Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos became the world's richest man for a brief time this week, surpassing Bill Gates.

The tech entrepreneur has changed a lot since he started Amazon in the 90s. 

Bezos wowed Silicon Valley's Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference earlier this month with a surprising physique that was quickly immortalized with memes. His "guns" were the most obvious change, but his shaved head also marked a departure from his previous bookish look.

Bezos also frequently used to wear sweaters over collared shirts — a look that he has now swapped for vests over t-shirts and sunglasses. His slouchy posture is also gone.

Take a look at the original tweet by account @dissruption and all the varitions it spawned below.

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Amazon is venturing further into the apparel and accessories market with a new private-label collection.

"The Fix," which launched Tuesday, is a collection of shoes and handbags that cost between $49 and $139 and are only available for Amazon Prime customers.

Amazon's fashion director, Kate Dimmock, said that the new collection is based on designer trends but will be sold at lower prices, WWD reported. 

The e-commerce giant is going after brands such as Michael Kors and Coach by offering similar styles at lower prices. This also threatens department stores like Macy's, JCPenney, and Nordstrom that stock these brands.

Amazon has already rolled out several private-label apparel brands, and in June, it launched Prime Wardrobe, a service that makes it easier for Prime customers to shop online by enabling them to try clothes on before committing to buying them. 

According to a report by Cowen & Co. from October 2016, Amazon is expected to surpass Macy's to become the biggest apparel seller this year. The company's clothing and accessory sales are expected to grow nearly 30% this year, to $28 billion. 

Amazon currently claims about 6.6% of the market, but that share is expected to increase to 8.2% by next year and expand to 16.2% within five years, according to Cowen analysts.

New styles will be released monthly, and they will be more affordable than luxury brands, WWD reported.

SEE ALSO: Amazon wants to continue testing grocery stores without human cashiers when it owns Whole Foods

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Despite being the third-richest man in the world, Zara's founder, Amancio Ortega, is a man of mystery. 

Ortega's fortune is worth more than $82 billion, according to Retail Week. That's an increase of a whopping $19 billion from 2016, thanks to some smart investments and expensive real estate purchases. 

But despite his enormous net worth, many people have never heard of him.

Ortega is an incredibly private man, is rarely seen in public, and has given just a handful of interviews throughout his incredibly successful career.

That career began when Ortega founded fast-fashion giant Zara with his then-wife Rosalia in 1975. Today, his retail company Inditex SA — which owns Zara, Massimo Dutti, and Pull&Bear — has 7,385 outposts around the world.

While Ortega is immensely private, we do know a fair amount about him. Here's everything you need to know about the richest man in fashion. 

Ashley Lutz and Mallory Schlossberg contributed reporting to an earlier version of this article.

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Amancio Ortega is the third-richest man in the world, with a net worth estimated at $82 billion.

Source: Bloomberg

Only two people in the world are richer than Ortega: Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, who recently beat out Gates for the No. 1 spot.

Ortega was born in the town of Busdongo de Arbas, Spain, in March 1936.

New Yorkers love Shake Shack. The West Coast swears by In-N-Out.

But North Carolinians say that there's one burger chain that trumps them all. 

Cook Out is a North Carolina-based fast-food chain serving up burgers, barbecue, and milkshakes, and it's renowned in the South for its low prices and high quality. 

But if you don't live in one of the 10 states the chain calls home, you might have never heard of this cult restaurant and its fervent following. 

So, we went to Richmond, Virginia, to sample the much-hyped chain and see how it measured up to the coastal titans of the burger business. 

SEE ALSO: We tried two cult chicken chains that are quickly taking over the nation — and the winner was clear

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While Cook Out is known for its classic drive-thru locations with outdoor seating, the chain has recently been opening more sit-down restaurants.

As we walked into the rustic-themed restaurant, gentle strains of Christian rock piped endlessly over the speakers — the kind of songs where you can't quite tell if the lyrics are describing a romantic love or a more spiritual suitor.

The menu is wide-ranging, and the best way to sample it is by ordering a Cook Out Tray. The food is outrageously inexpensive when compared to what we typically see in New York City, and where else can you get a quesadilla and a corn dog as sides in addition to your entree?

Pretty much everyone's gotten themselves into that awkward situation where you and your conversation partner run out of things to say to each other.

It's usually followed by some confusion: Am I less interesting than I thought? Am I (gasp) boring?

We're not trying to make you paranoid — absolutely everyone has the capacity to be interesting. But if being boring is a persistent fear of yours, you might want to check out the tips below, culled from a Quora thread titled, "What makes a person boring?"

Read on for the social behaviors to avoid at all costs and you'll be on your way to life-of-the-party status.

SEE ALSO: 14 ways to become a more interesting person

Boring people have unbalanced conversations

Instead of finding a rhythm between talking and listening, boring people are on either conversational extreme.

Quora user Jack Bennett calls it an "asymmetry in the conversational 'give and take' — e.g. all listening and no talking, or all talking and no listening."

Boring people can't tell if others are engaged in the conversation

If you're emphatically boring, you're probably missing the other person's body language.

Garrick Saito argues that what makes a person boring is the "continual blathering and ignoring of signals and body language that say (perhaps not loudly enough) 'I'm not interested in what you're saying, but am nodding every few seconds only to be polite.'"

Lucky you — we've rounded up a bunch of tricks for reading nonverbal cues.

Boring people can't make others laugh

Humor shows "cognitive flexibility": the ability to assess an idea or an event from a variety of perspectives, and then, naturally, make light of it. Boring people lack it.

"I'm an easy sell," admits Will Wister. "I mean come on let's face it — it's not that hard."

Bonus: If you can make people laugh, you'll probably have an easier time picking up a date.

Taco Bell wants to feed your late-night cravings.

The fast-food chain has teamed up with Lyft to offer a new service that enables passengers to request a stop at a Taco Bell drive-thru with just the push of a button.

The service, which has been coined "Taco Mode," was rolled out Thursday in Orange County, California, and will be available July 27 to 29 and August 3 to 5 during the hours of 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Taco Bell said it plans to roll the service out nationwide in 2018.

As well as enabling passengers to order drive-thru Taco Bell, Taco Mode also includes a custom in-car menu, free Doritos Locos tacos, and a ride in what the company calls a "taco-themed car."

Here's what it's like to ride Lyft in Taco Mode:

SEE ALSO: 'UBER-TYPE BEHAVIOR': Lyft drivers are furious about the company's new Taco Bell drive-thru service

This Taco Bell in Newport Beach, California, is lit up in excitement.

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Here's one of the "taco-themed cars" that customers can ride in during this time.

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The cars are decked out with Taco Bell swag.

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This weekend marks the second year of Panorama Festival, New York's newest three-day music festival put together by Goldenvoice, the big name promoters behind Coachella.

The first year of the festival went off with a bang, featuring the reunion of indie rock hall-of-famers LCD Soundsystem — to say nothing of Kendrick Lamar. 

Goldenvoice is doing their best to top that with a lineup that features over 50 musicians, including big names like Frank Ocean, Solange, Tame Impala, Tyler the Creator, Nine Inch Nails, and A Tribe Called Quest. 

As with any festival these days, there are artists from all different genres including indie, rock, pop, R&B, hip-hop, and dance. Sometimes, the choices can be overwhelming.

We decided to help make it a bit easier by curating your days for you.

Check it out below.

SEE ALSO: I went to NYC's newest music festival, and it's the future of live music

If you're playing hooky from work, get there for early for soul singer extraordinaire Jamila Woods, who has worked often with fellow Chicagoan Chance the Rapper

Friday 2:10-2:55 PM, The Parlor stage

Foxygen may be more well-known to music hipsters for their off-stage dramatics, but their bombastic homages to classic rock are a lot of fun to listen to.

Friday 3:20-4:05 PM, The Pavilion stage

Australian folk rocker Vance Joy made it big a few years with "Riptide," but there's a reason that hit was inescapable — it was catchy, like most of his best songs, which go from laid-back to intense in a beat.

Friday 3:50-4:40 PM, Panorama stage

Longtime Apple analyst Gene Munster said the launch of Tesla's Model 3 will be as big as the introduction of the iPhone.

Tesla will hand off its first mass-market sedan, the Model 3, at a party on Friday night. The event will mark the start of production, which Tesla aims to ramp up to 20,000 vehicles per month in December.

Munster, who has for decades covered tech behemoths like Apple, Google, and Amazon, is bullish on Tesla and has argued that the electric-car maker resembles Apple in its early days.

"Over the next 10 years, the Model 3's value, in combination with its technology, has the potential to change the world and accelerate the adoption of electric and autonomous vehicles," Munster wrote in a note on July 6. "We believe we will eventually look back at the launch of the Model 3 and compare it to the iPhone, which proved to be the catalyst for the shift to mobile computing."

The Model 3 starts at $35,000 and boasts a 215-mile range, placing it in direct competition with the Chevy Bolt.

Munster was a senior analyst for Piper Jaffray for 21 years until he left in December to launch Loup Ventures, an early-stage venture-capital fund focused on augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and robotics.

Loup Ventures' cost analysis of the Model 3 found that it was more affordable than the Toyota Camry, the fourth-most-popular vehicle in the US, without factoring in tax breaks.

"Consensus thinking is the Model 3 expanded Tesla's addressable market from about 1 million cars a year to 4 million cars a year," he wrote. "However, based on our cost of ownership work, we believe the Model 3 expands Tesla's addressable market to about 11m vehicles per year in North America alone."

The Camry is in a different segment than the Model 3, but Munster said the electric sedan was ultimately cheaper when factoring in the price of fuel, insurance, maintenance, repairs, and technology.

That last point is key to Munster's argument.

Tesla is collecting data from the tens of thousands of its vehicles already on the road with the aim of advancing its AI to achieve its goal of a Tesla driving itself from Los Angeles to New York by the end of the year.

The automaker also plans to launch the Tesla Network, which would allow an owner to temporarily add their car to a self-driving fleet and make money off the vehicle when it's not in use.

It will most likely be several years before Tesla's self-driving tech and fleet come to fruition. But the lower cost of the Model 3 combined with the value of Tesla's future tech releases could catapult it to the level of the iPhone, Munster said.

It's worth noting, however, that the Model 3 will also cost more than $40,000 when factoring in the price of Tesla's Autopilot software.

For Tesla to really tap into the mass market, it would need to double its production capacity this year and again in 2018. The electric-car maker has struggled with production, and it reported light delivery numbers for the second quarter.

"Hardware does not scale as easy as software, but it can scale," Munster said. "Looking back at the iPhone in 2007, it was a stretch to envision the company producing 50m phones a year, but in 2015, the company sold 232m units."

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk is about to accomplish a goal that was over 10 years in the making

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In the fast-paced, cut-throat chicken industry, it's hard to set yourself apart. 

However, a regional chain from North Carolina isn't content to stay in the South any longer. 

Bojangles', with 728 locations nationwide, is on an expansion spree. But, if the chain wants to catch on outside the Carolinas, it needs to take on international players — like the ubiquitous Church's Chicken, with more than 1,700 locations worldwide. 

In an effort to see if Bojangles' could keep up with the flock, we visited Bojangles' and Church's as part of our whirlwind chicken tour. 

SEE ALSO: We visited the regional chain that Southerners say is better than In-N-Out and Shake Shack — here's the verdict

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Bojangles' was founded in 1977 in Charlotte, North Carolina. We visited one in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Walking in calls to mind the cleanly, sterile taupe terrain of an old-school Wendy's.

Ordering is a speedy business — though not a stealthy one. Cashiers relay orders over a speaker system to the kitchen, who quickly put together your meal. It's surprisingly efficient, taking less than five minutes start to finish.

Russia has greater economic disparity than any other major global power. In 2016, Credit Suisse's Global Wealth Report found that the wealthiest 10% of people in Russia controlled 89% of the country's wealth. 

This discrepancy is what photographer Lilia Li-Mi-Yan set out to explore in her series "Masters and Servants," an intimate view of Russia's elite photographed within their homes, alongside their hired help.

"For those who can afford it, it's a common situation to hire a helper," Li-Mi-Yan told Business Insider. She said she was interested in exploring those people's stories and their relationships.

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Li-Mi-Yan photographed this series in Moscow.

According to Li-Mi-Yan, finding the employers to photograph wasn't difficult. "These were mostly people that I was acquainted with," she said. "Most of them agreed to take part in my project with enthusiasm."

Before each shoot, Li-Mi-Yan would meet with the subjects to discuss and explain the project.

There's an enduring tug-of-war between the value of renting versus homeownership.

Long-term renting is often perceived as a waste of money, while owning a home is seen as a valuable asset that provides long-term financial gain — in other words, it's a good investment.

But here's the plain truth: While homeownership may be a smart "investment" for your health, stability, or family life, there's a better place to put your money to maximize returns: the stock market.

Chris Reining, a self-made millionaire who retired at 37, says buying a home 11 years earlier was "probably the worst financial decision" he ever made. It took Reining three years to save up a $40,000 down payment to buy a $200,000 house near Madison, Wisconsin.

"As it turns out, what I believed about buying was flat-out wrong, and because I didn't do the math for the biggest financial decision of my life, I'll eventually realize two losses — the property selling for less than what I paid, and the potential profit from putting the $40,000 to work for me," he wrote in a blog post. "That's called the opportunity cost — when you choose to use your money one way, rather than another."

Reining further broke down the math in a recent post for Business Insider:

"Okay, so from 1890 to 2012 the inflation-adjusted return on a house was 0.17%. That means if you bought a house for $5,000 in 1890 it'd be worth $6,150 in 2012. And over the same time period the inflation-adjusted return of the stock market was 6.27%. That means if you invested the $5,000 you'd have $8 million."

If you're angling for the biggest return on your money — rather than finding a forever home to raise a family — it's clear that homeownership is not the way to go.

That said, some of the most successful investors have portfolios which include real estate — but there's an important distinction. Buying a home as a rental property gives you, the investor, the power to determine your profits.

For instance, say you purchase a duplex with a $1,500 mortgage. If you have two renters who you charge $1,250 each, that's a total of $2,500 in rental income a month. That gives you a monthly excess of $1,000 to cover insurance, taxes, and maintenance costs, and pocket what's left over. In that case, you're getting paid to own something, rather than paying to own it. In the end, the mortgage is covered and you'll profit from the rental income. That's different from expecting a big return when it comes time to sell the home.

The bottom line: "Buy a house. But don't buy a house, live in it, and think it's the best investment," says Reining.

SEE ALSO: 7 of the dumbest things people do with their money before they buy a home

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There's a basic rule when it comes to buttoning up a suit jacket: "Sometimes, Always, Never" — if you have a three-buttoned jacket, sometimes button the top one, always button the middle one, and never button the bottom one. Where does this tradition come from? The answer dates back to a very fat king: King Edward VII. 

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One of the most common questions that gemologists are asked is how to tell the difference between a real diamond and a fake stone.

We spoke with Reyne Hirsch, a 20th-century decorative arts expert and consultant for the global online marketplace Lofty, about how to tell when a diamond is real, and when and why to take it to an expert.

Whether it's with jewelry you inherited or something you found at a garage sale, it's easy to do a few simple DIY tests. That necklace you think is just cheap costume jewelry could end up costing a small fortune.

Here are five easy ways to tell if the stone you have is actually a diamond.

SEE ALSO: 15 essential terms everyone should know before buying their first watch

A loupe is a magnifying glass that you can buy at any jewelry store and will let you take a closer look at your gem and setting. 

"When you're looking at a diamond, there are a few things you'll notice," Hirsch told us. "First, the majority of diamonds are made in nature so that means you're going to see some imperfections in the carbon. A fake stone would be perfect — absolutely perfect."

Hirsch explains that certain lab-grown stones will also look perfect through the loupe, and so you should be cautious before discarding perfect gems. It can be a clue, however, that you should take a closer look or bring the stone to an expert. 

Second, observe the diamond's edges. "When you're taking a look at a diamond through a loupe, a real stone is going to have sharp edges, and a fake stone will have rounded edges," Hirsch explained.

Lastly, look at the mounting and etchings, especially any marks that signify what metal was used. "If the metal is gold-plated or silver, chances are it's not a diamond, because why would you put a nice stone mounted in such a cheap metal?" Hirsch said. "Most diamonds are mounted in gold or set in platinum."

"Also take a look at the mounting itself and how that diamond is set," she added. “If the setting looks like it’s of poor quality, that probably means it’s not going to be a real diamond either.”

This is an easy test, since diamonds are one of the world's hardest materials and won't be scratched by the rough surface. "If it's a diamond, it will remain perfect. If it's a cubic zirconium, it will scratch it up," Hirsch said.

Breathe hot air on your diamond the same way you would if you were fogging up a bathroom mirror. 

"A fake diamond will fog up for a short period of time, whereas a real diamond will not because it won't retain the heat," Hirsch explained. 

See story here.

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As consumers, we like to think that we're making a conscious decision when we buy from a certain brand, especially when it comes to something as personal as beauty products.

But it turns out that 182 beauty companies fall under the massive umbrellas of seven huge manufacturers.

Inspired by a similar graphic that shows all of the food brands owned by major corporations, INSIDER created our own infographic that illustrates all the major beauty brands and the parent companies that they fall under.

These seven mega-companies — Estée Lauder Companies, L'Oréal, Unilever, Procter and Gamble, Shiseido, Johnson and Johnson, and Coty — employ thousands of people around the world and make billions of dollars in revenue every year. They also are responsible for controlling advertising and the way we all think about beauty every day.

Each of these seven conglomerates has more than just the sub-brands we listed here, but for our purposes, INSIDER chose to stick with brands that are responsible for skin care (for both the body and face), hair care, perfume, and makeup. We did not include brands that only made products such as deodorant, toothpaste, suntan lotion, or baby lotion, but did count the sub-brands of relevant brands (i.e. Pantene and Pantene Pro-V).

What remains is a compelling look at who controls the beauty products we're buying, from fan-favorites like CoverGirl to expensive and aspirational skincare lines like La Mer.

And it's mind-boggling to see how interconnected consumer brands truly are.

Estée Lauder Companies was responsible for 24 of the beauty brands on this list. Some of their holdings include the makeup and fragrances by fashion brands such as Donna Karan, Michael Kors, Tom Ford, Tommy Hilfiger, and Tory Burch, each of which have their own cosmetics and/or toiletries lines.

They also have quite a few well-known beauty brands such as Aveda, Bobbi Brown, Clinique, La Mer, and MAC Cosmetics.

Estée Lauder as a whole made an estimated $11.3 billion in beauty sales in 2016, according to Beauty Packaging. 

L'Oréal had the most brands on this list with a total of 39 beauty brands, including major staples like Lancôme, Maybelline, Urban Decay, Garnier, Essie, and The Body Shop.

They also have very expensive skincare and haircare brands, including Pureology, La Roche-Posay, and SkinCeuticals.

In 2016, it was estimated they made $27.6 billion in beauty annual sales, according to Beauty Packaging.

Unilever has 38 total beauty sub-brands, and many of those are staples in drugstores in the US, including Nexxus, Ponds, TIGI, Dove, Vaseline, and Lever 2000.

Unilever also has quite a few brands popular outside the US, including Fair & Lovely, a “fairness cream” that's marketed in India as a skin-lightening lotion for women. It's worth noting that it has received backlash for promoting one shade of skin as better than another.

Unilever made an estimated $58.2 billion in corporate sales last year, according to Beauty Packaging. $22.3 was from beauty sales.

Procter & Gamble has 9 total beauty brands, with an emphasis on big name brands, including Head & Shoulders, Herbal Essences, Olay, and Gillette.

The company made an estimated $76 billion from corporate sales in 2016, according to Beauty Packaging, $18 billion of which was for beauty sales. The corporation recently sold many of its beauty brands to Coty in 2016.

Speaking of Coty, it has come out as a new leader in the beauty industry with 33 total brands. After acquiring many brands from Procter & Gamble, Coty now owns numerous big name products, including OPI, Rimmel, Covergirl, and is behind celebrity toiletries like Katy Perry, David Beckham, and Beyoncé, among others.

In 2016, Coty made an estimated $4.3 billion in beauty sales, according got Beauty Packaging. After their 2016 acquisition, we expect this number to rise dramatically.

Shiseido— itself a well-known skincare brand — has about 30 other beauty brands underneath it. Some of those are also makeup brands, including bareMinerals, Nars, and Laura Mercier.

The vast majority are brands that might not be recognized in the US, including Japanese brands such as Majolica Majorca, Ettusais, Maquillage, and Aqua Label, which also claims to "whiten" skin. 

The Japanese corporation made an estimated $6.3 billion in beauty sales in 2016, according to Beauty Packaging.

And finally, the last major brand we included on this list is on the smaller side with nine beauty brands, but what it lacks in quantity it makes up for in name recognition.

Johnson and Johnson is a bigger umbrella company that includes nine beauty brands, including Aveeno, Neutrogena, Clean and Clear, and RoC, in addition to a few others.

The company also made quite a bit of money in skincare — $7.1 billion in 2016 to be exact, according to Beauty Packaging.

Join the conversation about this story »

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On a recent coffee run in the Bay Area, I learned not all Starbucks stores are created equal.

Most stores make you want to duck in and duck out, with their fluorescent lighting, lack of comfort seating, and swarms of cranky, under-caffeinated customers. A Reserve bar is different.

Last year, the big-box coffee chain announced an expansion of its premium brand, Reserve, with 1,000 new coffee bar locations across the US in 2017. The bars turn the ritual of grabbing a cup of coffee into an experience. Baristas prepare small-batch coffee using a variety of uncommon methods, like siphon brewing. They also sell coffee flights and cold-brew floats.

I  visited a Starbucks Reserve bar in Redwood City, California, an outpost of Silicon Valley. Here's what it was like — and what it cost me.

SEE ALSO: The 17 best things to do in San Francisco, according to people who live there

This could be a Starbucks store anywhere in America.

And this is a Starbucks Reserve bar — one of 1,000 expected to open by the end of the year.

Source: Fortune

Starbucks has been pouring money into the expansion as it bucks competition from upscale coffee brands like Blue Bottle and Intelligentsia. It wants to show it's no one-trick pony.

Style "rules" exist for a reason. They inform and guide the current generation using techniques and styles that have worked well in the past. Much of the time, they ensure that younger folks at least try to look their best.

Many rules are rooted in business wear and can be traced back to pamphlets and guides from the early- to mid-20th century. They attempted to guide young businessmen in the right manner of dress so that they wouldn't embarrass themselves at work.

This is all well and good, but styles and societal priorities change. Things that worked in the past might not always work today, as business dress was a lot more conservative back then.

Here are seven style rules that have generally been accepted over time, but that no longer make all that much sense.

SEE ALSO: 7 things no man should ever wear in the summer — and what to wear instead

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RULE #1: Don't wear white after Labor Day or before Memorial Day.

The "don't wear white after Labor Day" rule is rooted in classism. In the 19th century, it was a way for old money to separate itself from the nouveau riche. 

Unfortunately, this idea has stubbornly survived through the current day. It's time to forget about it — white can look great whenever.

RULE #2: Always match your belt with your shoes.

In more formal settings, it's a good idea to get as close as you can to matching the leathers of your belt and shoes. But in any other context, it's simply unnecessary.

It suggests a level of exactness that's too particular — fussy, even. And besides, no one is paying such close attention to the color of your leathers, anyway.

RULE #3: Always wear socks with pants.

The necessity of socks is greatly exaggerated. The sockless summer look has been around so long now, it's a staple in the spring issues of men's fashion magazines.

Socks are no longer required unless you're actually dressing up. Just make sure you have something on your feet.

The best things in life may be free, but that doesn't mean they won't take time, sweat, and perseverance to acquire.

That's especially the case when it comes to learning important life skills.

To ascertain which talents are worth the investment, one Quora reader posed the question: "What are the hardest and most useful skills to learn?"

We've highlighted our favorite takeaways, as well as a few other skills we thought were important.

SEE ALSO: 18 hobbies you can turn into a high-paying side gig

DON'T MISS: What 13 highly successful people read every morning

Empathy

"You can be the most disciplined, brilliant, and even wealthy individual in the world, but if you don't care for or empathize with other people, then you are basically nothing but a sociopath," writes Kamia Taylor.

Empathy, as business owner Jane Wurdwand explains, is a fundamental human ability that has too readily been forsworn by modern business.

"Empathy — the ability to feel what others feel — is what makes good sales and service people truly great. Empathy as in team spirit — esprit de corps— motivates people to try harder. Empathy drives employees to push beyond their own apathy, to go bigger, because they feel something bigger than just a paycheck," she writes.

Mastering your sleep

There are so many prescribed sleep hacks out there it's often hard to keep track. But regardless of what you choose, establishing a ritual can help ensure you have restful nights.

Numerous studies show that being consistent with your sleep schedule makes it easier to fall asleep and wake up, and it helps promote better sleep in general.

Time management

Effective time management is one of the most highly valued skills by employers. While there is no one right way, it's important to find a system that works for you and stick to it, Alina Grzegorzewska explains. 

"The hardest thing to learn for me was how to plan," she writes. "Not to execute what I have planned, but to make so epic a to-do list and to schedule it so thoroughly that I'm really capable of completing all the tasks on the scheduled date."

If you're looking to invest in real estate, location is paramount.

HomeUnion, an online real estate investment management firm, has identified zip codes in 20 US metros where investors have seen the highest return on investment and minimal risk over a five-year period.

To compile its list, HomeUnion calculated the total annualized return — including projected appreciation and cash flow— of single-family rentals (SFRs) for over 200,000 neighborhoods in their database using a proprietary methodology.

They then eliminated neighborhoods with an average school rating below the 70th percentile, based on data from Maponics.

"Typically, SFRs in areas with good schools have been attractive to long-term investors, though those areas have been more challenging to locate for remote investors in today's heated housing market," said Steve Hovland, director of research for HomeUnion.

The markets with the highest returns and an average school rating in the 70th percentile or higher made it to the top of the list. Below, check out the top 20 housing markets in the US for real estate investors, where average annual returns over five years range from 5.4% to 8.1%.

SEE ALSO: 16 US cities where incomes can't keep up with housing costs

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46280: North Indianapolis, Indiana

Metro: Indianapolis

Annualized total return: 5.4%

School rating: 71.9

91602: North Hollywood, California

Metro: Los Angeles

Annualized total return: 5.4%

School rating: 71.4

73003: Edmond, Oklahoma

Metro: Oklahoma City

Annualized total return: 5.4%

School rating: 90

When Republican Sen. Susan Collins landed in Bangor, Maine on Friday, a crowd at the airport greeted her with applause.

She was arriving home after a dramatic week in the US Senate, during which she defied her party leadership and voted "no" on all three Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.

On CNN's "State of the Union" with Jake Tapper on Sunday, Collins said she'd never received such a warm welcome in her 20 years serving in the Senate.

"It really was so extraordinary, heartwarming, and affirming," Collins said. "I got off the plane, and there was a large group of outbound passengers, none of whom I happened to know, and spontaneously some of them started applauding, and then virtually all of them started to applaud. It was just amazing."

"It was very encouraging and affirming, especially after arriving home after a very difficult time," Collins added.

A tweeted photo of Collins at the airport went viral on Friday:

Collins said she voted against the bills because they withheld federal funding from Planned Parenthood, and because she didn't think the Republican plans would provide adequate coverage. 

"While I support many of the components of this plan, this approach will not provide the market stability and premium relief that is needed," she said in a statement on Thursday, encouraging a bipartisan approach. 

"The ACA is flawed and in portions of the country is near collapse," she added. "Rather than engaging in partisan exercises, Republicans and Democrats should work together to address these very serious problems."

Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John McCain of Arizona were the other two Republicans who joined Collins in voting against the "skinny" repeal on Friday, sinking Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's plan to overhaul the US healthcare system.

Watch a clip of Collins describing the scene at the airport:

SEE ALSO: GOP sends mixed messages on the future of American healthcare after suffering a blistering defeat in the Obamacare repeal effort

DON'T MISS: A full breakdown of the dramatic 19 seconds when McCain killed the GOP's healthcare bill

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