• Growing up, I didn't think I'd change my last name when I got married.
• But when I came out as a lesbian and met my now-wife, I changed my mind.
• Rather than choosing one of our existing last names or hyphenating, we created something new.

Before I came out as a lesbian, I was sure I wouldn't adopt the last name of my future husband. I knew I was going to be a writer and felt that I wanted to have a name that I could build a brand around, and like many closeted lesbians, I was sure I wouldn't be getting married until well into my career and my 40s. Thankfully, I made a lot of realizations six years ago when I met my now-wife. It also meant I had to revisit my previous stance on name changes. Since I found my forever partner, I actually wanted us to be tied together in name and in life.

But choosing whose name to pick became more challenging as we stripped away traditional gender roles. I could have pushed for us to use my name if I really wanted to keep the name attached to my bylines, but again, since we weren't relying on heteronormative practices telling us what to do, giving Taryn my last name didn't feel very symbolic. It became a transformative choice to decide upon a new married name for ourselves and our future children.

We looked at other last names, but nothing felt quite right

One thing remained true: I am a writer, and my other half is an artist. We both needed a name that could represent us in our aspiring careers. It felt silly to go on a last-name generator website, but it seemed like a good start to find some different options and see if anything sparked inspiration. It gave us a list — Cooper, Gardner, Baker, Stewart — but none of these last names felt right with either or both of our names.

I started to feel like I was undergoing a small identity crisis. This name was going to define me for the rest of my life. At least with my maiden name, I had 25 years to get attached to it. I might not have picked it myself, but it was the only thing I had ever known.

We decided to create a new name for ourselves

But then there was this moment where Taryn and I thought about creating a new name that tied us to our past and future. We tried different ways of combining our names phonetically. My last name was Ruffino, and hers was Smith. What we got was Suffino. It was the easiest combination that felt good on the ears. I looked up the name, and it had no origins at all. It also didn't quite look right to us, like a cheesy ship name.

That's when I really got to work researching different prefixes and suffixes. I knew "ino" from my last name meant little. When I looked at other ways to get that same "suff" or "saff" sound, I was reminded of the word sapphire, which also happened to be the stones we chose for our engagement rings.

Not to totally geek out, but the root origin of the word sapphire comes from the Greek word sappheiros, which means "blue gemstone." If we spelled our name Sapphino, we would get the meaning "little blue."

Another hidden meaning in the name is the origin of sapphic. Yes, the word that relates to lesbians. Sappho was the name of a famous Greek poet who wrote about her love of women. Long story short, our name can also be interpreted as "little lesbian" (my personal favorite).

And thus, the Sapphinos were born. It didn't take long to get used to at all. It felt right and the perfect way to share our identity with each other and the world. I'm just as excited to see where the name Kylie Sapphino takes me as I am to pass it down to my own family, knowing that it has such a special meaning to us and our story.

• Having a third child brought unexpected challenges and joys to our family life.
• Parenting each child requires unique approaches, as no two children are the same.
• Balancing time with a partner becomes challenging, requiring conscious effort to connect.

Becoming a parent is one of the most insane transitions in life. One day you're worrying about feeding and bathing yourself and the next your feeding and bathing responsibilities have doubled. As it goes, the more children you have, the more responsibilities you accrue. By the time my husband and I were settled in with two daughters, 2 years and 8 months apart, we felt our plates were full and our family was complete. But then the pandemic happened and we decided to have a third.

After the arrival of our third daughter, I discovered an assemblage of unexpected surprises — many of which caught me off guard, even as an experienced parent. At first it was more noise and a messier house. The washing machine literally never rests and the floors are always covered in crumbs. But then, there was more. Here are seven ways having a third child changed our lives in ways we didn't expect — some good, some a little tricky.

Experience means nothing

Even if you already have children, nothing will prepare you for the new newborn phase — especially after a five-year hiatus. I remember thinking the first few months would be like riding a bike; I would hop on the momcycle and take off without any wobbling. However, the way a newborn cries, eats, sleeps, poops, blinks will never be the same as your previous babies. Parents have to learn a whole new language of baby communication with each child. And it doesn't get easier; while newborns are a mystery, toddlers all seem to be a mystical unsolvable puzzle, too. Every child is unique, and parenting them will be unique, too.

You will be overstimulated

Have you ever tried making scrambled eggs while breastfeeding a newborn, quizzing an 8-year-old on their spelling words and watching a 10-year-old practice her ballet turns at the same time? That is what life with three is like on many days in our household.

Every child will need a new parenting style

My oldest never played in the bathroom. The second liked to throw things in the toilet. The third? Let's just say she knows exactly what toilet water tastes like.

Our youngest daughter is the most active, most curious, and the fastest child we have ever made. She doesn't subscribe to time out and she questions the majority of our rules (especially when it doesn't apply to her older sisters). Let it be known, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to parenting multiple children.

You and your partner may not see one another as much

It's all hands on deck with three kids in the house — and sometimes that means everyone is doing different things in different places. I never anticipated how little I would see my husband once our third was born. But once she was here, I finally understood how parents can say they start to feel more like roommates rather than a couple. Three children mean three different sets of appointments, extracurriculars, bathtimes, and bedtimes. To combat this, my husband and I have to make a conscious effort to schedule time to talk, let alone hang out without an offspring present.

You don't have to be the perfect mom

I really wish someone told me mom-perfection is pointless when I was pregnant the first time around. Perhaps it would have spared me the silly thought that I could try to "get it right" with my third. The truth is the best moms don't get it right. Mistakes are normal when you're a parent. If you set the bar too high with unattainable goals and expectations, you'll ultimately feel horrible every time you don't meet them. Instead of being perfect, just be regular — be loving, be funny, show your kids you're human with real feelings and admit that you sometimes make mistakes. In the end, as long as you don't give up, you'll be the best mom no matter what.

Lower your expectations, then lower them again

When I had just one or two kids, I was able to be on time for parties with a perfectly wrapped gift or warm delicious appetizer in hand. My girls were by my side, dressed in clean clothes with matching socks and a bow. Nowadays, I am lucky if I remember to change out of my slippers before I leave the house. And you know what — it's fine. You get used to things not being exactly how you used to like them and learn quickly that having low expectations is the way to live. After all, having low expectations isn't such a bad thing. Your family and friends will forgive you for being late and accept the chaos (as they're probably in a state of chaos on their own).

Your heart may feel like it's going to explode

I'm not talking from stress — I'm referring to the overwhelming sense of love, pride, and joy you will experience when you see your three children together.

I don't recall when I had the epiphany that having a third child is worth every challenge and bump in the road — but it happened. One day I looked around and knew I was right where I am supposed to be. Even though you feel three times as exhausted and three times as busy when you have your third child, you will also undoubtedly feel three times in love.

• Walgreens' CEO said the company is taking "creative" steps to address shoplifting and shrink.
• While anti-theft measures can be effective, they can also hurt a store's sales, CEO Tim Wentworth said.
• The pharmacy chain is in the midst of a multi-year turnaround effort to revive its retail business.

When it comes to its retail business, Walgreens faces a tradeoff when it comes to locking up items behind anti-shoplifting displays.

The Illinois-based pharmacy chain has long been one of the more vocal companies raising concerns about shoplifting in its stores — and its CEO said that the challenges continue.

In prior quarterly earnings calls, Walgreens executives mentioned "higher shrink" — or missing inventory — as a drag on profitability.

While the term didn't garner a mention in prepared remarks for Walgreens' fiscal first-quarter earnings call on Friday, CEO Tim Wentworth said in a call with analysts that the work to minimize shoplifting "is a hand-to-hand combat battle still, unfortunately."

The CEO also said the company's asset protection team is taking "creative" steps to address the issue in an effort to better avoid negative customer experiences.

"When you lock things up, for example, you don't sell as many of them," he said. "We've kind of proven that pretty conclusively."

Other companies are exploring additional ways to combat retail theft.

Walmart, for example, is testing technology with employees that allows them to use an app to unlock items protected behind anti-shoplifting displays. The retail giant is also piloting body cameras for front-line store workers at some Texas locations. T.J. Maxx has implemented body cameras for some employees as well.

Meanwhile, Walgreens is in the midst of a multi-year turnaround effort to revive its retail business.

American drugstores in general are in a tough spot as customers increasingly turn to options that have lower prices, better choices, and more convenience.

With Walgreens continuing to close underperforming stores and reinvest in successful locations, Wentworth said the company is testing out new systems to improve the in-store customer experience, like a digital check-in for prescription pick-up.

The CEO said the company is working on "getting to the right number of stores so that we can invest in them properly for the customer experience that needs to be — frankly, in too many of our stores — improved."

Walgreens delivered a big earnings beat on Friday, and its stock closed up over 27%.

Wentworth said the results reflect the company's "disciplined execution."

"While our turnaround will take time, our early progress reinforces our belief in a sustainable, retail pharmacy-led operating model," he said.

• Fight attendant salaries vary widely depending on seniority and number of hours worked.
• American Airlines pays the highest hourly rates for flight attendants, though pay at the Big 3 is fairly similar.
• United Airlines' flight attendant pay has been the same since 2021 as they negotiate a new contract.

Flight attendants at American, Delta, and United don't make nearly as much as their pilot colleagues, but the highest-paid cabin crew can take home a base salary of more than $70,000 a year — with some making six figures.

But the job is a far cry from your typical 9-5. It takes years of working grueling schedules and meeting high customer service and safety standards to reach the upper echelons of seniority at the US' Big 3 airlines.

Flight attendants are paid a base hourly rate, plus a per diem bonus if they are away from the airport where they are based. Some are paid for boarding. They can also earn more money by working holidays, flying at night, or holding a specialized position. Airlines also typically pay profit-sharing bonuses.

Pay increases with each year of service up to the 13th year.

Most flight attendants are guaranteed a monthly minimum, which varies by airline — meaning they will be paid for at least a certain number of hours each month whether or not they fly it, minus certain circumstances. Many work more than the guarantee.

Pay scales obtained and verified by Business Insider show American offers the highest hourly rates, followed closely by Delta. United's pay rates have been frozen since 2021 as the airline and union negotiate a new contract.

American Airlines

• First-year: $35.82
• 13th-year: $82.24

American offers the highest hourly rates thanks to a new contract ratified in September with the Association of Professional Flight Attendants.

The deal, which took five years of negotiations partly due to the pandemic, increased pay by up to 20.5% at the date of signing. First-years start at about $36 an hour, while 13-year flight attendants make about $82 an hour.

American guarantees 71 hours of pay a month for those with a pre-planned "line" schedule. "Reserve" crew, or those on call, have a minimum of 75 hours.

This translates to at least $30,500 for first-year crew and $70,000 for thirteen-year veterans before taxes and other earnings.

As part of the new contract, pay will increase in October 2025 and again each year through 2029. By then, hourly rates will increase to a starting base pay of about $40 per hour

American added boarding pay to its latest contract at 50% of a flight attendant's hourly rate, which is expected to go into effect in March. This will further up the cabin crew's annual salary. Historically, crew were not paid for boarding time.

American has historically not paid a high profit-sharing bonus. In 2023, it was just 1.1%. The new contract increased that profit-sharing formula to match Delta's, but the final amount will depend on American's year-end earnings. For 2023, the airline was the least profitable of the Big 3.

Delta Air Lines

• First-year: $35.50
• 13th-year: $79.80

Delta's flight attendants are not unionized. Their most recent pay bump was in June, which increased cabin crew salaries by about 5%.

First-year Delta flight attendants earn a base pay of $35.50 an hour, while 13-year crew members earn about $80 an hour.

Like American, Delta cabin crew get boarding pay equal to half of their hourly rate. In 2022, Delta became the first major US airline to offer the extra pay.

Flight attendant salaries at Delta vary based on hours worked a month and there is no contractual minimum.

Some Delta flight attendants who are trying to unionize say the lack of guaranteed hours could lead to lower pay than competitors.

A Delta spokesperson said flight attendants typically get 80 hours a month. This means first-year and 13-year flight attendants earn about $34,000 and $76,600 annually, before taxes and other earnings.

He added cabin crew can earn up to $1,200 extra annually for meeting monthly operating metrics.

Delta also consistently distributes the highest annual profit-sharing. It paid $1.4 billion to employees in 2023, which amounted to a bonus of 10.4% of employees' eligible earnings.

United Airlines

• First-year: $28.88
• 13th-year: $67.11

United has the lowest first-year base pay at about $29 an hour. Thirteen-year flight attendants make about $67 an hour.

United guarantees 71 hours of pay a month for those with a line schedule, while a reserve crew member gets a minimum of 78 hours. United does not currently offer boarding pay.

That amounts to United first-years making at least $24,600 a year and 13-year flight attendants making at least $57,000 annually before taxes and other earnings.

Failed negotiations between United and its labor union, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, have prevented pay increases, which is why the airline's wages are comparatively lower. Mediation of a new contract has been paused until at least early this year, so United cabin crew are still being paid 2021 rates.

A United spokesperson told BI half of the airline's cabin crew are at the top of the seniority pay scale, with average annual pay in that group hitting nearly $80,000.

That likely accounts for hours worked above the guarantee, as United said the crews have flexible schedules and can work when they want, or other ways to earn extra pay.

United said it has proposed a 22.5% raise and new boarding pay, among other offerings, as part of its contract negotiations.

The union told BI it wants industry-leading pay and better work rules and scheduling.

Despite lower comparative base pay, United flight attendants have earned high profit-sharing bonuses. In 2023, that was about 9.2% of their eligible annual salary.

Other ways flight attendants earn money

Extra pay opportunities can add tens of thousands of dollars to flight attendants' base rates and put the most senior crew members well into the six figures.

This includes working overtime, flying on holidays or during nighttime, or if they hold a skilled position. Airlines also offer flight attendants free flights for personal use as part of their employment benefits.

Skilled positions can include being the in-charge "lead" or purser, working in the galley, or speaking a second language. The premium pay ranges from $1 to $7.50 extra per hour, depending on the aircraft and whether the flight is domestic or international.

Flight attendants also get per diem pay, typically $2 to $4 for each hour on duty away from home, to cover work-related expenses like meals, laundry, and transportation.

Senior flight attendants can gross $100,000 or more annually, depending on how many hours they work. Premium and special skills pay help boost that. They can fly more hours by bidding for more than their monthly minimum or picking up trips dropped by other crew members.

Dr. Liz O'Riordan wants people to know that there is no "magic fix" and no special diet that will cure cancer, despite many of the online claims out there.

People are saying "I do" later in life — and now, more say they'll never tie the knot.

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The big picture: The median age of those getting married for the first time was nearly 30 in 2023, up two years from 2010, according to census data.

• Compare that to 1950, when the median age was around 22, per the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey.

State of play: D.C., New York and California residents are the oldest at their first marriage, at around 31, while Utah, Idaho and West Virginia residents are the youngest, at around 27, recent data shows.

Stephen Miller, President-elect Trump's deputy chief of staff, is asserting himself as the key player in the White House's plan to pass Trump's sweeping agenda through Congress.   Why it matters: Trump trusts Miller implicitly, as does incoming Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, with whom Miller worked hand-in-glove on the campaign.

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• Miller has become instrumental as Senate GOP leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) haggle over how to pass MAGA priorities, fast.
• Miller also gets Congress: While he initially called for a two-bill approach to immigration and tax reform, he has not publicly voiced his preference since Trump indicated he wants one "big beautiful bill."
• But Miller's allies inside Trumpland, not to mention senators and lawmakers, know that his top priority is immigration.

Zoom in: In a sign of the kind of power he wields, Miller presented alongside Trump during Wednesday's meeting with senators.

• Miller used the opportunity to provide a detailed plan of attack for Trump's first 100 executive orders, as Axios scooped.
• "Senators know that he's not just speaking faithfully to what the Trump Team wants, but he's offering counsel on how to enact the policies that we care about," said Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton.

Also in the meeting were Wiles, incoming deputy chief of staff James Blair and James Braid, Trump's incoming director of the Office of Legislative Affairs.

• While Miller talks policy, Braid — who previously served as Vice President-elect Vance's deputy staff chief in the Senate — and Blair will be taking over the process of getting the legislation passed.

Between the lines: Miller is one of the few Trump II officials who served in Trump I, and he served all four years, which was a rarity.

• He has frontline experience in the Senate, where he served as a top adviser to former Sen. Jeff Sessions.
• "It seems very clear that if you want to get a piece of legislation done, you got to work with Stephen Miller," a top adviser to a GOP senator told Axios.

What we're hearing:  Miller's allies — and even his enemies on the left — say that he derives much of his power from his deep understanding of immigration and the border.

• "No one knows more than Stephen on this," one Trump adviser told Axios.
• "Stephen is the Swiss Army knife for Trump: He does the policy, the politics and the media," a Trump insider told Axios.
• Miller is previewing his tactical plans to stem illegal immigration: "We are going to use the Defense Department to secure the border of our country," he told Newsmax.
• Miller did not respond to a request for comment.

Insiders say Miller, 39, has improved his bedside manner from Trump's first term, when he rubbed some staffers and Hill leaders the wrong way.

• "In the past, he would just bull rush to get his way and he didn't care what enemies he made," said a third Trump adviser.
• "Now he works the sh--t out of everybody. ... Yeah, he has the ear of the president, but now he gets allies so that he can just have surround sound."

The intrigue: Senators frequently discuss what they have heard from Miller on reconciliation strategy — more than any other Trump team member, a senior Hill aide told Axios.

• Miller is also discussing Trump's tax and foreign policy with lawmakers.

Zoom out: With inauguration 10 days away, House and Senate Republicans are locked in a staring contest over a tactical question that has consumed Congress: one or two bills.

• Trump seems content to let them fight it out. The House and Senate are basically pursuing two parallel tracks, racing for a finish line neither side can define.

The bottom line: Miller is seen by many as not just Trump's man on the Hill, but one of the most influential figures in Washington.

• "Stephen right now looks like he'll be the most powerful unelected man in the White House," said another Trump adviser, who added that "Susie Wiles is the most powerful Trump appointee, and Stephen knows that and she's happy to let him do his thing."

• The growing population of older Americans is facing unaffordable long-term care.
• These costs will also burden many younger people caring for older relatives and kin.
• Government incentives and public insurance could help address care affordability, experts say.

As the population of older Americans balloons, the financial costs associated with aging are, too.

Many millennials and Gen Xers are facing a stark reality: their parents and grandparents don't have the means to pay for long-term care — and they'll need to help foot the bill, especially since government aid often doesn't cover large parts of this care.

Many younger people end up leaving their jobs or working less in order to care for their aging family members — and that sacrifice can hurt them financially both today and in the future, including by shrinking their income and Social Security benefits, experts say.

"The bigger issue is you can create almost a cycle of poverty," Marc Cohen, a professor of gerontology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, told Business Insider. "It's not something that just sticks with one generation. The costs are borne communally."

Unprepared for a predictable crisis

Much like other forms of care — from emergency rooms to daycares — the labor and facilities needed for long-term care don't come cheap. A shortage of long-term care workers, coupled with inflation, has sent prices up in recent years. As the oldest members of the baby boomer generation near 80, the demand for these services is expected to rise sharply — putting upward pressure on costs.

Privately-provided long-term care — including assisted living communities and home healthcare — is largely out of reach for the broad middle class. Fewer than 15% of people 75 and over living alone in major US cities could afford to pay for assisted living or daily home health aide visits without dipping into their assets, per a 2023 report from Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.

"It's the affordability issue, particularly in the middle market, that concerns us the most," Lisa McCracken, head of research and analytics at the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care told Business Insider.

Retirees and their families may not be able to rely on the government to help. Medicare, the government's health insurance program for older people, doesn't cover most long-term care, including assisted living, home healthcare, and nursing homes. Medicaid largely doesn't cover assisted living and home healthcare, and there are often long waitlists for the nursing home care it does cover. Some assisted living residents have been evicted after they spent down their savings and were forced to rely on Medicaid.

"A lot of people thought, 'Oh, well, doesn't Medicare pay for this?' and it does not," Cohen said. "And so people find out late in life that they don't have any protection against these costs."

That's what happened to Erika Gilles and her family. After Gilles' 78-year-old mother, Karen Proctor, was hospitalized for her chronic kidney disease last year, she quickly realized her mother's Medicare coverage wouldn't be enough to cover her long-term care. Overnight, her mother went from living independently in the house she's long owned to requiring dialysis treatment and constant care. But Gilles couldn't purchase private long-term care insurance because of her mother's pre-existing conditions.

Gilles, 57, found a group assisted living facility for her mother, who applied for a state subsidy to help cover the cost. If the subsidy doesn't come through, Gilles is worried they'll have to sell her mother's house in Sun City, Arizona.

"It's totally turned my life upside down. It's absorbed all of my time," Gilles said. "I don't think I'm ever going to retire."

It's not just a boomer problem

Gen X, many of whom are sandwiched between caring for their aging parents and dependent children, has fallen behind in their financial savings. A study conducted by Nationwide showed that 56% of Gen Xers were financially supporting either their parents or their kids. About a fifth of Gen Xers taking care of a parent said they had a significant amount of debt, and a similar portion said they were unable to save for retirement, the study found.

The number of US adults who care for a spouse, older parent or relative, or child with special needs has grown from 43.5 million in 2015 to 53 million in 2021, per a report from the insurance provider Guardian.

A separate survey of 35- to 60-year-olds conducted by Carewell found that 75% of those taking care of both a parent and a child said they struggled to save for retirement, while 63% said they lived paycheck to paycheck. Meanwhile, adult caregivers provided around $600 billion worth of unpaid labor last year, noted a separate report from the AARP.

Brandon Goldstein, a financial planner at Prudential, said he frequently works with clients struggling to care for their parents as they get older. In some cases, his clients are experiencing financial stress as a result of caretaking and have been forced to cut back on saving.

Some of them may need to bank on their own children taking care of them in the future, he suggested, given how much they've sacrificed in their own retirement savings.

"Having to reduce what you put towards retirement is going to put you in a situation where you might not have assets now, and you could — I don't want to call it a burden — but you might become this responsibility if you don't have assets to cover a facility," he told BI, adding that some may need to consider working for longer than they originally expected.

Ultimately, through ballooning Medicaid costs, taxpayers may be on the hook for the growing long-term care crisis. An increasing number of older people don't have kids or spouses to take care of them as they age, and those that end up needing long-term care may have to rely on Medicaid. About a fifth of baby boomer women don't have any children, and those who do have kids have fewer, on average, than previous generations.

A government-aided solution for long-term care?

Cohen argues that the private long-term insurance market is suffering from "a clear market failure" and policymakers need to step in to create a public option for middle-income people and their families.

McCracken said that in order to scale some of the most effective models of assisted living and other long-term care, private providers will need more government incentives and partnerships.

Cohen argued that public long-term care insurance would work well if most people paid into it because a relatively small number of older people require the most expensive care, like 24/7 nursing.

That option could resemble an earned benefit, like Social Security and Medicare, funded by a mandatory tax that people pay throughout their lives and collect when they retire. Rep. Tom Suozzi, a New York Democrat, has proposed legislation that would create a public insurance program for catastrophic long-term care funded by a payroll tax.

Some states have begun to address the issue. Washington State recently passed a 0.6% payroll tax to fund a new universal long-term care insurance program called WA Cares, which provides $36,500 in care per person, and will increase with inflation in future years.

Gilles said she wants to see the government or care providers figure out a way to lower costs.

"They've got to provide more support to families going through this," she said. "They've got to either make it more affordable, or they need to provide more resources, or not make it so expensive so that it's attainable for anybody at any income level."

Are you or someone you care for struggling with long-term care costs? Email this reporter to share your story: [email protected].

• Apple has yet to capitalize on the initial hype of Apple Intelligence.
• Analysts have adjusted their expectations of a "super cycle upgrade " for iPhones.
• This month, Apple will report its first earnings since launching Apple Intelligence.

Apple bet big on Apple Intelligence, but the iPhone upgrade cycle that some analysts predicted it would spark doesn't look like it's happened yet.

Apple introduced its AI venture in June last year during its Worldwide Developers Conference, and Apple Intelligence launched to eligible iPhones in October. Its availability is limited to iPhone 15 Pro models or later, which Wedbush analyst Dan Ives had said could drive a "golden upgrade cycle" among iPhone holders — and which would be a big sales boon for Apple.

Yet the tech giant got a rare downgrade to "sell" on Tuesday. Craig Moffett, senior analyst at MoffettNathanson, said the move was partly due to a lack of consumer excitement around AI, according to Bloomberg.

"Not only have we not seen any sign of an upgrade cycle, something that would be concerning enough on its own, but we have seen growing evidence that consumers are unmoved by AI functionality," Moffett said.

Apple had touted the iPhone 16, which went on sale in September, as the first iPhone built from the ground up for AI. William Kerwin, tech analyst at Morningstar, previously told BI that AI was Apple's "biggest story" of 2024.

Although there was a lot of hype around Apple Intelligence when it was first announced, analysts have had to adjust their expectations.

"The initial excitement from the announcement" has moved to "actually becoming expectations for a tepid growth cycle in the first year, and more aggressive expectations for year two," Morningstar's Kerwin said.

Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst in Taiwan known for his Apple predictions, wrote in a blog post that the iPhone 16 series sold about 37 million units during its first preorder weekend — a 12.7% drop year-over-year from the iPhone 15's release weekend, according to Kuo.

Wall Street was bullish on Apple stock following WWDC's AI announcements, but the full capabilities of Apple Intelligence are yet to come.

Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, told BI that the upgrade super cycle isn't completely off the table, but it may not happen in 2025.

Munster said he believes Apple Intelligence will "play a big role" in a super cycle that could take place in the last half of fiscal 2025 or in fiscal 2026.

"They still haven't put all the pieces in place yet," Munster said.

He added that there's "a lot of work to do" to get to a super cycle of iPhone upgrades.

Its fiscal fourth-quarter 2024 earnings period ended less than two weeks after the iPhone 16 came out, so it was too early to tell how revenue would be impacted by Apple Intelligence. Still, investors will get a better view with it reports Q1 2025 data on January 30.

• Ukraine added a modern German combat vehicle to its arsenal, poised to enhance its ground strategy.
• German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall delivered the first KF41 Lynx fighting vehicle late last year.
• The KF41 will undergo testing with hopes of starting domestic mass production of the IFV in Ukraine.

Ukraine received its first high-tech combat vehicle for testing and is expected to strengthen the country's frontline strategy and boost its defense industry.

Produced by the largest German arms manufacturer, Rheinmetall, the KF41 Lynx infantry fighting vehicle has a modular design that allows it to adapt to a range of combat scenarios, including command and control, reconnaissance, and medical evacuation.

Considered one of the most advanced IFVs in the world, the Lynx is known for its scalable protection, firepower, and high mobility, all while prioritizing its compatibility with future upgrades to adapt to modern combat.

The first Lynx vehicles delivered to Ukraine will be used to determine what modules may be needed — they can carry drones, electronic warfare systems, or anti-tank missiles — and then prepare a bigger order.

• After months of delays, Donald Trump was sentenced Friday in his hush-money case.
• Now that his felony status is finalized, he can appeal the conviction and the prosecution itself.
• In the meantime, the liquor licenses at two of his New Jersey golf clubs could be revoked.

Donald Trump received no punishment for the 34-count conviction handed down by a jury in his New York hush-money case.

The president-elect's sentencing, though, finalizes his status as a felon, heralding a new chapter of legal proceedings.

Trump, who is scheduled to be sworn in as president again on January 20, can now begin an appeal of his criminal conviction.

In the meantime, his business interests could face legal challenges, and the liquor licenses at his New Jersey golf resorts could be revoked.

Here's what comes next now that Trump is the first president in US history with a felony sentence on his record.

Trump's liquor licenses

The liquor licenses for two of Trump's New Jersey golf courses, the Trump National Golf Club in Colts Neck and the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, may be in jeopardy.

"With the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) will proceed in determining whether President-elect Trump is qualified to continue to hold an interest in the licenses," said a spokeswoman for the New Jersey attorney general's office, of which the ABC is a division.

This past summer, New Jersey's Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control set and then postponed a liquor-license-revocation hearing for the two clubs, saying it was waiting for Trump's sentencing to be finalized.

Since then, both clubs have been operating with interim licenses that expire in February. Those licenses have remained in effect, "allowing the facilities to continue serving alcohol until a hearing on the renewals is held," the spokesperson said Wednesday.

Trump has a third New Jersey club in Pine Hill, the Trump National Golf Club Philadelphia. Its liquor license is up for renewal by borough authorities in June. Borough officials did not respond to a request for comment on their plans for that license.

The liquor licenses for all three New Jersey clubs are in Donald Trump Jr.'s name — but that does not protect them from Trump's new status as an adjudicated felon, New Jersey officials said.

State law requires revocation if anyone who either holds or is the primary beneficiary of a liquor license has a finalized felony conviction.

The AG spokesperson said this week that the agency's previous review, which found Trump benefits from the licenses, has not changed.

"There has been no change to ABC's review that indicates that the president-elect maintains a direct beneficial interest in the three liquor licenses through the receipt of revenues and profits from them, as the sole beneficiary of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust," the AG spokesperson said this week.

A criminal appeal

Trump can now appeal his indictment and conviction to New York's Appellate Division, which serves as a first-tier appellate court in the state.

If that fails, he could file with the New York State Court of Appeals, the state's highest court.

If the state courts uphold his conviction, Trump could ask the US Supreme Court to overturn it.

The Supreme Court ruled by a narrow 5-4 margin to allow Trump's sentencing to proceed Friday.

Two of the Republican-appointed justices, John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett, sided with the Democratic appointees to allow the hearing to happen.

In post-trial legal arguments, Trump's lawyers have cited a July Supreme Court decision that found a president is immune from criminal prosecution. The ruling offers broad immunity, so evidence involving a president's "official acts" cannot be used in a prosecution, even for nonofficial actions.

The Justice Department frequently intervenes on behalf of members of the executive branch to argue that its members are immune from certain kinds of civil lawsuits.

The department could do the same for Trump as he appeals his criminal case, Michel Paradis, a professor of constitutional law at Columbia University, told Business Insider.

"They would basically file a motion in the Appellate Division to assert the interests of the United States, which would entitle them to file a brief and argue," Paradis told BI.

Trump has nominated Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, the lead lawyers in his Manhattan criminal case, to serve in top roles in the Justice Department for his second term.

Trump has also named John Sauer — who successfully argued the criminal immunity case on his behalf last year — as his pick for solicitor general, who presents arguments before the Supreme Court.

Other legal issues

The two federal criminal cases against Trump — over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and for taking government documents with him to Mar-a-Lago post-presidency — were dismissed after Trump won reelection in November.

He still faces an array of civil lawsuits stemming from his actions during the January 6, 2021, riot, but those will likely continue to move slowly through the courts.

A fourth criminal case, in Atlanta, over Trump's efforts to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results, has been mired in delays. The case is effectively frozen as Fani Willis, the district attorney who brought the indictment against Trump and more than a dozen codefendants, appeals a decision to have her removed from the case over an inappropriate relationship with its special prosecutor.

The greatest consequences for Trump may be the judgments against him in civil cases brought by the New York Attorney General's office and by the writer E. Jean Carroll.

In February, a New York judge found Trump and his companies liable for fraud, ordering them to pay penalties that, with interest, have ballooned to nearly a half-billion dollars. An appeal of that case is pending.

Two juries have ordered Trump to pay a total of nearly $90 million after he was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll. Those cases, too, are being appealed.

• Ukraine launched a risky attack on Russia last year, seizing swathes of territory in Kursk.
• Ukraine was able to go on offense and seize the initiative, but the impact hasn't been felt at home.
• Warfare experts said the move was likely worthwhile, but it remains to be seen if that holds true.

Ukraine's ambitious advance into Russia's Kursk region last summer was a tremendous risk.

Whether the gamble was ultimately worth it is something that military historians are likely to long debate. For Ukraine, there have been some signs it could double down with a new offensive.

There have been costs, but the Kursk assault offered the Ukrainians a chance to break from the slow, brutal, and grinding defensive situation at home and go on offense, as well as divert Russian resources. And there is still the possibility this helps Kyiv in potential peace talks.

"It's hard to say until everything plays out, but I would still say it was a good move," Mark Cancian, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said of Ukraine's actions in Kursk in recent months.

Ukraine's Kursk operation was a chance to change the status quo

Ukraine's Kursk operation was a surprise to war watchers, Ukraine's international partners, the Russian soldiers defending the country's borders, and even many of Kyiv's own troops.

Ukraine said that it was trying to create a buffer zone, strain Russian combat resources, and secure land and prisoners for negotiations with Moscow.

Ukraine was also likely aiming to boost the morale of its tired forces, as well as signal strength to Western nations that may have been growing weary of providing support.

The advance also gave it a shot at seizing the initiative and taking the fight onto Russian soil. Seizing the initiative has long been understood to be key to winning wars.

Without it, like in chess, "you're constantly on the defensive, your adversary boxing you into a corner," George Barros, a warfare expert at the Institute for the Study of War, said.

There's a risk of sooner or later being left with "a series of bad decisions that you'd rather not make," he said. Letting your adversary hold the initiative in a war is "how you end up losing."

Ukraine also proved it had more cards to play in this war.

Col. Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former commander for the UK's Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear forces, highlighted Ukraine's use of drones and effective Ukrainian employment of armored maneuver warfare.

But those maneuvers were costly.

Reported tank losses suggest fighting in Kursk "has chewed up a fairly large portion" of Ukrainian armor assets from Western partner nations, said Matthew Savill, a former intelligence analyst at the UK Ministry of Defence who is now a military-strategy expert at the Royal United Services Institute.

That limits Ukraine's flexibility and the ability to surge forces elsewhere.

There's no guarantee, though, Ukraine would have been able to effectively employ the tanks back on its own soil, where the intense fighting and dense drone coverage have limited their use. Michael Bohnert, a warfare expert at the RAND Corporation, said that taking the tanks to Kursk may have been the most optimal way to use them.

The Ukrainian army was trying to relieve pressure on the front

Russian President Vladimir Putin's initial response was slow, and he didn't turn to the military for a fix, instead relying on a mix of other security groups. As Russia eventually stepped up its efforts to dislodge the assaulting Ukrainian troops, thousands of North Korean troops arrived to fight for Russia.

Russia's delayed, and irregular, reaction meant Ukraine could seize more territory and prepare better defenses, but it also meant that hopes of drawing a significant number of Russian troops away from the Ukrainian front lines were not fully realized.

Russia did not have to dramatically soften its efforts in Ukraine in response to Kursk, and its army has been grinding forward, advancing throughout the fall.

And Ukraine had to pull troops from the front lines at home for Kursk, potentially complicating its own defense. It remains unclear whether it was better for Ukraine to move its forces into Kursk or defend the lines at home.

But there were some good effects for Ukraine on its own soil.

"Ukrainian moves "fundamentally disrupted the Russian combat plans," Barros said, "because the forces and the plans that presuppose their availability were then consumed and taken by the newly imposed requirement for defending Kursk and repelling the Ukrainians from Kursk."

The head of Ukraine's armed forces said in December he had "no choice" but to assault Kursk, arguing he needed to reduce pressure on the fronts in Ukraine and stop Russia from opening a new front in Ukraine's Sumy region.

He said that it reduced the intensity of Russia's attacks across Ukraine, except at Pokrovsk and Kurakhove, areas where the Russians are advancing.

It's been a tough fight for Ukraine to hold ground inside Russia

Much less information is coming out of Kursk than from the fighting inside Ukraine, but Russia's losses have soared since August, per UK intelligence citing the Ukrainian military. Ukraine says that Russia has lost over 38,000 troops and more than 1,000 pieces of equipment in Kursk.

Bohnert said Kursk had been "very costly from the Russian perspective." He said that the losses Russia appears to be accepting there are surprising.

But Russia has been increasingly demonstrating it's willing to tolerate high losses, grinding away at Ukraine with its larger army in a war of attrition.

Ukraine, at the peak of the incursion into Russia, held about 500 square miles of territory in Kursk. But Russia appears to have taken back around half of that, and it's not clear what Ukraine's latest actions there may achieve.

Warfare experts told BI that the Ukrainians may have given up at least some of that willingly, less chained to holding every inch of territory than in their own country. De Bretton-Gordon said Ukraine still holds significant territory, which could prove helpful for the country if the war's end depends on negotiations — something for which president-elect Donald Trump has pushed.

"Whoever holds Kursk probably come the new year is going to be in the box seat for any ceasefire negotiations," said de Bretton-Gordon, adding that he largely views Ukraine's decision to advance into Russia's Kurks to be a "positive."

Beyond serving as a bargaining chip, Kursk also helped to dispel the idea the war was hopelessly stalemated. It also showed that surprise and big gains were possible for Ukraine.

"If enough Western officials and politicians believe that it's hopelessly stalemated, it can't change, then their appetite to continue supporting Ukraine will be destroyed over time. That is the Russian strategy in its entirety," Barros said.

Though some Western nations eventually gave Kyiv new permissions to use their weapons to strike into Russia, supporting Ukrainian operations, Kursk did not result in a huge boost in aid from Ukraine's partners, and it's unclear if it had any significant effects on their long-term thinking.

The push into Russia was a shocking moment and a morale booster, but it hasn't yielded the results Kyiv had hoped for and might not.

Assessing Ukraine's gamble in Kursk

So was Ukraine's Kursk operation worth it? That question's still up for debate.

Based on Ukraine's knowledge at the time of the attack, and what has happened since, Cancian said he would say, "Yes, it was the right thing to do."

Barros said that without Kursk, "you would have the Russians leaning into this attritional style of warfare where they get to keep conducting attacks." And Ukraine would have been leaning into the way Russia wanted to fight.

Savill said that he was "wary of criticizing it from a thousand miles away when they're fighting the existential fight and I'm not."

"The choice to do it was bold," he said. "It did put the Russians on the back foot temporarily. It did show something about what well-resourced Ukrainian forces could do if they identified a weak point." But he also said the decision to hold on to so much of Kursk after that first big advance "might turn out to have been the mistake."

Barros said the question of Kursk being worth it is a "complex question," as "we're looking at a live patient." But ultimately, he said, "it's a good thing that the Ukrainians sought to contest the initiative and impose problems on the Russians."

• Florence Pugh said certain film roles have left her "broken for a long while afterwards."
• Pugh said she felt like she had "abused" herself while taking on roles like "Midsommar."
• She added that she's had to learn to protect herself as an actor over the years.

Florence Pugh has said she "can't do" certain movie roles again because they have left her feeling "broken."

Appearing on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast last week, the Oscar-nominated star said that she learned the hard way about the importance of setting emotional boundaries while working on the 2019 horror film "Midsommar."

"Protecting myself is something I've had to learn how to do," Pugh said.

"There's been some roles, and I've given too much, and I've been broken for a long while afterwards," she added. "Like when I did 'Midsommar,' I definitely felt like I abused myself in the places that I got myself to go."

The movie, which propelled the British actor to global stardom, saw Pugh play a woman named Dani who, having experienced a family tragedy, travels to a remote Swedish village with her boyfriend (Jack Reynor) to participate in a mystical summer festival. The couple's relationship deteriorates throughout the film as the idyllic weekend reveals increasingly violent and bizarre customs.

Despite pushing herself to a dark place, Pugh said she wouldn't change things now as throwing herself into a role is part of her process.

"I look at that performance and I'm really proud of what I did, and I'm proud of what came out of me. I don't regret it," she said.

"I don't think I'd be able to do this without going all the way and putting myself in all of those characters that I've played," she continued. "There's always a piece of me, and there's always a moment at the end of filming where I, like, protect and defend those characters to the very end, even if they've done God-awful things. I think that's only natural when you're in someone for so long."

She added: "There's definitely things that you have to respect about yourself."

"The nature of figuring these things out is you need to go, 'Alright, well, I can't do that again because that was too much.'"

Pugh also recently opened up about what it's like to be a young woman in Hollywood, describing the experience as "exhausting."

While promoting her latest movie, "We Live in Time," the 29-year-old actor told The Times of London that female movie stars face being called divas if they don't follow stereotypes.

"There are fine lines women have to stay within," she said.

"I remember godawful headlines about how Keira Knightley isn't thin anymore, or watching women getting torn apart despite being talented and beautiful," she continued. "The only thing people want to talk about is some useless crap about how they look. And so I didn't care to abide by those rules."

• Asset managers are flocking to the lending business, creating a "private-credit" gold rush.
• This has pushed up demand for talent, but how does one break into the burgeoning field?
• BI breaks down the top career pathways and do's and don'ts, according to recruiters and consultants.

Lending is not a new business for Wall Street, but the private-credit gold rush has opened the door to a hiring spree that's only expected to heat up in 2025.

After the 2008 financial crisis, banks removed much of the riskiest lending from their balance sheets. Investment behemoths like Apollo Global Management and Blackstone have been picking up the slack ever since, underwriting loans to real-estate developers and blue-chip firms like Intel or funding corporate buyouts.

According to Morgan Stanley, the private-credit industry is poised to grow to $2.8 trillion by 2028, nearly double the $1.5 trillion mark it reached at the start of 2024. New funds are being launched all the time: Just this week, hedge fund Point72 launched an investment team focused on private credit, and insurer Northwestern Mutual announced that it is partnering with private credit shop Sixth Street to invest insurance money into the sector.

As private credit's star rises, demand for talent has surged, according to financial industry recruiters. Finding the right talent, however, can be challenging — a situation that could worsen in 2025 as demand for corporate lending accelerates.

With so much interest in this field, Business Insider spoke to three financial industry recruiters and two consultants who have worked with private-credit firms to understand what it takes to break into this burgeoning field, where the career path is less obvious than some other financial industry jobs. They said most private-credit shops want people with experience in the field, especially at the senior levels. Given the surge in nonbank lending, however, other pathways are also opening up.

"If you understand credit and you have some stomach for risk or are willing to do workouts to take control of companies if something goes south, there's an awful lot of money to be made in credit," said Robin Judson, founder of recruiting firm Robin Judson Partners.

Depending on the job, it can also offer a better work-life balance —by Wall Street's standards anyway.

"Now, that doesn't mean it's 9-to-5, but maybe it's 9-to-9 or 9-to-8, which is a much more doable day," Judson said, though she noted that there are still some very late nights and early mornings to close deals.

Private credit professionals may also have a more "consistent" workflow versus dealmakers, who are constantly hunting for targets or preparing investment memos that go nowhere, said John Rubinetti, a partner at executive recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles. It also means they may close half a dozen deals a year, well above that of their private-equity counterparts, who may work on dozens of deals in a given year but close just one.

Here are five skills and experiences that could help you get a foot in the door of one of the industry's hottest sectors.

For senior talent, it helps to have private credit experience

"At the senior level, most funds say, 'I'm only looking at people who have direct experience, who have a Rolodex, who know what they're doing, and who've got a track record," Judson said.

Only, it's not so easy to find those people. According to Judson, there are more open roles than experienced people who can fill them, a dynamic that will only increase as more private credit funds launch. In the current talent market, it has forced more firms to get creative about where the scout for talent.

"The folks with the acumen to do it exist. The folks with the experience who have done this before do not exist," said Kevin Desai, the head of tax and consulting firm PWC's private-equity consulting practice.

The investment-bank pathway for junior talent

Investment banks are the most common route for young people to move to so-called buyside firms, whether a hedge fund or a private equity shop. The same is true when it comes to private credit because investment banking analyst programs have proven such a great training ground.

"The most important skillsets are evaluating whether a company is going to make money, how the firm can structure an investment to make money, and how to protect yourself from the downside," explained Jennifer Cragin, a search consultant at BellCast partners who formerly was a director of the capital markets group at Lazard.

"Those are the skills young financial professionals tend to learn in investment banking or credit underwriting," she added.

The investment banking roles firms will want to see on a resume may vary, but all three recruiters said a background in leveraged finance can be very helpful. Leveraged finance, or LevFin, is the part of the bank that helps to finance private-equity buyouts and other transactions through debt. Bankers in leveraged finance need to be able to underwrite loans and predict future cash flow, making it the most direct banking analog to private credit.

Outside of those roles, extensive debt experience in a particular line of business can help, especially if it aligns with an industry that the potential employer is targeting, like infrastructure or climate transition.

"It depends on what their lending base is going to be," Cragin said. said. "If it's infrastructure, you may see people coming from project finance or some of the direct lending seats within the banks or from restructuring."

For senior bankers, it depends on the firm

At the senior level, it can be harder to break into private credit from investment banking, where the focus is on getting the deal done versus thinking like an investor, recruiters said.

"If you're a billion-dollar fund, pulling somebody at a senior level from a bank is very risky," Judson said, adding: "It's not about getting the deal done on the investing side; it's about getting the right deal done."

Unlike smaller firms, some of the largest and most institutionalized firms will still hire senior bankers with the right experience because they have the resources to train them.

Indeed, Apollo CEO Marc Rowan recently said the firm has hired hundreds of senior bankers to fill its growing credit business, including its 16 origination platforms. "For the last five, six years, we've taken 300 to 400 senior bankers from their job inside the banking institution to our firm," he said at the Goldman Sachs Financial Services conference last year. "There's been a movement of knowledge and a movement of relationships and a movement of competency."

Investment bankers with strong connections can also prove to be hot hiring targets.

"They essentially bought those relationships," Rubinetti said of some investment bankers with expansive rolodexes who were poached by private-credit firms.

Private-equity experience can help — to a point

The earliest private-credit firms were launched to provide fundraising to private-equity firms' corporate buyouts, creating a natural pathway from private equity to private credit, recruiters said.

"For private equity candidates, three-quarters of what they need is there. They think like investors, they understand how deals are structured and what they look like, and they understand risk," Judson said. "What they don't necessarily have are credit skills."

The longer you stay in private equity, however, the harder it may be to make a move since debt and lending experience become increasingly important the higher you get on the corporate ladder. Rubinetti said an obvious candidate might be someone who worked in private equity and then went to business school. You would need to get your foot in the door soon thereafter, however.

"Once you're 3-4 years post-MBA, it just makes no sense," he said.

Skip on-cycle recruiting

Although private-credit shops will hire from private-equity firms, the recruiters who spoke to BI suggested that bankers interested in a private-credit career skip what's known as on-cycle recruiting.

Private equity has become notorious for this recruiting schedule, in which they recruit junior investment bankers for jobs that won't start for two years, usually after their analyst training is complete. In practice, this means that some young bankers already have their next job lined up before they even set foot in the office for their first gig.

On-cycle recruiting can backfire, however, for people looking to break into private credit as many private-credit shops don't participate in on-cycle recruiting, recruiters said.

"A lot of the best candidates we see for private credit didn't participate in on-cycle recruiting," Judson said. "Instead, they hunkered down, learned their stuff, participated, put their hands up, and got extra work, which as an analyst means that they basically don't sleep. They then decide to pursue what they want to do next, once they're better equipped."

Governor Newsom has called on President-elect Donald Trump to visit the disaster zone in Los Angeles.

• Personal trainer Harry King is 82 and said lifting weights has helped him manage arthritis pain.
• King works out five days a week doing bench presses, leg presses, and cardio on the elliptical.
• He said exercise allowed him to get back to an active lifestyle and makes everyday tasks easier.

When Harry King was in his 50s, a doctor told him the arthritis in his knees had gotten so bad, he needed to stop taking the stairs, and even limit walking whenever possible.

Now 82, King is not only walking, hiking, and working out regularly — he works at his local Planet Fitness as a personal trainer, leading others through their workouts.

"Weight training is the best thing I can do for my arthritis," he told Business Insider. "By exercising and weight training I've built up the muscles around the knee to strengthen it."

King said strength training has helped him get back to an active lifestyle. Over the years, he's earned a second-degree black belt and won two championships in karate, as well as kayaked and hiked across his home state of South Carolina.

"I realize I do more than most 82-year-olds," he said. "It's just a way of life for me. To get into it, you just have to take the first step and go to the gym."

He works out up to five days a week

King spent most of his younger years being active in sports. He started basketball in high school and kept up with it until about age 50,

It wasn't until he was diagnosed with arthritis that he slowed down and started to feel out of shape. But being sedentary worsened his aches and pains and started to limit what he could do. King said he knew it was time for a change when he had an opportunity to hike the Matterhorn in the Alps, but wasn't physically ready.

"I vowed to let that never happen again, to let being out of shape stop me from doing things," he said.

King found a new doctor who could help him get back to physical activity, and found going to the gym helped him feel stronger and more capable in everyday life.

When King saw an opening for a personal trainer a few years ago, he applied, hoping to pass on his enthusiasm for strength training to help other people get stronger and live longer.

He said his approach isn't necessary about seeking out intense challenges (although he'll take them, when the opportunity arises), but making sure he can keep moving.

"I don't need to push through pain to be at the level I want to be. I just want to be fit enough to do something everyday," he said.

His workouts include bench presses, leg presses, and low-impact cardio

King said his exercise routine aims to include heart-healthy cardio as well as strength training for both upper and lower body.

For cardio, King prefers the elliptical or a bike for a low-impact workout that's easier on the joints.

"I used to run a lot but my feet can't take the pounding anymore," he said.

His weightlifting workouts include lower body movements like leg presses or modified squats to protect his knees, and upper body exercises like lat pull-downs and bench presses.

King isn't lifting light weight, either. While he doesn't try to max out his weight, a typical session might involve three sets of 12 reps. On the bench press, he could be hitting as much as 140 pounds.

The goal is progressive overload, gradually increasing the challenge to continue building muscle and strength while preventing injury.

"I don't try to lift as heavy a weight as I used to, just as heavy as I need to improve my strength," he said.

• Alisa Wolfson's family lost their home in the Pacific Palisades to the LA wildfires.
• They have been staying in hotels while they figure out their next steps.
• The impact of climate change and insurance issues are prompting them to consider leaving California.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Alisa Wolfson, a journalist living in the Pacific Palisades with her husband and two daughters, ages 7 and 10. They evacuated on January 7 and subsequently lost their home in the LA fires that swept through Southern California. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I grew up in the Palisades, and I've seen countless fires in surrounding areas. Usually, when fires start in the Santa Monica mountains and head toward the Palisades, they're always able to extinguish them.

On Tuesday when I was leaving my house, I thought we'd be back that night, so I didn't grab anything other than my laptop and our passports. If I'd thought that there was any chance something like this could happen, I would've grabbed as much as I could, even strapping things to the roof of my car.

The next day, when I found out our house was gone, I was in complete shock. I keep closing my eyes and going room by room through my house, picturing how everything was. To think that none of it exists anymore is… I haven't found a profound enough word. "Devastating" and "unfathomable" don't do it justice.

Everything we own is gone

I felt like our house was a fortress; it was so well-built and sturdy. Before we found out, my husband had even said, "I wouldn't be surprised if our house was the only one still standing."

One of our neighbors was able to bike to our street and sent pictures and videos to the group text. Miraculously, two homes across the street from me are still standing. They're the only ones left on the block, and their hedges are still green.

I recognized our driveway, our lime tree — still with limes on it — and a white cement wall in front of our house that had turned brown with soot. Everything else was unrecognizable. We had two vintage cars in our garage — a '57 Chevy that was built like a tank and a '69 Jaguar — and there's no more evidence of them. They're just dust.

Every single possession that I have — that I had, rather — is gone, and I wasn't able to save any of it. Our entire lives that were in that house are gone. The magnitude of what that means and its permanence feels so unexpected and unfair.

I'm so sad that I didn't bring a basket of old home videos of my dad, who passed away when our oldest was only 10 months old. My mom's house also burned down, so we have no family heirlooms left. People say, "You still have plenty of years left to start collecting," but it's not the same as having your grandmother's silver that was used at all of the family get-togethers and celebrations.

We're fortunate to have the means to stay in a hotel

People online have been saying things [about Palisades] like, "They're rich. They'll rebuild and don't need any assistance." I don't take it personally. Unless it's happened to you, it's virtually impossible to relate to.

We're fortunate to have the means to stay in a hotel right now — first the Beverly Hilton, and we moved to the Fairmont Century Plaza on Wednesday, as it's across the street from my husband's office and around the corner from the Westfield Century City Shopping Centre.

Just about every other hotel guest I've seen is in the same boat. There's something strangely comforting about knowing we're not the only ones, that there's a larger community that's all grieving the same type of loss.

We're taking it an hour at a time

There's a long road ahead. The rental market is already insane. There are a limited number of rentals, and everyone's in line for the same properties. I'm sure there will be price-gouging and greedy people who want to get as much money as they can when they lease their homes out.

We've had friends and family from all over the country reach out and offer to have us stay with them. One offered us their condo in Sun Valley — an incredible offer, but uprooting ourselves feels like it'd be too much change so quickly.

Family friends have a horse property in the Palisades and have graciously offered us one of their little guest cottages. We're waiting to see if it survived. If so, we'll go there temporarily because it's somewhere our daughters are familiar with.

Otherwise, we're looking into potential long-term hotel stay-type places. Really, we're just taking things day by day. We're booked at this hotel through the weekend on Monday as of now. We could extend here, but we might benefit from having a little more space, especially with the dog.

My husband and I both grew up in the Palisades and bought our home there in 2018. We love our neighborhood and its strong sense of community. Now, moving away from California is on the table.

Climate change is real. Fires are becoming more frequent and more intense, and nobody wants to insure homes in California anymore. Ironically, just last month, State Farm sent us a notice that they wouldn't be renewing our fire insurance policy. Fortunately, we're covered through April. We've filed a claim with our insurance and are waiting to have a subsequent call with an adjuster.

I want to incorporate as much normalcy as possible

I've only cried once so far today. I don't know if things are settling in and becoming more real; perhaps we're falling into our own little routine at the hotel.

A family that we know happens to be staying in the room next door, and our daughters are very happy at the thought of doing cartwheels up and down the hallway together because that's what makes them feel normal right now. All I can hope for is that my girls continue to have those brief moments and glimmers of hope.

I'm trying to incorporate as much normalcy as possible where I can, not that there's really much to be had. I have a hard time accepting things from people because I'd rather be helping, but I've had to do away with that mindset and just accept the help.

Last night, I sent my daughters home with one of my best friends. She made them dinner and tasked them with some babysitting duties to make them feel like they were needed. She took them to get ice cream afterward and even brought me a scoop when she dropped them off.

It's those kinds of things that are really keeping us going.

• Vail Resorts was in the hot seat this month when a Park City ski patrol strike disrupted holidays.
• For years, Vail's rapid acquisitions and high costs have sparked criticism from skiers and locals.
• Here's how the company grew to be the biggest in skiing — and the enemy of some ski bums.

If you want to know just how loathed Vail Resorts is, just look at the lyrics of Grammy-nominated artist Noah Kahan's "Paul Revere."

"This place had a heartbeat in its day," the native Vermonter sings. "Vail bought the mountains, and nothing was the same."

Or look around the parking lots at the ski behemoth's various properties, which include Park City, Beaver Creek, and Stowe, where cars are frequently adorned with "Vail Sucks" stickers.

Gripes that the company has made skiing less accessible and more corporate were amplified this month after a ski patrol strike shut down much of Park City, causing chaos for vacationers over the holidays.

The company's stock dropped 6% amid news of the strike. But while the work stoppage has ended, the company's challenges are far from over. Since reaching a peak in 2021, Vail's share price is now down more than 50%.

After two decades of acquisitions and partnerships, Vail Resorts owns or operates 42 ski resorts around the world. The company is now facing decreased margins after a 2021 reduction in the price of its Epic Pass, which provides access to Vail's network of mountains, and the lack of cheap acquisitions available, Chris Woronka, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, told Business Insider.

"The stock had gotten ahead of itself valuation-wise," Woronka said. "The days of easily created growth are kind of behind the company."

Meanwhile, it's earned a reputation among passionate skiers as a place where crowds clutter the trails and lift lines and where grabbing a burger on the mountain could cost you $25.

A spokesperson for Vail Resorts told BI the company continuously invests in its properties to improve the guest experience and make skiing more accessible.

"Vail Resorts has transformed the industry through unprecedented investments in employees and guests, made the sport more accessible to more people, and created stability for our resorts, employees and communities in the face of climate change," the spokesperson said.

A skiing behemoth

Vail Resorts is the largest ski company in the world, granting its pass-holders unlimited access to dozens of resorts worldwide, including its upscale flagship, Vail, located in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. During its 2024 fiscal year, which ended in July, 17.6 million skiers visited its mountains.

Those visitors pay big bucks for the privilege of skiing at some of the most popular destinations: The Epic Pass had a starting price of $982 for the 2024-2025 season. A lift ticket at Park City alone can get up to about $300 per day.

A spokesperson for Vail Resorts said the company now has over 2 million pass-holders.

Luke, a former Vail Resorts employee who asked to go by his first name to avoid professional repercussions, told BI there were two main reasons Vail Resorts gets so much hate. First, it's buying up resorts at an "alarming" rate. Second, as a result of that strategy, many skiers do not believe the company invests enough in the quality and operations of each individual resort, instead relying on their "cash cow" properties.

"It feels like the end game is not necessarily to make any one area successful, but to eventually own the ski world," Luke said. "So then it's like if you're skiing anywhere, you're skiing Vail" properties.

Jaimie Nichols, a 35-year-old accountant from Florida who now lives in Denver, has been skiing with her family in Crested Butte, Colorado, since the early 2000s, when the resort was family-owned. She remembered lift tickets for kids cost as much as their age — $8 for an 8-year-old — and a large base lodge where families could find affordable food options or use a microwave to heat up packed lunches. Crested Butte itself is lovingly called "Colorado's Last Great Ski Town" due to its authentic mountain town vibe.

But Nichols said since Vail Resorts acquired Crested Butte Ski Resort in 2018, it just hasn't been the same.

The resort's "persona changed," she said. "It's a completely different place."

The Mueller family, which owned Crested Butte, previously said selling to Vail was a difficult decision.

"When you start to look 10, 20, 30 years down the road and what that means for a small ski company like us, and not being as heavily financed like Vail, it's only getting tougher," Erica Mueller told Powder magazine in 2018.

When Vail takes over

Now, most of Vail Resorts' properties are in the US, spanning from California, Utah, and Colorado, through Midwest states like Wisconsin and Michigan, and all the way to the Northeast in Vermont and New Hampshire.

Its many acquisitions have turned the company, which was taken public by Apollo in the 1990s after the private equity shop bought it out of bankruptcy, into a financial behemoth in the hospitality space. It has a market cap of $6.7 billion and generated $2.9 billion in revenue and $230 million in profit in its 2024 fiscal year. Investors were rewarded with $8.56 in dividends per share.

A common complaint from skiers and snowboarders when Vail takes over a resort is a more crowded mountain and long lift lines. The problem, Nichols said, is that when a resort gets added to Vail's Epic Pass, it becomes a destination. Epic pass-holders who previously wouldn't have driven four-plus hours from Denver to Crested Butte now make the trip, as do pass-holders from other states who make a vacation out of it.

As a result, Nichols said the locals of the area have fewer opportunities to ski on their home mountain, and, for families who aren't season pass-holders but would like to ski once or twice a season, day passes get too expensive and out of reach.

Some of these problems are compounded by factors that are affecting many towns in the West that don't even have a ski resort: an increase in short-term rentals and transplants from cities moving to small towns in the age of remote work, both of which have contributed to higher home prices and costs of living.

Vail has said it is committed to reinvesting in the resorts it acquires, estimating its capital investments in the 2024 fiscal year to be between $189 million to $194 million. For instance, at Whistler Blackcomb, the company said it was replacing a four-person lift with a six-person high-speed lift. At Park City, the company said it was replacing a lift with a 10-person gondola. It also said it planned to invest in snowmaking capabilities at Park City and Hunter Mountain.

A spokesperson for Vail Resorts said the Epic Pass has also added stability to an industry that was previously "ruled by weather."

"That means in a good snow year, the industry would prosper, but in a year with low snow, skiers and snowboarders would opt not to visit, and ski resorts would suffer, along with the employees who worked there and the surrounding communities," the spokesperson said. "This meant that resorts couldn't predict their business — thus were not investing in infrastructure or their employees."

When Vail introduced the Epic Pass in 2008, it was cheaper than many season passes offered at individual resorts.

The spokesperson also said the company's Epic Day Passes, which offer more flexibility than traditional lift tickets, are significantly discounted if they are purchased before the season begins.

"By incentivizing guests to buy their skiing and riding ahead of the season, we lock in revenue before the snow falls, which has allowed us to continually invest back into our resorts, our employees, and our communities, and the environment, no matter the weather," the spokesperson said.

Many Vail critics still buy Epic Passes

The company's biggest competitor is Alterra Mountain Company, which owns mountains like Steamboat and Deer Valley and is owned by private equity shop KSL and investment firm Henry Crown. Alterra runs the Ikon Pass, which is even more expensive than the Epic Pass, starting at $1,249.

The Epic and Ikon passes' value depends on how much one uses them. It can be a good deal for folks who ski frequently and would like to visit different mountains — which is part of the argument the companies use when they increase the pricing on nearly everything else, including day passes, ski school, rentals, and on-mountain dining and amenities.

In addition to offering a good deal with the Epic Pass, Woronka, the Deutsche Bank analyst, said Vail also still has a strong brand name going for it and great assets.

"These are really terrific mountains. It's some of the best terrain out there," he said. "They have this big, nice, wide portfolio across the country."

The problem is, "trying to cater to everyone and do it profitably can be a difficult proposition," Woronka said.

With the luxury experience that Vail is selling, the increase in crowds on the mountain can make the guests feel a little less special, he said.

Still, Vail's dominance means that many who complain about the company still buy Epic Passes. It often makes the most financial sense for those who plan to ski most weekends, and if all their friends are doing the Epic Pass, they don't want to miss out.

Luke, the former Vail employee, said running a ski operation is costly and complicated. And, he added, there's no denying that some of the resorts bought up by Vail may not have survived otherwise. But he said part of the reason for that is the relatively low cost of the Epic Pass has drawn many away from their local mountains.

"These mountains wouldn't have survived," Luke said.

But he also said he thinks having to compete with a large company like Vail is part of the reason some family-run resorts were struggling in the first place.

• Micro-trends that circulate on social media can trigger some to make too many online purchases.
• Buy-now-pay-later can make the true costs of buying items seem lower.
• These payments add up over time, leading to a debt spiral that's difficult to escape.

Buy-now-pay-later services (BNPL), such as Klarna and Affirm, have made it easier than ever to keep up with influencer micro-trends — but young people say such services are increasingly trapping them into a vicious debt cycle.

Jess Riley, a 31-year-old content creator who has shared her debt journey on TikTok, said that BNPL, combined with micro-fashion trends, almost led her to financial ruin.

"I was definitely one of those people that was very susceptible to influencers," she said. "When someone put out a new necklace, I instantly wanted that necklace … I would put it on Klarna just so I could have it."

This impulse buying was just that, though. Sometimes Riley would forget what she ordered almost immediately.

Riley is far from alone. Consumers and commentators who spoke to Business Insider say BNPL tempts people to make impulsive purchases and rack up debt by making it seem like costs are less than they actually are.

It makes shopping online so easy that it almost becomes mindless, particularly on social media.

Simon Trevethick, head of communications at StepChange, a UK debt charity, told BI that the lack of regulation of BNPL apps means people can accumulate multiple debts across various providers "often without proper affordability assessments."

"If repayments become unaffordable, these debts can then incur late fees and interest charges that place people in financial difficulty," he said.

In the US, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took steps last year to increase regulation of BNPL providers, Reuters reported. Lenders will be required to refund returned products, and provide assistance with billing disputes. However, they are not required to assess whether a customer can afford the loan and repayments.

The affordability illusion

The exact amount owed to BNPL services is unknown, but between 2019 and 2021, the number of such loans in the US increased by 1,100%, according to the CFPB.

In the 2024 holiday season, Americans were expected to spend $18.5 billion using BNPL services, Reuters reported.

"If you are unable to afford your purchase today, you can explain away not having the money by making multiple payments over time," Traci Williams, a certified clinical psychologist and financial therapist, told BI.

"Unfortunately, what you don't consider is that not being able to afford it today likely means just that — you cannot afford it."

Toni-Ann, who posts content on TikTok about paying off her debt under the handle @financeaccountingdiaries, told BI that social media, with the power of influencers and algorithms, plays a role in the debt spiral.

"It pressures you to want to buy what everybody else has got or whatever you keep seeing advertised. Then Klarna is an option, so you're just like, 'oh, I just can spread the payments'," she said.

These services make it feel like you only owe a small amount, but in reality, the sums add up.

Beth Fuller shared her story on TikTok, where she has reduced her $8,000 of credit card debt to almost nothing by cutting back on needless spending.

Fuller told BI she felt the pressure to keep up with the latest fashion she saw influencers share on social media. She said she realized that once she'd bought something, her brain would move on to the next thing.

"Things were feeling outdated so quickly," she said. "I was like, surely I can't need more stuff. But an event would come around, and I just wouldn't feel on trend for the event, even though I'd bought clothes last month."

Curbing the habit

People typically don't like waiting to buy things, Williams told BI, which makes BNPL so tempting. It also hurts less to stretch the payments out.

"Our pain receptors in the brain are more likely to be activated by larger purchases," she said. "Mentally, it seems easier to pay small amounts over time than in one lump sum."

Williams recommended asking yourself if the purchase is something you want or need and then considering saving up to pay for it outright: "Focus on stopping the bleeding by no longer using these services."

A Klarna spokesperson told BI the company offers "a fairer and more sustainable alternative" to traditional credit.

"We conduct strict eligibility checks on each purchase using real-time data, constantly reassess our lending criteria and spending limits to ensure we only lend to those who can afford to repay, and we restrict the use of our services after missed payments to stop debt accumulating," they said.

An Afterpay spokesperson told BI it did not conduct hard inquiries or report account activity to credit bureaus. They said the company also capped late-payment fees at 25% of the order value.

Customers are offered small spending limits when they first join, the spokesperson said, and 95% of installments in the third quarter of 2024 were paid on time, and 98% incurred no late fees.

Getting out of the hole

An Affirm spokesperson told BI there were no late fees or hidden charges, and if a customer did not repay their loan, they could no longer use the service.

However, the influencers BI spoke to said BNPL helped maintain their shopping addictions. Toni-Ann has almost paid off all her debt. She said it was hard to get out of the hole, but it started with changing her habits.

When she spoke to BI last year, Riley only owed another $800 and expected to be debt-free within weeks.

She has relapsed and used BNPL a couple of times but doesn't beat herself up about it. Overall, she's mostly changed the way she thinks about spending and doesn't let herself be tempted by the micro-trends influencers are promoting: "It's a marathon, not a sprint."

Jyoti Mann contributed reporting.

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