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The New York mansion tax is a one-time sales tax on home sales of $1 million or more in New York state.
In April of 2019, the progressive mansion tax and a new transfer tax on multimillion-dollar home sales only in New York City were both passed. They went into effect on July 1.
Buyers rushed to close multimillion-dollar deals before the deadline, causing June market reports to reach a six-quarter high.
Here's everything you need to know about New York City's new mansion tax, from who it affects to what the generated revenue will be used for.
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After the revised mansion tax was passed in April, Manhattan's luxury real-estate market was sent into a frenzy as wealthy clients rushed to close deals before the new tax rates went into effect on July 1, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The revision of the mansion tax was bittersweet for New York City's luxury market. While the market dodged a costly and long-debated tax on expensive second homes, wealthy buyers didn't get off scot-free.

The progressive mansion tax is expected to raise $365 million a year. The money will, according to the New York State Division of the Budget, be used to improve the city's subway system.

Specifically, the revenue, as the New York State Divison of the Budget details, will be used to support up to $5 billion in financing for MTA projects.

Business Insider spoke with industry leaders about the history of the mansion tax and the impacts its new rates will have on New York City's luxury market.

What is the mansion tax?

In 1989, former Governor of New York Mario Cuomo issued the mansion tax mandating a 1% tax on statewide home sales of $1 million or more.

Over the next 30 years, the number of homes — priced at $1 million and more — sold in New York City, in particular, grew astronomically. With home sales regularly in the multimillions, the suggestion of higher taxes on expensive real estate in the city became a pressing topic of conversation.

And in March of 2019, billionaire Ken Griffin purchased a $238 million Manhattan apartment— the most expensive home ever sold in the US. Less than a month after Griffin's purchase was made public, lawmakers passed two new sales taxes on multimillion-dollar homes in New York City.

First, the progressive mansion tax was implemented, which taxes home sales of $2 million or more upwards at 1%, capping at a 3.9% tax on home sales of $25 million or more.

Second, a .25% transfer tax was put into place. That is now an additional tax on top of the already-existing, statewide .4% transfer tax.

Homes outside of New York City that sell for $1 million or more will not be affected by the progressive mansion tax or the new transfer tax.

breaking down new mansion tax rate table

What does the new mansion tax mean for luxury real estate in Manhattan?

As Barbara Fox, founder and president of the real-estate brokerage Fox Residential, told Business Insider, "It's the newness of [the new progressive mansion tax] that's causing the issues."

New York's luxury housing market has taken a hit over the past year, seeing price cuts and an influx of inventory. Now, with the new mansion tax in effect, there is a lingering worry among industry professionals that it will continue to slow down the already-slow market.

Forbes' contributing writer Frederick Peters, the CEO of the real-estate firm Warburg Realty, wrote that over time, the progressive mansion tax will become a normal factor in transactional negotiations between buyers and sellers.

While Fox told Business Insider that she is confident the market will continue to climb in 2019, she predicts the progressive mansion tax will make it move slower. For the ultra-wealthy, an extra tax during closing isn't going to be a deal-breaker, Fox explained.

"The market will still climb, but it will climb more slowly in the balance of this year than it may have otherwise," Fox told Business insider.

What happened to the luxury market in June?

According to Douglas Elliman's Q2 Manhattan market report, for the first time in six quarters, year-over-year sales increased in June as buyers rushed to save thousands, and in some cases, millions of dollars in mansion taxes.

Jamie Heiberger, president and founder of Heiberger & Associates, PC, told Business Insider she closed more deals this past June than usual because buyers wanted to avoid the progressive mansion tax.

"So many deals that may have not closed until later got moved up because they wanted to get in before the deadline [July 1]," Heiberger told Business Insider.

How are people reacting to the new mansion tax — and why are some New Yorkers celebrating it?

Before revising the mansion tax rates, lawmakers proposed a pied-à-terre tax that would mandate an annual tax on second homes worth $5 million or more. Industry leaders feared it would push buyers and developers away from New York.

"That [proposed pied-à-terre tax] will dramatically affect prices, which will dramatically affect the appetite for developers to keep developing, which affects the employment of tens of thousands," David Juracich, principal of JDS Development Group, told digital-media company Bisnow in March of 2019.

According to Mansion Global, a home worth $25 million would come with a $370,000 annual pied-à-terre tax. So, when lawmakers instead passed the progressive mansion tax, industry leaders were relieved.

"We probably dodged a bullet here," Steven James CEO of Douglas Elliman's New York City division, told Bloomberg in an interview.

DON'T MISS: New York is in a race to be carbon neutral by 2050. The city's glossy, glass-encased luxury buildings may be one of the first casualties

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Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail on Saturday as he awaited trial on charges of sex trafficking of minors.
The former money manager had many famous connections. President Donald Trump once referred to Epstein as a "terrific guy" before saying he was "not a fan."
Some of Epstein's former friends include L Brands CEO Les Wexner and President Bill Clinton. Both have said they cut ties with the disgraced financier years ago.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Jeffrey Epstein, 66, died by suicide in a Manhattan jail on Saturday, August 10, as he awaited trial on charges of sex trafficking of minors.

The former hedge-fund manager and registered sex offender may have kept his client list under wraps, but he often bragged of his elite social circle that included presidents and Hollywood stars.

Epstein, who ran a business out of the US Virgin Islands, was known for jet-setting with the likes of former President Bill Clinton, and Prince Andrew (the third child of the UK's Queen Elizabeth).

"I invest in people — be it politics or science," Epstein was known to say, according to New York Magazine. "It's what I do."

According to a July 22 article from NY Magazine's Intelligencer, a number of royals and royal connections were among Epstein's contacts. That includes Prince Andrew; Prince Andrew's then-wife, Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York; and Charles Althorp, Princess Diana's brother. According to Intelligencer, all three were named in Epstein's black book; Ferguson and Prince Andrew were also named in his private jet log.

Epstein had been in police custody since July 6; he was arrested shortly after exiting his private jet in New Jersey. He pleaded not guilty on July 8 and was being held without bail in New York City. On July 25, Epstein was placed on suicide watch after a reported suicide attempt that led to his hospitalization.

In 2007, Epstein pleaded guilty to charges of solicitation of prostitution and procurement of minors for prostitution in Florida.

Here is what we know about the famous people who crossed paths with Epstein.

DON'T MISS: Meet Bernard and Lisa Selz, the wealthy New York City couple who has donated millions to the anti-vax movement

President Donald Trump once considered Epstein a friend.

The future president claimed in 2002 that he had a long friendship with Epstein. "I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy," Trump said, according to New York Magazine. "He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life."

According to Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, Trump now believes the crimes Epstein was charged with are "completely unconscionable and obviously criminal." She also labeled them "disgusting," according to a report from the Associated Press.

"The president told me this morning he hasn't talked to Epstein, he doesn't think he's talked to him or seen him in 10 or 15 years," Conway added.

Former President Bill Clinton traveled with Epstein in 2002 and 2003.

A statement released by Clinton spokesperson Angel Ureña said the former president traveled to Europe, Asia, and twice to Africa on Epstein's private jet. Clinton's staff and Secret Service agents also went on these trips, which were to further the work of the Clinton Foundation, according to the statement.

At the time, Clinton told New York Magazine through a spokesperson that Epstein was a "both a highly successful financier and a committed philanthropist with a keen sense of global markets and an in-depth knowledge of twenty-first-century science."

Ureña also said that Clinton and Epstein haven't spoken in "well over a decade" and that Clinton "knows nothing about the terrible crimes" Epstein was charged with.

Actor Kevin Spacey and comedian Chris Tucker also took trips with Epstein.

Epstein, Clinton, Spacey, and Tucker spent a week in 2002 touring AIDS project sites in South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, and Mozambique for the Clinton Foundation, according to a New York Magazine report.

Spacey has also been charged with sexual assault, although the case may be dismissed, according to The New York Times.

Socialite Ghislaine Maxwell is Epstein's ex-girlfriend — and alleged madam.

Maxwell, 57, is a British socialite and the daughter of media tycoon Robert Maxwell.

She started dating Epstein shortly after moving to New York in 1991, Business Insider previously reported. After they broke up, court documents allege that Maxwell started recruiting underage girls for him to have sex with.

Prince Andrew and Epstein were close friends, the Guardian reported in 2015.

Maxwell introduced Epstein and the Duke of York in the 1990s, the Guardian reported, and the two became close friends.

The Duke is the son of the UK's Queen Elizabeth. He has also been criticized for frequently taking flights on the taxpayer's dime while serving as the country's special representative for international trade. This earned him the nickname "Airmiles Andy," according to the Washington Post.

Court documents reviewed by the Guardian allege that Epstein instructed Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a 15-year-old employee at Trump's Mar-a-Largo resort, to have sex with Prince Andrew on three separate occasions.

Buckingham Palace said in 2015 that the allegations against Prince Andrew were "false and without any foundation," according to the Guardian.

L Brands CEO Les Wexner is Epstein's only confirmed client.

Epstein became a trusted confidant of Wexner's while Epstein managed the CEO's fortune, according to Vanity Fair. Wexner has a net worth of $6.7 billion, Bloomberg reported. The magazine reported that Wexner allowed Epstein to take an active role in L Brands, which owns Bath & Body Works, Express, and Victoria's Secret.

In 1989, Wexner used a trust to buy an Upper East Side townhouse that is believed to be the largest private residence in Manhattan for $13.2 million, Vanity Fair reported. Epstein moved in after Wexner and his wife, Abigail Koppel, moved to Ohio in 1996. Wexner's trust transferred ownership of the house to Epstein in 2011 for $0, Bloomberg reported.

Wexner later fired Epstein as his money manager. "Mr. Wexner severed ties with Mr. Epstein more than a decade ago," an L Brands spokesperson told Forbes.

Former Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta worked with Epstein's legal team to arrange a plea deal after Epstein was charged with solicitation of prostitution and procurement of minors for prostitution in Florida in 2007.

An investigation by the Miami Herald revealed that Acosta, then a US attorney, had enough evidence against Epstein to request a life sentence. Instead, he reportedly met with one of Epstein's lawyers, who happened to be a former colleague of Acosta's.

In the resulting plea deal, Epstein served 13 months in a private wing of a county prison, which he was allowed to leave six days a week to work in his office.

Business Insider previously reported that Acosta said he was "pleased that NY prosecutors are moving forward with a case based on new evidence," on Twitter.

Tweet Embed:
//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1148618145671917571?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The crimes committed by Epstein are horrific, and I am pleased that NY prosecutors are moving forward with a case based on new evidence.

Acosta resigned on July 12.

Film publicist Peggy Siegal planned a star-studded dinner party for Epstein and Prince Andrew at Epstein's New York mansion in 2010.

Siegal, known for hosting events to promote films including "The Big Short," "Argo," and "The Revenant" to Oscar voters, invited Epstein to screenings after he was released from prison in 2010, according to The New York Times.

"I was a kind of plugged-in girl around town who knew a lot of people," Siegal told The New York Times. "And I think that's what he wanted from me, a kind of social goings-on about New York."

Siegal also planned a dinner party for Epstein and Prince Andrew at his Upper East Side home. The event was attended by Katie Couric, George Stephanopoulos, and Chelsea Handler. "The invitation was positioned as, 'Do you want to have dinner with Prince Andrew?'" Ms. Siegal said. Many of the guests didn't know who the host was or about his criminal history, The New York Times reported.

A spokesperson for Siegal told Business Insider that Siegal's relationship with Epstein was social, not professional. Siegal told The New York Times that she ended her relationship with Epstein at the height of the #MeToo era in 2017.

Glenn and Eva Dubin

Glenn and Eva Dubin, a billionaire couple with deep ties to Jeffrey Epstein, received a massage recommendation from the financier years ago, according to interviews and police records reviewed by Business Insider.
Epstein hired one masseuse as an assistant when she was 23, before she received her massage-therapy license. She gave Epstein erotic massages and massaged his close friends and assistants, as well as the Dubins on at least one occasion.
The Dubins said they did not recall the massage, and the masseuse said there was no erotic component. The couple, who remained friendly with Epstein after he went to jail on charges including soliciting a minor for prostitution, reiterated that had they known of the new allegations against the disgraced financier, they would have cut off contact.
The masseuse said that she "massaged many of Epstein's friends" while she worked for him but that none of them expected any sexual favors.

In 2003, a young college student was recruited to answer phones and run errands for the financier Jeffrey Epstein in Palm Beach, Florida.

The job turned into much more, including massages for Epstein and a referral to massage at least one billionaire couple, according to a police report from January 2006. The massages for Epstein, she told the police, became sexual.

Over the course of the Palm Beach Police Department's investigation into the now disgraced sex offender, which ended in a secretive 2008 plea deal, investigators spoke with Johanna Sjoberg. Her story offers a window into how Epstein's network functioned, from the way he found girls and women to service his needs to how some of them connected with his rich and famous friends.

See more:Hedge-fund giant Glenn Dubin and his wife, Eva, told Jeffrey Epstein's probation officer they were '100% comfortable' with the sex offender around their kids. New documents show the extent of the billionaire couple's relationship with Epstein.

On a referral from Epstein, for example, Sjoberg gave at least one massage to Glenn and Eva Dubin, the billionaire couple with longtime ties to Epstein that they now say they regret.

The Dubins' patronage, at Epstein's recommendation, of a masseuse who had given him erotic massages has not been previously reported. She gave a statement to the police in 2006 and spoke with the Daily Mail in 2007, and Business Insider has confirmed details of her story. A lawyer for Epstein did not respond to a request for comment.

Now a hairstylist, Sjoberg told the police she met Epstein in 2003, when she was 23, according to the 2006 report. She said she was approached on the campus of Palm Beach Atlantic University, the private Christian college she attended, by Epstein's longtime friend Ghislaine Maxwell, who was looking for assistants for Epstein's Palm Beach house.

Sjoberg took the part-time job and began providing massages to Epstein before she received her massage-therapy license, which public records indicate was issued in November 2003. She also massaged Epstein's paramour Nadia Marcinkova and his assistant Sarah Kellen, the police statement said.

She told the police that Epstein turned some of the massages into sexual encounters:

"He would instruct her to rub his nipples as he masturbated himself. [She] stated she felt 'grossed' about the behavior but as she was getting paid, she just continued. [She] also advised she would on occasion perform the massages naked. Epstein would on occasion, utilize the vibrator/massager on her vagina area when she performed the massages. Sjoberg explained that Epstein never exposed himself to her."

Epstein paid her and "took care of" her college tuition, in addition to renting a car for her for a week, the police statement said. She later told the Daily Mail that Epstein also covered the down payment on her home and paid for her to become a masseuse and hairstylist. (She told the Daily Mail that she met Epstein in 2001, when she was 21 —two years earlier than in her account to police investigators.)

'Nothing inappropriate is being alleged'

Epstein referred Sjoberg to at least one other client, she told the Palm Beach police in January 2006.

"Epstein also recommended her to another client who resides at Breakers Row in Palm Beach area," the police report of her interview said. "The client she was referred to was 'Glenn' unknown last name, and his wife, who she provided a massages [sic] to."

Business Insider has confirmed that the Glenn referred to in the statement was Glenn Dubin, who had a house with a Breakers Row address until 2012, according to public records. Sjoberg gave Dubin and his wife at least one massage.

See more:Private-equity guru Leon Black's family foundation is scrambling to distance itself from sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein, but it's raising more questions

It's unclear when the massage took place, and there was no erotic component, Sjoberg told Business Insider.

"I massaged many of Epstein's friends when I worked for him, because I was a talented licensed massage therapist," Sjoberg said. "To me, Glenn was just another person on the table. There was never any other expectation by his friends. If something inappropriate happened I would have a memory of it."

"The Dubins have no recollection of this person or event but regardless, nothing inappropriate is being alleged," a spokeswoman for the couple said. "Any suggestion to the contrary is highly irresponsible and completely inaccurate."

The Dubins' relationship with Epstein dates back to the 1980s, when Epstein dated Eva Dubin — then Eva Andersson — and continued after he went to jail in 2008 on charges including procuring a minor for prostitution.

Business Insider reported last month that Eva Dubin emailed Epstein's probation officer in 2009 ahead of hosting a large Thanksgiving meal, saying the couple was "100% comfortable" with Epstein around their children, including their then-teenage daughter.

Epstein and the Dubins have financial ties as well as personal ones. Epstein was a "longtime investor" in Highbridge Capital, the hedge fund Glenn Dubin founded in the 1990s, according to an affidavit Dubin submitted in a court case in 2010. And both men were investors in a fund run by D.B. Zwirn, a former Highbridge Capital employee. According to Vanity Fair, Epstein "arranged" the sale of Highbridge to JPMorgan Chase, and Epstein made a $75 million investment in a fund run by another former Highbridge portfolio manager at Dubin's recommendation.

Epstein and the Dubins were also philanthropically intertwined. In 2009, Epstein sought to make a donation to Eva Dubin's breast-cancer charity, the Dubin Breast Center of the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai. To avoid public scrutiny over a donation from a registered sex offender, he made the donation through another charity established by Eva Dubin, the Celina Dubin United Fund, which in turn donated about $26,600 to the breast-cancer group from 2010 through 2012, according to tax records.

The Dubins said they were "horrified" by last month's federal charges against Epstein. The money manager is accused of running a sex-trafficking ring in Florida and New York for years, involving girls as young as 14.

"Had they been aware of the vile and unspeakable conduct described in these new allegations, they would have cut off all ties and certainly never have allowed their children to be in his presence," the Dubins said through a spokeswoman, adding that they thought Epstein had rehabilitated himself and "deserved a second chance."

How the Apple Card works

Let's start with the basics. The Apple Card is a cash-back credit card with no annual fee. In fact, the Apple Card has no fees of any kind, including annual fees, foreign transaction fees, cash advance fees, and even late fees. But don't expect a generous welcome bonus or a valuable introductory financing offer, because it doesn't offer either.

Instead, the Apple Card offers 3% cash back on all purchases made through an Apple Store or the Apple App Store, and 2% cash back every time you use Apple Pay, either online or through contactless payments. And you earn just 1% cash back when using the physical Apple Card. And unlike most cards, you receive your rewards the day after a purchase, when it's loaded to your account as Apple Cash.

The standard APR for purchases is 12.99% to 23.99%, depending on your creditworthiness when you apply. This might seem a little high compared to the industry average of about 15%, but it's still competitive with other rewards credit cards, which usually have higher interest rates compared to credit cards that don't offer points, miles, or cash back. And there's no penalty APR that's applied when you make a late payment.

Unique features of the Apple Card

Examining the rates and fees of the Apple Card is like evaluating the iPhone based on how well it makes plain old phone calls. The real point of the Apple Card appears to be its additional features that aren't available on other credit cards.

For example, you can apply for a new account from within the Apple Wallet tab, and the card itself is a sleek, titanium monolith with your name engraved on it, but not an account number (the account number is available in the Wallet app).

The Apple Card is also tightly integrated with the iPhone. You see your purchases instantly, and you can even locate where each charge was processed by using Apple Maps. Each transaction is authorized by either Touch ID or Face ID, and you can have your lost or stolen card information replaced instantly in Apple Pay while a new physically card is being sent.

Apple also wants its new card to help you manage your money. It features weekly and monthly spending reports that you can access with a single tap that breaks down all of your spending by categories. And when it comes time to pay your bill, it shows you the interest you'll incur if you fail to pay your entire balance.

How does the Apple Card stack up against its competitors?

No fees

Many features of the Apple Card are already available on other credit cards. For example, both the PenFed Promise and the Petal Card already have no fees at all, just like the Apple Card. And the Citi Double Cash effectively offers 2% cash back on all purchases, not just those paid through a mobile wallet service (you get 1% cash back at the time of purchase and another 1% cash back when you pay for your purchases, for a total of up to 2% with no limits).

Cash-back earning

Other cash-back credit cards can offer more generous bonuses on certain purchases. For example, the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express offers 6% cash back at US supermarkets (on up to $6,000 per year, then 1%) and on select US streaming services. And when it comes to buying Apple products, both the Best Buy credit card and the Amazon Prime Visa Signature Credit Card offer 5% back on all purchases with Best Buy and Amazon respectively, and you can buy many Apple products from those retailers.

And nearly all credit card issuers offer an app that helps you track purchases, and most will feature some way to categorize and track your purchases. But none of them integrate so closely with the iPhone.

Metal design

Finally, if it's the titanium design of the Apple Card that intrigues you, there are other cards with metal designs, from the Chase Sapphire Reserve to the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card to the American Express® Gold Card, which was even available in rose gold for a limited time. Of course, most of these cards have annual fees, unlike the Apple Card.

Benefits missing from the Apple Card

Purchase protection

One important credit card benefit that's missing from the Apple Card is purchase protection. If you're making a large purchase — such as an Apple product — using a credit card that protects you against damage or theft for a period after the purchase can grant you some extra peace of mind. Purchase protection is available on cards like the Platinum Card® from American Express— with that card, you get up to $10,000 in coverage per claim.

Sign-up bonus

Other cards offer new account holders generous sign-up bonuses and promotional financing offers, both of which the Apple Card lacks. For instance, the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card offers $300 in cash back to new applicants who spend $3,000 within three months of account opening. And the Citi Double Cash offers 18 months of 0% APR financing on both new purchases and balance transfers (then a variable rate of 15.99% to 25.99%).

Bottom line

Every credit card issuer hopes that its customers will use its credit card for all purchases, while ignoring other competing products that feature welcome bonuses, increased rewards for certain purchases, or a 0% APR financing offer for opening a new account. The Apple Card leverages its massive user base of loyal iPhone users, and it does offer some appealing perks like no fees and access to card info from the Wallet app.

But if you don't have an iPhone, or if you're less interested in its unique features like the card design and Touch ID integration, you have plenty of other strong credit card options, from no-annual-fee cards that can help you build credit like the Petal Card to compelling cash-back options like the Capital One Savor. And in some cases, like when you want purchase protection, other credit cards have distinct advantages.

Join the conversation about this story »

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Packing a school lunch can be a daunting and monotonous task, but these tips and suggestions will make the process easier.
In each lunch, aim to include a protein, whole grain, fruit, vegetable, healthy fat, and a drink.
Pack lunches in appropriate containers that will keep them from getting smashed while also maintaining the correct temperature.
We recommend bento boxes from Bentgo, OmieBox, and LunchBots, as well as good old paper bags, an insulated lunch tote, a good thermos, and reusable containers.
Don't forget — your ultimate goal is to feed your child, so don't aim for perfection every day.

Squeaky clean shoes, new school supplies, a fresh start, a fall crisp in the air, and … packed lunches. If the thought of packing a nutritious lunch for your kids every single day gives you anxiety, breathe a sigh of relief because we're here to help.

Packing a school lunch may seem simple — pack what your kid likes to eat — but any parent will quickly tell you that it's not that simple.

We've rounded up a bunch of great school lunch ideas, tips on how to pack a lunch, and recommendations for great lunch boxes and food containers you can use.

Tips and tricks on how to pack a school lunch

Give yourself some grace. Don't beat yourself up if you don't pack the most nutritious meal every single day. You fed your child and that's what matters. Sometimes their lunch will be perfectly balanced, and sometimes they'll come home having eaten nothing but the bag of chips you packed. Sometimes I make my 1-year-old daughter a delicious meal, and all she eats is ketchup. It happens.
Follow your child's cues and communicate with them about their lunches. If they always eat grapes at home, but they never get eaten when you send them to school, there's bound to be a good reason why!
Try to pack a little more than you think your kid will eat. It's better to waste a small amount of food than for your child to not have enough. As a high school teacher, I used to have hungry athletes who would finish their packed lunch by second period. If your kids are very active and/or they continually come home with their lunch completely gone, that's a good indicator that you need to start packing more.
Pack a variety of options so your child has choices, and make them things that you know your child will eat. A packed school lunch isn't the place to try out olives for the first time.
Label lunch boxes and water bottles in case they get left behind somewhere.
Know your child's school restrictions. If your child attends a nut-free school, take this restriction seriously — nut allergies can be extremely severe and even life-threatening. Always check labels of food you're going to send to school. You'd be surprised how many products contain nuts. For PB&J sandwiches and other foods that typically include nuts, sun butter is a good alternative.
Opt for school-provided lunch. If it's too overwhelming to pack a lunch every day, get your child excited about the options offered by the school. Sit down each week to look over the menu and have them choose one day a week to buy lunch. This is also a great way to get some inspiration for your own packed lunches.
Keep an eye out for safety. If you're packing a lunch for a child under four, be sure to avoid common choking hazards.

The bottom line with packing your kid's lunch is that you want to pack something nutritious that will fuel them to have energy and do their best in school. If you know that your child will only eat mac and cheese and that anything else you pack will get thrown away, then mac and cheese it is!

Try to include the following in your child's lunch each day:

Protein
Whole grain
Fruit
Veggie
Healthy fat
Water or other non-sugary drink
Napkins or wet ones
Something fun or sweet (this doesn't have to be every day!)

Simple school lunch ideas:

A whole-grain wrap filled with avocado, grilled chicken, and cheese; strawberries; cucumbers; ranch
Natural peanut butter and jelly on whole-grain bread, apple slices, freeze-dried banana slices, yogurt
Whole-grain crackers, cheese slices, sugar snap peas, peanuts (or sunflower seeds for a nut-free school), raspberries, a piece of chocolate
Hummus, sliced bell pepper, cuties, a hard-boiled egg, popcorn
Leftover cheesy tuna casserole, kiwi, cherry tomatoes, a cookie

Think beyond the sandwich and don't be afraid to keep it simple! You don't need to go crazy searching for creative or cute lunch ideas. If you want to add something fun for younger kids, try using cookie cutters to cut up sandwiches, veggies, or fruit. A nice note from you with some encouragement or a quick joke is always a good touch, too.

The best lunch boxes, containers, and water bottles for school lunch

For younger kids, use a durable container. Letting your child pick out a lunchbox with a fun design or favorite character can help them get excited to eat their lunch. Very young kids might get excited about choosing a lunch box with their favorite character or show, like PAW Patrol or Minecraft. You can check out our guide to the best lunch boxes for more options.

Older kids might prefer a plain brown paper bag, but it's a good idea to at least put their sandwich or anything else that is prone to getting smashed in a durable container. There's not much worse than opening your lunch to find everything got ruined when you threw your backpack in your locker and piled your bags on top of it.

Also, make sure you use leak-proof containers for anything that could leak. You don't want to be paying for your child's history book at the end of the school year because applesauce leaked out of their lunch box and into their backpack. Take it from a teacher — you will have to pay for that book.

Our favorite lunch boxes:

Bentgo Lunch Boxes, $14.99 to $27.99
LunchBots Stainless Steel Bento Boxes, $19.99 to $34.99
OmieBox Bento Box with stainless steel thermos, $39.50
500 Brown paper bags, $17.88 to $19.99
Cosfash Insulated lunch tote, $12.99 to $14.99

Our favorite food containers:

Reusable sandwich and snack bags, $16.99
Stasher Silicone Reuseable Bags, $9.99 to $11.99
Sistema Klip-It Sandwich Box, $3.99
Rubbermaid LunchBlox Sandwich Kit, $6.99

Our favorite water bottles

CamelBak kids water bottle, $12.99
CamelBak standard size water bottle, $8 to $14
Hydro Flask kids Stainless Steel Bottle, $29.95
Standard size Hydro Flask Stainless Steel Bottle, $29.95
S'well Stainless Steel water bottles, $35

How to keep hot lunches warm and cold lunches cold

When I was in elementary school, I went through a stint of requesting soup for lunch every single day and in high school, it was a chicken salad sandwich. Sorry, mom and dad!

So how do you keep your kid's favorite food a safe temperature?

According to the USDA, cold food should have at least two ice sources. Two ice packs or an ice pack and a frozen water bottle would work.
Use an insulated container for hot food like the Thermos insulated food jar. Fill it with boiling water and let it sit for a few minutes before dumping out the water and filling it with the hot food. OmieBox also makes a cool bento lunch box that has a thermos inside for hot foods in addition to sections for other, cold foods.

Our favorite thermos and ice packs:

Thermos Stainless King Food Jar with Folding Spoon, $15.99 to $29.99
OmieBox Bento Box with a thermos, $39.50
8-pack of Healthy Packers Ice Packs, $19.99

How to pack a school lunch without feeling rushed

This really doesn't have to be a chore you dread! In my experience, lunch packing is a much less enjoyable activity when you leave it until the last minute.

Pack leftovers. If you're including leftovers in the lunch, pack them as you're cleaning up dinner.
Get your kids involved! As part of their routine when they get home from school, spend some time with them unpacking their lunch from that day and re-packing their lunch for the next day. An added bonus of this: they helped choose what would go in their lunch, so they're likely to eat and enjoy it!
Prep with good containers. Buy a few lunch boxes or containers and meal prep lunches at the beginning of the week.
Schedule it in. If you insist on packing lunches in the morning, make sure you set aside time to pack them so they're not thrown together last minute.
Have some quick options ready to grab for lunches if you're running short on time, forgot to pack lunches, or your kids need a snack before practice.

Avocados are delicious, but they can be challenging to open, pit, and slice without injuring yourself.
Instead of whacking on the pit with a knife and nearly slicing your hand open, you can use OXO's 3-in-1 Avocado Slicer ($9.99).
It has three parts: a plastic blade to cut into the avocado's skin, a pitter to remove the pit inside, and a slicer to evenly slice up the inside of the avocado.
I use this handy tool every time I make guacamole — which is to say, often — and it makes the entire process much easier.

Like any self-respecting millennial, I love avocados. I eat them a couple times a week, and I plan my meals around their whims. If my avocado is ripe, I'm eating tacos that night. You can't exactly tell a ripe avocado "no" — they tend to rebel and turn stringy and brown when you ignore them.

The only thing I dislike about avocados is opening and pitting them. Without a proper tool, you're stuck using a knife to cut through the skin and take the pit out, which is, frankly, dangerous. I used to make my boyfriend take the pit out every time because I was convinced the knife was going to slip and cut my hand instead of removing the pit.

Luckily, I stumbled upon OXO's 3-in-1 Avocado Slicer at Bed Bath & Beyond one day about eight years ago. Even though I typically laugh at all the weird kitchen tools that have one very specific function and do nothing else (here's looking at you, strawberry hullers), I bought it. And I've been using it to turn avocados into guacamole for years now.

The design is simply ingenious. Every other avocado slicer I've seen doesn't do what I actually need it to do: open and pit the avocado. Just about anyone can slice the interior of an avocado up into neat pieces, but cutting into that tough skin and removing the hard pit with a sharp kitchen knife is difficult and filled with peril. OXO's slicer can take care of every step without putting your hands in harm's way.

At one end, the tool has a plastic blade that's just sharp enough to cut into the avocado's skin, but not sharp enough to cut yours. Then there's the avocado slicer part at the other end that you can use to cut the avocado's flesh into perfect pieces. But the best part is the pitter in the middle.

The pitter is perfectly round with three metal prongs in it. When you whack it on the avocado's pit, the metal prongs dig in and pull the pit out effortlessly — no scary knife skills necessary. The tool also has a grippy, rubbery exterior that's easy to hold and does not slip out of your hands.

With this tool, making guacamole is absurdly easy: I can open, pit, slice, and smash the avocado safely and easily in a few minutes before adding in tomato, onion, olive oil, and seasoning.

Whenever we have dinner guests over and they see me using OXO's Avocado Slicer, they inevitably ask me where I got it and end up with one of their own. After all, it only costs $9.99, so it's not a huge investment, and if you eat avocados as much as my friends and I clearly do, it's worth every penny.

Get OXO's 3-in-1 Avocado Slicer for $9.99 at Amazon and Bed Bath & Beyond

Join the conversation about this story »

Pikachu Outbreak

Pikachu Outbreak is an annual festival held in Yokohama, Japan and this year its running from Aug. 6 to Aug. 12.
Yokohama's Minato Mirai neighborhood has been redecorated with tons of Pikachu memorabilia to mark the occasion, including subway turnstyles that call out "Pika!" as people enter and leave the station.
The festival also features daily dance performances with dozens of costumed Pikachus, and shops are giving discounts to visitors wearing Pikachu clothing.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Is it possible to have too much Pikachu? The Pokémon mascot is already having a massive year with a blockbuster film and a brand new Pokémon game on the way later this year. But Pikachu fever has gone even further in Japan, with a special event called Pikachu Outbreak taking over an entire neighborhood in one of the country's largest cities.

Pikachu Outbreak is an annual festival held in the Minatomirai neighborhood of Yokohama. Minatomirai is located about 20 miles south of Tokyo, and is Japan's second largest city in terms of population. From Aug. 6 to Aug. 12 the neighborhood will be transformed with all sorts of Pikachu memorabilia, and visitors wearing Pikachu gear will receive special discounts from local stores.

The Sakuragicho/Minatomirai area in Yokohama is currently decorated for the #pikachuoutbreak event. Still ongoing until August 12. pic.twitter.com/KyaQ3x2W9I
— life in japan is strange (Ebi) (@hannari_eri) August 6, 2019

Each day dozens of costumed Pikachus parade through the streets of Minatomirai and participate in themed dance performances across the neighborhood.

Here's are some scenes from Pikachu Outbreak 2019:

A Pikachu with an afro was leading a special LED-lit dance show outside the Yokohama Museum of Art.

Tweet Embed:
//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1158696992408649729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
ピッピッピッピッピッピッ⚡️#ピカチュウ大量発生チュウ pic.twitter.com/qC8HFCLIDm

Dozens of Pikachus team up each day for choreographed dances.

Tweet Embed:
//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1158906969358344192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
I think one of the poor Pikachu got lost ❤ #PikachuOutbreak pic.twitter.com/lda3Z8vodT

The different dances had their own themes each day too.

Tweet Embed:
//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1159769587082072064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Omg will post more videos later but PIKACHU X OCEAN SHOW WAS SO COOL#ピカチュウ大量発生チュウ2019 #PikachuOutbreak pic.twitter.com/qvp8QfYoQk

Pikachu wasn't the only Pokémon on the scene, a parade of Eevees invaded the festival as well.

Tweet Embed:
//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1159848505600442368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
THE EEVEES HAVE ARRIVED#ピカチュウ大量発生チュウ #Pikachuoutbreak #eevee pic.twitter.com/umPPqz6HWb

The decorated subway turn styles call out "Pika!" as people enter and leave the station.

Tweet Embed:
//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1158729961114443776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
I was so looking forward to see this live finally! (੭ु´͈ ᐜ `͈)੭ु⁾⁾#ピカチュウ大量発生チュウ pic.twitter.com/MMcK82wElG

Shops were also offering discounts to customers wearing Pikachu gear.

Tweet Embed:
//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1159739703417036801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Pikachu is everywhere at #PikachuOutbreak in Yokohama. pic.twitter.com/dwJklpm0KC

Pikachu Outbreak is an annual event, bringing hundreds of people to Miraiminato and Yokohama each year.

Tweet Embed:
//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1159429275402952704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Let the Pika party begin!!!! ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️ #PikachuOutbreak pic.twitter.com/N89i7OUO4t

tiktok stars

TikTok is one of the most popular social platforms, particularly among Gen Z, where users can watch short-form video clips and create something that could go viral.
Some of the most popular creators have millions of followers, who watch them lip-sync, dance, and produce comedy skits as they grow into high-profile influencers.
These are the 26 most popular TikTok stars, who found fame on the platform and have all shot past 10 million followers.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

To teens, the most popular figures on social media platforms like TikTok are well beyond mega-celebrity status in their eyes.

These TikTok stars claim millions of followers — many who are of Gen Z age themselves — and found fame by creating short video clips lip-syncing to soundbites, showing off viral dances, and crafting comedy skits that get shared thousands of times.

The hottest accounts on the two-year-old TikTok don't have nearly as many followers as the top channels on the more-established YouTube (where T-Series has blown past 100 million subscribers). However, TikTok has now been downloaded more than 1.2 billion times, and can be credited as the launchpad for many of the memes criss-crossing the internet, including Lil Nas X's chart-smashing hit "Old Town Road."

At one point, a pair of German twins named Lisa and Lena had the most popular account on TikTok, with 32.3 million followers, but they deleted their account at the end of this March to "break new ground." So far no other account has topped their lead, although creators are prolifically producing content and quickly gaining ground.

Note that this list consists of independent creators who got their starts as influencers on TikTok or its predecessor, Musical.ly. The rankings exclude accounts run by companies, and those from users who got famous first through other means — like former Vine stars Cameron Dallas and Zach King, and JoJo Siwa of "Dance Moms" fame.

These are the 26 biggest stars on TikTok, all of whom have amassed more than 10 million followers:

26. Maverick Baker —10.1 million

Maverick Baker is an 18-year-old TikTok star living in Oklahoma who produces popular lipsync and dance videos. He releases music with his brother Cash, a fellow TikTok star, under the name "Cash and Maverick," whose joint TikTok account has 6.3 million followers itself.

The Baker family is a team of social media famous siblings: Maverick, Cash, and their sister Lani collectively have 26.2 million followers on their TikTok accounts.

23. Arishfa Khan — 10.7 million

Arishfa Khan is a 16-year-old girl from India who got her start as a child actress at age 9. However, she gained a major following for her lip-syncing videos on her TikTok account, and has since created a beauty and makeup-centric YouTube channel. Her videos often feature fellow TikTok star Lucky Dancer.

23. Lucky Dancer — 10.7 million

Lucky Dancer— whose real name is Arhan Khan— has been posting TikTok videos showing off his dance moves since he was 14. Khan, now 17, also runs dance workshops in India in his spare time.

23. Adnaan Shaikh — 10.7 million

Adnaan Shaikh (@adnaan07) is one of the members of a five-person group of Indian social media influencers called Team 07, whose members are among the most popular accounts on the platform. The team, including 23-year-old Shaikh, often release comedic sketch videos featuring each other on their accounts.

22. Rebecca Zamolo — 11.2 million

Rebecca Zamolo is a former gymnast who often shows off her talents in videos on her popular TikTok and YouTube channels. She also produces comedic content with her husband, social media star Matt Slays, including scripted videos where they "fight off" a YouTube hacker through a series of games and challenges.

21. Cash Baker — 11.4 million

Cash Baker is the slightly younger brother of fellow TikTok star Maverick, with who he releases music. The 16-year-old rose to fame with the song "The Way You Move," a collaboration with his brother, which went viral on TikTok.

The Baker family is a team of social media famous siblings: Maverick, Cash, and their sister Lani collectively have 26.2 million followers on their TikTok accounts.

20. Manjul Khattar — 12.0 million

Manjul Khattar, a 21-year-old social media star living in India, has found most of his popularity on TikTok, but it's not where he started. Khattar has popular channels on Instagram and YouTube, but he blew up on TikTok where his comedy sketches have gotten attention.

19. Hasnain Khan — 12.4 million (Suspended)

Hasnain Khan (@hasnaink07) is another member of India's Team 07 squad — which comprises Khan, Faisal Shaikh (aka Mr. Faisu), Adnaan Shaikh, Faiz Baloch, and Sadhan Faroouqi. They collectively have over 63 million followers, and are some of the biggest accounts on TikTok not only in India, but on the entire platform.

At the time of publication, Khan's account was suspended. TikTok suspended his account, as well as those of Farouqi and Mr. Faisu, in early July after the group posted a video condemning the death of a Muslim man named Tabrez Ansari after sustaining injuries from an assault by a Hindu lynch mob. In India, Hindu is the majority religion, and Muslims are often subject to verbal abuse and hate-fueled attacks.

In the now-deleted TikTok video, Team 07 says: "You killed innocent Tabrez Ansari, but tomorrow if his children take revenge, do not say that all Muslims are terrorists." Responses to the video accused the team members of inciting violence with their remarks. TikTok released a statement saying that platform has a "zero-tolerance policy" toward content with a "negative impact" on users in any country, and that it had responded by suspending three accounts for violating community guidelines.

It's not clear when — or even if — the Team 07-suspended accounts will be reinstated to TikTok.

18. Danielle Cohn — 12.8 million

At the age of 13, Danielle Cohn became one of the most popular creators on Musical.ly, the American version of TikTok, before the two merged last year. Cohn, now 15, was the subject of much anger and concern earlier this month after she produced a video saying she was married to her 16-year-old boyfriend, fellow influencer Mikey Tua, and pregnant with his child. Cohn later revealed that the video was just a joke for attention, but it has helped to bring more followers to her YouTube channel and Instagram account.

17. Annie LeBlanc — 13.7 million

Annie LeBlanc's brand was first tied to her family, since she got her start as one of children in her family's YouTube channel Bratayley, which has over 7.2 million subscribers. The 14-year-old was propelled to Gen Z fame, however, after starting her Musical.ly channel and landing a role as one of the lead cast members on the popular YouTube series "Chicken Girls," produced by teen-beloved media company Brat.

16. Avneet Kaur — 13.8 million

Avneet Kaur first emerged on the scene as a contestant on an Indian reality dance competition in 2010 at nine years old, but has since went on to be a popular actress and choreographer. The 17-year-old Kaur frequently features on her TikTok behind-the-scenes footage from her time on set, and lipsync videos with family and friends.

15. Savannah Soutas & the LaBrant Family — 14.0 million

Savannah Soutas is the matriarch of a family with an insanely popular social media presence. Her husband, Cole LaBrant, is a former Vine star known as part of a dancing trio dubbed "Dem White Boyz." The couple's YouTube channel about their family has nearly 10 million subscribers, and their two children — age 6 and 7 months— each have Instagram followings over 1 million.

14. Garima Chaurasia — 14.3 million

Garima Chaurasia (aka Gima Ashi) is a 21-year-old Indian TikTok star and model. She went viral in February for a TikTok video dancing and lip-syncing to an India song titled "Boht Hard."

13. Lauren Godwin — 14.7 million

Lauren Godwin frequently produces comedic content based on life as a "normal gal going to school in Houston," the 19-year-old told Business Insider in July. She is dating fellow TikTok star Sebastian Bails, and the two often produce prank and challenge videos together.

12. Awez Darbar — 15.3 million

Awez Darbar is a 26-year-old from India known for posting videos showing his original choreography and dancing to viral hits.

11. Jayden Croes — 15.9 million

Jay Croes, 20, is the younger half of popular social media sibling duo Croes Bros. The two brothers grew up in Aruba, where life was "pure and simple," then started to grow their fanbase on Musical.ly in 2015.

10. The Dobre Twins — 16.6 million

Lucas and Marcus Dobre are a pair of 20-year-old twins whose TikTok videos comprise of comedic skits, pranks, gymnastics, and vlogs. The twin brothers also create content for YouTube with their older brothers Cyrus and Darius, and the four are embarking on a cross-country tour this summer to meet fans.

9. Riyaz Afreen — 18.3 million

Riyaz Afreen (@riyaz.14) is only 15, but has established himself as an actor and star through going viral on TikTok. He often features other popular Indian TikTok stars on his accounts, including Mr. Faisu and Aashika Bhatia.

8. Gilmher Croes — 18.4 million

Gil Croes is the other half of the wildly popular Croes Brothers, and is one of the older stars on TikTok at age 26. Croes told Business Insider last month that since starting to make videos in 2015, the brothers have been forced to change and adapt in order to maintain popularity on the platform.

"We never get comfortable, can never do the same thing that we were doing before," Croes said. "You can't please everyone, but we try to adapt in a way where people enjoy our content."

7. Jannat Zubair Rahmani — 19.2 million

Jannat Zubair Rahmani is a 17-year-old actress whose career started at eight years old. She has since found success on TikTok as one of India's most popular accounts, where she shares music she produces and shares lip-syncing videos.

6. JiffPom — 19.4 million

JiffPom is a tiny Pomeranian dog who holds two Guinness world records for his speed on only two of his four tiny legs. He's often spotted in trendy outfits in his multiple celebrity appearances, including in the music video for Katy Perry's song "Dark Horse."

5. Jacob Sartorius — 20.7 million

Jacob Sartorius was one of the most popular stars on Musical.ly, which has helped the 16-year-old launch a mildly successful career in music. Sartorius also graced headlines in 2018 as part of a much-publicized relationship with "Stranger Things" star Millie Bobby Brown.

4. Kristen Hancher — 23.0 million

Kristen Hancher has gained an incredibly large fanbase who have watched the 20-year-old through years of lip-syncing videos and dozens of hair color changes. Now, Hancher is a member of Jake Paul's Team 10 squad, and lives in the infamous Los Angeles mansion full of social media stars.

3. Mr. Faisu — 23.7 million (Suspended)

Mr. Faisu (@mr_faisu_07), aka Faisal Shaikh, is the most popular TikTok star in India and the most popular member of Indian social media group Team 07.

Like fellow team member Hasnain Khan, Mr. Faisu's account is currently suspended for violating TikTok community guidelines. As discussed in the above slide about Khan, Mr. Faisu and Team 07 posted a video in July condemning the death of a Muslim man named Tabrez Ansari after he sustained injuries at the hands of a Hindu lynch mob. The team was accused of inciting violence with their remarks, and Mr. Faisu was one of three Team 07 accounts suspended in the aftermath.

2. Baby Ariel — 29.8 million

Baby Ariel, aka Ariel Martin, was the first individual to surpass the 20-million-followers mark on Musical.ly, and her fame has only grown from there. The 18-year-old's illustrious TikTok fame has led to multiple gigs on Disney Channel and Nickelodeon TV shows.

1. Loren Gray — 32.6 million

At age 17, Loren Gray is the most-followed person on TikTok. At one point, she hosted her own Snapchat show called "Glow Up," and has garnered nominations for her social media presence at the Teen Choice Awards and People's Choice Awards. She has also been producing music since 2017, and most recently released the single "Can't Do It" in May.

Dan Schawbel is a bestselling author, speaker, entrepreneur, and host of the " 5 Questions with Dan Schawbel" podcast, where he interviews world-class humans by asking them just five questions in under 10 minutes.
He recently interviewed Food Network star, game show host, restaurateur, and author Guy Fieri.
Fieri said that all the random information his dad said throughout his life gave him perspective and was a wealth of knowledge.
The advice Fieri gave his children is that "it's not what happens to you, it's how you handle it."
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

As one of the most recognizable figures on Food Network, Guy Fieri has come a long way from his roots growing up in Northern California selling pretzels. He spent the early part of his career in the restaurant business, from being a manager and then a district manager, which eventually led him and a business partner to open their first restaurant called "Johnny Garlic's" in Santa Rosa, California, which ultimately expanded to multiple locations. Some of Guy's restaurants include Guy Fieri's Chicken Guy!, Guy's Vegas Kitchen & Bar, and Guy's Pig & Anchor BBQ. Parallel to his restaurant group expansion, he currently hosts TV shows like "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," "Guy's Grocery Games," and "Guy's Ranch Kitchen." This year, Guy received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame after a decade as a media personality.

In the below conversation, Guy shares how being a foreign exchange student shaped who he is today, how he's stayed true to himself, the impact his dad had on his life, the life lessons he's taught his children, and his best career advice.

Dan Schawbel

Dan Schawbel: How did being a foreign exchange student in France shape who you are today?

Guy Fieri: When you grow up in Northern California, you think you know everything and then as soon as you travel outside of your comfort zone, you realize that the world is enormous. I traveled a lot with my parents and had a pretty good perspective of how big the United States was, but when you go to another country, with a different culture, you realize that the world is a much bigger place.

Dan: How did you adapt to the entertainment industry while staying true to yourself?

Guy: I had already made it in business and accomplished so many goals I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to be a great dad, husband, chef, and restaurant owner. At 35 years old, I had done everything I wanted to do. Getting the opportunity to do television, I thought, "you know what, I don't know how long this is going to last, I'm going to appreciate every moment and take it responsibly and respectfully, while staying grounded to my family and true to what I want and believe in." I was already at that age that I could handle it. Being accomplished in what I wanted to do already, and being a little older, allowed me to be more balanced.

Dan: What impact did your dad have on the man you've become?

Guy: My dad had probably the greatest impact of anybody. I was recently just on a road trip with my kids in Canada. I was sitting there telling them about insulators on an electric power line. I looked at my 13-year-old looking at me like, "why are you telling me this?" It was the random information, at random times throughout the course of my life, that really gave me a big perspective and blanket of knowledge. Knowledge is power, and my dad continually gave me a ton of knowledge. We did a lot of critical thinking when I was a kid and I think that critical thinking is one of the most important tools that I have. It gives me the chance to evaluate things from so many different perspectives before I make a decision. It's something we should teach more in schools. I can't say enough about how big of an impact my dad had on me.

Dan: What life lessons have you shared with your children?

Guy: We spend a lot of time talking about life lessons, both the good and bad, and the ups and downs. I try to pull from all of the lessons that my dad taught me. One of the big ones we talk a lot about is that it's not what happens to you, it's how you handle it. There's great things that are going to happen to you, how are you going to handle it? And, then bad things can happen to you, how are you going to handle it?

Don't just take the knee-jerk reaction to what goes on. Instead, take the 360 view of what's taking place before making a comment, reaction, and movement. One of the best things about the road trip was taking the time, having the conversations, having the interaction, and the dialogue. We can't have enough time talking with our kids and sharing experiences and also listening to theirs. Communication is the key.

Dan: What is your best piece of career advice?

Guy: My best piece of career advice is to surround yourself with great people. When you get in the vortex of things going on, you need people that are standing on the inside, outside, and all around you that can give you perspective. You need to have people you can really count on, that you can believe in, that have balance, experience, awareness and the same values. Without question, surrounding yourself with great people is one of the most critical aspects to my success or anyone's success. You've heard all the bad stories about people that have been swindled out of their money, or have made bad career decisions, and that usually has to do with the people around them. So, surround yourself with great people.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Kylie Jenner is the world's second highest-paid celebrity. Here's how she makes and spends her $1 billion.

rupert murdoch

Rupert Murdoch, 88, is one of the most powerful men in media.
Beginning with a regional Australian newspaper that he inherited from his father, Murdoch built a media empire that spanned three continents. At its height, the empire included The Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Company, 21st Century Fox, and Sky Television.
Murdoch used his media holdings to sway elections in Australia, the UK, and the US, an April 2019 investigation by The New York Times found.
Murdoch's sons James and Lachlan fought a nasty, decade-long battle over who would succeed their father, according to the same report.
Murdoch has a net worth of $7.35 billion, per Bloomberg.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

In 1952, Rupert Murdoch owned one regional newspaper in his Australian hometown.

He went on to build a media empire that, at its peak, included newspapers, television stations, and film studios on three continents and was powerful enough to sway elections, an April 2019 New York Times investigation found.

Murdoch sold 21st Century Fox, one of his largest assets, to Disney in 2019 for $71 billion, Business Insider previously reported. But while his empire may not be as large as it once was, it has arguably never been more powerful on a global scale.

Murdoch's holding company, News Corp, owns The New York Post, The Times of London, and The Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Company, among many other assets. Murdoch, now 88 years old, currently spends his days at the helm of another News Corp property, Fox News. The media mogul also reportedly has a close personal relationship with President Trump and calls him frequently in the Oval Office, according to The Times.

Murdoch and his family have also never been richer, with Forbes putting their collective net worth at $20.9 billion. Even after splitting his fortune among his six children, Murdoch himself has a net worth of $7.35 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Murdoch did not respond to requests from Business Insider for comment.

Keep reading to learn how Murdoch built his media empire and how he now spends his fortune.

DON'T MISS: Bernard Arnault just joined Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates in the 3-person club of people worth more than $100 billion each. Here's how the French billionaire makes and spends his fortune

Keith Rupert Murdoch was born on March 11, 1931 in Melbourne, Australia.

Source: Bloomberg

His father, also named Keith Murdoch, was a war correspondent and ran several newspapers across the continent during the course of his career. The younger Murdoch took over the Adelaide News when his father died at age 67 in 1952. It would prove to be the beginning of his media empire.

Source: The Melbourne Press Club

Before entering the media business, Murdoch earned a degree at Oxford. As a student, he supported the Labour Party.

Source: BBC News

At 22, Murdoch moved back to Australia to run the Adelaide News (known to be one of the elder Murdoch's less prestigious papers). He quickly got involved in every aspect of the paper's production. He featured stories about scandals, and the business began to grow rapidly.

Source: BBC News, Bloomberg

Murdoch purchased several other newspapers across the continent. Eventually, he controlled almost two-thirds of the Australian media market.

Source: The New York Times

In 1964, he founded the country's first national paper: The Australian. "I'm rather sick of snobs who tell us they're bad papers, snobs who only read papers that no-one else wants," he said when confronted about his tendency to publish lurid news in his papers, according to the BBC.

Source: The New York Times, BBC News

Murdoch stretched his empire even further. He expanded to the United Kingdom in 1968 and purchased The News of the World, a weekly tabloid, that year.

Source: BBC News

The next year, Murdoch also purchased The Sun, a daily tabloid.

Source: The Guardian

According to The Times, Murdoch used his newly acquired newspapers to praise Margaret Thatcher, who at the time was campaigning to become Prime Minister. This marked a shift from The Sun's previous support of the Labour Party.

Source: The New York Times, The Daily Beast

Thatcher's government assisted Murdoch's growing media empire by not alerting antimonopoly regulators when he purchased The Times of London or started broadcasting Sky Television into the UK from Luxembourg in February 1989.

Source: The New York Times, The Guardian

Around this time, Murdoch had started to spread his empire even further. He bought his first US paper, the San Antonio Express-News, in 1973 and purchased The New York Post three years later.

Source: The Guardian

Much as he did with Thatcher in the UK, Murdoch used The Post to drum up support for Ronald Reagan in New York during the 1980 presidential election. According to The Times, Reagan's team said Murdoch helped sway voters in that state.

Source: The New York Times

Reagan's administration later dropped FEC select regulations, which allowed Murdoch to buy television stations in cities where he already owned newspapers, despite this being prohibited at the time.

Source: The New York Times

Continuing his expansion, Murdoch first invested in film studio 20th Century Fox in 1985. He went on to build Fox into an entertainment empire comprised of local television stations and a broadcast network.

Source: Bloomberg, The Guardian

Later that year, Murdoch became a naturalized US citizen. This move allowed him to take full ownership of American television stations. At this point, he'd been living in the country since 1973.

Source: The Los Angeles Times

In 1996, Murdoch and Roger Ailes launched Fox News, a right-leaning 24-hour news network.

Source: Rolling Stone

According to The Times, Murdoch was inspired by CNN founder, Ted Turner, who he considered a rival.

Source: The New York Times

Murdoch is known for his neoconservative views and used both his own media outlets and others to push for the War in Iraq. "We can't back down now, where you hand over the whole of the Middle East to Saddam," he told Australian magazine the Bulletin (which he doesn't own) in February 2003, according to The Guardian.

Source: The Guardian

By 2010, a major scandal had come into public view. The Guardian broke the story that Murdoch's News of the World had been hacking into the voicemails of British politicians, royals, and celebrities creating what The Times called "the biggest crisis of [Murdoch's] career." The organization faced repeated hacking allegations in the several years prior to the scandal unfolding.

Source: The Guardian, The New York Times

In 2011, News of the World admitted to the hacking, offering up an official apology. Later that year, Murdoch was forced to testify at a public hearing in front of Parliament.

Source: CNN

A judicial inquiry followed. The Inquiry's report, published by Lord Justice Leveson in 2012, stated that when discussing policy with Murdoch, "politicians knew that the prize was personal and political support in his mass-circulation newspapers."

Source: CNN, Gov.uk

Murdoch also publicly supported Brexit, calling the vote a "prison break." He was later seen celebrating the referendum's result at a party with British politician Nigel Farage, former leader of the UK Independence Party and current Brexit Party leader.

Source: The New York Times

In early 2015, Trump told Murdoch over lunch in the Fox News building that he was planning on running for president, The Times investigators found.

Source: The New York Times

The Murdoch and Trump families had been close for years prior to this. Ivanka Trump was one of five people chosen to oversee the trust for two of Murdoch's daughters. In February 2017, a spokesman for the president's daughter told the Financial Times that Ivanka had stepped down from her position as a trustee.

Source: Fortune

Despite the ties between their families, Murdoch didn't initially throw his sizable support behind Trump. In fact, the newspaper baron donated $200,000 from his personal funds to a super PAC for Gov. John Kasich in the last half of 2015.

Source: Cincinnati.com

But Murdoch softened toward Trump as the election grew nearer. "If he becomes inevitable, party would be mad not to unify," Murdoch tweeted in March 2016.

Source: New York Magazine, Twitter

Meanwhile, things within Murdoch's sprawling media empire took a turn for the tumultuous. Fox News CEO Roger Ailes resigned in July 2016 after facing allegations of sexual harassment from female Fox News hosts including Gretchen Carlson and Megyn Kelly.

Source: CNN Business

Instead of finding a replacement, Murdoch took over Ailes' job himself. He referred to the position as "my retirement job," according to The Times.

Source: The New York Times

Under Murdoch's supervision, the Fox News lineup became more overtly pro-Trump. Hosts that were critical of the president, including Megyn Kelly and Greta Van Susteren, were replaced by vocally pro-Trump hosts like Tucker Carlson.

Source: The New York Times

After Trump was elected in November 2016, he and Murdoch began to talk frequently over the phone. In April 2017, The Independent reported that, per sources close to each of the men, the two were speaking "every week to discuss strategy."

Source: The New York Times, The Independent

Faced with increasing competition from tech giants, Murdoch began meeting with Disney CEO Bob Iger to discuss the sale of 21st Century Fox.

Source: The New York Times

Murdoch and Iger announced their deal (which was initially valued at $52.4 billion) in December 2017.

Source: The Walt Disney Company

In early January 2018, Murdoch tripped while vacationing on his son's superyacht. He was flown to a hospital and underwent surgery for broken vertebrae and a spinal hematoma. Sources classified the hospitalization as "serious."

Source: The New York Times, Vanity Fair

The severity of Murdoch's fall prompted all of his adult children to gather around his hospital bedside in case he didn't make it.

Source: The New York Times

There's been discord between the wealthy Murdoch children over the years. As of now, eldest son Lachlan, 47, is considered Murdoch's heir apparent. Lachlan currently serves as the CEO of the Fox Corporation.

Source: The Washington Post

According to The Times' investigation, Murdoch's younger son James, 46, had unsuccessfully vied for his father's favor over the years.

Source: The New York Times

Murdoch also has two daughters, Prudence and Elisabeth, who are less involved with the family business.

Source: The New York Times

While he recovered from his fall in early 2018, Murdoch ran the company from his home: Moraga Estate.

Source: The New York Times, Vanity Fair

The Tuscan-inspired Bel Air estate is a working vineyard and winery. It's valued at $28.8 million, according to The Times.

Source: The New York Times

The estate was threatened by wildfires in 2017 but survived.

Source: Business Insider, Moraga Bel Air

Murdoch bought the property in 2013.

Source: Business Insider

While Murdoch recovered at Moraga, 21st Century Fox received a competing bid from Comcast for $65 billion — over $12 billion more than Disney's offer.

Source: Markets Insider

Murdoch still preferred Disney to Comcast, reportedly because of his affection for Iger. Disney eventually bumped up its offer, purchasing Fox assets for $71 billion.

Source: The New York Times, Markets Insider

The deal grew Murdoch's fortune. When it closed in March 2019, Murdoch became roughly $4.3 billion richer than he was before the deal was initially announced in late 2017.

Source: Forbes

Murdoch's net worth is now $7.35 billion.

Source: Bloomberg

The media titan shares his fortune with wife Jerry Hall.

Source: The Guardian

Hall, 62, is a former model who was previously in a long-term relationship with Mick Jagger. The two had a wedding ceremony in 1990 that was later declared invalid.

Source: The Washington Post

Hall and Murdoch tied the knot in London in 2016.

Source: The Guardian

Hall is Murdoch's fourth wife. He was previously married to entrepreneur Wendi Deng, who is reported to have been unpopular with his children. According to The Times, Lachlan and James had attempted to convince Murdoch not to marry Deng prior to their 1999 nuptials.

Source: The New York Times

In early August 2019, following the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, that left 29 people total dead, the Post featured a front page calling on President Trump to "ban weapons of war." The Murdoch-owned paper's headline was noteworthy, considering the media tycoon's conservatism and previous support of Trump.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

texting woman phone millennial

Millennials came of age during the Great Recession, which created a domino effect of financial woes for the generation.
The financial crisis is a key player in the Great American Affordability Crisis, in which millennials struggle to afford staples like housing.
From creating a generation gap to causing millennials to delay life milestones, here's how the recession has defined the generation.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The Great Recession affected many Americans, regardless of age, but it hit millennials particularly hard.

It's one of the key events that shaped the generation, Jason Dorsey, a consultant, researcher of millennials, and president of the Center for Generational Kinetics, previously told Business Insider. During this time, millennials were coming of age, meaning they were kickstarting adulthood amidst the financial crisis and its post-recovery period.

The ongoing fallout of the recession is a key part of the Great American Affordability Crisis that millennials are experiencing, in which they struggle to afford staples like housing and healthcare.

The recession ultimately created a domino effect that put millennials financially behind and on a slow path to wealth accumulation. Here's how it affected the generation.

DON'T MISS: Meet the average American millennial, who has an $8,000 net worth, is delaying life milestones because of student loan debt, and still relies on their parents for money

The Great Recession created a millennial generation gap.

The Great Recession has divided millennials into two distinct groups — those who took the greatest hit from the recession and dealt with a tough job market, and those who experienced the recovery period, entering a better job market. In a nutshell, the oldest millennials went through the eye of the storm, while the youngest millennials caught the tailwind, Dorsey said.

Dorsey called the Great Recession an "extremely formidable and difficult event" for the oldest millennials. Older millennials are still recovering from the recession, while younger millennials have more time to plan financially, he said.

It put older millennials at risk of becoming a "lost generation" in terms of wealth accumulation.

Because they're the slowest cohort to recover from the Great Recession, millennials born in the 1980s are at the greatest risk of becoming a "lost generation" for wealth accumulation, according to a 2018 report by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. As of 2016, people born in this decade had wealth levels 34% below where they would most likely have been if the financial crisis hadn't occurred, the report found.

"The Great Recession led to a very tough job market, wage stagnation for those that had jobs, student-loan debt that was increasingly hard to pay, and rising costs of living around the country," Dorsey said.

By watching the recession unfold, younger millennials became risk-averse.

Since younger millennials didn't experience the financial crisis directly, they were able to observe it — and learn what to do and what not to do, financially speaking.

According to Dorsey, they got the benefit of learning from older millennials without having to go through some of the economic pain the older cohort experienced — and from which that cohort is still recovering. This has made younger millennials more aware of the risks of a bad economy and more practical when it comes to money, from saving for emergencies to contributing to a retirement account, Dorsey said.

In 2014, the investment-banking company UBS found that millennials were the most financially conservative generation since the Great Depression. And 93% of millennials are wary of investing, Rebecca Lake of SmartAsset reported, citing a 2015 Capital One study.

Because the financial crisis put millennials behind, they're delaying major life milestones.

Regardless of age, millennials are working hard to catch up financially. Northwestern Mutual's Planning & Progress Study 2018found that millennials are more likely than other generations to say they're "highly disciplined" or "disciplined" financial planners.

But it's taking time to play catch-up. As a result, millennials are delaying major life milestones. Millennials are renting longer and buying later— millennial homeownership was at a record low in 2017, Business Insider's Akin Oyedele reported. It doesn't help that those buying their first home will pay 39% more than their parents did nearly 40 years ago, according to Student Loan Hero.

Millennials are also waiting to prioritize financial success before getting married, causing them to marry later in life than previous generations did. And the US birthrate is at its lowest in 32 years, Bill Chappell for NPR reported, citing a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The recession has contributed to the rise in crippling student-loan debt.

According to Jillian Berman of MarketWatch, the financial crisis helped fuel the rise in student-loan debt, which currently exceeds $1.5 trillion nationally.

The crisis "created a perfect storm of high unemployment, stagnant wages, and the declining value of American homes [which] meant that families had fewer resources to use to pay for college," she wrote.

Millennials in the graduating class of 2018 have an average student-loan debt of $29,800. The weight of this debt is further hindering millennials' ability to save and also contributing to their delay in life milestones. In fact, more than half of indebted millennial respondents in an INSIDER and Morning Consult survey said attending college wasn't worth the student loans.

lisbon portugal

Lisbon, Portugal, is the most popular travel destination for millennials, according to travel-planning site müvTravel.
Millennials love Lisbon for its architecture and neighborhoods that charm by day and buzz at night.
Located on the coast, Lisbon is also in proximity to beaches and resort towns for a day trip.
Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.

Millennials spend more on travel than any other age group.

And the place currently sparking the most wanderlust? Lisbon, Portugal.

It's the most popular travel destination for millennials, according to travel-planning site müvTravel, which created its Top 30 Millennial Travel Destinations for 2019 list by analyzing the most popular bucket-list destinations of müvTravel's millennial users. According to the site, millennials are most interested in places that offer "memorable and original moments," as well as "activities that focus on sustainable and personalized local experiences."

Lisbon's charm can be chalked up to its traditional architecture and cobblestone streets, but it also has a buzzing nightlife. Millennials have said they love the city for its close proximity to nearby destinations, like the resort town of Sintra and several beaches, which make for the ultimate day trips.

Business Insider spoke to two millennials who have visited Portugal's capital city over the past few years to get a sense of how they spent their time there.

Below, see what it's like to visit Lisbon as a millennial.

Are you a millennial with insider travel tips about a burgeoning, international hotspot to share? Email this reporter at hhoffower@businessinsider.com

DON'T MISS: Meet the average American millennial, who has an $8,000 net worth, is delaying life milestones because of student loan debt, and still relies on their parents for money

Lisbon is on the western coast of Portugal; the city borders the Tagus River to the south. According to a 2010 census, the city is home to 545,000 residents — and a New York Times article from 2018 put the city's annual tourist count at a whopping 4.5 million annual visitors. There are two windows of time that are considered the best time to visit the city: March to May, and September to October.

Source: Google Maps, World Population Review, The New York Times, US News and World Report

First stop after landing at Lisbon International Airport, which is a 20-minute drive from the city center: Going on a Sandeman tour, according to 27-year-old Nicole Berrio, who visited Lisbon three years ago. Sandemans offers free tours across 20 cities worldwide.

Source: Google Maps, New Europe Tours

"They're a great way to get your lay of the land on your first day in a new city," she told Business Insider. "If you get a cool guide, ask them for recommendations on local hotspots."

But one of the best ways to get around Lisbon is by aimlessly wandering the streets, which 26-year-old Caroline Josey did on her visit.

"My favorite aspect of Lisbon was getting lost and miraculously falling into these truly majestic sites or cozy restaurants," Josey told Business Insider.

According to Josey, Alfama is a must-see neighborhood. "Tram 28 takes you through the old streets that are the only part of Lisbon preserved from the 1755 Earthquake," she said.

Alfama was previously all of Lisbon, and as the city grew, it became the heart of the city, according to Time Out. It's also home to some amazing street art.

Source: Time Out, Metro UK

Another must-see, according to Berrio, is the LX Factory, an abandoned industrial site that has been turned into a creative, cultural, and gastronomic area.

Berrio also suggests paying a visit to "the best aquarium ever" — the Lisbon Oceanarium.

There's also the São Jorge Castle, Josey said. It's one of the most iconic symbols in Lisbon.

Source: Lisbon

Blogger Lauren recommended checking out miradouros, or viewpoints for panoramic views of the city, such as Miradouro de Sao Pedro de or Portas do Sol. Many of the sites have kiosks for drinks, she wrote.

Source: Cosmic Breakfast

For shopping delights, pick up a book at Ler Devagar, a paper mill that's been turned into a bookstore.

Source: Yelp

Lisbon comes to life after the sun goes down, according to Josey. "Locals flood the allies either going on an evening run or sipping some sparkling sangria along the Tagus River," she said.

Catch the sunset and a drink or two at PARK, a rooftop bar atop a parking garage in the district of Bairro Alto.

Source: Yelp

Berrio recommends eating at one of Michelin-starred chef José Avillez's three restaurants: Belcanto, Barrio do Avillez, or Beco. "Make friends with the waiters at Belcanto for a private kitchen tour and to garner a secret entry into Beco," she said.

Afterward, get cocktails at Double, "a great cocktail bar," according to Berrio. She recommends getting the Tales of Thailand.

In her blog, Lauren suggested spending a night out bar-hopping in Bairro Alto or on Pink Street.

Source: Cosmic Breakfast

For places to stay, there are plenty of options. Lauren raved about We Love F. Tourists, a Lisbon hostel. Its central location was great for walking everywhere, she wrote.

Source: Cosmic Breakfast, Hostelworld

For a hotel experience, there's also Pestana CR7 Lisboa, a modern hotel with speedy Wi-Fi geared towards millennials.

Source: Time Out, Pestana CR7

You'll also want to make time for a beach day. Situated along the coast, Lisbon is close to several beaches, from Praia do Ouro (Beach of Gold) to Carcavelos Beach.

Source: The Culture Trip

Both Josey and Berrio recommend taking a day trip to Sintra, a resort town directly northwest of Lisbon in Portugal's Sintra Mountains.

Sintra is about a 30-minute drive from Lisbon.

Source: Google Maps

"Sintra is constantly a solid 10 degrees cooler [than Lisbon] amid lush vegetation and misting clouds that continuously roll into the town," Josey said. "This makes you feel like you’ve entered a fairytale and a town that’s truly magical."

Sintra is known for the Pena Palace — a "modge-podge" of various Moorish, Roman, and Medieval architectural influences "that looks like it brought Disneyland to Europe," Josey said.

But that isn't Sintra's only fortress. Berrio also recommends checking out the Castle of the Moors.

But no trip to Portugal is complete without picking up a Pasteis de Nata from a local pastry shop, a Portuguese custard tart dusted with cinnamon.

Source: Trip Advisor

couple mad

I spoke with six elite matchmakers for Business Insider's monthlong series, "Dating Like a Millionaire." about what it's like to date when you're in the 1%.
All the matchmakers have vigorous vetting processes to determine whether they should take on a client, from house calls and simulated dates to interviews and investigations.
There are also three red flags they watch out for: a negative dating history, a bad attitude, and a resistance to the vetting process.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Money can buy a lot of things, but it can't always hire a matchmaker for a millionaire seeking love.

A millionaire must first meet a matchmaker's standards.

I talked to six elite matchmakers for Business Insider's monthlong series, "Dating Like a Millionaire," and they all said they have a vigorous vetting process before deciding whether they should play cupid for a potential client.

The matchmakers work with clients locally and globally, from royals and celebrities to entrepreneurs and CEOs, who have net worths ranging from the low millions into the billions.

The vetting process involves everything from conducting in-person screenings and interviews to background and social-media checks. Some matchmakers even pay a visit to the millionaire's house.

They've heard and seen it all, and they can spot a red flag a mile away. Here's a breakdown of what can make or break their decision to take on a millionaire as a client.

A negative history and dishonesty

Patti Stanger of Los Angeles-based Millionaire's Club told Business Insider her company has an intense screening process that looks through each prospective client's history. If any data indicates the person might put someone in harm's way, they won't approve them, she said.

Stanger keeps an eye out for restraining orders, lawsuits, institutionalization, and separations. "We don't take anyone who's not legally separated," she said. "They can't be living in the same house."

She added, "If they lie we revoke the membership."

Likewise, Mairead Molloy of Berkeley International in London told Business Insider that when she vets prospective clients, she interviews them; asks for a passport, two household bills, and separation or divorce papers; pays a visit to their home; and runs a social-media check.

If she doubts any of the findings, she hires a private investigator — but gives the client warning.

Mairead

Unlikeability and a bad attitude

Stanger, who turns down 80% of aspiring clients, said anger or bitterness is another red flag — as are unrealistic expectations.

She sees many people come in requesting dates with certain celebrities, expressing ageism, or acting shallow.

"They treat people like objects," she said. "Being a matchmaker is probably worse than being a human-resources director. We have to take the whole enchilada in."

Narcissism is also a turn-off, April Davis of New York City-based Luma Search told Business Insider.

"When someone says there's something wrong with everyone they've dated and everyone they're meeting — they find ways to 'disqualify' people and say they are all the ones with the problems," she said. "These clients think they can hire us and that we'll be able to produce the perfect person for them."

Janis and Carly Spindel MAtchmaking

Ultimately, clients need to be likable. Janis and Carly Spindel of Janis Spindel Serious Matchmaking Inc. in New York take prospective clients, who are men only, on simulated dates to determine just that. That helps the mother-daughter duo get an idea of how much effort the clients put into it, how they treat dates, what their manners are like, and how they behave.

"We have to like them," Janis said. "If we're going to match someone, they have to be a good guy."

"Life is short," Carly added. "It's important to have clients you like and want to work with. We look for really nice men who would make a great husband and father and are emotionally available.

"They don't work too much and have time for a relationship; they are a gentleman and would treat a partner wonderfully."

Resistance to vetting process

Amy Andersen of San Francisco-based Linx Dating told Business Insider she has a multistep method that involves specific questions and in-person screenings. But resistance to the vetting process can be a huge red flag.

Prospective clients must complete a form detailing their ideal match.

"Someone who cannot complete that in the preliminary stage certainly doesn't have time to be a client or is not making it a priority, which it needs to be," Andersen said.

amy andersen

It's also a red flag when someone balks at the idea of coming in for a meet-and-greet, she said: "Either they don't feel it's necessary or they don't want to pay for my professional time."

She added that they need to see the value in the opportunity and that it has to be a "mutually synergistic agreement" to work together.

It makes sense — those seeking matchmaking services want a serious partner who is ready for commitment. If someone can't even commit to the vetting process, how can they commit to a person?

DON'T MISS: Newly minted Silicon Valley millionaires don't know how to handle their money and it's ruining their love lives, says an elite matchmaker known as the 'Cupid of Silicon Valley'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 7 lesser-known benefits of Amazon Prime

blind date

In a New York Times op-ed, Katharine Smyth makes a case for online dating as a form of self-expansion, and not just a tool for finding a partner.
Joanna Coles, former editor of Cosmopolitan, said something similar: A date is not an opportunity to assess whether the person is "The One," as tempting as that might be.
Instead, Coles said, you should use a date as a chance to see if you actually like the person and would want to befriend them.
Spend time doing activities you enjoy instead of searching for "The One" and you just might find someone to fall in love with.
Click here for more BI Prime content.

A New York Times op-ed by Katharine Smyth suggests that online dating is a way to see yourself and your life differently — not just a frustrating means to finding a relationship.

Smyth went on 86 dates in three years after her marriage ended, which led her around the world with poets, bankers, and waiters. She describes dating as "a world-enlarging enterprise, and a means of rebuilding one's self in the wake of separation."

Smyth's observations reminded me of my own experience with dating. I never felt that I was very good at it.

This isn't to say that I didn't go on many dates: I did. And this isn't to say that I didn't generally enjoy the other person's company: I did.

The problem was that, for the four years between college graduation and my entrance into a real adult relationship, I felt like I was wasting my time. It didn't matter that I was meeting new people, or that I was having fun — if I wasn't meeting the "right" person, it was all for naught.

I didn't appreciate how misguided this approach might have been until I heard Joanna Coles speak at a launch event for her book, "Love Rules: Finding a Real Relationship in a Digital World."

Coles is the former editor of Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire magazines; she was also the first chief content officer at Hearst Magazines. In "Love Rules," Coles guides readers in assessing what kind of love they want and being as practical as possible in finding it.

At the launch event, which took place at NeueHouse in New York City, Coles spoke with Nina Garcia, editor of Elle magazine. Meeting "The One," Coles told the audience, is "the wrong question to be asking." Instead, she said, the goal is "having a bigger life."

Coles expanded on this idea a few days later, in a separate interview with Business Insider. "Online dating is incredibly good for expanding your social network in general," she said. "I have lots of stories of people who moved to cities and didn't know anybody and built up a friend group through online dating."

What Coles is really suggesting is not to see dating as a zero-sum game: Either the date is a success (you get married; you hook up) or a failure (you go home alone and neither of you ever texts the other again). There's a happy medium here, and it's finding someone you want to hang out with — maybe just once, maybe more than once; maybe in a romantic context, maybe in a platonic one.

"If you swipe or match with someone and immediately start asking yourself, 'Is he or she The One?' it's the wrong question to ask and you will probably be disappointed," Coles told us. "And that's a lot of pressure to put on a first date."

On a date, ask yourself if this is someone worth adding to your friend group

I know that if I'd heard this advice in my early 20s, I would have loved it — on an intellectual level — and promptly gone on to ignore it as soon as I went out with someone new.

But Coles also had some more concrete suggestions for mentally reframing a date, and dating in general. She recommended asking yourself:

Do I like this person?
Would it be worth adding this person to my friend group?
Do I want to see this person again?
If I don't find this person attractive, do I have a friend who might find them attractive?
Is this a person who I have something in common with?

That question about whether a pal might find the person attractive could prove more useful than you think. Research suggests that most American couples still meet through friends. So if everyone in your friend group agrees to pass along their "cast-offs" to someone else, you all could wind up with a higher chance of meeting someone great.

Perhaps the best way to get out of the dating-is-wasteful mentality is to just live your life and do things you enjoy.

Instead of spending all your free time on dating apps, re-allocate some of that time toward "expanding your actual social network," Coles said. In particular, she recommended joining a sports team or a choir, taking a painting class or a dance lesson.

"You'll meet more people and you'll have something in common to talk about with them and something in common to do, which doesn't just revolve around the hope you have that this person might turn into The One."

Richard Feloni contributed reporting.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A data scientist reveals how you can tell if a first date is going well based on language choice

The automotive research company Kelley Blue Book (KBB) released in January its ranking of the vehicles from model year 2019 that it projects will best retain their value over the first five years of ownership.
Toyota had the highest overall expected resale value among all auto brands for the fourth time in the past six years.
Porsche had the highest overall expected value among luxury brands for the third consecutive year.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The automotive research company Kelley Blue Book (KBB) released in January its ranking of the vehicles from model year 2019 that it projects will best retain their value over the first five years of ownership.

While the average vehicle from model year 2019 is expected to be worth just 39% of its initial value after five years, each vehicle in KBB's top-10 list is expected to retain over 50% of its value over the same time period, the company said. The list is based on projections from KBB's automotive analysts.

Toyota had the highest overall expected resale value among all auto brands for the fourth time in the past six years. Porsche had the highest overall expected value among luxury brands for the third consecutive year.

Toyota placed three vehicles on KBB's top-ten list, while Porsche placed one vehicle on the list. General Motors was the only automaker to place more than one vehicle on the list.

These are the 10 vehicles from model year 2019 that are expected to best retain their value in five years.

10. Porsche Macan

Projected resale value after 36 months: 65%

Projected resale value after 60 months: 50%

9. Ford F-Series

Projected resale value after 36 months: 57.5%

rojected resale value after 60 months: 50.6%

8. Chevrolet Colorado

Projected resale value after 36 months: 59%

Projected resale value after 60 months: 50.9%

7. Honda Ridgeline

Projected resale value after 36 months: 63.2%

Projected resale value after 60 months: 51.3%

6. Chevrolet Silverado

Projected resale value after 36 months: 59.8%

Projected resale value after 60 months: 53.7%

5. Toyota 4Runner

Projected resale value after 36 months: 65.7%

Projected resale value after 60 months: 56.3%

4. GMC Sierra

Projected resale value after 36 months: 62.2%

Projected resale value after 60 months: 56.7%

3. Toyota Tundra

Projected resale value after 36 months: 66.6%

Projected resale value after 60 months: 56.9%

2. Jeep Wrangler

Projected resale value after 36 months: 66.5%

Projected resale value after 60 months: 58.3%

1. Toyota Tacoma

Projected resale value after 36 months: 69.4%

Projected resale value after 60 months: 62.2%

first class flight

Points and miles can seem intimidating. There's a lot to learn, and sometimes it seems like it's impossible to ever use those hard-earned rewards.
If you're willing to put in a bit of effort and can boost your earnings with a rewards credit card, points and miles can be extremely rewarding. Think international first and business class and five-star hotels.
Even if you just want to dip your toes in the water, you can easily earn enough points and miles to cover domestic travel.

You've probably seen articles about seemingly average middle-class Americans using points and miles to go on trips that seem impossible — flying international business class to Australia, diving in the Maldives, or spending a week at a ski resort in Aspen — and you may wonder how you could do the same. Here are eight steps to get you started on your miles and points journey.

1. Decide what your priorities are

How many times do you travel each year? Do you want to add more travel, replace a trip that you usually take with something a bit more extravagant, or simply save some money on trips that you'd be taking anyway? Are you hoping to use points and miles to offset the cost of flights, hotels, rental cars, activities, or something else? (Flights and hotels tend to offer the best value, so that's what we'll focus on here.) All of these are important considerations to plan your strategy.

2. Do some research

Once you know where you want to go, find out what airlines fly there, what hotels exist, and how much their respective loyalty programs charge to redeem award flights or hotel stays. That will help you figure out which credit cards are the best fit for your needs.

Also, check out travel blogs to find out whether there are any specific issues you need to be aware of — for example, does the airline you want to book on only make first-class seats available seven days before departure? Does the hotel you're eyeing require that you stay at least four nights to be able to make a reservation with points? These are good things to know before you start accumulating points that may be more difficult to use than you'd hoped.

3. Choose one or more credit cards that align with your priorities, and apply

If you know a specific airline is the best way to get where you're trying to go, that airline's credit card might be a good place to start to pick up a lot of miles with a signup bonus.

If you're looking at a specific hotel, check out the hotel chain's credit cards — typically they'll offer either free night certificates or bonus rewards points for signing up, plus extra benefits like elite status in the hotel's loyalty program.

And if you're not sure about your plans — or you've got several options — many banks have their own rewards programs whose points can be transferred to several partner loyalty programs. For example, American Express' Membership Rewards points can be transferred to 17 different airlines and 3 hotel programs or can be used to book cash tickets directly (so you don't have to worry about availability restrictions). You can earn Membership Rewards points with cards like the Platinum Card® from American Express and the American Express® Gold Card, and these cards also offer other benefits like annual statement credits for airline incidental fees.

4. Spend wisely

Having a rewards-earning credit card isn't an excuse to overspend — you won't save any money that way! The rewards you earn — even from a credit card sign-up bonus— aren't worth enough to offset spending beyond your means.

Rewards credit cards should be a way to enhance the benefit you're getting from your everyday spending, not a reason to justify extra purchases or spending beyond your means.

5. Plan ahead

Airlines typically start making award seats available to book 10-11 months in advance, and most hotel programs also make rooms available around the same time. The most popular routes and times of year tend to get booked quickly, so if you start planning well in advance, you'll have a better chance of getting the flight or room you're looking for.

Even if you're not vying for a super-popular date or route, booking flights in advance will save you some money (or points) —for example, American Airlines and United Airlines charge fees for award tickets booked less than 21 days before departure, while Delta Air Lines is known to require extra points for bookings in that time window.

6. Be flexible

This is the key to having a successful experience booking travel with miles and points. Can you leave a day earlier or later than you initially hoped? Are you willing to take an extra connection, a long layover, or an undesirable redeye flight? Can you fly out of an airport farther away from where you live, or into an airport farther from your destination? The more flexibility you have with your plans, the better chance you have of successfully booking your trip.

7. Pay attention to details

Airlines, hotels, and banks are able to offer generous rewards because they know a certain percentage of people won't take advantage of them or will allow them to expire. Take a look at the little benefits booklet that came with your credit card — there are probably a lot of things in there you didn't know you were eligible for! (And if the legalese gets a bit much for you, check out summaries on travel blogs to get an overview — just remember that little booklet is the ultimate authority.) Free tools like AwardWallet can help you remember to use your rewards before they expire.

8. Remember that there's no such thing as entirely free travel

Even if you're able to cover the cost of flights and hotels with your rewards points, there are always going to be expenses you need to pay for out of pocket like transportation, meals, activities, and souvenirs.

Most rewards credit cards have annual fees, typically starting around $90 and going as high as $550. And since your purchases could just as easily go on a credit card that earns cash back— at least 2%, if not more — by using a rewards credit card, you're betting that you'll be able to make better use of the points than you could with that cash in your pocket. So do the math, and make sure you're striking the balance you want between quality experiences and your budget.

Curious about which cards I use and why? Here are a few of my favorites:

Chase Sapphire Reserve, because it offers great rewards on travel and built-in travel insurance for when things don't go as planned. It also offers great rewards on dining (3x points).
Chase Freedom Unlimited, because it offers 1.5% cash back (1.5x Ultimate Rewards points) on all purchases. It's my top pick for purchases that don't earn a bonus with another card.
Chase Freedom, thanks to its quarterly rotating categories that earn 5% cash back (5x points) on up to $1,500 in purchases each quarter you activate. A great way to rack up some serious points!
Platinum Card from American Express, because it gets me access to American Express' wonderful Centurion Lounges and credit for Uber rides each month.
IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card, mostly for the one free night at IHG hotels every year (that costs up to 40,000 points) just for paying the annual fee.

Join the conversation about this story »

Harvard Business School

Fewer students are applying to US business schools: 70 percent of them experienced declining applications in 2018.
That's because students and hiring managers alike have become more skeptical about whether the time and expense of earning an advanced business degree really pays off anymore.
We surveyed 40 professionals and found that opinions were evenly split between those who found business school invaluable and those who vetoed the path to an MBA in favor of real-world experience.
While business school can offer powerful networking opportunities, many say that nothing beats the hands-on training.
Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Fewer students are applying to US business schools. A study by the Graduate Management Admission Council of more than 1,000 MBA programs at 363 business schools found that 70 percent of them experienced declining applications in 2018. This drop affected the top-tier institutions along with the rest — Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton all saw single-digit dips in applications to their graduate business programs.

There are hints into the reason for this change of heart from potential MBA students behind recent headlines, which have decried the "alarming decline of the MBA's 'value added ratio'" and noted "Nothing special: MBAs are no longer prized by employers." The gist of such reports is that students and hiring managers alike have become more skeptical about whether the time and expense of earning an advanced business degree really pays off anymore.

Despite these claims, many career development experts, including William Taylor, career development officer at MintResume, still highly recommend earning a business degree — and not just for the confidence boost that it brings. "As a recruitment specialist, I know that a number of companies want to see their management-level employees have the accreditation, and people without the MBA qualification sometimes experience a glass ceiling," said Taylor. "They find it difficult to move into higher-level positions. And, attending a business school also provides you with ample networking opportunities."

William Taylor

Should you attend business school?

To help prospective business school candidates determine which way to go, Business Insider conducted an informal survey of 40 business professionals who had either attended business school, or considered it but decided against it. Opinions were evenly split between those who found the experience and outcomes of attending business school invaluable, and those who consciously vetoed the path to an MBA in favor of real-world business experience or other alternatives and now advise others to do the same. Below are some highlights that each side articulated about the pros and cons of attending business school.

First, the reasons in favor of attending business school.

General skill-building

MBA holder Shakun Bansal, who is head of marketing at the HR technology company Mercer-Mettl, had no work experience prior to landing his first job. Bansal thus found the MBA curriculum — which included building an understanding of end-to-end business operations plus functions like marketing, sales, project and product management, and revenue generation — to be quite helpful in preparing him for the corporate world.

"Education paves a path for you and instills the necessary attitude and skills to effectively and successfully handle the professional life to come," said Bansal. His MBA program also paved the way to obtaining that first taste of work experience that he lacked, by providing him with the opportunity to serve as a summer research associate, which helped add more intangible skills like management, effective communication, and leadership to his expanding professional toolkit.

Strategic thinking

Business owner Deborah Sweeney, CEO of MyCorporation.com, has an MBA (as well as a JD) from Pepperdine University. Sweeney reports that her MBA with a focus in marketing has helped her "immensely" as a post-graduate, and believes it's a wise move to attend business school — in part, because it can help you think more strategically.

Deborah Sweeney "I've always had a mind toward business development — listening so that I can develop business and solve the problems of others, which leads to additional business," said Sweeney. "But when you know more and have a great education, you are better equipped to understand nuances and strategies in business."

Letters of reference

How much is a strong letter of reference worth? If it opens the door to a high-paying career, some respondents feel it's well worth the price of MBA program, which averages $60,000 and can cost as much as $100,000 at a top business school.

"As an MBA grad, I found that my best letters of recommendation came from professors who knew my work ethic in class and as a research assistant," said Sweeney. "I asked those professors who knew me best and could share genuine information about my work ethic, personal attitude, and who saw my work over time (both in class and outside of class). As a result, I feel these professors had the most influence on my future post-grad careers and provided unique insight to potential employers."

Powerful networking

As CEO and co-founder of Phone2Action and an entrepreneur who has founded three technology businesses, raising more than $6 million in investment capital, Jeb Ory is a business school success story — but he wasn't always a proponent of the degree.

Jeb Ory Headshot

"I used to think business school wasn't necessary, that it was just something average career professionals did who wanted to earn more money, that really talented business professionals didn't need it," said Ory. "After all, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates didn't have MBAs, and PayPal founder Peter Thiel famously had a 'no MBA' policy at PayPal — so why get one?" But after making his decision to attend business school at the University of Chicago, Ory said he discovered something: "I was wrong, way wrong."

One of the biggest reasons for his change in perspective was the massive networking opportunity that business school naturally provided. "You have to accept that not everyone is Zuckerberg or Gates or Thiel," said Ory. "Learning from others is how most successful people build their careers. It feels like everyone in business school is looking to trade careers, so you meet people who are coming from the areas you are interested in going into. You learn how to think about key business drivers, and what makes various industries and organizations successful."

Career transitions

After starting her career as a CPA, Erica Gellerman wanted to move into brand management. But when she attempted to make the career transition without going back to school, she discovered that her only option would have been to basically start from scratch and take a huge pay cut. She thus shifted gears and earned her MBA from Duke's Fuqua School of Business in 2012.

"The two biggest pros for me of the business school route were being able to change careers easily and developing a great network of friends," said Gellerman, who today runs a personal finance website called The Worth Project. "Going to business school, I was able to get an internship and job doing the exact role I wanted and my starting salary was significantly more than I was making before business school."

The best reasons not to attend business school: Time ROI

Back when Shawn McBride, who is managing member of the R. Shawn McBride Law Firm, PLLC, was mulling over the possibility of going to business school, he easily identified some potential payoffs in terms of powerful networking and alumni opportunities. But after weighing in the cons of the endeavor — which he identified as time, cost, and lost opportunities while in school — he decided not to attend.

Shawn McBride

"For me, time was the biggest consideration," said McBride. "Would I get as much return on my hours in business school as I would learning on my own, building my business and networking on my own?" McBride found that he could use hours that might have been spent studying to instead effectively expand his business — for example, by applying his learning and analysis skills toward writing his next business book. "It is my belief that in the modern world, self-directed learning can be more powerful than the classroom," said McBride. "In the end, I'll have something tangible to show for it that will pay business dividends."

Hands-on experience

In 2017, Karlena Wilkinson decided to take a leap of faith without a business degree and opened her first early childhood education center. Today, she is owner of three such successful centers in Pennsylvania, including The Child Development Center of Easton. "I really don't see any pros in going to business school," said Wilkinson. "What is the point of sitting in a classroom all day to learn about business, profit and loss, etc.? It won't help you own a business, and after graduation, you are left in the real world with nothing but questions on how to start a business and debt."

Karlena Wilkinson Wilkinson recalled that when she opened her company, the only thing that she was asked by insurance companies to get liability insurance was how many years of work experience she had, not how many years of business school. "You can read a million books on it, get lectured a million times about it, but nothing beats hands-on experience," said Wilkinson. "That is the true lesson and only schooling you will ever need. I would choose someone with years of experience running businesses over a new grad with an MBA any day."

Opportunity cost

While working for an investment bank on Wall Street, Matthew Ross seriously considered going back for an MBA as a potential career-booster before launching his own company. Ultimately, though, he decided against it for financial reasons. "I thought it would be a waste of money," admitted Ross. "I just didn't want to fork over $100K for a degree that would likely lead me right back to a job in finance." Ross, who today is co-owner and COO of The Slumber Yard, one of the leading sleep and mattress review websites and YouTube channels, noted that opportunity cost often gets lost in the business school conversation.

Matthew Ross

"People need to think about the time it takes to get the degree," explained Ross. "For a lot of graduate degrees, it takes two to three years of full-time commitment. Let's say the person was making $75,000 per year before going back to school for a cost of $100,000. In that case, the true cost for the degree would be $250,000 — $100K in tuition and $150K in missed paychecks."

Lower-cost options

Lou Haverty, who works in corporate banking and created Financial Analyst Insider, strongly considered going to business school. He even went as far as taking the GMAT and completing a few applications. But the cost factor was what ultimately made him change his mind and instead earn a chartered financial analyst (CFA) designation.

Lou Haverty "Within my industry, the CFA charter is often considered just as valuable as an MBA — but it costs only a few hundred dollars to sit for all three exam levels and maybe another few hundred dollars to purchase the study material," explained Haverty. "I decided to pursue the CFA charter rather than spend over $100,000 for an MBA." He added, though, that if he didn't work in finance and was not able to pursue a professional designation that was as valuable as the CFA charter, he likely would have opted for an MBA.

A focus on entrepreneurship

While Gellerman is happy with her choice to have pursued an MBA for her particular goal of brand management, she caveats her recommendation of the degree depending on what your own career goal is — particularly if you want to start your own business.

"I don't think an MBA is that practical if you want to pursue entrepreneurship," said Gellerman. "If you want to grow a business or get funding, getting an MBA can help provide the support to do that. But if you want to start a business, you really can't beat hands-on experience."

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Ray Dalio shares what he's learned from his succession plan at the world's largest hedge fund

In the past decade, there have been at least 16 magnitude 8.0-plus earthquakes around the globe.
The 1994 Northridge Earthquake near Los Angeles that killed 57 and caused an estimated $50 billion in property damage was a 6.7.
Proper earthquake preparedness could mean the difference between life and death, and between property damage or catastrophic loss.
With a plan in place and with the proper supplies at the ready, you greatly increase your chances of getting through an earthquake and its aftermath relatively unscathed.
In this guide, we'll walk you through how to prepare for an earthquake, how to come up with an emergency plan, and all the things you need to assemble a bugout bag.

I lived in Southern California for 12 years, and in all that time, the extent of earthquake damage I incurred was a single bottle breaking after it fell off a shelf during a mild tremor.

According to experts from the United States Geological Survey, the fact that California has not experienced a major earthquake in some 25 years is statistically unlikely; in other words, the state is due for a serious shakeup. Overdue, in fact.

While the West Coast of America is indeed the region most prone to major seismic activity in the US, in fact, high-hazard earthquake zones exist in the interior West, the Midwest, the coastal region of South Carolina, and in pockets of Upstate New York and New England. All in all, the Red Cross reports that 45 states and territories "are at moderate to very high risk of earthquakes."

Nowhere on the planet are you 100% safe from earthquakes, and as much of the planning and procuring that goes into earthquake preparation can be used to help ameliorate the effects of other types of disasters, you should prepare for such incidents regardless. Ideally, the money you spend on supplies will be money wasted, and the plans you and your family come up with will never be enacted. In the worst-case scenario of a catastrophic event, it will be money and time very well spent.

How to prepare for an earthquake in 5 steps:

Make an earthquake emergency plan and memorize it.
Sign up for earthquake alerts.
Get an emergency radio like this one from FosPower.
Prepare your home and get a gas and water shutoff tool.
Assemble an earthquake preparedness kit with a fire extinguisher and bugout bag.

In this guide, we'll walk you through how to prepare for an earthquake, how to come up with an emergency plan, and all the things you need to assemble a bugout bag.

Make an earthquake emergency plan and make sure your family commits it to memory

Your earthquake plan should be simple and direct. Overcomplicate things, and you or a family member is likely to forget the plans in the high-stress conditions following the disaster. Once you have plans in place, write them down and keep a copy at home, in your cars, and at work.

As Skyler Hallgren, co-founder of Redfora— a company that specializes in earthquake emergency supplies and kits — says: "Why make a plan? So you and those you care about can get in touch and meet back up after a major emergency. While documenting your plan is crucial, a big part of it is simply talking and planning together."

Here's what you need to cover in your plan:

1. Discuss what to do during the actual quake. Get under and hold onto a large piece of furniture; don't stand in a doorway, that old advice has been ditched by the experts. If you're in bed, stay there and hold on. If you're in a car, stop driving and keep your seatbelt fastened. If you're outside, get to an open area, away from powerlines, trees, and anything else that may well be coming down.

2. Know where emergency supplies are and designate who is responsible for what. We'll cover the tools, provisions, and other supplies to have on hand soon, but keep in mind that the perfect earthquake emergency kit is useless if no one knows where it is or thinks to grab it.

3. Make a plan for how you will reconnect. Communication lines may fail and regular methods of transportation may be curtailed during and after an earthquake. Plan who will retrieve the kids from school or daycare, how you will get home from work, and where the family will meet up if home is not an option. Designate a primary and a secondary meeting point, and discuss how long family members should wait at the primary before moving to the secondary spot. Also consider keeping an actual paper map handy, as your phone will likely be out of service and you might be surprised how little you know the area without GPS.

4. Make a plan for evacuation. When possible, you should stay inside during and after an earthquake, but if your home is suddenly imperiled — on fire or at risk for collapse, say — you need to know how you are getting everyone out quickly and safely, and what are the few items you need to bring along. Who grabs the baby? Who gets the dog? Who gets the emergency kit?

Sign up for earthquake alerts and get an emergency radio

Earthquakes strike with little to no warning, but every second counts when the earthquake wave — the actual shaking effects triggered by the seismic event — is headed your way. Get an app like Earthquake Network and you might just buy yourself enough time to get under a desk or table or to stop your car on an open patch of road.

After the quake, you may well find your phone useless for communication as cell and internet service fails. An emergency radio that offers hand-crank powering (or solar power) can keep you informed when you tune into NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association) emergency broadcasts.

Buy the FosPower Emergency Solar Crank Portable Radio for $31.99 from Walmart

Prepare your home for an earthquake

The better you prepare your home for the potential devastation caused by an earthquake, the more the damage will be reduced, and the better chance you and your family have of avoiding injury or property damage.

Here are 5 steps to take that will keep you and your home safer:

1. Keep closed-toed shoes with rubber soles under your bed. After a quake, there may be broken glass, cracked flooring, and exposed wires over which you'll have to walk. Keep a pair of tennis shoes — or better yet hiking boots — close at hand, and make sure everyone else in the family has a pair handy as well.

2. Move heavy objects to lower shelves. Once the shaking starts, you can count on things flying off shelves and crashing to the floor. It's far better to have your three-gallon stew pot, printer, and other heavy objects fall a foot or two than from above head height.

3. Remove or secure artwork hanging over beds or seating. Assume that anything that could fall will fall during an earthquake, so make sure nothing dangerous can fall onto someone sitting or lying just below.

4. Secure heavy appliances and shelving. Use wall straps to secure shelves in place, secure stackable washer/dryer units, and consider strapping down your hot water heater, which could cause both broken gas and water lines should it fall over.

5. Practice shutting off the gas, water, and power. Somewhere in your home, there will be a circuit box you can use to cut off the power, a valve you can close to shut off the water, and a crank you can turn to shut off the gas. If any wires are severed, water is leaking (or flooding), or you even think there might be gas escaping, shut these utilities down at once. Your gas shutoff may require a special tool; get one, and keep it near the shutoff point.

Buy the SurvivalKitsOnline On-Duty Emergency Gas and Water Shutoff Tool for $14.49 from Amazon

Your earthquake preparedness kit

After a sizable earthquake, you and your family should be equipped to be totally self-sufficient for at least two or three days. You may be cut off from access to food, water, medicine, power, and other necessities we take for granted on a daily basis.

You likely have enough food in the home to last for several days, but double check that you have sufficient non-perishable things to eat. (Don't forget the pets, either!) Keep at least a gallon of water per person on hand — you will need clean water for drinking, cooking, hygiene, and possibly to tend to wounds.

Beyond food and water, make sure you have several flashlights with spare batteries, a good first aid kit, a water filter, blankets, personal items (like contact lens fluid, hygiene products, etc.), medicine, blankets, several ways to make a fire, and even some ways to pass the time, like books and board games.

And a fire extinguisher. Have at least one good fire extinguisher on hand. Better yet, have two or three. Make sure they are not too old.

As sheltering in place might not be an option, you should have your earthquake kit stored in a bag you can grab and go. Or better yet, buy a pre-assembled emergency bag that has all the staples you will need for several days of survival. Redfora offers a Complete Earthquake Bag that has food, water, first aid supplies, lighting, and many other items that will be precious in those harrowing days after the unthinkable becomes reality.

And for the record, I practice what I preach. My bugout bag is three feet from my left knee as I write. I keep it tucked next to my desk at all times, because this is where you'll find me most of the time.

Buy the First Alert Home Fire Extinguisher 4-Pack for $89.90 from Amazon

Buy the Redfora Complete Earthquake Bag for $139.99 from Amazon

Mussomeli €1 homes

I recently traveled all the way to Sicily to visit three towns that have sold homes for as little as $1.
The housing scheme has been widely trialed throughout Italy as rural towns attempt to revitalize their communities and economies that have suffered at the hands of urbanization.
While a home in southern Europe for $1 may sound like a dream come true, there is obviously a catch.
Most of the $1 homes I visited in Sambuca, Mussomeli, and Cammarata were derelict and in dire need of repair.
However, I was struck by their historic charm and potential — especially once I saw one that had been completely renovated.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Over the past few months, you may have become aware of a certain phenomenon.

A plethora of Italian towns have adopted a scheme of selling abandoned homes off for 1 euro ($1).

Urbanization has led to the dwindling populations of provincial settlements as cities and their suburbs thrive and become overpopulated. As a result, some of Italy's most beautiful, historic small towns are dying out.

The $1 housing schemes are designed to combat that, and what success there has been so far has led to a proliferation of similar strategies being deployed across the country.

The schemes have received plenty of media coverage, and many of the towns have become inundated with offers from foreigners on their insanely cheap properties.

However, a home for $1 was always going to be too good to be true, and most of these properties are often in a dilapidated condition, requiring thousands of dollars in restoration and renovation to make them habitable again — let alone nice.

I recently traveled all the way to Sicily to visit three of the towns that have adopted the $1 home schemes — Sambuca, Mussomeli, and Cammarata — to see what foreign buyers are really getting themselves into.

Here's what they look like inside, and finally, once they're renovated.

The first place I visited was Sambuca di Sicilia. After CNN first reported the historic town's scheme back in January, foreigners flocked to the region to see it for themselves. Deputy town mayor Giuseppe Cacioppo told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that the influx of foreign investment was "an invasion — but a positive one" after the town sold 16 properties at auction.

Giuseppe Cacioppo was my guide in Sambuca, and he showed me around many of the properties that were for sale, had been sold, or had already been renovated.

Here's the exterior of one of Sambuca's $1 properties.

Many of the properties in town were covered in scaffolding.

Sambuca is famous for its Arab history, and many of the $1 homes have incredible curved ceilings like the one below, which is typical of Islamic architecture.

I was told that many of the homes had been abandoned after an earthquake in 1968, which killed 231 people in southwestern Sicily. Many people simply cashed in on their insurance, and built new, modern homes just down the road.

The interiors were bare, but the original masonry was an extremely attractive feature and there was no mess or graffiti inside like I would later find in other towns.

With a washing machine already installed, what more do you need?

I hoped that the wooden beams weren't the only thing propping the roof up in this room.

While in Sambuca, I also met Tamara and Gary Holm, an American couple who were putting an offer down on a property in the town. They were buying from a private owner, so the house wasn't a $1, but it was still very cheap and needed less work.

Inside, a few items from the previous owners had obviously been left behind, like this creepy portrait ...

... Which Tamara said looked like her mother, and naturally grabbed a selfie.

There was also some extremely dated storage and tableware.

And a very pink bathroom.

The real selling point of the property was the roof terrace, which boasted stunning views of the Sicilian countryside.

We agreed it would be the perfect spot to put a hot tub.

The next town I visited was Mussomeli, which is famous for its hilltop castle.

Mussomeli, like Sambuca, has a fascinating history and beautiful old buildings (many of them churches).

However, the $1 homes in Mussomeli had not been cleaned out in the same way that Sambuca's had, and there was a lot of abandoned, creepy furniture lying around in the homes that I visited.

This room looked like the set of a horror film.

This home had already been adopted ... by a pigeon.

Another home already had somewhere to sleep — sort of ...

... And bathroom facilities.

It would take a lot of work to restore this living room back to former glory.

After seeing these dilapidated buildings, I got to visit a property that was in the process of renovation, and I was pretty blown away by the transformation.

This home belonged to Belgian couple Bert Vanbellingen and Nina Smets, who had bought several properties in Mussomeli.

While renovations were very much still underway when I saw the property, the deck was shaping up nicely, and it was easy to see how it would become the perfect place to sit and eat dinner in the evenings, or entertain guests.

The views from the deck were nothing short of spectacular.

Below the deck was a perfect example of how these schemes would reinvigorate the towns' local economies, as a local man was cleaning rubble from around the new brickwork.

The last town I visited was Cammarata, which was just a few miles northwest of Mussomeli.

Cammarata's town councilors told me that many young people, especially with families, were deterred from living in the town because of the tiny, winding roads, which were nigh on impossible to get a car around. Instead, they lived in the neighboring San Giovanni Gemini.

Like Mussomeli, Cammarata's $1 homes were full of miscellaneous garbage ...

... And lewd graffiti.

Some of the exteriors looked like they were about to collapse.

Lots of the buildings clearly needed a bit of TLC.

Back in Sambuca, I managed to see what a finished article looked like. This was one of the $1 homes that Cacioppo had helped renovate himself. That stone wall is all original masonry, it had just been given a new lease of life.

The kitchen wouldn't have looked out of place in a trendy, New York condo ...

... nor would this seating area with beautiful modern artwork to admire.

The first floor even boasted a balcony, which was ripe for covering in flower pots.

The pièce de résistance, though, was the terrace, which had a beautiful white fabric awning that billowed in the breeze.

The view wasn't half bad.

The property was a testament to the potential that the $1 homes held.

After visiting many of the $1 houses in person, I can honestly still say that despite the garbage, graffiti, and pigeons, most still seemed like a good bargain.

They may have been derelict, and in need of thousands of dollars in renovations, but the properties I visited had bags of historic charm.

Furthermore, all three of the towns I visited were delightful. The people were friendly, the food was delicious, and the weather was incredible — I barely saw a single cloud. The only criticism you could levy at them was just how quiet they are, but that is, after all, why these schemes are being tried in the first place.

However, I was told that in Sambuca, some residents were already learning English to begin operating walking tours, open gift shops, and run B&Bs.

With the media storm surrounding Italy's $1 homes, it won't be long before the towns will be full of Americans, Brits, Russians, and more. Some aren't far off already.

I sensed there was, probably for the first time in decades, a hum of optimism in Italy's ghost towns.

Rothy's vs. Everlane 4x3

Rothy's and Everlane are two popular brands that offer knit flats.
They're both made from recycled plastic bottles and are comfortable, breathable, and stylish. But they differ in feel, color options, and price (Rothy's are $125-$145, while Everlane's are $98).
If you don't want to spend more than $100, are okay with fewer color options, and prefer a thicker, more structured feel, get a pair of Everlane Day Glove ReKnit flats.
If you like shopping many different colors and patterns, want a low-maintenance shoe you can easily wash, and are looking for more flexibility and give, get a pair of Rothy's flats.

Recently, online clothing retailer Everlane released a knit iteration of its popular Day Glove flat. The women on the Insider Picks team reacted accordingly: by exploding with excitement and immediately slipping on the stylish, lightweight shoes the moment we received the boxes.

Although brands like Everlane and Allbirds have all realized by now that a lot of women love wearing flats, the original startup that made a name of its flats is, of course, Rothy's.

With its sleek silhouettes and distinctive blue trim, Rothy's can be seen in cities all over the country, from the hills of San Francisco to the subway cars of New York City. As you consider a new pair of flats to replace your scuffed up, worn down pair, it's probably top of mind in your list of options. However, newcomers like Everlane also look pretty enticing.

If you're stuck between Rothy's and Everlane, we've broken them down by a few factors (color and style options, fabric construction, feel, and price) so you can determine which one is best for your use and budget.

Our team really likes both, so we can't give a conclusive answer on which is better — it all depends on your specific preferences. For a few more women's flats options to consider, check out our guide to the best flats you can buy.

Read our full review of Rothy's flats here.

Read our full review of the Everlane Day Glove ReKnit flats here.

Read on for a direct comparison between Rothy's and Everlane flats, below.

What they're made of

What's really cool about both of these flats is that they're made from recycled plastic bottles. Using these unexpected materials has resulted in surprisingly flexible and comfortable shoes that you would never guess contained recycled materials.

Rothy's

The knit upper of Rothy's flats is made from recycled plastic bottles specifically, though the company doesn't specify how many. The outsole is made from carbon-free rubber, while the insole is made from caster oil and recycled materials. Converting recycled bottles into something beautiful has been Rothy's intent from its inception in 2016. As of June 2019, it has repurposed more than 32 million bottles.

Everlane

The knit upper and outsole of the Everlane Day Glove ReKnit flats are made from eight recycled plastic bottles, while the insole is made from Italian leather. Everlane has committed to eliminating new plastic from its supply chain by 2021. In late 2018, it kicked off this initiative with its ReNew collection of outerwear and in 2019 it launched a sustainable leather sneaker brand called Tread, proving that every part of your wardrobe can be responsibly made.

What it's like to wear and maintain them

How different can two knit flats be? There actually is a distinct difference between the feel, as well as the maintenance, of Everlane's and Rothy's flats.

Rothy's

Rothy's knit material is thinner and slightly tighter-woven, and the 3D knitting process that produces it results in a less noticeable pattern. Rothy's round-toe flats have some more give and flexibility, so they could be ideal for wide feet. The pointy-toe version is best for narrow feet. Since the insole is also made from recycled materials rather than something like leather, it feels drier and slightly more breathable, and it won't stick to the bottom of your feet. If you tend to have sweaty feet, Rothy's might be better for you. They're easy to clean — just take out the insoles to hand-wash and throw the shoes themselves in the cold wash cycle of your washing machine.

Everlane

The Everlane Day Glove ReKnit knit material is thicker and fashioned into a rib pattern. The flat also has a thicker, more defined "collar" that hugs onto your foot. The cushioned leather insole is buttery soft, smooth, and flexible, providing all-day comfort reminiscent of the original Day Glove. Together, these components make a lightweight, breathable shoe that you can wear straight out of the box. Due to the leather detailing on this shoe, you can only spot clean it.

What silhouettes and styles each brand offers

Rothy's

Rothy's flats come in two styles. The Flat has a rounded toe and angular opening, while The Point has a pointed toe and an angular opening. Compared to Everlane, Rothy's has many more color and print options, like this leopard print. However, it regularly "retires" colors and prints and introduces new or limited-edition ones, so if you see a style you like, it's better to buy it sooner than later.

Everlane

The Everlane Day Glove ReKnit flats are pretty new, so there are currently only five colors available: black, white, pink, red, and yellow. As a basics brand, Everlane doesn't really do prints, but as it expands its color offerings, you can expect more solid color options. There is one silhouette, which has a rounded toe and rounded opening.

How much you'll pay for them

Based on shoe budget alone, you might have an immediate preference for one brand over the other.

Rothy'sflats are more expensive. The rounded toe flats cost $125 and the pointed toe flats cost $145.

Everlane's Day Glove ReKnit costs $98.

Which flats you should ultimately buy

We own, regularly wear, and love both brand's flats, but the bottom line is this:

If you like shopping many different colors and patterns, want a low-maintenance shoe you can easily wash, and desire more flexibility and give, get a pair of Rothy's flats.

If you don't want to spend more than $100, are okay with basic colors, and prefer a thicker, more structured feel, get a pair of Everlane Day Glove ReKnit flats.