To celebrate his birthday, Pankaj Parakh, an Indian businessman made himself a gold shirt worth about  $213,000, according to the Independent. 

Parakh is also a member of the National Congress party in the state of Maharashtra.

The shirt which is made of 18-22 carat gold, weighs about 9 pounds. It took 20 men 3,200 hours to stitch it together and it has an inner lining to prevent chafing.

Parakh is a high-school dropout who went on work in his family's textile business.

"My family is hardly impressed or interested in my love for gold. They just ignore and accept it as a part of domestic life. But the rest of my extended family thinks I am weird," Parakh told the Independent.

He says some think his usual display of gold is ostentatious or that he's mocking the poor. But he's quick to point out that he is charitable as well.

Parakh isn't the first Indian with a gold shirt. You might remember Datta Phuge who, in 2013, put $230,888 or a third of his worth into a gold shirt.

SEE ALSO: 16 Facts About India That Will Blow Your Mind

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The CEO of J.Crew, Mickey Drexler, is selling his Hamptons home for a whopping $26.5 million. 

Douglas Elliman listed the 3,500-square-foot Wainscott home, which includes 315 feet of ocean frontage on one side and views of Wainscott Pond on the other.

Drexler bought the three-bedroom house in 2008 for $17 million. 

But don't worry, Drexler is not leaving the Hamptons anytime soon. He also owns two properties in Montauk, including a $30 million compound that belonged to Andy Warhol and an $11.4 million ranch. 

Welcome to Mickey Drexler's Hamptons home in Wainscott, New York.

The 3,500-square-foot house is nestled on 2.3 acres right in between Wainscott Pond and the ocean.

Taking a peek inside, it's no surprise that the CEO of J.Crew has good taste.

YouTube stars are becoming more and more powerful.

A new survey released this week by Variety asked teens to rank popular figures "in terms of approachability, authenticity and other criteria considered aspects of their overall influence." The results overwhelmingly showed that today's teens are bigger fans of YouTube personalities than they are of Hollywood's celebrities.

They're bringing in the big bucks, too, signing contracts with major brands like Macy's and Mountain Dew.

That doesn't mean these stars are household names quite yet. We've rounded up 10 creators who you may not have heard of, but who are getting tons of attention in the YouTube community.

Devin Supertramp is a stuntman whose extreme sports videos will make your heart pound.

From hoverboarding to barefoot skiing, Devin Graham (@devinsupertramp) has caught plenty of extreme-sports moments on film. Through YouTube talent management company FullScreen, Graham has been able to shoot videos for major companies like Intel, Mountain Dew, and SpeedStickGear. 

Subscribers: 2,306,935

Views: 397,586,011

Mike Tompkins has an amazing one-man a capella act.

Tompkins first got the Internet's attention with his cover of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream." Four years later, he's rolling out an album of original songs and setting off on a seven-city tour.

Subscribers: 1,271,736

Views: 184,369,467 

Dulce Ruiz became a beauty and fashion YouTube star after returning from service in Iraq.

Dulce Ruiz (or Dulce Candy) spent 15 months in Iraq as a mechanic with the U.S. Army. Now her beauty and fashion tutorials — many of which are inspired by popular music videos by Katy Perry and Jennifer Lopez— are catching the attention of brands like Too Faced Cosmetics.

Subscribers: 1,721,116

Views: 230,007,603

Travel-planning app Gogobot has become a secret weapon for having more fun in your daily life, the app's founder Travis Katz was surprised to learn.

Gogobot was born as a way to help you plan your vacation using your social networks. It taps your friends for recommendations for places to stay or eat, things to do. It also helps you build a network of like-minded travel peeps, people looking for outdoor adventure, shoestring travel, great places for kids, and so on.

About three months ago, the team launched a major revision of its mobile app and were pleasantly surprised when downloads started taking off. But what surprised them most was that people were suddenly using the app every week.

"On mobile, 70% of searches on Gogobot were for recommendations in their current location," Katz, CEO of the company, told us. "I'm standing here in this destination, right now. I'm looking for a bar, a good place to have a business lunch meeting, I've got a few hours to kill, where can I go now?" 

They thought they were building an app that would be used a few times a year, maybe monthly, for planning travel. The team wound up building what they think of as an alternative to Yelp, at least for leisure time. (It doesn't cover everything Yelp does, like doctors or hairdressers).

And people were digging it. "Since we launched the new version, we are now seeing the majority of our users (56%) using the app every week, a 70% increase versus where we were a year ago."

The reason has something to do with the app's focus on what it calls "Tribes." When you sign up for the app, you join various tribes to find people with similar interests: adventure, art, history buffs, foodies, and so on.

Your recommendations come from your tribes. So if you are a parent looking for an affordable, kid-friendly, vegetarian restaurant, Gogobot can help. Yelp, not so easily.

"Our goal is to inspire people to get out and see the world. The app will alert you that the weekend is coming up, here’s an amazing state park near you," Katz explains. "People tend to stay in same routine, not because they don't want to try something new, but because they don’t want to waste money or time going out to say, a bad restaurant."

And one person's bad could be another's delight.

As more people use the app, the number of recommendations has grown. The app now has 720,000 reviews and 4 million photos for 60,000 destinations, Katz says. This has generated 580,000 tribe recommendations to date, he says.

The bigger the tribe, the more you're likely to discover cool new places. The three most popular tribes are outdoor adventure with 63,000 members, foodies at 61,000, and budget 55,000. But there's a bunch of other tribes that have  20,000-50,000 members, and many of these tribes are growing rapidly as people discover the app.

Download the app and share your location with it.

Choose your tribes.

Choose some experts to follow, too.

Then you can search for things or let it offer recommendations.

SEE ALSO: Gogobot, The Travel Site Where Friends And Experts Plan Your Vacation, Is Growing Really Fast

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At the end of the day, where you go to college isn't about the parties, the quality of the cafeteria food, or even how many all-nighters you put in — it's about how much a school will help you succeed after you graduate.

For the sixth year in a row we're asking for your help to rank the Best Colleges In America, based on how well they prepare their students for success after graduation.

Last year the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was rated the No. 1 college in the U.S. for the fourth year in a row... but who will take the top this year? You decide.

Please take our survey below. We will post the results in a few weeks.

SEE LAST YEAR'S RESULTS: The 50 Best Colleges In America

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Headlines don't paint a pretty picture of the Motor City. Last month marked the one-year anniversary of Detroit becoming the largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy. Unemployment and crime rates remain unencouraging, and there appears to be a mass exodus of residents from the once prosperous metropolis.

Still, many Detroiters are toughing it out, pouring their resources and their talents into rebuilding the city.

We wanted to shine a spotlight on the people in Detroit who are making remarkable contributions to the city. We asked our readers, who are the folks across industries — from finance and automotive to entertainment and retail — who are dedicated to the revitalization. The nominations came pouring in.

These are the people making their city proud.

Alicia Marion George opened the only coffee shop for miles.

Owner of Motor City Java & Tea House

When Detroit native Alicia Marion George moved to the Brightmoor area in the late 1990s, she described the neighborhood as "being in a coma." The devastation of financial resources had touched every facet of life: businesses wasted away, homes were abandoned, and crime surged.

"People didn't think the light went past the end of their block," George says. An executive assistant at the time, she wanted to give residents hope that someone was paying attention to them.

She began visiting coffee shops across the region and touring roasting plants, and she even got a nine-month gig as a barista at Starbucks. It took 10 years to find a location and gather the funds, but in 2010, she opened Motor City Java & Tea House in a foreclosed house.

Inside, George takes customers behind the bar to teach them how to use the cappuccino machines and to explain how she paid for them. Local festivals, art galleries, youth groups, and block clubs host gatherings there. And since launching, half a dozen businesses have opened in Brightmoor.

Andy Didorosi created a bus line to mobilize Detroiters.

Founder of The Detroit Bus Company

Detroit is not in a good place when it comes to infrastructure. Forty percent of its street lights are broken, and $7 million was cut from the city's transportation budget.

When the city abandoned its proposal for an M-1 light rail on Woodward Avenue — the Broadway of Detroit — 20-something serial entrepreneur Andy Didorosi bought up half a dozen old school buses, hired local artists to paint them and drivers to drive them, and installed a GPS tracking app so passengers could track their ride. All of a sudden he was running The Detroit Bus Company.

Buses are biodiesel-fueled and can be hailed by the tracking app during slow times. The bus is a godsend for the 11,000 students who use the buses each month as their primary means of getting to after-school programs around the city, and the buses can also be rented out for private functions. Didorosi uses them to give city tours and bar crawls as well. Next he's working on creating a public service to and from the airport.

Dan Gilbert has started a chain reaction of new growth in his hometown.

Founder and chairman of Quicken Loans

About three and a half years ago, billionaire Dan Gilbert began "picking up" properties in downtown Detroit, with the intent to bring commerce back to the Motor City.

The architectural relics he bought sometimes sold for as little as $8 a square foot. Gradually, over 120 companies opened shop in his nine-million-square-foot spread of prime real estate — including Chrysler and Twitter. To date, Gilbert has invested about $1.3 billion in the downtown area alone.

"[Gilbert] has helped rebuild Detroit one day at a time," one reader tells Business Insider. "He truly cares about making Detroit a better place to live."

Gilbert also walks the walk. Until fairly recently, Quicken Loans was headquartered out in the 'burbs. In 2012, Gilbert moved the company to a new HQ downtown, where he and more than 12,000 employees can work in the heart of the action.

New York in the 1980s was a far cry from the city it is today. At the time, Manhattan was crime-ridden and full of burned-out buildings and unresolved tensions. For photographer Brian Rose, who lived through that era, the present-day city can be startling.

“New York was at a precarious point in time. The city could easily have gone the way of Detroit. We didn’t know,” Rose told Business Insider. "Lower Manhattan was a post-apocalyptic landscape of crumbling buildings and abandoned streets. You couldn't tell things were going to get better until the late '80s."

Rose recently completed a photographic study of one of Manhattan’s most-changed neighborhoods, the Meatpacking District, which has transformed over the last 20 years from an open-air industrial meat market to a glittering hub of nightlife and restaurants. Rose originally photographed the area in 1985 and returned in 2013 to document the same street corners.  

Rose has collected his photos from both 1985 and 2013 in a book, "Metamorphoses," which you can purchase here. He has shared some photos with us, but you can check out the rest in the book or on his website.

The Meatpacking District in the 1980s was a derelict scene. In the early morning hours, trucks rolled in and workers got started on the meat trade. By midday, the streets were "semi-abandoned," according to Rose.

Today, the area is bustling day and night with tourists, diners, shoppers, and nightclub attendees.

The area used to be blue-collar.

For many remote Alaskan communities only accessible by plane, the biggest danger isn't nature. Rather, it's the villagers themselves and the unavailability of any law enforcement to protect victims.

There are at least 75 Native American Alaskan villages that don't have any law enforcement, reports The Washington Post. Isolated by long distances and difficult terrain, those residents must report crimes and wait for Alaska State Troopers to arrive in the village after hours of traveling.

Alaska has one of the highest violent crime rates in the U.S., at 603.2 violent crimes per 100,o00 compared to a national average of 386.9, according to the FBI's 2012 crime report. That includes nearly 80 rapes per 100,000 residents in 2012 compared to a national average of 26.9, more than any other state. 

“Unfortunately, there are places in rural Alaska that if a woman is raped or a child is beaten, that victim might not get any help whatsoever,” Associate Attorney General Tony West told The Washington Post. “It can take a day and a half before responders show up to the scene of a crime or to a call for help. Imagine if you were a victim of violence and you can’t get help because weather conditions don’t allow you to get out of your village. Where are you supposed to go? You have nowhere to go.”

Native Alaskans make up 61% of sexual assault victims in the state even though they make up just 15% of the population, The New York Times reported in 2012. Nobody knows for sure why Native American women are so vulnerable to rape. Some experts blame alcoholism and the breakdown of the Native American family.

The danger of crime facing Native Americans, especially women, in remote Alaska villages without law enforcement was demonstrated with last year's murder of 13-year-old Native Alaskan Mackenzie Howard in the community of Kake, as reported by The Washington Post.

Like similar communities, Kake struggles with drug and alcohol abuse and domestic violence. Only accessible by boat or plane, Kake suffers 80% unemployment, a declining fishing industry, and a dead logging industry. A one-man police department closed 35 years ago due to lack of funding.

Even in rural areas where there is a tiny police presence, quick and effective help isn't guaranteed. One 19-year-old Native Alaska woman who lived in a village of 800 called the police after a stranger broke into her home and raped her in the middle of the night, The New York Times reported in 2012. The police didn't answer, so she left a message. They never returned her call.

SEE ALSO: This Tiny Isolated Town In Alaska Is Only Accessible By A 2.6 Mile-Long Tunnel That Closes At Night

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For the second year in a row, Charleston, South Carolina, has taken the top spot on Conde Nast Travelers' list of the friendliest cities in the U.S.

Each year, the magazine ranks hotels, cruises, beaches, and cities as part of its Readers' Choice Survey. The results aren't scientific (it's an online survey that anyone can take), but thousands of people participate in the survey each year.

In the survey, "friendliness" is generally measured by how welcome people feel in different cities.

Almost every city that made the "friendliest" list was in the South.

The survey also asked people to rate the unfriendliest cities in the U.S. (unsurprisingly, most were in the Northeast). Both lists are below.

The 10 friendliest cities in the U.S.

10. Asheville, North Carolina (score: 79)
Survey respondents say that Asheville has a "small-town feel" and is filled with friendly and artistic people.

9. Nashville, Tennessee (score: 79.6)
This musical city was regarded as highly entertaining and full of "colorful characters."

8. Key West, Florida (score: 79.6)
It's "impossible to be stressed out" in this "pleasant" city.

7. Jackson Hole, Wyoming (score: 80)
This casual yet upscale city is commonly referred to as "eclectic" and "funky" with plenty to do outdoors.

6. Fort Worth, Texas (score: 80.2)
The people here are "welcoming," "warm," and have "beautiful manners."

5. New Orleans (score: 80.4)
City pride abounds in New Orleans, and there's a ton of great food to boot.

4. Telluride, Colorado (score: 81.3)
This "laid-back" community isn't crowded or snobby, and the people are "down-to-earth."

3. San Antonio (score: 82.2)
The "friendliness of the folks who live here" makes San Antonio a must-visit city.

2. Savannah, Georgia (score: 82.8)
This charming southern city, the oldest in Georgia, makes people feel like as if "stepped back in time."

1. Charleston, South Carolina (score: 84.3)
This "quaint" city is bursting with "southern hospitality."

The 10 least friendly cities in the U.S.

10. Miami (score: 53.4)
This tourist trap of a city has great culture and nightlife but is "overpriced" and "too trendy."

9. Wilmington, Delaware (score: 52.8)
Not many people travel here for pleasure, according to the survey. The city has "lots of cows."

8. The Hamptons, New York (score: 50.6)
This well-to-do summer vacation spot isn't as bad in the winter, but it can be "challenging" during peak season.

7. Los Angeles (score: 48.9)
Driving in this city is a nightmare, and people have attitudes, but the weather is nice.

6. Detroit (score: 48)
The city is improving, but it has also been called "the armpit of the world" with its crumbling buildings.

5. New Haven, Connecticut (score: 47.2)
This city is worth a visit in the summer, when the snobby Yale students have left.

4. Atlantic City, New Jersey (score: 46.3)
This city isn't what it used to be, and the shopping, dining, and nightlife isn't "spectacular."

3. Hartford, Connecticut (score: 45.5)
It's good for a business trip, but entertainment is lacking.

2. Oakland, California (score: 40.6)
Be careful where you go in this "rough-around-the-edges" city.

1. Newark, New Jersey (score: 33.5)
This "airport city" has been described as "crowded and overpriced."

SEE ALSO: The 20 Most Fun Colleges In America

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Cities might be humanity's greatest invention — if you listen to Harvard economist Ed Glaeser, author of  "Triumph of the City."

"So much of what humankind has achieved over the past three millennia has come out of the remarkable collaborative creations that come out of cities," he said in an interview. "We are a social species. We come out of the womb with the ability to sop up information from people around us. It's almost our defining characteristic as creatures. And cities play to that strength." 

Indeed, many modern metros are pushing the limits of industry, design, and urban planning, while rethinking the way people live and work. 

With that in mind, we assembled a list of the 18 most innovative cities in the world, using a range of metrics from patents per capita to skyscraper height.  

Singapore has the best infrastructure in the world, including an airport complete with a butterfly garden, pool, movie theaters, hotels, spas, showers, and of course a four-story slide.

[Business Insider] 

Amsterdam is the most bike-friendly city in the world, with a full 38% of all trips in the city made by bicycle.

[Amsterdamize]

Bangalore, India, is known as the Silicon Valley of India, with a tech sector that brings in $17 billion in revenue a year. Venture capital has noticed, investing $300 million in venture funding in 2012.

[BBC]

Patricia Fletcher is a New York-based voice-over and dialect coach who usually works with actors to help them get rid of their Brooklyn accent.

But we wanted to learn how to talk just like we're from Brooklyn, so she gave us a lesson on the basics of how to change your consonant and vowel pronunciation.

Produced by Alana Kakoyiannis and Will Wei.

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NOW WATCH: People From Across America Reveal Their Favorite Regional Sayings

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In 2011, Foster Huntington made a life-changing decision. He would quit his job designing for Ralph Lauren in New York City and ditch life as he knew it for something drastically different: Living out of a van as he traveled the country.

A snowboard and surfing enthusiast, the Colby College graduate embarked on a life living inside a VW Synchro, putting on mile after mile as he documented everything his saw with his camera.

Through his blogs, A Restless Transplant and Van-Life, he created a movement and a community centered around a new nomadic way of living in the 21st century.

Through Kickstarter, Huntington published a book "Home Is Where You Park It" — a collection of his photos — and "The Burning House," which implores readers to consider what they value. Now Huntington is somewhat of a poster child for brands like Patagonia and Urban Outfitters.

Along with his friends, Huntington now has lived this way for over 3 years, transforming vans and buses into living spaces (check out the #vanlife tag on Instagram), building treehouses and cabins along the West coast, and simply living life on his own terms, all while being able to translate his lifestyle into a profitable business. 

The photos that Huntington takes are stunning. Take a look at what life is like for him through his pictures on Instagram.

Warning: You will be tempted to follow in his footsteps.

In 2011, Foster Huntington left his job designing for Ralph Lauren and his apartment in Manhattan, and made a decision that would change his life.

So he bought a van and decided it would be his new home.

Armed with a camera and the essentials, Huntington set out West for a new and different life.

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New York City is an extremely cosmopolitan place, and walking around the city, one often hears a plethora of languages being spoken.

The American Community Survey is a massive annual effort by the Census Bureau to measure various aspects of American life. Among many other things, respondents are asked if they speak a language other than English at home, and if so, what language is spoken. Using this data, as explained in more detail at the bottom of this post, Business Insider was able to map out New York City's most popular non-English languages.

First, here's the most commonly spoken non-English language in each NYC community district. Unsurprisingly, Spanish is pretty dominant. There are quite a few Chinese speakers in the southern Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bensonhurst and Bay Ridge, and in Flushing, Queens, and a few other language enclaves scattered around the city.

Because Spanish shows up in so many neighborhoods, we made an alternate version of the map where we found the most common non-English, non-Spanish language:

The maps were made using the ACS Public Use Microdata Sample, an edited version of the individual responses to the survey. With this data, we were able to calculate the most commonly spoken non-English language in each of New York City's Census-designated "Public Use Microdata Areas," which closely conform to the city government's community districts, for which the city provides very nice-looking map outlines.

SEE ALSO: Here's How All 50 State Economies Are Doing, Ranked From Slowest To Fastest

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The 2014 National Scrabble Championship began Saturday in Buffalo, New York. Over 500 players in six divisions of varying difficulties will compete against each other — and a bag of lettered tiles.

But scoring well (and winning) doesn't happen so easily. Even the pros use certain tricks to help themselves on the board.

We combined seven below from "Everything Scrabble," by John Edley and John D. Williams, Jr. as well as experts at Hasbro, the maker of the game.

1. Learn two- and three-letter words.

Played properly, two-letter and three-letter words can boost your score by up to 50 points a game.

2. Create two words at once using the letter "s."

You can add an "s" to the end of an already existing word on the board to pluralize it, while also creating an entirely new word. But use your "s" wisely. The game only contains four "s" tiles, so the move should earn at least 10 points to make it worthwhile. 

3. Place tiles that create common endings or beginnings on the appropriate sides of your rack.

Many words end in "-er," "-ed," or "-ing," so putting those on the right side of your rack will help you visualize future options. You can also add these endings to existing words to make completely new ones.

The same applies to word-beginnings, like "un-," "in-," or "re-." But place those on the left side of your rack.

4. Look for "hooks."

Hooks are single letters you can add to existing words to make completely new ones. For example: "Lush" turns into "blush," "host" into "ghost," and "come" into "comet." 

Stay especially aware of words that could include "y," "e," "r," and "d" on the end (like handy, plane, tamer, and tamed). 

5. Head for the "hot spots."

Plan your game from the beginning to move toward "hot spots," better known as bonus squares, on the board. A well-executed triple word square can send your score into the triple digits.

6. Save some combination of the letters, AEILNRST.

While you can only have seven letters on your rack, some combination of the above letters will give you the best options for play. Hint: You can create "starline." 

If you don't pick those letters, try to save the same number of vowels or one more consonant.

7. Learn "Q-without-U" words. 

The letter "q," the highest scoring scrabble tile along with "z," almost always precedes a "u." But again, the game only contains four "u" tiles, likely used in other words. 

The official Scrabble Dictionary lists 17 instances of "q-without-u" words: qabala, qabalah, qadi, qat, qaid, qi, qoph, faqir, mbaqanga, qanat, tranq, qindar, qintar, qwerty, sheqel, qindarka, and sheqalm. 

Adding "s" will pluralize all of those, except for the last two.

SEE ALSO: 13 Old English Words We Should Still Be Using Today

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It appears that writing is all about making lists these days.  

So, having recently covered Tips for Surviving a Goldman Sachs Internship and Attending a Sporting Event With Your Boss, my latest attempt (by request) is a fresh, succinct, and definitive guide to dressing like an investment banker.

The genesis of this post is simple; American men dress like s---.  

It doesn’t matter where you look, from the endless stream of bright-eyed but hopeless-looking students vying for the ever-shrinking number of analyst positions on Wall Street, to the haggard, white-collar, middle class masses traipsing their way from airport lounge to departure gate, while getting Hilton Reward Points rich and Chipotle fat.

Who better to help than the aggregated and infinite wisdom ofGSElevator, with a comprehensive list of business fashion tips from the halls of Goldman Sachs?

So, here we go…

Shoes

• No brogues, wing-tipped, or square-toed shoes.  

#1: He's really wearing square-toed shoes...

#2: Wait, it's intern season already?

• Stick with loafers; they’re more comfortable and convenient.  And the conventional wisdom that they lack the formality of traditional lace-ups has long-since expired.
• If you aren’t confident in your innate fashion sense, keep the shoes black when wearing a suit. There’s no need to attempt hazel Bottega Venetas and a matching belt with a monastral blue suit.  In most cases, you can’t pull it off.
• Prada and Gucci; start and end there.  Decent $700 shoes will last you 3-4x times longer than something you pick up from Bloomingdale’s for $300. Do the math.
• Cedar shoetrees are an absolute must.  They absorb moisture, stiff-arm the signs of aging, and otherwise materially extend the life of your shoes.
• Don’t forget to get your housekeeper a decent shine kit for Christmas.  And make sure she uses it.

WATCH: The Strange Fashion Choices Of European Men

Socks

• Unless you are married to a Sloane Ranger or studied Classics at Cambridge, leave the pink Richard James socks at home.  It’s not Ladies’ Day at Ascot.

#1: Most Brits aren't gay, but their socks are.

• Calvin Klein or Giorgio Armani makes some great calve-high plain black socks that never change with the season.  And just as Michael Jordan insisted on a new pair of shoes every game, you need to keep the socks fresh. 
• Buy at least 20 identical pair every six months. 

#1: I wear a brand new pair of socks every day. That's probably my only indulgence. That, and watches... And wine.

• The ‘no socks’ look is disgusting, and is actually a stated violation of many corporate dress codes, particularly for banks.

Pants/Trousers

• No cuffs and no pleats; pleats are for guys with gunts (front asses).  
  

#1: Dude, cuffed pants are for limo drivers.

• Belt loops are optional.  If you have a decent tailor, rock the side tabs. 

#1: Did you forget your belt today?

#2: I don't need one; did you forget to get your suit tailored?

• Actually, side tabs are rather convenient if you are a junior banker. You’ve got less time for the gym and spend many a lunch and dinner hunched over your desk.  Throw in the boozy nights out and extravagant client dinners and it’s a recipe for looking like 2011 Alec Baldwin.

Belts/Suspenders

• This is pretty obvious - nothing garish or obnoxious, and this includes those ridiculous monogrammed silver buckles that all boys in Greenwich get for their 14th birthday.
• A few years ago, we had a 1st year analyst walk across the trading floor with a Gucci ‘G’ belt buckle.  “Hey bubba, I didn’t know The Gap made belts,” bellows out a trader. “Um, it’s Gucci,” the kid snaps back.  The words are barely out of his mouth before he realizes he’s being mocked in front of half a dozen guys and just made it a lot worse.  That was all it took; the kid was never able to earn even a modicum of respect after that, and ended up leaving the firm less than a year later.
• No suspenders, period. Who do you think you are, Matt “GG” Defusco?

Shirts

• The infamous blue shirt and white collar is acceptable, as long as the shade of blue isn’t too deep and accompanied with a power tie. This ode to Gekko works much better today in a light pink, baby blue, or lavender shirt, and without a tie.
• Skip the monograms… Unless your initials are D.I.K.
• No shirt pockets or collar buttons. This isn’t a 1994 Brooks Brothers catalogue.
• Make sure your shirts are tapered appropriately.  If you want to see how ridiculous ‘blousy’ looks, go back and watch some old Seinfeld reruns.
• Have new shirts made every year and donate the old ones to Career Gear, a great non-profit that provides interview clothes to low income individuals.
• French cuffs are fine, provided that the cufflinks aren’t straight out of the Donald J. Trump collection.
• And if you sweat, wear a damn undershirt, you slob.  Besides, a $50 t-shirt will save numerous $200 dress shirts from your disgusting armpits.

WATCH: How To Tie A Windsor Knot

Ties

• It’s all about the Windsor knot, with the perfectly symmetrical triangle.  A half or full Windsor are both fine, depending on the thickness of the tie and the spread of the collar.

MD#1: Handshakes and tie knots. I don't have time for someone that can't master those basic skills.

• Skip the dimple that creates that obnoxious crease; you’re not Al Sharpton.
• Sorry interns and analysts, no Hermès. 

#1: Don't show up to an interview in a Hermès tie. I don't give a f*ck if you can afford it, you have to earn it.

#1: Hermes ties are like Air Jordans for white people.

• Everyone has a favorite tie, but don’t wear it every damn week.

#1: There's nothing pretentious about keeping a tie journal. It keeps me on a solid 10-12 week rotation.

WATCH: How To Pack A Suit

Suit Jacket

• You can’t go wrong with two-button, notched-lapel, and single-breasted.  Skip the three-button suit altogether.
• Absolutely no double-breasted herringbone.  It’s gone and never coming back.  Sorry, David Letterman.
• Avoid the peaked lapel, unless it’s on a single-button, casual suit.
• In terms of color, keep it to various shades of gray and navy, with a few varieties of pinstripes.  That’s all you need.

#1: Is that a brown suit? The back office is in Jersey City, pal.

• No need to go above 160 per inch thread count.  Between the abrasive Herman Miller chairs and the drunken nights out, they don't last.
• And it goes without saying; buy as many suits as you can reasonably afford.
• But don’t waste your money buying off-the-rack at Barney’s or Bergdorf; go bespoke.  

#1: Gucci suits are like Corvettes. They're a great way of telling people you didn't always have money.

• It’s a cliché because it’s true; the most expensive suit is the one you wear the least.

#1: I spent $2,000 on a suit I don't need or like, just to impress a sales chick I don't find attractive.

Business Casual

• If you're not in the US, lose the khakis.
• Sweaters over a collared shirt? For the most part, no problem. 

#1: Why do people wear wool if they know cashmere exists?

#1: There is no such thing as turtleneck weather.

• Stick with Polo shirts; no one cares to watch you inevitably mime golf swings.

#1: Nothing says douchebag quite like wearing an Augusta golf shirt when the Masters are on.

Watches

• I saw an Associate get picked off for sporting a new Daytona the week before bonus.  A quick "if you want watches to matter, go work at Morgan Stanley" wiped that smirk right off his face.

#1: Wearing a Rolex is like driving an Audi. It says you've got some money, but nothing to say.

• Thanks to Hank Paulson, Nike running watches and Livestrong bracelets were to 2004 what Lloyd's stubble beard has been to 2012-13.  There are quite a few senior guys that still wear a Nike sport watch, intentionally, or even no watch at all.

#1: Not wearing a watch is the new Patek.

• Forget all about Hublot.  It’s a great way to tell people that you’re an idiot who has more money than taste.  Hublot was a second-rate brand with third-rate craftsmanship until about 15 years ago when they arbitrarily doubled the price and started paying celebrities and sport figures to wear them. It's been a marketers wet dream.

#1: Hublot put the ‘whore’ in ‘horology’ 

Miscellaneous Tips

• Pocket squares are for washed-up, unemployable ex-bankers, turned CNBC guest pundits, i.e. a guy who takes himself far too seriously and has a massive chip on his shoulder.
• Wedding rings, watches, and cufflinks are the only acceptable form of jewelry for a man. Unless the Dalai Lama gave you that bracelet, leave it at home.

#1: In New York, don't trust a banker with a pocket square. In London, it's a pinky ring. And in Asia, don't f--king trust anyone.

• Like Ambien and red wine, the wrong fashion combination can become a disastrously lethal cocktail of Larry Kudlow-esque proportions. 

MD #1: A double-breasted suit and a blue shirt with a white collar? Was it a rough night in the water bed?

#1: Plaid shirt, bow tie, and pocket square is the douchebag trifecta. 

• Finally, "an architect is only as good as his builder, and a fashion designer is only as good as your tailor."

There you have it; head to toe. These tips won’t exactly get you laid at Soho House or on the cover of GQ; but on Wall Street and in business, you can’t go wrong taking this advice.

Just don’t go out and break the law or get scapegoated… Ask any juror, Fabrice Tourre’s ‘fabulous’(?) and expensive-looking fashion sense was a coffin nail come deliberation time.

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Your 30s are typically a time for settling down after using your 20s to take risks and find yourself.

Many 30-somethings are busy raising a family and rising through the hierarchy at work.

Those who have already been through that decade say that as their responsibilities accumulated, it became easier to neglect relationships and ignore opportunities that they would never get again.

Quora users discussed lessons they learned in the thread: "What is the biggest mistake you made in your 30s and what did you learn from it?"

We've collected some of the best responses:

They abandon their loftier aspirations.

Twenty-somethings are often willing to settle for a job they are not passionate about, but before they know it, that job turns into their career. An anonymous poster writes that his or her biggest mistake of his or her 30s was to become "addicted to a monthly salary," in the sense that he or she settled for job security over career satisfaction.

If you've ever wanted to start a business or pursue a side project, it will only get more difficult as your responsibilities increase.

They put their career ahead of family and friends.

"Don't just work. Make memories. The older you get, the harder it is to make meaningful relationships. Foster those while you're young," writes Microsoft product designer Michael Dorian Bach, who is now in his late 30s.

They neglect their health.

Bach writes that the pursuit of a career can also be a drain on one's health. "Be healthy. That is priority 1. Don't get into your 30s being slow and tired all the time. It sucks," he says. Develop an exercise routine, and enjoy your mobility while you're still young.

They miss the chance to have kids.

CEO coach Alison Whitmire shares a personal story about how she took getting pregnant for granted in her 30s and chose to pursue a new career opportunity instead of trying to have a child. Years later, after a failed pregnancy and then a failed marriage, she remarried and had a baby at 43. She realizes now that no one is ever adequately prepared to have a child, and if you want one, it's best to do so before it's too late.

They don't spend enough time with their aging parents.

Entrepreneur and blogger James Altucher, who is now 46, writes about a particularly difficult memory for him: "When I was 34 I hung up the phone on my dad in an argument and never returned his calls. Six months later he had a stroke and died. A week before that he had emailed me to say hello but I didn't return the email. I'm sorry, Dad."

It can be easy to forget that your parents grow older as you do. Don't take them for granted.

They don't set up a financial foundation for the future.

Altucher writes about the many times in his 30s he bet practically all of his money on a business venture and then lost all of it. Altucher is doing well now, but he looks back on his failures as the result of recklessness. 

As your responsibilities grow, it can seem like what you put into savings won't amount to much come retirement, but it will only become harder to start saving in your 40s.

They stop having fun.

Just because you're not in your 20s anymore doesn't mean you need to give up enjoying life. Bach says he spent the early half of his adult life chasing money, and it only made him unhappy and more cynical about life.

Go on dates with your significant other. Take your kids on trips. Go to concerts with your best friends. Just don't forget that the money you work to make is useless if you're miserable.

NOW WATCH: 15 Things You Should Do Before You Turn 30 

SEE ALSO: 33 Things Everyone Should Stop Doing In Their 30s

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It's nearly back-to-school time, so social finance site WalletHub put together a list of the best and worst school systems in America.

They studied the quality of education in the 50 states (plus D.C.) by analyzing 12 factors — "from student-teacher ratios and dropout rates to test scores and bullying incident rates." 

New Jersey came in first overall, placing top five in many of the key categories including test scores and safety. D.C. came in last place, ranking as the least safe place to go to school, along with low test scores and high dropout rates.

Their interactive map shows each state's overall rank; with red representing the worst overall school systems, and green the best.

Here is the map:

The report also took those numbers and compared them with how much the state is spending on education. The results are mixed, as New Jersey comes in at No. 3 for spending, while D.C. actually spends the 14th most, compared with Arizona, which spends the least and is placed at 43.

WalletHub says that states that invest more in education ultimately strengthen their economies, citing The Economic Policy Institute report that incomes are higher in states where the workforce is well educated.

SEE ALSO: The World's 50 Best Business Schools

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