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A millennial who made $225,000 secretly working 2 remote jobs shares why he decided to give up overemployment: 'The juice wasn't worth the squeeze'
xPACIFICA via Getty Images
A millennial earned roughly $225,000 secretly working two full-time remote jobs. He used the extra money to buy a truck, start an Airbnb, and grow his savings. But several factors led him to ultimately decide that "the juice wasn't worth the squeeze."In 2022, Luke was making six figures annually working remotely as an e-commerce professional based in the South.
But he had a lot of downtime — and he's "not good with having a lot of downtime," the 37-year-old told Business Insider.
"I just figured I'd find a second role that paid well enough but wasn't overly demanding," said Luke, whose identity is known to BI but he asked to use a pseudonym due to his fear of professional repercussions.
Roughly three months later, he was secretly working two full-time remote jobs and earning about $225,000 a year in combined income. He said he used the extra money to make a down payment on a truck, start an Airbnb, and pad his savings.
But earlier this year, after roughly 13 months of being "overemployed," Luke quit his second job. While he considered carrying on, he said five factors were working against him: an upcoming promotion in his first role, a difficult boss, the recent birth of his first child, higher taxes, and a return-to-office mandate.
Over the past year, Business Insider has spoken with more than a dozen job jugglers who used their six-figure earnings to pay off debt, plan for an early retirement, and afford expensive vacations and weight-loss drugs. While some employers may be OK with their workers taking on a second job, doing so without approval could have repercussions if a worker is caught.
While working multiple full-time jobs can be very lucrative, fierce competition for remote roles has made this unattainable for many people. What's more, return-to-office mandates and burnout can make job juggling unsustainable.
Luke shared how he tried to keep both jobs going as long as he could — and why he ultimately decided to give one up.
Juggling both jobs felt manageable and worthwhile — until it didn't
Luke's overemployment journey was a bit of a roller coaster.
Before he found a second job that stuck, he said he started one that only lasted about a week before his employment was terminated. Luke wasn't sure if his job juggling had been exposed or if the company just changed its mind — he never found out.
When Luke started his more successful job juggling stint, it wasn't too difficult to manage both jobs. He said he only worked between 40 and 50 hours a week between the two roles and didn't have much trouble avoiding double-booking his calendars.
But he said the boss at his second job often left him frustrated.
"I hate my boss with a passion," he told Business Insider before he quit.
Over the past year, both work and home responsibilities made job juggling even more difficult. At his primary job, he said an upcoming promotion forced him to take on a bigger workload and put in longer hours. At home, he and his wife welcomed their first kid.
At the same time, the extra income from his second job — which paid about $80,000 a year — wasn't boosting his finances quite as much as he initially expected. That's because it slotted him into an income bracket with higher tax rates.
"Of the money I made from the second job, a third of it, I had to basically hold back just for taxes," he said.
"The juice wasn't worth the squeeze"
Earlier this year, Luke faced perhaps the biggest challenge in his overemployed journey: His primary job was switching its policy from fully remote to hybrid by the middle of 2024 — which would require him to come into the office a few days a week.
For many job jugglers, a return-to-office mandate would be the nail in the coffin — at least for their existing working arrangement. But Luke tried to figure out how to keep both jobs going.
On the days he had to work on-site, he could use his personal office to juggle both jobs without anyone peeking over his shoulder, he said. His main concern was that his employer would notice that someone from a different company was using the internet connection.
However, after weighing the challenges the hybrid policy would present, in addition to the other downsides of job juggling, Luke ultimately decided that "the juice wasn't worth the squeeze." His second job would have to go.
But he didn't immediately hand in his two-week notice. That's because he thought he could get a few easy paychecks first.
Luke said his company typically went through a multi-step process before parting ways with poor-performing employees, so it'd be possible to string out the process for at least a month.
But he soon decided this strategy wasn't worth the extra income either — and called it quits.
"I'm not going to try and juggle both jobs," he said in March. "I thought about it, but with the new baby and a promotion coming, it's just too much."
Are you working multiple remote jobs at the same time and willing to provide details about your pay and schedule? If so, reach out to this reporter at jzinkula@businessinsider.com.
Mortgage Interest Rates Today, April 20, 2024 | Rates Remain Elevated, but They Could Fall Later This Year
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After spiking last week, average 30-year mortgage rates have been hovering around 7%, according to Zillow data. And it's looking like they may remain elevated through this year's peak homebuying season.
Mortgage rates were originally forecast to go down this year, but hotter-than-expected inflation data pushed them higher. Until inflation shows signs of cooling enough for the Federal Reserve to start lowering the federal funds rate, the cost of borrowing to buy a home is likely to remain higher as well.
It's still possible mortgage rates will decrease this year. But if they do, it probably won't be until much later in 2024.
Investors had initially expected the Fed to start cutting rates at its meeting in June. Now they're pricing in September for the first cut, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. This means we might not see mortgage rates drop until we get closer to fall.
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30-year Fixed Mortgage Rates
The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 7.10% last week, according to Freddie Mac. This is a 22-basis-point increase from the previous week.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is the most common type of home loan. With this type of mortgage, you'll pay back what you borrowed over 30 years, and your interest rate won't change for the life of the loan.
The lengthy 30-year term allows you to spread out your payments over a long period of time, meaning you can keep your monthly payments lower and more manageable. The trade-off is that you'll have a higher rate than you would with shorter terms or adjustable rates.
15-year Fixed Mortgage Rates
Last week, average 15-year mortgage rates were 6.39%, a 23-basis-point increase from the previous week, according to Freddie Mac data.
If you want the predictability that comes with a fixed rate but are looking to spend less on interest over the life of your loan, a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage might be a good fit for you. Because these terms are shorter and have lower rates than 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, you could potentially save tens of thousands of dollars in interest. However, you'll have a higher monthly payment than you would with a longer term.
When Will Mortgage Rates Go Down?
Mortgage rates started ticking up from historic lows in the second half of 2021 and increased over three percentage points in 2022. Rates also increased dramatically last year, though they trended back down toward the end of 2023.
As inflation comes down, mortgage rates will recede as well. Most major forecasts expect rates to go down in 2024.
For homeowners looking to leverage their home's value to cover a big purchase — such as a home renovation — a home equity line of credit (HELOC) may be a good option while we wait for mortgage rates to ease. Check out some of our best HELOC lenders to start your search for the right loan for you.
A HELOC is a line of credit that lets you borrow against the equity in your home. It works similarly to a credit card in that you borrow what you need rather than getting the full amount you're borrowing in a lump sum. It also lets you tap into the money you have in your home without replacing your entire mortgage, like you'd do with a cash-out refinance.
Current HELOC rates are relatively low compared to other loan options, including credit cards and personal loans.
How Do Fed Rate Hikes Affect Mortgages?
The Federal Reserve increased the federal funds rate a lot last year to try to slow economic growth and get inflation under control. Inflation has come down a lot in response to this, though it's still a little bit above the Fed's target rate of 2%.
Mortgage rates aren't directly impacted by changes to the federal funds rate, but they often trend up or down ahead of Fed policy moves. This is because mortgage rates change based on investor demand for mortgage-backed securities, and this demand is often impacted by how investors expect Fed hikes to affect the broader economy.
Fed hikes have pushed mortgage rates up over the last two years. But the Fed has indicated that it's likely done hiking rates and could start cutting in 2024. Once the Fed cuts rates, mortgage rates should fall even further.
Couple renovating their kitchen find treasure trove of 1,000 silver and gold coins from the 17th-century
Duke's Auctioneers
A UK couple found a trove of 17th-century coins during a home renovation.The collection includes Elizabeth I silver shillings and Charles I gold coins.More evidence that a home might be hiding an amazing and valuable secret.A UK couple's home renovation project turned into a profitable venture when they discovered a $43,000 treasure trove under their kitchen floor.
Robert and Betty Fooks were renovating their farmhouse in southern England when they found a valuable collection of 17th-century coins concealed beneath their kitchen.
Fooks' South Poorton Farm is a 17th-century cottage located in a small hamlet in West Dorset.
The couple purchased the long house in 2019 and removed the modern concrete floor during their extensive renovation.
The coins were discovered while digging down two feet to expand the downstairs area.
The discovery is the latest in historic and valuable discoveries made accidentally in people's backyards, basements, underfloors, behind walls, and in attics, and evidence that your home could be hiding an amazing secret.
Betty Fooks, an NHS health visitor, told the Guardian: "It is a 400-year-old house, so there was lots of work to do. We were taking all the floors and ceilings out and took it back to its stone walls.
"One evening, my husband was digging with a pick ax when he called to say they've found something. He put all the coins in a bucket. If we hadn't lowered the floor, they would still be hidden there," she said.
The collection was handed to the British Museum for identification and cleaning.
Dukes Auctioneers said on its website that the British Museum believes the coins were deposited on one occasion around 1642-4. The English Civil War began around this time, and the area around Poorton experienced much conflict.
The "Poorton coin hoard" comprising 1,000 coins is now set to go under the hammer on April 23 at Duke's Auctioneers.
The collection, which includes Elizabeth I silver shillings, Charles I gold unite coins, James I silver sixpence coins, and more, has an estimated value of £35,000, or $43,600.
Business Insider contacted Duke's Auctioneers for comment.
Spectacular discoveries
The painting entitled "Judith Beheading Holofernes" pictured during its presentation in Paris, France, April 12, 2016, attributed to the Italian master Caravaggio (1571-1610) and was discovered in an attic in Toulouse.REUTERS/Charles Platiau
In 2019, a similar discovery was made by another couple in England.
A hoard of 264 coins English gold coins from 1610-1727 was unearthed by an unnamed couple digging up their kitchen floor.
The trove was believed to have been once owned by a family of traders who made their fortunes in Baltic trading.
The collection sold at auction in 2022 for £754,000, or $842,330.
Small and easy to hide, coins feature in many of the secret troves unsuspecting homeowners have stumbled upon. Other lost artifacts have ranged from first editions of superhero comics to rare vintage cars.
But one of the most spectacular discoveries was an Italian Renaissance 16th-century masterpiece hidden under an old matress in an attic in France in 2014.
The "Judith Beheading Holofernes," believed to be a canvas by Caravaggio, was later sold for $170 million.
The unnamed family who shared the astonishing windfall speculated that work may have been spirited out of Italy by an ancestor who fought in Napoleon's army in the early 19th century, reports say.
Russia recruiting female convicts into the military report says, as the role of women in the Ukraine war expands
Contributor/Getty Images
Russia is recruiting female convicts to boost its military forces, a Ukrainian intelligence spokesperson said.Moscow wants to recruit the convicts to auxiliary and combat roles, the Kyiv Post reported.More than 100,000 convicts from Russian penal colonies have reportedly been conscripted to fight in Ukraine.Russia is recruiting female convicts to bolster its war effort in Ukraine, the Kyiv Post reported, citing a Ukrainian intelligence spokesperson.
The women are promised financial incentives and the prospect of freedom in exchange for their service, the report said.
Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine's military intelligence service (HUR), told the Kyiv Post: "We are not only talking about auxiliary units, but combat units as well if needed."
The role of women in the war has expanded rapidly since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The fate of many of the Russian female convicts recruited is bleak, however, with only a few making it back alive, Yusov claimed.
"Most of the women prisoners recruited by Russia have been killed or returned with serious injuries," he said.
The practice of offering convicts freedom in exchange for military service in Ukraine began under Yevgeny Prigozhin, the late founder of the mercenary Wagner Group.
More than 100,000 convicts from Russian penal colonies have been conscripted to fight in Ukraine so far, Vladimir Osechkin, a Russian human rights activist who runs the prisoners' rights group Gulagu.net, told Newsweek in December.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin, has defended Russia's use of prisoners in the war, saying that they "atone with blood for crimes on the battlefield, in assault brigades, under bullets, under shells."
In January, the UK Ministry of Defence reported that Russia was on course to lose 500,000 troops by the end of 2024 after turning its forces into a "low quality, high quantity mass army."
Business Insider contacted the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment.
"War doesn't care whether you are a man or a woman"
A soldier studies FPV drone control during training at a drone school on October 26, 2023, in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine.Elena Tita/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
Ukrainian women have been joining the military in significant numbers since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
Ukraine's Ministry of Defense reported a more than 40% increase in female soldiers in its forces between 2021 and 2023, with around 43,000 women serving in military roles as of October 2023.
The BBC reported in August 2023 that 5,000 women were serving on the front lines.
"A war doesn't care whether you are a man or a woman. When a missile hits a house, it doesn't care if there are women, men, children - everyone dies," Sniper Evgenya Emerald told the BBC.
"And it's the same on the front line — if you can be effective and you're a woman, why wouldn't you defend your country, your people?"
Ukraine's defense ministry opened up more combat positions to women in 2016 and again in 2018, meaning they could serve in roles such as infantry or snipers, CNBC previously reported.
I lost everything I owned in a fire. This is how it reframed my thinking about owning material things.
Helen Chandler-Wilde
Helen Chandler-Wilde's belongings had been packed up into storage while she stayed with her parents after a break-up. But then she got a call that a fire at the unit had destroyed everything she owned. Losing everything was hard, she told BI. But it reframed her thinking about how much you really need to be happy.This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Helen Chandler-Wilde about what it was like to lose all of her possessions in a fire. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I only heard about the fire a few days after it happened.
I was 25 at the time and living with my parents for a few months following a breakup. All my belongings had been packed into storage while I looked for somewhere new to live.
I had thought that the worst-case scenario would be mice eating a couple of my books.
But on New Year's Eve, a fire started at the storage company. Everything burned down.
When my parents sat me down at the kitchen table and told me the news, I genuinely thought it was a joke.
I cried all night long, and then I just felt really, really angry that I had lost everything.
My birth certificate, all of my books, jewelry, my bed, my dining table, kitchenware, blankets, and curtains had all been in there. All I had left was a suitcase of clothes.
Those items had felt like a part of my identity —something I could rely on to show other people and myself who I was.
Helen and her cousin at the launch of her book "Lost & Found."Helen Chandler-Wilde
Losing them made me question, "Am I really this kind of person if I don't have all of that stuff to prove it? "
There was also this purple cardboard box filled with sentimental bits of paper: cards, letters, tickets from gigs, and photos of my university sports team. Those little things connected me to other people.
That's the one thing I wish I could have saved.
The first things I replaced
You don't realize how expensive everything you own is until something like this happens. I was completely overwhelmed by the financial cost of replacing my furniture.
I was earning peanuts at the time and only got £2,000 ($2,500) of insurance even though it was worth far more.
A friend of a friend gave me a bed, a mattress, and a sofa, which was invaluable. Then I just headed to the secondhand store across the road from my apartment and had to buy basically everything in there.
Helen Chandler-Wilde's book "Lost & Found" explores why we buy and hold on to things..Helen Chandler-Wilde
I bought a dining table, plates and crockery, some rickety chairs, and a mirror — turns out you really need one for getting dressed in the morning before work!
There was no time to browse; I just needed to have the bare necessities that I could afford.
Having stuff doesn't make you happier
The fire has reframed my way of thinking.
I definitely have less now than I did before. That's partly because I feel like my belongings could go at any point, so I don't trust owning stuff anymore.
But truthfully, I can't even remember some of the belongings that were in the storage unit, which shows how they didn't actually benefit me.
I have learned not to get attached to physical objects. Beyond the basics, the vast majority of stuff doesn't actually make you happier. Now I prefer spending money on going out for dinner with friends.
There are also advantages to not having so many things. It's easy to keep clean, and there's less stress associated with it.
A dangerous cycle of thinking
It's really tricky for me now to have conversations with friends about shopping because their ideas are so different. I find it challenging when people say, " Oh, I really need this."
I always say, "Okay, you might want it, but you definitely don't need it."
Helen explored whyHelen Chandler-Wilde
Our generation spends more time alone and looking at ads, and that has an impact on how we see the world. It's become a default state to look at what others have and want it yourself. People browse constantly on Instagram or social media and convince themselves that they won't be happy unless they buy certain things.
And that's not true at all. Your life will be perfectly fine.
It's a loop you can get stuck in, but as soon as you stop browsing, you stop wanting stuff.
Obviously, there are people who don't have everything they need, and that's completely different.
Work out what you need
I'm not judgmental at all about how much people own, and I'm not a minimalist myself.
But what I think is important is to work out what you need for yourself, not copy what everyone else has. Reconsider how much you buy and why you buy what you do.
It's about selecting the things that actually have value in your life and are worth the space in your home.
For me, memories make you who you are. So, I have lots of pictures on the walls of my house; it's cozy and creates a sense of space. And, though I definitely do still keep those sentimental things, I have tried to pare them back a bit because anything can become sentimental if you let it. Having one amazing picture of your best friend's wedding is enough.
If you focus on the good things, you understand that you most likely already have everything you already need.
Helen Chandler-Wilde's book "Lost & Found" was published in March.
Google's worker firings show that the office actually isn't a place to be yourself
Justice Speaks
Google fired more than two dozen employees after they took part in sit-ins at company offices.It's a reminder that the phrase "bring your whole self to work" can come with limits.Leaders and employees need to discuss what's appropriate in the workplace.So much for bringing your whole self to work.
Many workplace experts will tell you that sharing too much about your personal life on the job has never been a great idea. But in the years since the gauzy "whole self" notion became something of an HR cliché, the idea has frayed even further.
That's what some Googlers found out after the company fired more than two dozen of them recently for taking part in sit-ins at company offices in California and New York. It seems increasingly clear that now, in a year when nearly half of humanity is expected to vote in national elections, it might be extra risky to hoist your political stripes at your 9-to-5.
"When managers and leaders say, 'Bring your whole self to work,' they're leaving out the terms and conditions," Megan Reitz, coauthor of the book "Speak Out, Listen Up," told Business Insider.
"Really, they're saying, 'Bring your whole selves to work, as long as we can cope with what you have to say, and please keep within the realms of the rules of the game in this organization, and don't be too disruptive, and for God's sake, don't be an activist,'" she quipped.
It's easy to see how this all got a bit muddled. Ping pong tables. Group yoga. Tech founders wearing activewear during the day on Silicon Valley campuses. Even before the pandemic, there was a movement toward showing more of what makes us us while on the job.
We've brought our dogs, our unique design sense, and, apparently, our appetite for half a can of sardines. (Sorry, office fridge.)
The pandemic blurred boundaries even further. From the early days, when anyone who could was working from home, we all got used to "meeting" their cats, spouses, or kids. There's been a certain normalization of peeking behind the curtains at your coworkers' non-office lives, which is only exacerbated by a firm shift to hybrid work.
But one thing has seemingly changed back to the olden days — and that's that even the most "woke"-seeming companies don't want you to bring your political views to work. At all.
The Google workers who protested the company's $1.2 billion cloud-computing contract with the government of Israel certainly found out that there might be quite a lot of nuance to what's acceptable, even for a company that has encouraged people to bring their whole selves to the job.
The event spurred CEO Sundar Pichai to admonish employees against dragging political debates into the office.
"This is a business, and not a place to act in a way that disrupts coworkers or makes them feel unsafe, to attempt to use the company as a personal platform, or to fight over disruptive issues or debate politics," he wrote this week. It was part of a broader memo about a corporate reshuffling meant to help the company accelerate its progress on artificial intelligence.
Of course, there's a difference between talking politics and staging a protest that disrupts work. Yet Google's decision and a recent political dustup at NPR following a longtime staffer's criticism of the nonprofit news organization are a reminder that while Doc Martens and midriff-revealing crop tops might cut it at the office these days, baring your politics might not.
'Bring your whole professional self'
The whole-self idea grew in popularity in the 2010s, Ella Washington, a professor of practice at Georgetown University, told BI. Yet it has to be within reason — and fit within what's acceptable at an organization, she said.
"It is said in a way that is supposed to encourage authenticity, but the reality is in most workplaces, you can't bring your whole self. You can likely bring your whole professional self," she said.
Washington said business leaders need to communicate what's acceptable, and workers need to weigh whether an organization's stated values align with theirs.
"When it comes to business, it shouldn't be just based on our personal politics. And I know that's difficult for people to say because it's like, 'OK, wait. I can bring my whole self to work, but I can't talk about politics,'" she said.
This is where nuance comes into play: Political talk at work can be necessary.
"When it is connected to the work that we do, we absolutely need to have those conversations," Washington said.
Deciding what's political
Still, Reitz noted that people don't always agree on what's political. Perhaps, she said, it's a conversation about race that one person sees as being fraught and another person views as essential for discussing in the context of work.
Regarding work, "There is no clarity on what politics means. So any conversation — about whether it's in or out — is already extremely problematic," Reitz said.
"Leaders are saying, 'Bring your whole selves to work — speak up.' And then a few people are kind of going, 'Oh, OK. Thank you very much for that invitation. Let's talk about climate. Let's talk about race. Let's talk about modern slavery. Let's talk about the war. Let's talk about abortion rights,'" Reitz said. But then some leaders say, "'Oh, I didn't really mean that.'"
Both Reitz and Washington said having discussions at work shouldn't mean the actual business of the organization gets put on hold.
Reitz also appeared to concur with Washington that business leaders and employees need to discuss the types of conversations appropriate for the workplace.
It might not be easy. "That means that we're prepared to make mistakes. We're prepared to have fallout. We're prepared not to please everybody," Reitz said.
But, "if you have an environment where you can't tolerate diverse opinions and views without the whole thing exploding, then your problem is bigger than politics," she said.
When companies don't engage with issues and then someone gets squashed for raising something that management deems out of bounds, the rank and file can become distrustful of the idea of bringing one's whole self to the job, Reitz said, adding, "All that does is breed even more cynicism."
However, Washington said workers have to remember what bosses are often really after.
"They don't want to walk back 'bring your whole self to work,' but the reality is that they don't actually mean bring your entire self, including your worst self, and your mean self, and your cranky self," she said. "They don't need those things."
We travel a lot, and our son attends local classrooms along the way. We noticed primary schools in Europe let kids be kids.
Courtesy Lana Katsaros
My husband and I homeschool our son, which allows us to travel. In addition to his homeschooling curriculum, he has attended schools in different countries. We've noticed differences — and similarities — between the schools he attended in Europe and the US.My son has been homeschooled, essentially, his whole academic life. Because of this, we're able to travel multiple times each month without worrying about him missing school. I am a writer and my husband is a film and TV composer as well as an investor, which also makes this possible.
Not only can we take my son's work with us, but he has also been able to experience schooling in various countries by joining classrooms and homeschool groups throughout our travels. His curriculum is based in the United States, but integrating local schools helps him learn different languages, culture, and of course, make friends.
Because we have spent extended periods of time in Portugal, the Netherlands, and Italy, we have been able to experience how a few schools in these places approach education more intimately. While we've experienced some similarities across the schools he's attended, like classroom size and curriculum structure, we also noticed distinct differences in approach.
School was low-stress in the Netherlands
Where we lived in the Netherlands, children as young as four years old often happily walked themselves to school. The school my son attended in the Netherlands was run like a well-oiled machine, yet they still maintained a playful and innocent atmosphere.
The school administrators were strict about timeliness — I often witnessed that if students arrived even one minute late, they were considered late, with no exceptions. However, discipline for kids was simply a stern talking-to from teachers. Teachers told us that if children had issues with each other, they were expected to sort it amongst themselves, while the adults observed from a distance.
Friends who had kids at other schools in the Netherlands confirmed that this focus on independent conflict resolution with minimal adult intervention was common. Play was the central focus of the day for children until they were about seven years old. The primary focus during those early years was on children learning to coexist with one another rather than academics.
Learning to swim was also a significant focus in the early years in the Netherlands and considered more critical than learning to read by many locals we spoke with. Once compulsory, now only some schools integrate swim classes into the curriculum. Given the numerous canals everywhere, this emphasis is understandable.
Children at my son's school spent a large portion of their day outdoors, regardless of the weather, which parents said was typical. The Dutch often say, "There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing." At school, my son assisted in preparing daily vegan meals, and occasionally brought home crafts to do.
Friends who had older kids in the Netherlands told me that the homework increased once they hit middle school, where there was more of an emphasis on academics. I truly appreciated this low-stress setting we encountered during our son's primary school years.
Lana Katsaros says that homeschooling allows her family to travel without worrying her son will miss schoolwork.Courtesy Lana Katsaros
We saw more emphasis on collaboration than individual performance in Portugal
In Portugal, there was an emphasis on projects that children completed together to enhance their collaboration skills, and praise was often based on the collaboration itself rather than individual performance.
We noticed that children rarely had packed schedules filled with extracurricular activities like in the US, and often stayed up very late at night with their families, based on our own observations and talking to Portuguese parents.
While I adored the genuinely "crunchy" vibe of the schools my son attended and the kindness of the teachers, I believed our son would benefit from more structure and consistency in his routine. So, for a time, we supplemented even more than our usual load of schoolwork at home to provide more academic consistency during his short stint at a Portuguese school and eventually transitioned to only homeschooling again and met with a homeschool group for field trips.
We noticed less encouragement of competition in Italy than in the US
At the school my son goes to in Italy, it was immediately evident that food and dining is treated as an important part of the school day. Students are given a proper dining experience with formal table settings. The primary schools get a full two-hour break in the middle of the day including lunch and free time, known as riposo, lending to a much longer school day overall.
Football (soccer) is also taken seriously, so most schools we visited have specialized schedules specifically for children who play and perhaps want to pursue it as a career. Participation in the arts, football, and music is encouraged, but football is by far the most popular activity at our school and in our region.
As for the emphasis on the curriculum, so far, it seems far less rigid than in the US. Cognitive and social skills appear to be the primary objectives, rather than a heavy focus on testing. There is almost no encouragement of competition that we witnessed, as collaboration seems to be the focus until middle school.
My son is not yet in middle school, but from what I've heard both in preliminary conversations with schools, open days, and from Facebook groups with other expat parents, it sounds like middle school takes a more rigorous academic approach across Europe. For example, some countries, like Italy, expect children to know their primary focus of study by the time they enter high school, and then are placed in a specialized school program geared towards that interest area. Middle school seems to help form this decision by focusing on more specific subjects like robotics, engineering and anatomy, as they are already expected to know how to work together.
The unifying theme we observed throughout the schools in Europe that our son has attended, regardless of the country, was to allow children to be children and let the serious learning come later. At almost all the schools my son attended or toured, more importance was placed on children's ability to coexist together, work on projects and tasks collaboratively, than on core subjects like math, science, and history in those early years.
Each country had something we cherished and something we had to learn to adjust to. Overall, compared to our group homeschooling experience in the US, I would say that the primary schools in the European cities we joined were far less stressful. The academics seemed to get prioritized more as the kids got older. This makes me really appreciate how the lower grades focused on collaboration and coexistence.
Gig workers are fed up with being treated as second-class citizens by store workers
Evelyn Hockstein/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Gig delivery workers say store staff can make shopping for apps like Instacart much tougher.Employees at supermarkets and Walmart stores often ignore gig workers — or berate them.It's part of the job customers usually don't see, but one that can affect orders, shoppers say.Most days, a driver for Walmart's Spark delivery service in California says he has to show his receipts from the orders he shops to a store employee as he heads through the exit. It's a practice Walmart has instituted for Spark drivers at some stores to reduce theft.
But before he even gets there, a manager usually steps in first to ask for the receipt. "In my mind, I'm like, 'Sure, but also, why are you asking me that?'" the driver told Business Insider. "Why are you asking me to show that I am not stealing items when I'm going to be asked the same thing once I leave the store by the person at the door?"
The pressure is already on for gig delivery workers for services like Spark, Instacart, and DoorDash, who've got to get to a store, find exactly what customers ordered, and deliver it on time in hopes of getting a good tip. Many didn't expect there'd be another group of people they have to deal with: The store's employees.
Several gig workers that BI spoke with said that cooperating — or fighting — with store workers is a regular part of their job as independent contractors.
One Instacart shopper who delivered from grocery stores in Portland, Oregon, last year told BI in February that employees at some stores would regularly follow him around as soon as they figured out that he was shopping for an order for the app.
The store managers he confronted about the problem would tell him that they were trying to prevent theft — or simply tell him not to come back to the store, he said. "No matter what I would say, the very first thing that they would say is, 'Oh, you're Instacart,'" the shopper said.
An Instacart spokesperson directed BI toward the company's community guidelines, which apply to shoppers as well as store workers. Among the guidelines is a request to "treat others the way you want to be treated."
The company treats "any reports of violations of these guidelines very seriously," the spokesperson said. Shoppers can report issues to Instacart's support team.
For Spark workers who go into a Walmart store, things can be even worse — ironic, some say, given Spark is owned and operated by Walmart. One former Spark driver in Montana told BI that store associates regularly ignored him when he needed help.
Once, while he was waiting in line at a Walmart electronics department for some printer ink for a Spark order, an associate who recognized him simply moved on to the customer behind, saying: "This motherf*cker can wait."
Other Spark drivers have said that associates have threatened to get their accounts deactivated when they push back on mistreatment.
"It's very clear to the Walmart associates that I'm not a fellow employee, but it's also clear that I'm not a customer," the Spark worker said. "That puts me in this weird gray area where they don't have to help me because I don't work with them, and they don't have to be nice to me either because I'm not a customer."
"We were founded as a values-driven company that is grounded in the four core values of Respect, Service, Excellence, and Integrity," a Walmart spokesperson told BI. "Walmart associates are expected to operate based on these values and put fairness, equity, justice, and integrity at the heart of everything we do."
The spokesperson added that Spark drivers who feel that they haven't been treated this way should contact Walmart's ethics complaint line.
Conflict between gig workers and store employees isn't new. Early in the pandemic, Amazon's gig-worker shoppers became more common at Whole Foods locations, sometimes drawing ire from store employees.
Gig delivery workers have had to contend with a range of challenges over the last few years, from falling pay rates to greater competition for orders.
And store employees aren't the only ones giving gig workers a hard time. One Instacart shopper in Illinois told BI that they've had multiple customers claim that items are missing from orders — even when the shopper has taken photographs of the orders on the customers' doorstep to verify delivery.
Usually, Instacart assumes that the customer is right, the shopper said. That leaves shoppers with negative feedback and low ratings on their record — though this is something that Instacart told BI doesn't affect the order offers that shoppers see in the future.
But the Illinois shopper is skeptical of that explanation, telling BI that her husband, who also delivers for Instacart, often sees offers that she never gets. "Whatever rating they gave you, the one star they gave you, plus their negative feedback that they left stays on your account for a year," the shopper said.
Do you deliver food, groceries, or other items as a gig worker and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com
I'm a Democrat who moved to Florida to be closer to my boyfriend. I was nervous about the politics and weather but have been most dismayed by the cost of living.
Courtesy of David Maughan
David Maughan, 32, moved from Richmond, Virginia, to Oakland Park, Florida, last year.As a progressive, Maughan said he was nervous about Florida's culture war politics.But he's found Floridians to be accepting and welcoming, especially in the LGBTQ+ community.This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with David Maughan, a 32-year-old human resource analyst who moved from Richmond, Virginia, to Oakland Park, Florida, in August 2023 to be closer to his boyfriend. He shared his thoughts about living in the Sunshine State with Business Insider.
David: My Florida story started in 2020 when I met a guy named Brandon. We met online, like a lot of relationships nowadays, especially during early COVID. He lived in South Florida.
I was born and raised in Central Pennsylvania but had been living in Richmond, Virginia, since I was about 25.
Brandon and I dated casually for a couple of months and then became official. We were long-distance, going back and forth between Virginia and Florida for about three years. We knew we wanted to be together in the same place, so it became a question of which one of us would move. I work remotely, so it was easier for me to make the move.
I had a lot of concerns about moving to Florida
First of all, it was a big move away from my entire support system. I'm part of the LGBTQ+ community and that was something I felt was really strong in Richmond.
Thinking about starting over and making new friends in your 30s is daunting. I knew I would be with my boyfriend, and I had met a lot of his friends, so there would be a built-in friendship circle to some extent, but I still wanted to make my own friends.
But my top two concerns were the state politics and the weather. Many of my Richmond friends understood the first but didn't get my concerns about the weather. Everyone says the weather in Florida is great, but they don't realize that Florida is hot hot. In the summer, it's 90 to 95 degrees every day. It's exhausting. You don't want to go outside. Some people love that. But for me, it was a huge concern.
David Maughan and his boyfriend Brandon were long-distance for three years before David moved to Florida in August 2023.Courtesy of David Maughan
The other primary concern I had was politics. I consider myself a progressive and a Democrat. I call myself a pragmatic progressive. In Richmond, I had been very involved in volunteering for local Democratic campaigns. It's more than just a hobby for me; it's something I'm really passionate about.
Everyone in progressive circles looks at Florida in horror because of what the governor, state legislature, and state Supreme Court do. They've pushed really far-right policies, from gerrymandering congressional districts to passing a six-week abortion ban. These are not acceptable policies to me.
My boyfriend and I had a lot of conversations about those concerns before the move. He has a little saying: Florida is trash, but it's my trash. And I understand, he's lived here a long time.
I made the move in August 2023.
I moved to Oakland Park, which is a suburb of Fort Lauderdale. Oakland Park is small population-wise, but the surrounding Broward County has almost 2 million people. So, it's a much bigger metro area than I was used to.
Overall, it's a comfortable place to live. But it's been a bit of a mixed bag for me so far. I love the community I've been able to find here. I found an LGBTQ+ adult sports league to participate in, and the nightlife nearby is good.
I think part of why it's been so easy to make friends is that a lot of people are also transplants. I haven't gotten any criticism from native Floridians about moving here. They've been welcoming.
David Maughan said he's been able to make friends in the Florida LGBTQ community by joining an adult sports league.Courtesy of David Maughan
But in terms of the downsides, Florida has a really car-centric design, which makes it uncomfortable to get around any other way. There are six-lane roads with traffic flying down them. There are signs that say bikes can share the road, but you'd have to be insane to do that. Even biking to the beach is difficult. I think I've only been to the beach three times in eight months.
I'm still getting used to Florida's topography. Richmond is a place with hills and rivers. But here, it's obviously flat as can be. There are a lot of single-family homes, low-rise apartments, and strip malls. A lot of the neighborhoods don't have good sidewalks, which was surprising to me.
I can't complain too much about the weather because I moved here in August when it started to cool off. The fall and winter have been nice. But we'll see how my first full summer goes.
Florida has dug into waging culture wars
Florida's elected leaders are pretty far-right. But I don't think the people of Florida are as far-right. That's an important difference. A lot of the races here are really close. And when you look at some of the ballot referendums that get put on the ballot in Florida, they are often for very progressive issues like reforming felon disenfranchisement.
I've tried to get involved with politics at the local level, where I feel I can make an impact. I got plugged into a group called Broward Young Democrats.
David Maughan got involved with progressive politics in Florida after moving to the Sunshine State.Courtesy of David Maughan
The area where I live is pretty accepting of the LGBTQ+ community for the most part. Wilton Manors, the town right next to Oakland Park is known as a "gay mecca." At the local level, there's a strong, supportive community.
But while I haven't experienced any direct harassment, and I don't fear for my safety, it is certainly concerning to think about what Florida might try to do down the road. If they're trying to ban transgender medical care today, what's to stop them from trying to pass discriminatory laws against all gay people tomorrow?
The cost of living is way higher in Florida
The biggest example is my rent. I had a one-bedroom apartment in Richmond that was 700 square feet, and I paid $1,400 a month, which at the time felt kind of expensive.
But here, I have a one-bedroom apartment that's about 800 square feet and it runs me $2,400 a month. It's a full thousand dollars more for an almost identical apartment.
Car insurance is also more expensive here. I pay double what I paid in Richmond. I had to reorient a lot of things in my budget when I moved here. I had to cancel some services, and I adjusted my retirement savings.
My apartment here is really nice, though. I decided I wanted to make sure I was happy with my living space, knowing the concerns I had about the state. Because if I was unhappy with the state politics and I had an apartment I hated, I would have been really miserable.
David Maughan said he hasn't visited the beach much since moving to Florida because the car-centric design of the state makes it difficult to get around.Courtesy of David Maughan
Florida is the right choice for me right now
Living here has obviously been great for my relationship with Brandon. We've been able to deepen our relationship and build a life together. That's the number one benefit, and it's been amazing.
But when I think longer-term, I don't see myself living here for the rest of my life. It's been a topic of conversation between us because I don't see myself buying property here, mainly because of the climate risk with hurricanes and flooding.
I'd like to buy property somewhere else, maybe in DC or Philly, somewhere more North. Then we could maybe rent an apartment or a condo down here and become snowbirds because I don't know if I'll able to be able to pull Brandon away from Florida entirely. He's got roots here.
And I always tell people: Love will make you do crazy things.
Inside Bill Gates' real estate portfolio, from a Seattle mansion to houses at some of the US's most exclusive clubs
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Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates is one of the US's top landowners, with 275,000 acres across the US.While most of that is farmland, he owns homes in Washington, California, Florida, and Montana.Here's a look at his real estate portfolio, which he spent $150 million and three decades building.Ten years ago, in an interview with The Telegraph, Bill Gates discussed his goal of giving away his fortune — which was worth $65 billion then and sits at $129 billion today.
"I'm certainly well taken care of in terms of food and clothes," he said. "Money has no utility to me beyond a certain point."
He didn't mention, though, the proverbial roof over his head. Or, in Gates' case, roofs.
As one of the richest people in the world for decades, the Microsoft cofounder has built up an impressive real estate portfolio. With 275,000 acres across the United States, he's the country's 42nd biggest landowner, according to the Land Report.
The vast majority of that — about 242,00 acres — is farmland, with the most acreage in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Arizona, per the Land Report.
"I have invested in these farms to make them more productive and create more jobs," Gates said in a Reddit Ask Me Anything last year. "There isn't some grand scheme involved — in fact, all these decisions are made by a professional investment team."
But he also owns dozens of properties across Washington, California, Florida, and Montana that are for his personal use.
Over three decades, he and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, spent more than $150 million on their current real estate portfolio. Following their 2021 divorce, a number of the properties were transferred from one trust to another — so it's hard to discern who owns exactly what, as all of their trusts are linked to the same Seattle bank.
Here's a look at Gates' many homes, along with details about transfers around the Gates divorce. Neither Gates nor French Gates responded to requests for comment from Business Insider.
Ted Soqui/Corbis via Getty Images
Known as Xanadu 2.0 — a name inspired by "Citizen Kane" — Gates' home base is Medina, Washington, a wealthy suburb of Seattle that's home to many tech titans. Gates owns at least 12 parcels of land there, totaling about 10.5 acres.
Purchased for about $34 million between 1988 and 2009, the current combined assessed value of the Lake Washington-adjacent properties is $183.5 million.
Built into a hillside and accessible via a driveway that feels "like arriving at Jurassic Park," according to a former Microsoft intern, the estate, which took a reported seven years and $60 million to build, is home to a 2,100-square-foot library (with one of Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks on the shelves), a 60-foot-long swimming pool with an underwater sound system, and a room with a built-in trampoline. The primary residence has seven bedrooms and 18.75 baths, according to public filings, and there's reportedly a 20-car garage for his Porsche collection.
It was also built to be energy-efficient and technologically advanced, with a heating and cooling system that automatically adjusts to guests' liking and lights that turn on and off automatically as people go from room to room.
"My house is being designed and constructed so that it's a bit ahead of its time," Gates wrote in his 1995 book "The Road Ahead." It is made of wood, stone, glass, concrete, and "silicon and software."
"I'll warn you, though," he added. "When I describe the plans, people sometimes give me a look that says, 'You're sure you really want to do this?"
One of those people could have been his then-wife, Melinda French Gates, whom he married after he had already begun work on the house. While she changed his plans for the kitchen and added her own office space, she may have never warmed up to the house.
"We won't have that house forever," she told The New York Times in 2019. "I'm actually really looking forward to the day that Bill and I live in a 1,500-square-foot house."
TrevorFairbank
Many of Gates' homes are situated on or near the grounds of a golf course.
"Bill got into golf in the same addictive way he gets into anything else," Steve Ballmer, his Harvard classmate and former Microsoft CEO, told Time in 1997. "It gets his competitive juice flowing."
In 1999, he purchased a $12.5 million home on the grounds of Indian Wells' exclusive Vintage Club, known for its Tom Fazio-designed golf courses. The six-bedroom home is now valued closer to $15 million.
The Vintage Club, whose membership reportedly includes billionaires Charles Koch and Dennis Washington, costs $300,000 to join and charges another $45,000 in annual dues.
Gates was spotted at the club in 2021, following his divorce from French Gates, and was more recently seen at the Indian Wells Open.
EarthExplorer
Gates amassed a small real estate empire in San Diego County, and it started with a property in Rancho Santa Fe.
Purchased in 2008 for $3.1 million, the home is 4,300 square feet, and at the time of sale, it featured a 500-bottle wine cellar, saltwater swimming pool, and outdoor bar. It's part of the guarded and gated community on the grounds of the Del Mar Country Club, which reportedly costs six figures to join.
Like some of the other properties in the Gates portfolio, the Del Mar Country Club house was transferred "due to the dissolution of a marriage" in 2021 — the same year Bill and Melinda divorced — according to property records. It is likely now solely owned by one of the two Gates, though it isn't evident which one.
EarthExplorer
Six years later, Gates purchased the nearby Rancho Paseana for $18 million. Stretching 228 acres over 4 parcels, the property was originally a horse farm — which makes sense, given Gates' daughter Jennifer Gates Nassar's equestrian career.
At the time he purchased it, Rancho Paseana featured a racetrack, guesthouse, office, veterinarian's suite, olive orchard, and five barns with living quarters attached. It was previously owned by Jenny Craig, the weight loss personality, and was developed by thoroughbred racer Gene Klein and his trainer Wayne Lucas, according to a listing.
Like the rest of the San Diego Country properties, Rancho Paseana was transferred between trusts in 2021, around the time of Bill and Melinda's divorce.
Courtesy of Rees Jones, Inc.
The Gates purchased another house about 10 minutes from Rancho Panseana a couple of weeks later in 2014 for $3.2 million.
The 5,780-square-foot home has ocean views and an infinity pool. Like the Gates' first home in San Diego county in Rancho Santa Fe — all of 15 minutes away — this one sits on the grounds of a country club. The Santaluz Club features Rees Jones-designed golf course, hiking, and a spa.
Like the other San Diego homes, it was transferred between trusts in 2021 — and 5% is owned by the French Family Trust, Steven French, and Kristin French — likely relatives of Melinda. That could imply she is the current owner.
Art Wager/Getty Images
Gates and then-wife Melinda purchased their fourth San Diego property, this 5,800-square-foot beach house, for $43 million in Del Mar, California, in 2020. A year later, when they divorced, it was moved into another trust.
The property's most expensive feature is likely its 120 feet of Pacific coastline, but the move-in-ready mansion was listed as "one of the most prominent coastal contemporary beach homes" and boasted a 10-person jacuzzi and a two-bedroom guesthouse.
That doesn't seem to have stopped whichever Gates owns the property from doing major construction, with local outlets reporting noise and construction following the purchase.
Yellowstone Club
Bill Gates has long been reported to be a member of the exclusive Yellowstone Club — a ski and golf club tucked away in Big Sky Montana.
Montana is a nondisclosure state when it comes to real estate, and the Yellowstone Club is very private in what it releases about its owners, but a 2009 county resolution helped point to which home belonged to the Gates.
The lot, which sits on 2.76 acres, has the same tax address as Gates' many other properties and was linked to his lawyer and family office. Its assessed market value is $29.4 million — up from $5.8 million in the 2009 county record.
There are no photos available of the home online, but property records indicate the main house is 6,993 square feet, with eight full baths, eight bedrooms, two half baths, a sauna, and a home theater. It's almost guaranteed to match the surrounding homes, which heavily feature timber and stone.
The house sits in the Andesite Ridge neighborhood, which is described as "a tree-topped hillside where luxury homes wind along the mountain offering a secluded alpine sanctuary" on the club's website. Its homes are largely ski-in, ski-out.
The club's annual dues were $41,500 in 2018, the most recent year for which data are publicly available, plus another $12,000 for the property owners' association. That buys access to the club's 15,200 acres, more than 100 ski trails, 18-hole golf course, and spa.
The home switched hands in 2021 — the same year Bill and Melinda divorced. A trust connected to a Seattle bank used by both of the Gates is the property's new owner, and it was never listed for sale. All signs point to one of the two still owning it.
Icon Sportswire/Getty Images
Gates' Wellington, Florida, estate in tony Palm Beach County is the main home of Jennifer Gates Nassar's horseback riding facilities.
Gates purchased the properties over three years for about $35 million, and together, the estate stretches a total of 20 acres. Most of the land is exclusively for riding. It's part of Gates Nassar's Evergate Stables, a collection of training facilities she and her husband, Nayel Nassar, run throughout the country and in Belgium.
There are at least two mansions, one 6,668 square feet, and the other 5,716 square feet, on the property, according to records. He's added a basketball court and pond to one, and both have pools.
The equestrian center was originally even larger, but Gates sold 5.5 acres for $26 million in 2022, reaping a $5 million profit.
He's one of many billionaires with properties in the horse-loving community. Michael Bloomberg and Laurene Powell Jobs have homes nearby — and daughters who ride.
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