• 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.

• I started working remotely in 2017 to combine international travel with my career.
• My parents thought that decision was reckless and unstable.
• But my mom has just decided to quit her job so she has more flexibility like me.

When I started working remotely in 2017 with the hopes of advancing in my career while traveling, my parents thought I was throwing away a successful life for no reason. To them, success meant the stability of a job that required staying in one place, working traditional hours, and showing up in person.

By the time I graduated from college, I was chasing what I thought was the ideal career: a finance job in Washington, DC. I was 22, working hard, and on track to achieve everything I'd been told would make me happy. But after almost a year of back-to-back office days, needless happy hours, and a long bus commute, I burned out completely.

One morning, as I was on my way to work, I fainted, and waking up surrounded by strangers, I realized how unsustainable my life had become. Many things went through my head, but the thought that I was losing my health and I was so far from living my dream of traveling the world made me question everything I was working for.

Burnout made me realize I had to do things differently

I knew something had to change. I wanted to travel, but I also wanted to keep advancing in my career, so I started to look for postgraduate studies that would allow me to do both. A few months later, I was accepted into a program in Auckland, New Zealand. But instead of moving across the world and looking for a new job, I decided to continue doing the job I was doing in DC remotely.

Convincing my employer was not easy. Remote work wasn't popular back then, and I had to negotiate extensively and justify my productivity, but after months of paperwork and back-and-forth discussions, they finally agreed.

When I broke the news to my parents, they were shocked. My dad thought I was being reckless and putting at risk something that I didn't have to, and my mom couldn't understand why I'd leave a stable job for an uncertain opportunity halfway across the world. Still, I knew I had to go.

In late 2017, I moved to New Zealand, where I studied and worked remotely for over two years, visiting places like Zimbabwe, Colombia, and the Netherlands. I learned to balance work and life in a way that felt fulfilling.

Everything changed during the pandemic

My parents relied heavily on in-person interactions to manage their accounting business. Meeting clients face-to-face and maintaining a personal connection built trust and kept their business running.

Like so many others, they were forced to adapt when the pandemic hit in 2020. Suddenly, remote tools like video calls and cloud-based software became necessities. While the shift wasn't easy at first, it proved to them that it was possible to be productive, maintain relationships, and do their work entirely online.

However, when things started returning to "normal" in 2022, my parents returned to seeing clients in person. My mom, in particular, started feeling the burden of her old routine. Her client list included people scattered across different areas, and she often had to spend long hours in traffic, juggling an inflexible schedule that rarely worked in her favor. The constant back-and-forth of driving to meet clients left her exhausted.

My mom has decided to go remote for good

This year, everything came to a head. I had my daughter — my mom's first granddaughter — and she traveled to the Netherlands to visit us. That trip changed her perspective completely. Spending time with her granddaughter made her realize just how much she valued family time and how the rigidity of her in-person work schedule was holding her back.

When she returned home, she boldly decided to quit her in-person job and transitioned entirely to remote work.

It wasn't an easy process; at first, she had to work through negotiating with some of her clients and find others who would already accept this way of working. But she pushed through, building a remote practice that allowed her to spend more time with her family and even travel with my daughter and me.

• Companies are humorously mourning the loss of TikTok, which is set to go dark on Sunday.
• The Supreme Court upheld a law that could ban the app on Friday.
• TikTok said it will go dark unless Biden intervenes.

In typical fashion for those chronically online, TikTok users are coping with a looming ban through memes and humor, posting their final goodbyes. Companies have joined in the fun.

The Supreme Court dashed any hope it would save TikTok in the United States when, on Friday, it upheld a law that forces the app's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to either sell its US operations or face the removal of TikTok from American app stores.

As a result, TikTok said it would "go dark" on Sunday for its 170 million American users. It will still be accessible to its users in other countries.

The social media app has become one of the most popular in the United States and an essential marketing tool for businesses, small and large. So, its demise could have a real effect on some businesses' bottom line. In the spirit of the app, however, companies are taking the change in humorous stride.

Sony Pictures posted a clip from "The Social Network" in which Eduardo Saverin (played by Andrew Garfield) interrupts Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg) as he's "wired in." Saverin smashes Zuckerberg's computer in a fit of rage after learning he had been betrayed. The text above the video, posted on Thursday, read: "all of us this week."

Fandango added to the chaotic vibes with a clip from "Titanic," in which the string quartet plays on as the ship sinks and passengers race to lifeboats in a panic.

Max, formerly HBO Max, posted a clip from "Game of Thrones" in which Sean Bean's Ned Stark awaits his execution. Above the video, the text reads: "everyone awaiting tiktok's fate on the 19th."

Sony posted another clip on Friday night, this time from "Spider-Man," in which Willem Dafoe's Norman Osborn screams after finding out he is being asked to resign.

"I started this company," Dafoe says. "You know how much I sacrificed?"

Sony compared Dafoe's grief to that of social media managers frustrated by the looming ban.

Peacock, using a clip from "The Office," joked that Creed Bratton is already on RedNote, the Chinese app that Americans are flocking to as a replacement for TikTok.

It wasn't just entertainment companies that joined in the fun.

Duolingo and PopTarts both posted farewell videos using the Green Day song, "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)."

Windows posted a similar tribute, along with the caption: "We're not really going anywhere tho. Catch us on Reels and Shorts :P"

Companies have been anticipating a potential ban for months, giving their marketing departments time to put together plans to shift their efforts to other platforms like Facebook, Instagram reels, and YouTube shorts.

In a statement on Friday following the Supreme Court's decision, TikTok said it would be forced to go dark unless the Biden administration took action. The administration, however, said it would leave it to incoming President-elect Donald Trump to enforce the ban.

Trump, who is set to be sworn in on Monday, told NBC News' Kristen Welker on Saturday that he would "most likely" give TikTok a 90-day extension to find a non-Chinese buyer but has not yet made a final decision.

"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," the president-elect said.

• Consultants told BI that finding a "sponsor" is the key to career advancement at top firms.
• Sponsors offer seniority and influence to help employees succeed.
• Consultants say mentorship is insufficient and that sponsors are key for promotions.

Climbing the ranks at a top-tier consulting firm is often harder than landing the job itself.

Several current and former consultants told Business Insider that having the right sponsor — an executive who champions their success — is crucial early on.

McKinsey & Company defines sponsors as high-ranking employees who "offer seniority, power, and influence to help you meet your goals." They differ from formally assigned mentors, who assist with annual reviews, guidance, and emotional support. Instead, sponsor relationships are formed through more organic connections with employees.

"99% of it is unofficial, and it's about finding people that you want to help basically," said Matthew Fitzpatrick, a senior partner at McKinsey and global leader of the firm's AI division, QuantumBlack Labs. Fitzpatrick has sponsored hundreds of employees during his 12-year tenure at the firm and said it's "probably the most fun part of my job."

His advice to younger employees is to seek sponsors who share their interests.

"All good mentor and sponsorship relationships are built around really shared interests and passions for things," he said. "I think the relationships I formed over the last decade were people that were really interested in the same things I am."

Former McKinsey consultants say advancing at the firm is tough without a sponsor. "Sponsors are extremely important, especially if you are looking for your next promotion," an associate who left last April told Business Insider by text. "They can certainly make your career if you have strong sponsors and a lack of a strong sponsor makes it difficult to survive."

Many consultants work on a project-to-project basis, and sponsors can also help new hires secure projects that build their reputation within the firm.

"My first six to seven months when I was a brand new analyst at Accenture, it was just really tough to get onto high-quality projects, and I felt totally lost, even though I was assigned a career counselor," a former Accenture consultant, who requested anonymity to avoid jeopardizing career prospects, said.

She had a breakthrough when a senior consultant at the firm recognized her potential and put her on his next project, which offered the kind of visibility she needed to advance her career at the firm.

"Literally because of him, one good project led to another one," she said. "He became my biggest advocate in terms of being not only a sponsor for promotions but also a mentor for coaching me on the day-to-day." Eventually, he became her direct manager, too.

Many top consulting firms have various types of corporate mentorship programs, which are different from sponsors. These programs offer employees one-on-one guidance with senior-level executives. Some pair employees from different generations or demographic backgrounds.

However, consultants say that mentorship alone can't fill the gap between success and failure at a firm.

The former Accenture consultant stayed at the firm for four years due to the support of her boss.

"Beyond the formal boss and employee relationship, he also made an extra effort to both mentor me and be my advocate," she said, noting that the distinction is important. "I think that people need individuals who are in both camps. Sometimes, you can't get both in one person."

• Russia is struggling to get its new intercontinental ballistic missile working properly.
• Moscow has put a lot of money and propaganda behind the ICBM.
• Failures leave Russia reliant on older missiles that won't last forever, experts warn.

Russia has the world's largest nuclear arsenal, but it's having trouble getting its newest intercontinental ballistic missile to work. The debacle leaves it dependent on capable but inferior missiles at a time when other major powers are modernizing their nuclear forces.

Russia's new RS-28 Sarmat ICBM appeared to suffer a catastrophic failure during testing in September, with satellite imagery showing a big crater around the launchpad at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.

That apparent failure followed what missile experts have described as a host of other issues. Ejection tests and its flight testing were repeatedly delayed, according to the Royal United Services Institute think tank in London, and it had at least two canceled flight tests and at least one other flight test failure.

The Sarmat is meant to replace the Soviet-era R-36, which first entered service in 1988. NATO calls the long-range missile, which has been modified over the years, the SS-18 "Satan." Without the new Sarmat, Russia has to rely on older missiles, extending their lives, but that can't go on indefinitely.

Stuck with inferior missiles

Delays to the Sarmat, or even its cancellation, would mean Russia has to keep using older systems as nations like China field new DF-41 ICBMs and the US pushes forward with upgrades for its ICBM force as part of the Sentinel program.

The R-36 is "already really, really past its service life," said Timothy Wright, a missile technology expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, yet the Russians keep having to extend it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the turn of the century they were going to be out of service by 2007, but here they are, still in operation nearly two decades later.

"There's only so much they can do," Wright said. "Parts will start failing at some point." He said the R-36s "will eventually start failing because their parts just will need replacement, and they don't make the parts anymore." If Moscow tried to launch 40 R-36s, he said, "you might not get all 40 out the ground, frankly."

Fabian Hoffmann, a missile expert at the Oslo Nuclear Project, said the R-36 has been "sitting there for a really long time."

Russia was required to reduce the size of its arsenal of missiles under the New START treaty with the US. Hoffman said that Russia could use old parts from those missiles to keep its usable ones running. But the supply is not infinite, he said. "Who knows how much these missiles can still take, how many years?"

There's the possibility Russia would "have to start cannibalizing existing missiles, taking them out of service or retiring them or taking them off what they call combat duty alert, which is where the missile is literally ready to go," Wright said.

Russia has other ICBMs, but the R-36 carries the largest and most strategically significant payload. The Sarmat, as its replacement, will likewise carry a substantial payload.

Big missiles with lots of warheads

The purpose of the Sarmat was "to constitute a big bulk of their warheads in the future," Wright said. The ICBM is a large, long-range weapon able to carry a heavy MIRV payload, meaning multiple independent re-entry vehicles.

The Sarmat has an estimated maximum range of 18,000 miles. It has a ten-ton payload and can carry 10 large warheads or 16 smaller ones, per a Missile Threat fact sheet from the Center of Strategic and International Studies. The R-36 it is meant to replace has a shorter range but similar payload, able to carry 10 multiple independent re-entry vehicles.

Other Russian ICBMs are "much smaller," Wright said. They can't carry the same heavy MIRV payload. Russia's RS-24 Yars ICBM, for example, can only carry three MIRV warheads.

As of May 2023, Russia had 1,674 warheads deployed, with a total stockpile of 4,489, per the CSIS. Many of these are deployed on other missiles and elements of the Russian nuclear triad, which provide it with deterrence, but Russia wants the big missile with the tremendous destructive capacity.

Russia was understood to have 46 R-36s in April 2016. Wright said that "if they then took that missile out of service, then they have a bit of a gap."

"And for Russia, it's important to ensure they have warhead parity with the Americans," he said. "Whatever number the Americans have, the Russians want it as well."

Russia appears to be keeping its warheads limited in accordance with the New START treaty. But if that changes, and it may as Russia has suspended its involvement with the treaty, Russia may want to deploy more warheads. Without the Sarmat, Russia will need to find other places for its warheads.

The Sarmat's problems

Hoffman said the most recent Sarmat test was "catastrophic." He said that "it's not even like the missile failed to hit its target and you can say, 'Oh, the guidance system didn't really work.' No, the whole thing blew up."

That means it was either a freak accident, or "there's something fundamentally wrong with the propulsion system, which is of course catastrophic," he said. "And so if I was Russia, I think at this point I would be concerned about that."

Some experts have warned that Russia's struggles could make it desperate, making problems more likely.

Wright said he can't see Russia deciding to cancel the Sarmat program. He said Putin "has invested a lot of propaganda into the system. When he unveiled it in 2018, it was all these fantastic reasons why it's so good."

Putin bragged in 2018 that "missile defense systems are useless against them, absolutely pointless" and that "no other country has developed anything like this."

The Russians have also dumped a lot of money into this project, making cancellation unpalatable.

Hoffman agreed, saying Russia had little choice given the state of its older missiles. It wants Sarmat for propaganda reasons, and "it's also just desperation in terms of: 'What else would there be?'"

But big delays in getting Sarmat operational would likely cause problems for Russia, with nothing in line to replace the Sarmat.

"Sarmat's designed to fulfill a very specific purpose, which is to essentially have lots of warheads on top of it," Wright said, and there is no direct replacement in Russia's arsenal or in the works.

• "Outlander" may be ending with season eight, but fans can look forward to a new prequel series.
• "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" will focus on the origin stories of Jamie and Claire's parents.
• The 10-episode series will debut in the summer of 2025. Here's everything you need to know.

It was announced in early 2023 that "Outlander" had been renewed for an eighth but final season, putting a pin in Starz's original plan to adapt all of Diana Gabaldon's novels (the last of which has still not yet been written). 

Although that will bring Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire's (Caitríona Balfe) time-traveling escapades to a close, audiences will be delighted to learn that a prequel series continuing the story of the Fraser and Beauchamp families is officially in production.

Speculation that Starz was expanding the "Outlander" universe began in 2020 when Deadline reported that the network bosses had encouraged producers Ronald D. Moore and Maril Davis to "to plot a slew of spin-offs, sequels and story extensions."

The prequel series was officially greenlit in 2022, and several months later, it was confirmed that the writers' room had started working on scripts and that the series had been given a name — "Outlander: Blood of My Blood."

A release date for the series has now been given, alongside lots of other details about the series, including who has been cast in the main roles as Jamie and Claire's parents. Keep reading for everything we know about the series so far.

The series will tell two parallel origin stories: how Jamie's parents came to meet and Claire's parents' romance.

Per an official description shared by Starz in February 2023, the series will "center on these two parallel love stories set in two different time periods, with Jamie's parents in the early 18th century Scottish Highlands and Claire's parents in WWI England."

The streamer had previously stated that the prequel would center on Jamie's mother and father, Ellen MacKenzie and Brian Fraser — two characters that audiences know plenty about, mainly through stories told by their son.

An abridged version of Ellen and Brian's love story was detailed by Jamie in season one: the pair eloped together and stayed hidden until Ellen was visibly pregnant with their first child, forcing her family to accept their union.

The decision to include Claire's parents in the show is sure to be a welcome one. Not much is known about Julia Moriston and Henry Beauchamp beyond the fact that they died when Claire was a young girl.

"We're thrilled to be telling the stories of these two couples," said Matthew B. Roberts, showrunner, executive producer and writer on both "Outlander" and "Outlander: Blood of My Blood."

"The origins of their relationships explore universal themes that transcend time periods, and we're so excited for fans to discover and fall in love with these characters and their love stories the way they have with Claire and Jamie."

The four main roles have been cast.

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Harriet Slater, best known for her role in "Pennyworth," will play Jamie's mother, Ellen MacKenzie, in the 18th-century Scotland storyline, alongside Lifetime actor Jamie Roy, who plays his father, Brian Fraser.

As for Claire's parents, whose story unfolds in World War I-era England, Hermoine Corfield, previously seen in "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation," will play Julia Moriston; "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" actor Jeremy Irvine will play her father, Henry Beauchamp.

The two stars have previously worked together, having both starred in the 2016 fantasy romance film "Fallen."

 

The series will be set in two timelines: one in the early 1700s and the other in the early 1900s.

As the showrunner stated, the series will take place in two different time periods.

The story focusing on Brian and Ellen will be set sometime around 1716, some 30 years before Claire travels back in time and meets Jamie. That's when the Great Gathering at Castle Leoch happened — which is where Brian and Ellen met for the first time — according to the "Outlander" books.

That would make our heroine Ellen and her future husband Brian both 25 at the time the series begins, as they were both born in 1681, per details shared in "Dragonfly in Amber." 

The other story about Claire's parents is likely to take place sometime in the 1910s. As fans know from the first book installment, Claire was born in 1918 and was five years old when her parents passed away in 1923. Exact details on when her parents met or how old they were are not known.

 

Diana Gabaldon is involved as a consulting producer — and she's also writing a book about the characters, too.

The author has confirmed that, alongside writing what is expected to be the tenth and final novel in the "Outlander" series, she is also working on several other stories connected to Jamie and Claire, including a prequel novel about Jamie's parents.

The book does not yet have a title, but Gabaldon told the audience at the 2022 Edinburgh International Book Festival that it includes romance and plenty of historical intrigue.

"The story is woven in with the Jacobite Risings – there will be a lot of clan politics and other interesting things," she said, per The Scotsman.

For those who are interested, she has shared several excerpts of the book with her Facebook audience.

As for how the show's producers are working with Gabaldon and her unfinished novel, executive producer Maril Davis told Business Insider in August: "We hope she will share as she goes, but we've kind of been taking the breadcrumbs she's left in her books and expanding on those to build a story."

The author has also shared with TV Insider that she will be writing an episode of the prequel in addition to writing an episode for "Outlander" season eight.

Starz has said the prequel will be 10 episodes.

In a press release from January 2024, Starz announced that "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" had been greenlit for a 10-episode season.

It hasn't been confirmed if that means the series will be a one-off or whether viewers can expect more seasons after "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" airs.

Representatives for Starz did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

The title is a nod to the vow Jamie made to Claire on their wedding day.

If you were wondering what "Blood of My Blood" means exactly, it's a phrase that "Outlander" fans know well, as it's part of the Gaelic blood vow that Gabaldon created that Jamie and Claire exchanged on their wedding day.

'"Ye are blood of my blood, and bone of my bone, I give ye my body, that we two might be one. I give ye my spirit, 'til our life shall be done."

 

The series will feature some beloved characters from "Outlander."

But before you get too excited, keep in mind that since the Brian and Ellen timeline part of the prequel will be set nearly three decades before the events of the main series, the same actors won't be playing the roles.

Some characters audiences will be familiar with who will appear in the prequel are younger versions of Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser (Rory Alexander), Dougal MacKenzie (Sam Retford), Colum MacKenzie (Séamus McLean Ross), and Ned Gowan (Conor MacNeill). The roles were originated by Duncan LaCroix, Graham McTavish, Gary Lewis and Bill Paterson, respectively.

Red Jacob MacKenzie, the Laird of Clan MacKenzie and father to Ellen and her brothers, will be played by Peter Mullan, while Tony Curran will portray Simon Fraser, also known as Lord Lovat, Brian's father.

A younger version of Jamie Fraser may also appear.

In an interview with Esquire, Sam Heughan said that while he's definitely not in the show, there's a chance a younger version of his character could be.

"All I can tell you is I'm not in it, as Jamie's not in it," he said. "I believe that it's a prequel focusing on Jamie's parents when they were younger, so I guess you might see a young version of him at some point."

If the story of his parents does kick off around 1715 as we suspect, that's six years before Jamie's birth in 1721, meaning that audiences shouldn't expect him to come into the series straightaway. Brian and Ellen had two other children before he was born, after all.

Audiences can expect to see "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" land on screens sometime in the summer of 2025.

In January 2025, Starz announced that the prequel will premiere sometime in summer 2025.

Check out the teaser trailer for "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" below.

 

• Wendy Daniels owns a real estate development consulting business and is a mom of three.
• She was drawn to Atlanta for entrepreneurial opportunities but later moved.
• She says living in Baton Rouge means less commuting time and better career opportunities.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Wendy Daniels, owner of Beechwood Residential, a Baton Rouge-based property development firm. It has been edited for length and clarity.

As a kid, I moved around a bit, living in New Orleans and Oakland, California, before my parents settled in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when I was in seventh grade. When I left home for college to study urban planning, I thought I'd never in a million years move back to Baton Rouge.

After graduate school, I was recruited for a position in Atlanta. It felt like the city chose me. I loved that I never had to search for something to do because so much was happening. Growing up, I didn't know a lot of Black entrepreneurs, but in Atlanta, I worked with the best and brightest people. When I became a mom, I liked my children being around that as well.

But over my 15 years in Atlanta, the city lost some of its appeal. One of the biggest drawbacks was the traffic. It was unbearable. I lived 10 minutes from downtown, but picking my kids up from day care and getting home could easily take over an hour on a Friday afternoon. That impacted my career because I needed to leave the office or client meetings by 2:30 to get to day care on time.

I felt a sigh of relief every time I left the city

When I visited my mom in Baton Rouge, I felt so relaxed. I realized I missed the social culture of Louisiana. In Atlanta, nine out of every 10 people I met were also transplants. My home became the house where everyone gathered on holidays and after work, but I was trying to create that neighborhood feel in a city that didn't have it.

By the time I had three young children, I knew we needed to leave the city. At that stage, it just didn't feel like the right fit for our family. I owned my own business and knew I could keep my clients. My husband found a job in Baton Rouge, about a 10-hour drive from Atlanta, and we packed up.

We settled on a short-term rental while we decided where we wanted to buy. Although I was from the city, so much had changed. Soon after we arrived, the rental owner invited us over for a glass of wine and said she wanted to get to know us. That's the exact community culture I was craving. It felt like I could breathe again.

We spent more on housing but much less on tuition

We sold our house in Atlanta and bought one in a hot neighborhood in Baton Rouge. Our housing costs actually went up, but it wasn't an apples-to-apples comparison. We were living in a much nicer area.

We saved money on preschool and private school tuition, however. In Atlanta, private Catholic schools cost about $20,000 per child annually. In Baton Rouge, I put all three kids in private school for that amount.

The biggest change in my life was the traffic situation. I could drop off all three kids and get to my office within 25 minutes, whereas in Atlanta, that could take an hour. I didn't realize how much stress it was causing me until that was gone.

At first, I had to commute to Atlanta every month for work. I could leave my house and be at my airport gate within 20 minutes. I've never flown private, but I can't imagine it's much better than that. While I could fly direct to Atlanta or Washington D.C., most other flights had connections, which was a change from Atlanta, where I could fly direct anywhere.

Moving boosted my career, too

I'm very good at what I do, but there was much more competition in Atlanta. Although I had a good network, it wasn't as deep as the networks of people who had family ties in Atlanta or went to college there.

When I moved, I was able to tap into a wonderful network. It's not just because I grew up here — it's because, in a smaller city, you can have a bigger impact. I have the mayor's number, and I'm confident I could get the governor on the phone if needed. Because of networking and less competition, my business has flourished.

Living in Baton Rouge isn't big city life, but it has everything I need. Sure, I might need to search more, but I can still go to the symphony, meet friends for drinks, and make professional connections, all without the stress I had in Atlanta.

• Cameron Diaz has said her decadelong retirement from acting was "the best 10 years" of her life.
• Diaz stopped acting in 2014 but recently returned to star in "Back In Action" with Jamie Foxx.
• Diaz isn't the only celebrity to have walked back on the decision to retire.

Cameron Diaz has said the decade she spent in retirement from acting was "the best 10 years" of her life, but she thinks she is now ready to get back into the industry.

Appearing on "The Graham Norton Show," the 52-year-old actor reflected on her decision to take an extended hiatus from her career.

"Oh my God, I loved it. It was the best 10 years of my life," Diaz said. "I was just free to just say, 'I'm a mom, I'm a wife, I'm living my life.'"

She said that stepping back from acting "made sense for my family," and after a while, "people stopped asking" her to take on roles.

"It was so lovely," she added.

However, Diaz, who stars in the new Netflix movie "Back in Action" alongside Jamie Foxx, said she realized that getting to entertain people for a living is a "priviledge" which ultimately led her to unretire.

"I just said to myself, if I just let this go, all of this goodwill, all of this which I got to build over so much time, the passion that I have for entertaining people and making movies, if I don't engage in that again be grateful for it, I would be a fool."

As for whether her return to acting is permanent, Diaz said: "This is maybe the beginning, maybe I'll tiptoe in, maybe I'll go gung-ho, we'll see. It's here and I'm really grateful for it."

Per her IMDb page, she has two upcoming projects: She will return to voice Princess Fiona in "Shrek 5" and will also star in a new Jonah Hill-helmed film titled "Outcome."

A representative for Diaz did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, which was sent outside regular working hours.

Diaz isn't the first actor to have walked back on the decision to retire.

Jim Carrey, 63, announced in 2022 that he was retiring from acting after "Sonic the Hedgehog 2." But he returned to work last year, reprising his role in the third film.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Carrey said: "I came back to this universe because, first of all, I get to play a genius, which is a bit of a stretch. And I just, I bought a lot of stuff, and I need the money, frankly."

Diaz became one of Hollywood's biggest stars after making her debut opposite Carrey in the superhero comedy film "The Mask."

The film went on to become one of the top 10 highest-grossing films of 1994, making more than $350 million at the worldwide box office.

Over the next few years, Diaz landed more and more roles, starring in the likes of "There's Something About Mary," "Charlie's Angels," and "The Holiday."

Discussing how she spent the time since her last starring role in 2014's "Annie" remake, Diaz told the "Still Watching Netflix" YouTube channel that she had focused on raising her kids.

"That was what I was putting most of my focus on if I was doing anything other than just sort of being a mom and living my day-to-day," Diaz said. "And that was pretty much it. I'm just trying to stay alive, just like every other mother. I'm just trying to keep it going."

Diaz married Benji Madden of the rock band Good Charlotte in 2015. They welcomed their daughter, Raddix, in 2019 and their son, Cardinal, in 2024.

• Microsoft and Meta say they plan to cut jobs, targeting "low performers."
• Layoffs can be traumatic for workers, and the added tag of "low performer" can make it worse.
• Such labels can also create additional barriers for those searching for new jobs, experts say.

Targeting "low performers" might seem like a logical tactic for big companies looking to streamline their workforces.

But when Meta and Microsoft recently announced performance-based cuts, it sparked a debate online about the potential impacts of publicly labeling someone a "low performer" — a term loaded with negative connotations.

Layoffs can already be traumatic for workers, and experts say such tags only compound the issue, creating new obstacles for those back on the job hunt.

"Here's the real deal — a 'low performer' at Meta could be a rockstar anywhere else," Jan Tegze, a Czech Republic-based tech recruiter, wrote in a post on LinkedIn. But now, these "people have to job hunt with this label hanging over them. Every recruiter, every hiring manager will see these headlines."

Jennifer Dulski, the founder and CEO of Rising Team and a management lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business, said on LinkedIn that it was "reasonable to let people go for lower performance than others on the team, and to share that reasoning with them."

"However, publicly branding employees as low performers serves no one — not the individuals, not the remaining team, and not the company's reputation," she added.

"That will stick with and damage many people's careers. It's unnecessary and punitive," Jonathan Shottan, chief product and content officer at Tonal, said.

Previous research has suggested that finding a job may be more difficult for laid-off workers due to the stigma they may encounter among potential employers.

And with job seekers also facing a slowing job market and new hurdles such as the ever-expanding rollout of AI in workplaces, the added "low performer" tag may make the job search even trickier.

Others have defended Meta and Microsoft's announcements, however.

"Who would you fire? Your top performers?" One LinkedIn user wrote in response to Tegze's post. "There isn't a company in the world who would let go of anyone that they didn't think was their lowest performers."

"What if.... they 'are' actually low performers," another said. "Stop jumping on the let's bash Zuk bandwagon."

In an internal memo seen by Business Insider earlier this week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees that he had "decided to raise the bar on performance management" and act quickly to "move out low-performers."

The cuts will affect 5% of the company's workforce, equivalent to about 3,600 roles. Microsoft has not announced the number of employees it plans to let go.

For those who do find themselves caught in the layoffs, experts have some tips to help ensure they give themselves the best chance of getting back to work.

Writing on X, Ethan Evans, a former Amazon vice president, advised those hit by cuts targeting low performers to carefully and openly explain their situation to hiring managers.

Evans said it can be natural for recruiters to wonder if an interviewee has performance problems that they should avoid and that "your ability to respond calmly and confidently will matter just as much as the actual content of your answer."

"If your entire team or division was cut, this is the strongest story. Be clear about that and say, 'My entire team was cut.' Point them to a news story that verifies your claim if you can," he said.

He added: "Never badmouth your old boss or company."

"Just like dating, no one wants to start a relationship with someone who isn't over their ex."

Business Insider contacted Meta and Microsoft for comment.

• Reddit COO Jen Wong said the company's content is "foundational" to training AI models.
• Google and OpenAI have deals with Reddit to use its content to train their large language models.
• Reddit has also leveraged AI for a translation tool that's helped it grow internationally.

Last year was a big one for Reddit.

The company went public in February. Then it began investing heavily in AI for features like its translation tool and an AI-powered search tool. It also struck agreements with Google and OpenAI that allow the tech companies to train their AI models using Reddit comments and posts.

Reddit COO Jen Wong says those investments are paying off.

"AI itself, more broadly, is incredibly important to everything we're doing," Wong told AdExchanger at the CES technology conference.

Wong added that Reddit is now "foundational to the training" of large language models.

In February, Reddit signed a licensing deal with Google to train Google's AI using Reddit content for $60 million a year. Then, in May, Reddit signed another massive content data-sharing deal with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI to train its AI models.

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said the company is in talks with "just about everybody" when asked if Reddit would consider working with Microsoft during The Wall Street Journal's Tech Live event in October.

Huffman said Reddit posts and comments contain a wealth of "colloquial words about pretty much every topic" that are constantly updated, making them valuable in teaching machines how to think and speak like humans.

Wong told AdExchanger that Reddit's introduction of AI translation features, meanwhile, has helped the company grow at an "accelerated rate" outside the United States.

In September, Reddit announced the expansion of an AI-powered translation feature that lets users translate Reddit posts and comments into different languages. The expansion covered more than 35 countries, including Brazil, Spain, Germany, Italy, the Philippines, and countries throughout Latin America.

"It's made our core product better," Wong said. "People find a home on Reddit."

Wong also said that Reddit plans to use AI on its advertising platform to create more "creative variants" and "make things more Reddity."

"We bought a company, Memorable AI, that allows us to do that," Wong told AdExchanger. "So we see a lot of opportunity for our AI application."

Reddit acquired Memorable AI, an AI-based advertisement company, in August 2024. Reddit said that the acquisition would give Reddit advertisers access to Memorable's "best-in-class" tools for advancing advertising campaigns in a blog post at the time.

Reddit did not immediately return a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Former Ohio Sen. JD Vance will serve as Donald Trump's vice president.
• A former Trump critic, Vance rose to fame as the author of a bestselling memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy."
• Vance was elected to the Senate in 2022 and became an outspoken supporter of Trump.

Donald Trump's dramatic Veepstakes came to an end with the selection of JD Vance as the former president's running mate in June. As of Inauguration Day, the former senator from Ohio will serve as the next vice president of the United States.

Despite winning the coveted spot as Trump's No. 2, though, Vance has had a winding path through Trumpism and politics overall.

Here are 10 things you need to know about Vance, the 50th vice president and heir apparent to the MAGA movement.

Born James Donald Bowman in Middletown, Ohio, JD Vance grew up in the Rust Belt and joined the Marines after high school.

Vance served in Iraq as a public affairs marine, escorting members of the press and writing stories about service members. He wrote in his 2016 memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy," that the Marine Corps "taught me how to live like an adult."

"It was in the Marine Corps where I first ordered grown men to do a job and watched them listen; where I learned that leadership depended far more on earning the respect of your subordinates than on bossing them around; where I discovered how to earn that respect; and where I saw that men and women of different social classes and races could work as a team and bond like family," he wrote, according to an excerpt published by Military.com.

He went on to study at Ohio State University and Yale Law School.

Vance majored in political science and philosophy at Ohio State and graduated summa cum laude. He then graduated from Yale Law School in 2013.

While at Yale, law professor and "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" author Amy Chua encouraged Vance to write a memoir about his upbringing.

Before becoming an author and politician, Vance worked at a venture capital firm backed by billionaire Peter Thiel.

As a law student, Vance attended a talk by PayPal founder Peter Thiel. He wrote in The Lamp in 2020 that it was "the most significant moment" of his time at Yale.

After two clerkships and a brief career in corporate law, Vance began working at Mithril Capital, a firm backed by Thiel, in 2016. A year later, he moved to Revolution, a VC firm in Washington, DC.

He wrote a best-selling memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy."

Vance published "Hillbilly Elegy" in the summer of 2016, before Trump was elected or projected to win the presidency. The memoir, which became a New York Times bestseller, focuses on Vance's experience growing up poor in Ohio and Kentucky and was largely read as an honest illustration of America's white working class. After Trump won, many turned to the book as an explanation for Trump's meteoric and unexpected rise.

A movie adaptation of "Hillbilly Elegy" came out on Netflix in 2020.

Vance is married to former litigator Usha Chilukuri Vance.

Vance met his wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, when they were both students at Yale Law School. In "Hillbilly Elegy," he wrote that Chilukuri Vance was his "Yale spirit guide" who encouraged him to seek opportunities within the elite institution. They wed in 2014.

Chilukuri Vance clerked for Judge Brett Kavanaugh in the US Court of Appeals before he became a Supreme Court Justice and also clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts, The New York Times reported. She worked as a litigator at the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson, then quit her job when Trump chose Vance as his running mate.

Vance and his wife have three young children.

They have two sons, Ewan and Vivek, and a daughter, Mirabel.

In February, Vance read "Oh, The Places You'll Go!" by Dr. Seuss on the Senate floor in honor of Vivek's 4th birthday.

Vance started out as a "Never Trumper," but slowly changed his tune and embraced the former president.

When he published "Hillbilly Elegy," Vance was a self-described "Never Trumper" and even called the former president "reprehensible" in a now-deleted X post.

As the years — and Trump presidency — wore on, though, Vance started to take a different approach. He told The Financial Times in 2018 that the former president "recognizes the frustration that exists in large parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky, and so forth."

Come 2020, Vance supported Trump's campaign and expressed regret for his previous stance. The tide turned in both directions, as Trump began to support Vance's foray into politics.

In 2021, Vance entered a crowded Senate primary race.

A junior congressman, Vance was only elected to the Senate in 2022 but has since become one of Trump's most loyal supporters. He entered a cramped Ohio primary in 2021 in the mold of an unrelenting Trump supporter and anti-elitist.

Vance embraced the former president's policies and eventually earned his coveted endorsement. With Trump's blessing, he catapulted through the primary and into Congress.

Vance served on various congressional committees and represents the "New Right."

In the Senate, Vance serves on the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee; the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee; the Joint Economic Committee; and the Special Committee on Aging. Like Trump, he has an isolationist bent on foreign policy and takes a hard-line approach to immigration.

During his limited time in office, Vance has come to embody what Politico dubbed the "New Right" movement — an ill-defined coalition of younger conservatives who are trying to push the Republican party toward more populism, conservatism, and nationalism.

Vance will be one of the youngest vice presidents in US history.

Trump announced Vance as his vice presidential pick in a post on Truth Social in June. In it, he celebrated Vance's business background and said that, as vice president, the youngster "will do everything he can to help me MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN."

Together, they went on to defeat Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz in the 2024 election.

Upon taking the oath of office, 40-year-old Vance will become one of the youngest vice presidents in the nation's history — as well as the first millennial VP — and well-positioned to inherit the MAGA crown.

• When Wolfe Herd took Bumble public in 2021, she became the youngest female CEO to make such a move.
• Before Bumble, Wolfe Herd cofounded rival dating app Tinder.
• Wolfe Herd left her CEO role in 2024, and Bumble announced she'll return in March 2025.

Whitney Wolfe Herd is coming back as CEO of dating app Bumble just over a year after stepping down in 2024.

Wolfe Herd, who co-founded the app, transitioned into the executive chair position at Bumble in January 2024. She did so at a time when the dating app industry faced challenges. In her stead, Lidiane Jones had the top job before resigning, citing personal reasons, a press release said.

In 2021, Wolfe Herd made a bold move when she took Bumble public. She was 31 at the time, which made her the youngest female CEO to take a US company public.

Since going public, Bumble has experience ups and downs. Bumble's annual revenue was up 16% year-over-year in 2023, but its latest results for the third-quarter of 2024 dropped 1% year-over-year to $274 million. Wolfe Herd expanded her company and relinquished some of her responsibilities after the company went public, including hiring Drena Kusari, Bumble's first global general manager. 

In May 2023, Bumble also acquired Official, a relationship app designed for couples that helps with date planning and mood check-ins, according to Fast Company. 

"We're really trying to build the entire relationship journey and take care of the entire relationship from start to finish," Wolfe Herd told Fast Company.

Keep reading to learn more about Bumble cofounder Whitney Wolfe Herd.

Whitney Wolfe Herd, 35, is a Utah native.

Wolfe Herd was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, The Times of London reported. Her father is a property developer and her mother is a homemaker, per The Times.

The CEO has been a feminist from an early age, telling The Times that she disliked how Utah's dating culture was dominated by men — women were expected to wait for them to make the first move.

Wolfe Herd went on to attend Southern Methodist University in Texas, and was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma, per Fast Company. She's still close with many of her sorority sisters and even employs a few at Bumble.

Wolfe Herd also launched her first business at 19 while still in college, per Money Inc. After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill pumped crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico for five months in 2010, Wolfe Herd enlisted celebrity stylist Patrick Aufdenkamp to design tote bags that could be sold to help fund relief efforts. The resulting nonprofit, called the Help Us Get Cleaned Up Project, became nationally known after Nicole Richie and Rachel Zoe were spotted with Wolfe Herd's bags.

After earning a degree in International Studies, Wolfe Herd did a brief stint in Southeast Asia.

Wolfe Herd spent her time in Asia volunteering at local orphanages, per Money Inc.

Wolfe Herd is currently at the head of Bumble, it isn't the first dating app she cofounded.

At 22, Wolfe Herd was hired to work at startup incubator Hatch Labs in Los Angeles, according to The Times of London. After hours, she starting collaborating with a group that was looking to build a dating app.

That app, which is now known as Tinder, quickly grew into a global phenomenon with Wolfe Herd's help. She even came up with the name Tinder, per The Telegraph. She is credited as a cofounder and spent two years as the company's vice president of marketing, per The Times.

Wolfe Herd didn't leave Tinder on good terms.

During her tenure at Tinder, Wolfe Herd dated fellow cofounder and her then-boss Justin Mateen, per The Times of London. She left the company shortly after they split, and filed a lawsuit alleging that she had experienced sexual harassment and discrimination.

The legal dispute was settled privately outside of court, with neither party admitting to wrongdoing.

Following the legal battle, Wolfe Herd also faced online harassment.

"I was inundated with hatred online, lots of aggressive behavior, people calling me names, really painful things that I'd never experienced," Wolfe Herd told The Times in 2018. "I felt like my entire self-worth, any confidence that I had, had been sucked away. There were dark times when I thought, 'Well, this is it. I won't have a career ever again. I'm 24, coming out of one of the world's hottest tech companies, but the internet hates me.' It was a horrible time. Then I woke up one morning and thought, 'I'm going to rebuild myself.'"

Wolfe Herd launched Bumble in 2014, originally planning to build a female-focused social network instead of a dating app.

Wolfe Herd was persuaded to forgo her original plan for the app by former business partner and Russian billionaire Andrey Andreev, according to CNN Business.

The app's women-led model was initially inspired by Sadie Hawkins school dances, where women ask men to be their date, Wolfe Herd told Business Insider in 2015.

"We're definitely not trying to be sexist, that's not the goal," Wolfe Herd said. "I know guys get sick of making the first move all the time. Why does a girl feel like she should sit and wait around? Why is there this standard that, as a woman, you can get your dream job but you can't talk to a guy first? Let's make dating feel more modern."

Wolfe Herd has since expanded the app with additional services to help women meet new friends and expand their professional networks, called Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz respectively. Bumble has also invested in other apps, including gay dating app Chappy, TechCrunch reported.

Bumble has 3.6 million paying users across 150 countries as of June 2023, according to the company.

Wolfe Herd also reorganized and took the helm of Bumble's former parent company, Magic Lab, after its owner was ousted amid accusations of racism and sexism.

In addition to being Wolfe Herd's close friend and business partner who she said she was "incredibly in sync" with and called "two to five times a day," Andreev owned a 79% stake in Bumble, according to Fast Company.

After the allegations of racism and sexism against Andreev were published by Forbes in 2019, Wolfe Herd released a statement saying she had had "nothing but positive and respectful" experiences with Andreev but "would never challenge someone's feelings or experiences."

"All of us at Bumble are mortified by the allegations about Badoo (Bumble's majority owner) from the years before Bumble was born, as chronicled in the Forbes story," Wolfe Herd said in the statement. "I am saddened and sickened to hear that anyone, of any gender, would ever be made to feel marginalized or mistreated in any capacity at their workplace."

Even before she took on her expanded role, Wolfe Herd was already a workaholic.

Wolfe Herd typically wakes up every morning at 5:15 a.m. and immediately starts responding to emails, she told The Times of London.

She has even been known to wake up every two hours during the night to check her inbox. "I'm trying to stop that," Wolfe Herd told The Times in 2017. "I get no downtime. I don't get a weekend, I haven't lived like a twenty-something since I started Bumble in 2014."

Wolfe Herd is also politically active, helping outlaw digital sexual harassment in Texas.

Sending unsolicited nude photos — a phenomenon that has plagued dating apps and even AirDrop — is punishable under a new law championed by Wolfe Herd, Inc. reported. She is now advocating for a similar law in California and hopes it will soon be federal law, too.

"It is time that our laws mirror this way we lead double lives, in the physical and the digital," Wolfe Herd told Inc. shortly after the Texas law was passed in August 2019. "You look at government right now, it only protects the physical world. But our youth are spending a lot more time in the digital world than they are in the physical."

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A post shared by Whitney Wolfe Herd (@whitney)

 

The CEO says she doesn't have political aspirations of her own, however. "I could never run for [office]," Wolfe Herd told The Times of London, saying that she is frequently asked if she's considered it. "There are people so much smarter than me."

Wolfe Herd is also a mom.

Wolfe Herd married Texas oil heir Michael Herd in an elegant three-day ceremony on Italy's Amalfi Coast in 2017, per Vogue.

The couple first met while skiing in Aspen in 2013, but Wolfe Herd first saw him on a dating app. "He has the kind of face you remember," she told The Telegraph.

He is now the president of the oil and gas field operator founded by his late grandfather, Herd Producing Company, and also owns a high-end farm to table restaurant called the Grove Kitchen + Gardens.

The pair have two sons named Henry and Bobby, named after Michael's late grandfather, and they makes frequent appearances on Wolfe Herd's Instagram account.

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A post shared by Whitney Wolfe Herd (@whitney)

 

The couple also has a Great Dane named Duke and a yellow lab named Jett, per The New York Times.

"[Duke] is a kind animal but does not understand how big he is," Wolfe Herd told The Times in 2019, while describing her daily after work routine. "At 175 pounds, he could quite literally kill me. I have to lock myself in the car while I wait for my husband to come home and get him away from me."

Wolfe Herd has been open about her struggles with anxiety.

"I haven't gone through the testing, but I should," Wolfe Herd told The Times of London. "It's anxiety about everything. I worry about awful things happening to people I love. They say phones are a strong catalyst for making anxiety worse, so I have this interesting balance — how do I make sure I'm on top of everything, but also preserve my mental health?"

The Herd family splits time between their two Texas houses.

The Herds have one home along the Colorado River in Austin near Bumble's headquarters and another further north in Tyler, near Michael Herd's office, per The New York Times. They also own a vacation home in Aspen, Bumble's chief brand officer Alex Williamson told Aspen Magazine.

The couple also owns Michael's 6.5-acre family estate on Lake Austin, according to Mansion Global. The waterfront compound boasts a movie theater, helipad, putting green, 10 garages, multiple boat docks, and a guest house, as well as a 5,000 square foot cabana designed for entertaining. That property was listed for sale for $28.5 million.

They also travel a lot.

Wolfe Herd takes frequent trips for both work and pleasure. Wolfe Herd told Travel +Leisure in 2017 that her all-time favorite trips include a sailing expedition through Myanmar and Thailand and a family trip to India.

For their honeymoon, Wolfe Herd and her husband stayed at Four Seasons resorts in both Bora Bora and Maui after leaving the site of their destination wedding in Italy, according to a blog post by the Indagare, the group that planned the trip.

Wolfe Herd told Indagare that she wanted a beach-heavy honeymoon because she and Herd were "looking for the ideal place to unwind, where we could take in the sun and swim. Our favorite moments were just relaxing and appreciating each other in such beautiful locations."

In July 2019, she celebrated her 30th birthday with a multi-day party on a yacht off the coast of Capri, Italy, per Guest of a Guest.

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Wolfe Herd has an estimated net worth of $400 million, according to Forbes.

Wolfe Herd's multimillion-dollar fortune landed her at No. 39 on Forbes' list of the wealthiest self-made women in America in 2020.

In 2022, Bumble's total revenue increased to $903.5 million, according to its financial earnings. The company brought in nearly $243 million in quarter one of 2023, a 16% increase, according to Bumble.

Forbes previously reported that Wolfe Herd was the youngest self-made woman billionaire after she took Bumble public — a title that lasted for ten months. Wolfe Herd's net worth is currently $400 million, per Forbes.

"I feel like what I'm doing is quite important," Wolfe Herd told The Times of London in 2018. "A lot of people are, like, 'What do you mean it's important? It's a dating app.' But it's important because connections are at the root of everything we do. Human connection defines our happiness and our health. This company feels like a piece of me. I know this sounds cheesy and weird, but I really feel like it's my mission."

In November 2023, Bumble announced that Lidiane Jones would be replacing Wolfe Herd as CEO.

Bumble announced on November 6 that Jones, then CEO of Slack, would replace Wolfe Herd as CEO of the dating app starting January 2024.

Jones replaced Slack cofounder Stewart Butterfield in January 2023 and was CEO of the company for less than a year before her new role at Bumble was announced.

Wolfe Herd stayed on as the executive chair of Bumble. 

 

In May 2024, Wolfe Herd shared her thoughts on AI dating.

Wolfe Herd attended the Bloomberg Technology Summit in May where she said Bumble is eyeing ways to foster "healthy and equitable relationships" using AI.

She used the term "AI dating concierge" to describe tech that would ease the pressure of online dating.

"If you want to get really out there, there is a world where your dating concierge could go and date for you with other dating concierge," she said at the summit.

Bumble announced in January that Wolfe Herd would be coming back as CEO.

Bumble announced that Wolfe Herd would return to the CEO role in a press release on January 17 — just over a year after stepping down. She'll succeed Jones, who'll remain at the helm until the change goes into effect in March.

"I am deeply grateful for the transformative work Lidiane has led during such a pivotal time for Bumble, and her leadership has been instrumental in building a strong foundation for our future," said Wolfe Herd in the release.

In her own statement, Jones praised the platform for its "tremendous progress."

"It has been an honor to serve Bumble's stakeholders, and I will remain an enthusiastic supporter of Whitney and the Company, especially the outstanding team behind the brand," Jones said.

• Travel data company OAG released its annual report on the busiest airports.
• The 2024 report measures total airline capacity for domestic and international flights.
• Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was the busiest global airport last year.

2024 was a huge year for the travel industry, as Gen Z showed their love for all-inclusive resorts, tourists chose to extend their trips, and wellness grew as a hot vacation agenda item.

To cap off the year's travels, OAG, a travel data company, released its annual report listing the busiest airports of the year.

Spanning four regions, including North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, the world's top 10 busiest airports had a total airline capacity of more than 523 million seats, according to data calculated from domestic and international flights taken from January to December 2024.

Unsurprisingly, Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport took the top spot, as it has done every other year since 1998, with the exception of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In fact, the top six busiest airports of 2024 each held their positions from 2023, and of those six, two have kept their rankings from 2019: Hartsfield-Jackson and Tokyo Haneda Airport.

As 2025 gears up to be yet another busy year in the skies, here's a look back at 2024's top 10 busiest airports in the world, according to OAG's report.

10. Chicago O'Hare International Airport

Seats: 46.99 million

The 10th busiest airport in the world in 2024 was Chicago O'Hare International Airport, which increased its airline capacity by 8% compared to 2023, but was still down 7% compared to 2019, when it was ranked as the sixth busiest airport.

O'Hare is a hub for both United and American Airlines.

9. Shanghai Pudong International Airport

Seats: 48.50 million

Shanghai Pudong International Airport increased its airline capacity by 29% — the largest margin of growth from 2023 to 2024 among airports in the top 10 — bringing it to the ninth busiest airport of 2024.

OAG cited "China's ongoing air travel recovery following the global pandemic" as the likely cause.

It was the 15th busiest airport in 2023 and eighth busiest in 2019.

8. Istanbul Airport

Seats: 48.52 million

Despite increasing airline capacity by 5% compared to 2023, Istanbul Airport dropped from the seventh busiest to the eighth busiest airport in the world in 2024.

However, its growth since 2019 has been positive, with a 15% increase in airline capacity.

7. Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport

Seats: 48.85 million

Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in Guangdong, China, was the seventh busiest airport of 2024, improving airline capacity by 12% compared to 2023, when it was the 10th busiest airport.

Guangzhou Baiyun also showed a 9% increase in capacity compared to 2019, when it ranked as the 12th busiest airport.

6. Denver International Airport

Seats: 49.22 million

As a hub for both United and Frontier Airlines, Denver International Airport was ranked the sixth busiest airport in the world, tying its 2023 ranking despite increasing capacity by 5%.

Of the top 10 airports listed, Denver International experienced the largest percentage growth in capacity from 2019 to 2024, increasing by 24%.

5. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport

Seats: 51.52 million

In fifth place was Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, which increased capacity by 7% compared to 2023, and by 18% compared to 2019.

In summer 2024, American Airlines offered more than 850 departures daily from Dallas Fort Worth, highlighting its position as the largest airline in the state.

4. Heathrow Airport

Seats: 51.55 million

London's Heathrow Airport was the fourth busiest global airport in 2024.

It experienced an airline capacity increase of 4% compared to 2023, when it also ranked fourth-busiest, and an increase of 3% compared to 2019, when it ranked seventh-busiest.

Heathrow is a hub for British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways.

3. Tokyo Haneda Airport

Seats: 55.20 million

Coming in third place was Tokyo Haneda Airport, which increased its capacity by 5% compared to 2023 but by 1% since 2019. In both of these years, it tied its current ranking of third busiest global airport.

Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways both call Haneda a hub.

2. Dubai International Airport

Seats: 60.24 million

Dubai International Airport was the second busiest global airport of 2024, having increased its airline capacity by 7% since 2023 when it also ranked second and by 12% since 2019.

Dubai International, and more specifically its Terminal 3, is a hub for Emirates.

1. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

Seats: 62.74 million

Finally, the busiest airport in the world in 2024 was Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The airport increased capacity by 2% compared to 2023, but still falls short of its 2019 capacity by 1%.

Delta Airlines' largest hub is Atlanta.

• As someone who has lived in Colorado for years, I know of lots of great things to do in Denver.
• I recommend checking out Denver's many concert venues, museums, and restaurants.
• If you're staying in the city, I suggest taking a day trip to Colorado Springs for great hiking.

As someone who has lived in Colorado for five years, I know Denver is more than just a place to fly in and out of on your way to the mountains. Colorado's capital city represents a lot of what makes this state so special.

Here are the best things to do in Denver for first-time visitors.

Spend time wandering around the Denver Botanic Gardens.

The Denver Botanic Gardens are a true oasis in the middle of the city. It's easy to spend a few hours wandering the grounds. Here, visitors can find themed gardens, seasonal events, and both indoor and outdoor exhibits.

Each section feels completely unique — my favorite is the peaceful Japanese garden.

Check out Denver's museums and indoor attractions.

One of my favorite ways to spend a chilly or rainy day in the city is by visiting museums and indoor attractions.

For example, the immersive Meow Wolf experience is a breathtaking multi-media exhibit that brings visitors into a dream world of interactive art.

For a unique experience, visit the Museum of Illusions for holograms, stereograms, and optical illusions of all kinds. If you're looking for a more traditional museum experience, I recommend checking out the Denver Art Museum.

Another great indoor option is the Denver Downtown Aquarium. Here, visitors can eat in a restaurant surrounded by fish tanks, learn about local and international marine life, snorkel or scuba dive with sharks, and catch a mermaid performance.

See a show at one of Denver's many concert venues.

Denver has some amazing concert venues like the historic Paramount Theatre and the Mission Ballroom, which was decorated by local artists.

Big-name musicians and comedians come to venues like the Ball Arena (where the Denver Nuggets play) or the Bellco Theater, which is inside the Denver Convention Center.

In the summer, attending a concert at the nearby Red Rocks Amphitheater is a must.

Take in the art in the RiNo district.

The River North (RiNo) Arts District is a great place to spend an afternoon in Denver.

Each alleyway in this neighborhood has its own street art, and there are plenty of galleries, shops, restaurants, and events to check out.

The first Friday of each month in RiNo is especially fun with gallery openings, live music, and lots of local art for sale.

Hang out at the newly renovated Union Station.

Denver's Union Station was originally constructed in the 20th century, but some recent renovations have completely transformed the building.

Now, it's one of the coolest places to hang out in the city, complete with an open-seating area, shops, restaurants, bars, and, of course, the train.

Take a day trip to Colorado Springs.

There are many great options for day trips from Denver, but my favorite is probably Colorado Springs, which is about an hour south of the city.

While in Colorado Springs for the day, visitors can hike or drive up Pikes Peak, visit the striking (and free) Garden of the Gods national natural landmark, or check out the well-preserved Old Colorado City.

Spend the day in City Park.

Denver's City Park is no ordinary urban green space — it offers some of the best skyline and mountain views in Denver.

It's also home to the Denver Zoo and the family-friendly Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

While in the park, you can wander past pretty lakes or even play a round of golf. Lots of Denver residents hang out here when the weather is nice.

• America's credit card debt has surged, and distress could peak this year.
• Banks could write off the largest share of credit card loans since 2011, finance experts predict.
• Debt distress will be driven by weaker consumer finances, thanks to elevated inflation and interest rates.

Benton McClintock, 27, had been running away from his credit card bill for nearly a decade before deciding to pay it off. When McClintock was in college, he began paying for big trips to Milan, Paris, and other getaways with his credit card, and—until his balance had ballooned to $40,000—thought nothing of it.

When his American Express Platinum card, which doesn't have a traditional credit limit, began running into a hard borrowing cap, he realized he was in trouble. McClintock spent the last year paying off the debt aggressively, a Sisyphean task that involved him putting 90% of his income toward his credit card bill and living on thin margins.

"Every day," he said when asked if he was stressed about his finances. "You just become numb to it, I think."

Today, McClintock is debt-free, but many others are still struggling. Americans have been digging themselves deeper into a hole of credit card debt over the last several years, and some financial experts think debt pain will peak this year, with more banks writing off loans and consumers making even deeper sacrifices to pay their credit card bills, personal finance pros told BI.

They added that consumer finances will weaken, leaving many ill-equipped to deal with the fallout from pandemic spending binges. Sticky inflation and elevated borrowing rates will also contribute to distress.

Measures of debt distress are already on the rise. More credit card balances are shifting into late payment status, with the delinquency rate on credit card loans climbing 3.23% in the third quarter, the highest level since 2011, according to Federal Reserve data.

Meanwhile, the charge-off rate on credit card loans — another measure of debt distress that refers to the percentage of card balances banks have written off their balance sheet — rose to 4.69% in the third quarter, the highest level in 13 years.

The charge-off rate on credit card loans is expected to peak around 5% by the middle of this year, according to a projection from Fitch Ratings. That would represent the largest percentage of distressed credit card loans banks have written off since the years following the Great Financial Crisis, Fed data shows.

The National Foundation for Credit Card Counseling is also expecting consumer credit card distress to worsen in the near term. The foundation estimated its average client reached "Stage 6" on its Debt Burden Scale over the fourth quarter, a severe form of debt distress where consumers are cutting back on essentials, like food, to service their credit card payments.

The trend of higher debt distress looks poised to continue through 2025, the firm said in its latest Financial Stress Forecast.

Bruce McClary, senior vice president of membership and communications at the NFCC, said that he was seeing more people make sacrifices to service their credit card loans, such as by borrowing against their home or their 401(k).

In particular, he's expecting a surge of debt-distressed consumers to come in for help in the next three months, as Americans face bills coming due from the holidays.

"We're expecting these levels of stress to reach a level significantly higher than anything we've seen over the past four years," he said. "l think it would be also true to say that we're expecting it to go beyond what we saw pre-pandemic."

Credit card nation

Americans are leaning on credit cards to get by more than ever. Household credit card balances surged to a record $1.17 trillion as of the third quarter of 2024, up $360 billion from the third quarter of 2020, New York Fed data shows.

That increase was driven by a perfect storm of factors, McClary said, pointing to how credit card companies loosened lending standards during the pandemic, as well as the accumulated effects of higher inflation. The higher cost of living, combined with the post-pandemic shopping boom, made consumers more likely to carry a balance from month to month.

But those consumers are looking far worse than they did several years ago. Households likely depleted their excess savings from the pandemic by the first quarter of 2024, according to an analysis from the San Francisco Fed.

Meanwhile, credit card companies began rolling up their emergency forbearance programs in 2022, which were implemented to provide debt forgiveness during the pandemic.

Nearly half of all credit card users said they carried a balance month-to-month, according to a 2024 Bankrate survey, up from 39% of users who carried a balance in 2021.

Of those who held credit card debt, 29% of users said they believed it would take them more than 5 years to pay off their loans, while 6% said they believed they would never be able to pay their dues.

Heather Hunt, the director of Fitch Ratings, says she largely expects debt distress to rise as consumer finances continue to weaken in 2025, especially if the job market deteriorates.

"The short story is that if unemployment is rising, then your charge-offs are going to rise. And that just signals consumers are under more and more distress," she said.

Interest rates on credit card plans charged by commercial banks soared past 21% in 2024, the highest in at least three decades, according to Fed data dating back to 1994.

Meanwhile, 28% of credit card debt holders said day-to-day expenses, like groceries, were the largest reason they carried their balances month to month, according to Bankrate's survey.

McClary says he advises people struggling with credit card debt to speak to a nonprofit credit counselor as soon as possible.

"If you're falling behind on your payments, the delinquency interest rates, the penalty interest rates combined with the fees, could be the death blow," McClary said. "And that's just unsustainable for people who are already financially struggling and are living paycheck to paycheck."

Are you struggling with credit card loans, a mortgage, or other forms of personal debt? Email this reporter to share your story: [email protected].

• When Orrin Onken administered estates as an attorney, he felt jealous of those with inheritances.
• In 2016, he received his own inheritance — but it made him feel guilty.
• Having considered himself a self-made man, Onken wrestled with shame over his late-in-life wealth.

I've spent my entire career in law. In 2003 I started my own practice, specializing in elder law. I thought it would be less trying than other legal fields, such as criminal or divorce law — a comfortable niche to grow old in.

One day, early in the practice, I complained to a local judge that I hadn't expected the constant stress of dealing with emotional family members when administering estates. He gave me his best patronizing smile and explained that an inheritance is the largest tax-free lump sum of money most people will ever see. For many, it's life-changing. I was naïve not to foresee that people would care so much.

In 2016, 13 years into building my elder law practice, both of my parents died. Suddenly, I had my own inheritance.

Though I'm happy to have the money, it's brought up a surprising amount of guilt and shame. I've always considered myself self-made. Now, I live with the secret that part of the wealth that helped me retire was given to me rather than earned.

I watched inheritances change people's lives in my profession

During my career, my legal assistant and I spent many days quietly processing the paperwork required for transferring wealth from the Greatest Generation, Americans born from 1901 to 1927, to baby boomers.

My practice didn't see a lot of rich people come through the door, but there had to be enough money to make my services necessary.

The most common estate in my office contained a house or enough money to buy a house. If the heirs were comfortable homeowners, this wasn't a big deal, but if they were busting their butts in an Amazon warehouse to pay rent, that inheritance would make an enormous difference to them.

Making a living in the law business was hard work. I often felt a little jealous of the people who didn't really need their inheritance and the people whose lives were transformed.

My inheritance relieved my anxiety about retirement

When my parents died, I knew that some money would be coming to me because I wrote their estate plan. I arranged for it to be administered by a lawyer close to them.

I received an ordinary inheritance, enough to buy a modest yet comfortable house. I already had a modest yet comfortable house, and my law practice was going well.

I didn't need the money, but it was, in its way, life-changing. It meant that, when combined with my savings, I could retire.

I liked my job and didn't want to retire, but my retirement savings weren't impressive. I lay awake some nights, worried I'd end up chained to a desk, claiming I wanted to keep working when, in reality, I couldn't afford to quit.

When my parents' money arrived, I stashed it in an investment account and left it untouched for years. Some people take trips, some buy a new house, but I built a cushion for my old age.

Outwardly, my life didn't change, but inwardly, I had a new peace of mind. The money didn't make me happy, but it made me less afraid.

I retired in 2020 at 69. I sold my client list and lived off that for two years. In 2022, I began withdrawing money from my retirement accounts each month. Half of what I withdraw is from my savings, and the other half comes from my parents. With Social Security and these withdrawals, I live very well.

I've felt guilty about my hidden wealth

In my world, there's a social taboo around money. I was taught not to talk about my family's income at an early age. Today, my friends and I don't discuss what we have or make.

I've always honored that custom, but I honored it with extra vigor when it came to my inheritance. My wife knew. My sibling, who also received an inheritance, knew, but nobody else did.

I felt guilty. I fancied myself a self-made man. My parents helped with my education, but I'd built my law practice and supported my family. I'd paid for the homes I'd lived in. Suddenly, I'd received enough money to buy another house, not because of my hard work or my intelligence, but because my mommy and daddy left it to me.

My parents gave me a lot. They raised me in a house filled with books, encouraged my education, and provided me with contacts and social skills. Others weren't so fortunate. I sometimes felt guilty about those advantages, but I wasn't unwilling to admit to them or talk about them.

Money was different. Unlike my cultural advantages, money was raw and measurable. I was taught not to talk about it, and those lessons stuck.

I feel like one of those business leaders who never credits Mom or Dad when discussing their success, albeit on a smaller scale, when I don't tell people about how inheritance helped me retire. Guiltly I tell myself that I'd have made it to where I am anyway, that the inheritance is only part of the story and not an important part. Talking about it would just make everybody uncomfortable.

By everybody, I mean me.

I can't help but be ashamed. My middle-class values and expectations are apparent to anyone who spends more than a few minutes with me. But the source of the money that supports those middle-class ways is invisible.

Should you inquire, I will tell you about my law practice. I might even tell you about my investment returns. But I've never mentioned what Mom and Dad gave me.

• As the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman is frequently asked for his predictions about how AI will change our lives.
• He has thoughts on where we're headed on AGI, superintelligence, agentic AI, and more.
• Here are some of his predictions about the future of AI.

Over the years, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has shared predictions about where he thinks we're headed on artificial general intelligence, superintelligence, agentic AI, and more — and when we might get there.

He's typically bullish on these technologies: He thinks AGI — which ChatGPT maker OpenAI defines as "AI systems that are generally smarter than humans" — will enhance productivity by taking care of menial tasks to free up people for more abstract work and decision-making. He also believes it'll create "shared intelligence," he said in a May 2024 interview at Harvard Business School, and that it'll usher in "massive prosperity," he forecast in a 2024 blog post titled "The Intelligence Age."

One day, everyone will have "a personal AI team, full of virtual experts in different areas, working together to create almost anything we can imagine," Altman wrote in his 2024 blog post.

"AI models will soon serve as autonomous personal assistants who carry out specific tasks on our behalf like coordinating medical care on your behalf. At some point further down the road, AI systems are going to get so good that they help us make better next-generation systems and make scientific progress across the board," he added.

As far as timelines go, Altman wrote in a January 2025 blog post that he thinks this year "we may see the first AI agents 'join the workforce' and materially change the output of companies."

He said in December at The New York Times' DealBook Summit he thinks we'll achieve AGI "sooner than most people in the world think and it will matter much less."

"We are now confident we know how to build AGI as we have traditionally understood it," he added in his January post.

Beyond AGI, the company is also turning its attention to superintelligence, which it defines as "future AI systems dramatically more capable than even AGI."

"Superintelligent tools could massively accelerate scientific discovery and innovation well beyond what we are capable of doing on our own, and in turn massively increase abundance and prosperity," he wrote in his blog post earlier this year.

Altman has shared some concerns about ways AI development could go wrong, though.

"If we don't build enough infrastructure, AI will be a very limited resource that wars get fought over and that becomes mostly a tool for rich people," he wrote last year. He cited the need to drive down the cost of compute, as well as the massive demand for enough chips and energy to power AI.

Then there's the repercussions for people's jobs.

"Most jobs will change more slowly than most people think, and I have no fear that we'll run out of things to do (even if they don't look like "real jobs" to us today)," he wrote in his 2024 blog post.

At the same time, he acknowledged in 2023 that many people will lose their jobs in the process.

"A lot of people working on AI pretend that it's only going to be good, it's only going to be a supplement, no one is ever going to be replaced," he said. "Jobs are definitely going to go away, full stop."

And his bleakest statement on AI yet: That the worst-case scenario is "lights out for all of us," he said in a 2023 interview.

To that end, Altman has spoken about the need for guardrails to ensure responsible AI development.

"I think it's like impossible to overstate the importance of AI safety and alignment work. I would like to see much, much more happening," he said in the 2023 interview.