok's threat to go dark was a "stunt."

While TikTok has shut its doors to its 170 million US users, the app will continue to operate elsewhere. The company said in 2021 that it had over 1 billion users globally.

Shortly after the Supreme Court ruling, the app's creators and users took to TikTok to mourn the loss and reflect on the end of an era.

"Losing the majority of my audience is a difficult reality to face, and while I'm doing everything I can to prepare, it's hard not to feel like I'm starting over," Sofia Bella, a TikTok creator with 4.8 million followers, told Business Insider.

TikTok's creators and business partners have had weeks to contemplate the prospect of a January 19 app shutdown. Many have crafted plans for transitioning off TikTok if the app disappeared forever, beginning with downloading all their videos.

Some influencer marketers put contingency plans in place to assure brands that creators would post sponsored content on other apps like Instagram if TikTok goes dark. TikTok Shop merchants and their partners began easing off the app in recent days, with some halting US warehouse shipments or pausing distributing free samples to TikTok creators. And marketers put together plans to shift spend to other platforms like Facebook, Instagram reels, and YouTube shorts.

Yet, even as users have spent days memorializing the app, posting nostalgic video round-ups, and begging fans to follow them on other platforms, it seems possible that TikTok could rise again.

While TikTok lost all of its legal challenges to the divest-or-ban law, it's now hoping that President-elect Donald Trump can find a political solution to keep its app around.

Trump told NBC on Saturday that he would "most likely" grant TikTok a 90-day extension to find a non-Chinese buyer for the platform.

"I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at. The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it's appropriate. You know, it's appropriate. We have to look at it carefully. It's a very big situation," Trump said, according to the outlet.

"If I decide to do that, I'll probably announce it on Monday," he added.

TikTok's CEO Shou Chew thanked the incoming president in a video on Friday for the "opportunity to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States."

Trump's options to rescue TikTok from the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act are limited, legal experts previously told Business Insider. The simplest option may be to help try to split off TikTok's US entity from the rest of the world, something TikTok's lawyer, Noel Francisco, told the Supreme Court would be "extraordinarily difficult" over any timeline.

Trump wrote in a social media post on Friday that he would make a decision on the app soon after reviewing the situation.

• I was hesitant to invite my in-laws on family vacations but I don't regret it.
• My children get to see a can-do, adventurous attitude modeled by their grandparents.
• Traveling together has many benefits, including shared memories and built-in babysitting.

Several years ago, my husband and I invited his parents to take an eight-day trip to Montana and Wyoming with us and our two children. I worried eight days could be too long to spend together in confined spaces, especially with a 4 and 9-year-old.

We went for it anyway.

My in-laws jumped at the opportunity to spend extended time with their grandkids. The trip had only minor hiccups — whining and little meltdowns from the children — but it went so smoothly that we've invited my in-laws on every family vacation since.

This year marked our 10th trip with the abuelitos (grandparents). Here's what we've learned.

Spending time together strengthens our bond

Riding for five- to 10-hour stints in an SUV has promoted heart-to-heart conversations with my mother-in-law about her family and childhood that I'm not sure we would have heard otherwise. Thanks to these long, uninterrupted hours, we know she grew up in a one-bedroom house in Mesa, Arizona, with five of her nine siblings, a backyard garden, and the chickens they raised to eat.

These trips have also revealed another side of my father-in-law. He's quiet by nature but my husband and I discovered he loves meeting new people. In a jacuzzi in Jackson Hole, we listened to him crack jokes and engage in small talk with other retirees. Outside of Mexico City, he befriended a man who grew up in the same region of Mexico as he did. The two shared tales of a Quinta (large estate) that housed exotic animals and the area's best watering holes.

Traveling together has forged a deeper understanding of each other and our roots. And although it's fun to reflect on the past, these trips also provide opportunities to create new narratives.

Our children build memories with their grandparents

"Remember that time we…" begins many of our conversations. It's one of the best parts of taking vacations together.

I'm glad we invited my in-laws on trips when the kids were young, even if whining and tantrums happened. If we'd waited for our kids to be a more "ideal age," my in-laws would have been older and some of those trips to far-off places may not have happened had we waited.

Sometimes my children pull out our travel albums and point to photos with their grandparents in front of a geyser or a historical site. These memories are priceless.

My husband and I enjoy introducing his parents to places and activities outside their comfort zone.

My husband and I have encouraged my in-laws to hike or crawl into caves with us. We've so often pushed them past their boundaries that my mother-in-law admits they start a walking regimen months before our trips to prepare for whatever nonsense I plan.

I love that they can count on us for an adventure, and I'm always impressed at their willing attitude.

My father-in-law's favorite part of our trip to Yellowstone was the 1.5-mile out-and-back hike to the Grand Prismatic Spring. With a gradual 105-foot climb, he huffed and puffed up that trail and nearly gave up until a couple older than passed him on the path, calling out, "You've got this!"

He said their words bolstered him and the Prismatic Spring view was worth the effort. Similarly, at the Teotihicuan Pyramids outside Mexico City, my mother-in-law found the steep, narrow climb nearly impossible. But she said the experience of standing on ancient stones and overlooking the plaza was unforgettable.

Unconsciously, but powerfully, my children's abuelitos are modeling a "can-do attitude" to them and that it's never too late to try new things and embrace adventure.

Besides the inward gains of traveling together, there are also practical benefits.

Traveling in a group is more economical

We always look for Airbnbs or hotels that accommodate a party of seven. We rent vans or SUVs, allowing us to split the cost of a rental vehicle, making one of the most expensive items on a travel budget more economical.

Admittedly, this works more in our favor than theirs, but I appreciate it when they also offer to split a meal with us or add one of the kid's meals to their tab. Meals out are expensive and their willingness to share some of that cost means our family can better afford travel.

Another practical aspect of traveling that benefits us is the free babysitting my husband and I receive.

Grandparents can be the best built-in babysitters

Traveling with three kids has its challenges.

On our last trip, my husband and I were so worn out from two long adventure days that we needed a reset.

"We'll take the kids this morning," my mother-in-law volunteered. "Go, have fun. Don't come back for five hours!"

Finally, my husband and I could relax and reconnect.

Family dynamics can differ — for some, traveling together may be unwise. But if you have extended family willing to adventure with you and you with them, invite them along. These trips might reward you with a trove of stories and photo albums while also deepening priceless ties with each other.

• Elon Musk wrote "Make Europe Great Again" in an X post on Saturday.
• Musk has used X to share support for far-right political parties in Europe.
• His remarks have drawn ire from political leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Elon Musk continues to champion right-wing politics in Europe.

Musk shared an X post on Saturday that invoked President-elect Donald Trump's world-famous campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again."

"From MAGA to MEGA: Make Europe Great Again!" the tech billionaire wrote.

In a separate post, Musk said, "So many people in Europe lack hope for the future or think Europe is 'bad' in some way. Pervasive pessimism. This will lead to the end of Europe. Therefore, it must change."

Representatives for Musk did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Musk has previously promoted right-wing political parties and agendas in Europe, including in a December 2024 op-ed in a prominent German newspaper. The op-ed called the Alternative for Germany party — or AfD — the "last spark of hope for this country."

"The AfD advocates a controlled immigration policy that gives priority to integration and the preservation of German culture and security. This is not about xenophobia, but about ensuring that Germany does not lose its identity in the pursuit of globalization," Musk wrote. "A nation must preserve its core values and cultural heritage to remain strong and united."

That same month, Musk called German Chancellor Olaf Scholz an "incompetent fool" on X and suggested he should resign.

Musk owns a Tesla Gigafactory near Berlin, which has been the source of local tension. Last year, a clash between police and protestors, who said the factory's expansion would deplete local forests and water resources, broke out.

Thomas Zittel, a politics professor at Goethe University Frankfurt, told Business Insider that Musk's "motivation to comment on German party politics may be driven by his own experiences during the construction" of the factory. He added that there was "probably too much bureaucracy and regulation for his taste."

"After all, he thinks in terms of disruption," Zittel said.

Musk has also waded into UK politics. Earlier this month, he advocated on X for the release of Tommy Robinson, a far-right English agitator. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, breached a court order not to repeat false claims about a refugee from Syria and was jailed last year. Robinson was sued for defamation over the claims.

Five days later, Musk shared a poll on X asking if America should "liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government."

Musk's comments have drawn criticism from political leaders across Europe.

Scholz responded to Musk's op-ed during an interview this month. "There are many people on social media who want to attract attention with strong slogans," he said. "The rule is: Don't feed the troll."

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer also discussed Musk during a speech without naming him this month. "Those who are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible are not interested in victims — they're interested in themselves," Starmer said.

• The forthcoming DOGE commission has been the talk of Washington in recent months.
• Just miles away, Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland is pushing his own government efficiency plans.
• Moore wants to save the state $50 million by weeding out waste.

President-elect Donald Trump's planned Department of Government Efficiency has been the talk of Washington, especially since Tesla CEO Elon Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy will co-lead the effort.

A perhaps less talked about but also significant government efficiency effort, however, is also taking shape not far from Capitol Hill.

Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland announced this month his state would launch an initiative to weed out waste. His goal: Find $50 million in savings for the current fiscal year.

Maryland faces a $3 billion budget gap. So Moore is proposing $2 billion in spending reductions to his $67.3 billion budget plan. An executive order that Moore signed earlier this month directs state agencies to identify cost savings and eliminate redundancies.

Moore told Business Insider in a recent interview that while he didn't know DOGE's full slate of proposals, he thinks they "should probably take a look" at what his administration is doing to boost government efficiency in Maryland.

"We're looking at everything from fleet management to how we're looking at IT consolidation to how we're looking at real estate," he said. "These items alone are going to save the state of Maryland tens of millions of dollars."

"DOGE should pay attention to what we're doing with our government modernization," he added.

Moore is a first-term Democrat leading one of the country's bluest strongholds, while the DOGE is a national GOP-led effort. When asked if more Democrats should embrace government efficiency efforts, Moore said voters are looking for results.

"If people are asking, 'Where's the future, and what should I look to for inspiration?' I would say, 'look at the states,'" he said. "The budget that I just proposed is giving a tax cut to nearly two-thirds of Marylanders — and 82% of the people in my state are either about to get a tax cut or have no change at all in their tax code."

Moore told BI his plan would cut corporate taxes and eliminate the inheritance tax. The plan would also create a 6.25% tax rate for single filers making at least $500,000 and a 6.5% tax rate for state residents who earn $1 million or more. Under the current tax code, single filers in Maryland who make over $250,000 have an income tax rate of 5.75%.

Similar to the optimism of DOGE's leaders, Moore believes his state's efforts can serve as a model for forthcoming efficiency efforts.

"We're doing a lot of things that people are paying attention to… and a lot of innovation that we're hoping for is actually happening within our state," he said. "I'm really proud that Maryland is helping to lead the charge on that."

• AI startup Perplexity bids to merge with TikTok's US business before potential shutdown.
• Perplexity was recently valued at $9 billion, a lot less than the estimated value of TikTok US.
• Perplexity backers include SoftBank and Nvidia, with $914 million in funding secured: PitchBook.

Hours before TikTok could go dark, AI startup Perplexity has put in a bid to merge with the platform's US business, according to a person familiar with the matter.

It's unclear how a startup of Perplexity's size could merge with an operation this huge. The startup was recently valued at $9 billion, while TikTok's US operations could be worth $40 billion to $50 billion, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives estimated earlier on Saturday.

"We now expect a slew of TikTok bids to come over the coming weeks from a host of larger tech players, private-equity, and other strategic names for this key social media platform," Ives wrote in a note to investors.

The person familiar with Perplexity's bid said the combined entity would include other institutional investors. This person declined to name these other investors, and asked not to be identified discussing private matters. CNBC reported the news earlier on Saturday.

A law passed by Congress and signed by President Biden last spring requires ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese owner, to sell the app's US operations by January 19 or be banned.

While Perplexity is relatively small compared to TikTok US, the startup does have large, deep-pocketed backers including SoftBank, Nvidia, and the venture capital firm IVP.

Perplexity has secured $914 million in funding to date, according to PitchBook data. In April, investors valued Perplexity at $1 billion. That figure soared to $9 billion in the newest round of funding, which closed in December.

The startup uses artificial intelligence to power a new type of search engine that responds to queries with a brief answers and annotations, instead of a list of links.

Correction: January 18, 2025 — An earlier version of this story misstated who besides Perplexity is involved in this bid.