Author: openjargon

• Execs and celebs headed to the Sun Valley Conference this week, giving us a look into their style.
• The conference, known as 'summer camp for billionaires,' typically has a casual dress code.
• As well as the requisite vests, attendees wore red accents, gold accessories, and colored glasses.

Every July, executives in tech, media, and finance flock to the small resort town of Sun Valley, Idaho, for the Allen & Co. Sun Valley Forum — aka "summer camp for billionaires."

Attendees usually adhere to a simple dress code of t-shirts, vests, and athleisure for conference sessions in between the rounds of golf, schmoozing, and dealmaking.

This year, though, the sartorial choices were bolder than usual.

Among the usual muted grays and blues, several attendees were sporting splashes of red. While wearable health tracking devices like Apple Watches and Oura rings are standard fare for the tech class, this year, some opted for flashier accessories: gold chain bracelets, big earrings, and bright glasses.

Here's what the who's who of the business world wore at the Sun Valley conference this week.

The first rule of billionaire style — nothing beats a simple t-shirt

While t-shirts in tech are nothing new, they have gotten an upgrade.

T-shirts, like the one worn by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, are now heavier and more fitted, rather than the $20 Hanes worn by coders in their college days.

"Now it's thick enough, durable, and quality enough that it's the outer layer," Victoria Hitchcock, a San Francisco Bay Area fashion and lifestyle brander, told Business Insider.

Red was everywhere this year, from head-to-toe crimson outfits…

Stacey Bendet Eisner, the CEO of the Alice + Olivia fashion brand, routinely has some of the most eye-catching outfits at Sun Valley.

"Do you think that Mark Zuckerberg gets his makeup done on his way to Sun Valley at 4:30 in the morning, too?" she pondered in a video posted to Instagram.

…to darker pops of the color…

Political analyst Van Jones arrived in a red sweater — a splash of brightness among the more muted tones typical for the event. The inspiration comes straight from the runway, Hitchcock said, pointing to recent collections from Marni and Valentino.

…to red conference merch

When it comes to the Sun Valley Conference, there's no shame in sporting branded merch. Many attendees could be seen in red Allen & Co. zip-ups or carrying them in case it got chilly.

"You can't go wrong," Hitchcock said about choosing the branded gear. "These are the same people who were wearing the logos of their own companies forever and ever."

Guests weren't afraid of flashy accessories, with some donning gold chain bracelets

Fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg was among a handful of attendees wearing gold chain jewelry — a trend that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also recently adopted.

"You see it everywhere — that layered, chunky gold," Hitchcock said.

Other opted for colored glasses

Brian Grazer, cofouner of Imagine Entertainment, and media exec Barry Diller were seen sporting yellow lenses, while CBS news anchor Gayle King made a splash with her bright green frames.

Meanwhile, wearable health-tracking devices weren't as popular as in past years

While Shari Redstone, Bob Iger, and Tim Cook, of course, were spotted wearing Apple Watches, and a few Whoops were to be seen, many attendees wore old-fashioned wristpieces and ditched the computerized ones or tracking devices.

"They are super functional, and everyone I interact with owns them," Hitchcock said of Apple Watches. "But it doesn't keep them from purchasing some of those kind of pieces that are precious and have emotional attachment."

Oprah Winfrey ditched color, opting for an all-white outfit

Fashion rules don't discriminate. Regular people and media moguls alike only have three months to wear white. So, Sun Valley is a prime time for attendees to don their best classic colorless looks — like this Phoebe Philo one on Oprah.

In mixed knits, Lauren Sanchez eschewed typical tech style

Jeff Bezos' fiancée Lauren Sanchez wore an quilted miniskirt for the conference, though she did pair it with sneakers for a more informal look.

And Bezos himself kept it classic Sun Valley in a t-shirt and vest. Turns out, despite some snazzier recent looks from Bezos, you can take the tech bro out of the basement — but you can't take the basement out of the tech bro.

• Some people said they wouldn't set foot in, let alone buy, this mansion in New Orleans for sale.
• The 10,284-square-foot LaLaurie Mansion, listed for $10.25 million, sits on land with a dark past.
• It replaced a house that burned down in 1834, where an owner reportedly tortured enslaved people.

Some people are drawn to old homes for their charm, quality construction, and rich histories.

History, however, is why some say they wouldn't dream of living in one particular house in the heart of New Orleans' French Quarter.

The 10,284-square-foot, eight-bedroom property is currently owned by Michael Whalen, an energy trader based in Houston, who listed it for sale on July 4 for $10.25 million, The Wall Street Journal reported last week.

Later that day, the Zillow listing said the property, wnown as the LaLaurie Mansion, was already "pending sale," which broker Patrick Knudsen confirmed to Business Insider. Its current status on Zillow is "active under contract."

At first glance, it's not hard to see why someone with cash to spare would be drawn to the mansion.

Its traditional antebellum exterior is lined with a wraparound Juliette balcony. But inside, the home is decidedly modern, featuring two sets of double parlors, a garage with space for two vehicles, a billiard room, and a wine cellar with enough space for 2,000 bottles. Per the listing, the main house also connects to "servant wings" with two independent apartments.

Before Whalen got his hands on the mansion, actor Nicolas Cage briefly owned it. After failing to pay $151,729 in property taxes, Cage lost it at an auction, local outlet NOLA.com reported. Regions Bank scooped up the mansion for $2.3 million at auction before selling it to Whalen a year later.

Cage is known for many Hollywood flicks, including Disney's 2004 "National Treasure." However, his former home sits on land with a past that's anything but a national treasure.

The property has a dark history of torture and slavery

As the Journal reported, the home was built to replace the original LaLaurie Mansion, which burned down in 1834. The first house was named after socialite Delphine LaLaurie, who lived there with her third husband.

While the 1834 fire broke out, those who arrived at the scene made a grim discovery: Inside the mansion, the LaLauries had been torturing and starving enslaved people they kept locked up in chains.

The findings were so horrific that news even made its way across the pond, where British newspaper The Morning Post covered the incident. Upon entering, it reported, witnesses were reportedly met with the "most appalling spectacle," with the people trapped inside tied up by the neck and "horribly mutilated."

While the house survived the flames, it was consequently ransacked and destroyed by outraged locals, costing the LaLauries an estimated $40,000, the equivalent of around $1.4 million today, according to an inflation calculator from Official Data, a site that gathers and analyzes government data.

According to New Orleans Historical, an online project run by the University of New Orleans, the house was rebuilt in 1834 and briefly used as a high school and apartments before becoming a single-family residence once more.

Whalen, the current owner, kept the home private, but its dark history has made it a fixture of many of New Orleans' spooky ghost tours.

While Whalen told the Journal that the grim and ghostly lore surrounding the house didn't "scare" him, it certainly has put off a number of people who learned about the house via the Zillow Gone Wild Instagram account.

"This place needs an exorcism," one user wrote, while another quipped that they couldn't be paid $10 million to live there.

"If I were a billionaire," another commented, "I would buy it and demolish it."

• Scarlett and Seth Eskelund spent five years building and converting vans.
• In 2023, they quit their van conversion business to build one final dream van to travel in. 
• The van cost $127,000, and after a year of traveling, they said there wasn't anything they'd change.

Scarlett and Seth Eskelund started their van conversion knowing exactly what they wanted.

There was no debate over adding a pop of color; the couple planned to stick to neutrals. When deciding if it was worth spending the money and time building a shower, the answer was an easy yes. Straight lines and Scandinavian influence were styles the pair had eyed for years, so naturally, they agreed to incorporate those elements in their van.

These quick answers — and the conversion for the van altogether — took a mere six months. But Scarlett, 26, and Seth, 27, told Business Insider that their van was really five years in the making.

Before the build, the couple had spent years converting and selling vans. After a bout of burnout, the pair decided to quit their conversion business and prioritize building a van to travel in.

It's been a year since they completed the build, and they said it's exactly as they dreamed.

"I wouldn't change — down to centimeters — hardly anything," Seth said.

"It works really, really well for us," Scarlett added.

After five years of converting and selling vans, the couple was ready to build their dream one

In 2018, Seth and Scarlett felt stuck.

"We were just in an unhappy place in life," Scarlett said. Scarlett had recently graduated from college and entered a field she wasn't passionate about. Meanwhile, Seth was doing freelance videography.

To shake things up, they decided to purchase and convert a van.

The van would allow the pair to avoid rent, freelance, and travel to jobs across the country.

Scarlett said that while a van suited their needs at the time, the goal of exploring was never their driving force for van life.

They spent about a year on their first conversion, and during that time, they fell in love with the process.

Then COVID-19 hit, and Scarlett and Seth saw an opportunity to capitalize on the wave of interest in van life. RV park conglomerates witnessed stocks surge and camper conversion businesses advertised lengthy waitlists, The New York Times reported in 2020.

In response, the pair started their own business converting vans.

It was a success. For the next three years, the pair converted and sold vans for an average price of $85,000. Since 2018, Seth and Scarlett converted 11 vans, including three they lived in; their builds typically took three to six months.

"Eventually, the need to get into a van fell off around 2023 or so," Seth said. "And everything kept getting more and more expensive."

Faced with higher vehicle and material costs, Seth and Scarlett decided to shut down their business.

"We suffered extreme burnout toward the end there, and ultimately, we decided our mental health was worth more than that," Scarlett said.

They both agreed they had enough energy for one more project: a dream van in which they'd live and travel indefinitely.

They spent 2,000 hours over six months building out the van

Scarlett said they started this project knowing it would be their last conversion. With that in mind, their goal was to prioritize a space that catered to their needs and comforts.

The pair started by outlining what their dream van would house. A shower was a must for both of them, as was creating a stealthy van that didn't scream luxury from the exterior.

With a list of amenities, they mapped out the design and got to work.

They purchased a new 2023 Ram ProMaster in January 2023 with an MSRP of $60,000.

Their previous vans had been Mercedes Sprinters, but for their final vehicle, they picked the ProMaster for its width. Seth is 6'2'', and the ProMaster is wide enough to stretch out in their bed fully.

Their van had a black exterior and tinted windows, which would help it be more discreet when parked in large cities. They also made sure that the van's exterior features were unnoticeable.

"We kept all of the stuff on our roof really minimal," Seth said. For example, the highest item on top of the vehicle is a fan, which sits just three inches above the roof. Their solar panels are thin, and the couple used boat hatches instead of skylights, which sit flush with the roof. Plus, they flat-mounted a Starlink internet system as well.

The pair's exterior must-haves also included plenty of water storage. Their van can hold 48 gallons of fresh water and 30 gallons of gray water in a tank system underneath the van. This allows them to be off the grid for two weeks.

As for the interior, the pair prioritized kitchen space, storage, and a litter box for their two cats.

The shower is noticeable when you first step inside the van. It's about two feet by four feet and made of lightweight, waterproof materials.

Next to the shower is a hidden litter box for the couple's two cats, Lula and Sasha. The litter box also functions as a bench.

Near the bench is the kitchen area.

"I cook at least two or three times a day, so that was important," Seth said.

Their kitchen has an oven and a propane stove, as well as a fridge, sink, pantry area, and hidden laundry basket.

At the back of the van is their bed, which they convert to a table and seating area during the day.

The couple agreed that while they wanted to add smart amenities, the design and feel of the space were equally important.

"We've always been under the opinion that when you live in this small of a space full-time, clutter is your worst enemy," Scarlett said. "So we wanted to feel very clean all the time and very calming — almost like a sanctuary."

They drew influences from Nordic design, which can be seen in the space's simplicity and clean lines. The van has two main elements: gray Roman clay and natural wood.

Some of the van's more expensive features include an electrical system that cost $20,000 and the shower, which they estimate they spent close to $10,000 on.

Overall, they value the van at $127,000. Thanks to relationships they had built from previous conversions, Scalett and Seth received some discounts and deals throughout the project.

But labor isn't factored into that price tag. Seth said they spent more than 2,000 hours working on the van over six months.

"The most expensive thing you're going to run into is labor," Scarlett said.

While the conversion took six months, Scarlett and Seth said five years of experience was required to make the build possible.

"You could not build this with only six months of knowledge," Scarlett said. For example, Seth has years of electrical experience and certifications that allowed him to build their van's system.

They finished the build in June 2023 and were thrilled with the result.

"This van had to be the thing that could get us as much time as we need — and want — doing this," Scarlett said. "We can confidently say we did that. This van has everything we need to do it forever."

The couple has spent the past year traveling around the continent

"We gave up basically everything — we gave up our business, we were shutting it down, leaving a warehouse we had been in for three years," Scarlett said.

Seth said that leaving that behind was both stressful and invigorating.

Their first stop was Colorado, a state they hadn't visited yet. There, they spent nights near water, where a mother and baby moose would frequent — a highlight they still talk about a year later.

In the past year, they've explored a handful of states and parts of Mexico and Canada.

So far, they haven't changed a single element or feature in the van and don't plan on it.

And while they accomplished their dream van, Scarlett said, "You couldn't pay us to do it again."

Instead, their future goals include owning properties across the country and building tiny homes.

But for now, their focus is to continue their van adventures.

• Kettlebell exercises offer efficient full-body workouts, building strength, endurance, and speed.
• The unique design of kettlebells enhances both cardiovascular fitness and muscle strength.
• Kettlebell training can make workouts enjoyable and offer longevity benefits like better stability. 

If you're not using kettlebells in your workouts, you might miss out on major gains.

Kettlebell exercises like swings, cleans, and presses can make for an efficient workout routine, according to personal trainer Jennifer Hintenberger, an elite vegan athlete with multiple world records in kettlebell sport.

The dynamic movement of kettlebells allows you to train multiple aspects of fitness without spending a long time in the gym.

"It's heavy weight, so we're building strength, but we're also building endurance and speed," Hintenberger told Business Insider.

She said the benefits of kettlebell training can help you get stronger and healthier, and have fun working out too.

Kettlebells can help you train strength and cardio at the same time

Instead of having to choose what to focus on in a workout, kettlebells can help you develop multiple athletic skills at once.

"You're getting cardiovascular work, you're building stamina and strength simultaneously," Hintenberger said.

Kettlebells are unique because of how the weight is distributed below the handle, making them ideal for explosive movements, trainers previously told Business Insider.

The big advantage of using a kettlebell compared to other weights like a barbell or dumbbells is that controlling the momentum raises your heart rate while challenging your muscles.

Kettlebell training can boost stability, a key factor in living longer

Hintenberger, 43, has been training with kettlebells for more than a decade. She also taught her mother, who started working out at age 58 and had set her own age group records with kettlebells by age 63.

Unlike powerlifting or Olympic lifting, kettlebell sport doesn't involve lifting the heaviest weight possible. It's scored based on how many repetitions of a certain exercise you can complete at a set weight during a specific time period.

"There's less risk because it's not a one-rep max," Hintenberger said.

Working with kettlebells can help you improve fitness metrics linked to longevity.

Research has linked strength training to a longer life since it helps maintain muscle mass, prevent chronic disease, and prevent frailty that can lead to injury, according to research.

Cardio exercise is also great for keeping your heart healthy, another key to longevity.

Finally, kettlebell exercise also helps to build a strong core. That's key for better balance and stability, two essential components of a longevity workout.

To learn kettlebell exercise, start by mastering the kettlebell swing

The caveat of kettlebell training is that proper technique is necessary to see results and avoid injury, so it's important to find a good trainer to help you start working out with kettlebells.

Beginners should start with the kettlebell swing, a full-body exercise that teaches the basics of how to use the weight, Hintenberger said.

"The kettlebell swing is a great foundation for other movements. You want to be learning from somebody qualified," she said.

Adding kettlebells to a workout can help keep you motivated

Beyond all the physical benefits of kettlebell training, it can offer the huge psychological advantage of keeping you engaged.

"They're more fun because you can use them in different ways. There's a lot of versatility that's very exciting," Hintenberger said. "My clients enjoy the workouts because they never know what's coming."

It's not necessary to overcomplicate your workouts to see results, but the best workout is one you like enough to do consistently.

"You don't need 100 movements to be fit, but people do really enjoy different types of exercise," she said.

• My sons have a lot of energy, and they like to play in the mud. 
• They also get rowdy and often wrestle with each other and their friends.
• However, I don't mind, as long as everyone is having fun. We also have a household safe word. 

As obvious as it may sound, my biggest parenting hack is that I choose my battles. For the most part, my husband and I focus on the things that matter and avoid the ones that don't. So when my kids want to play outside and get dirty, we let them — we even encourage it. Their imaginations have let them build cities, slop in mud troughs like pigs, and fill the kiddie pool with dirt — and it's all fair game.

I just hose them off before they come in for showers. They think it's funny, which only adds to the fun.

Sure, it makes for extra laundry and a few more baths. But I have a solution there, too: I don't let it bother me. Laundry is constant; there's no such thing as being "caught up." And it's pointless to try to keep the house spotless — it would just be an endless cycle of chores. Instead, I choose to relax and spend time with my kids. It's a reality in which I have made peace.

And here's the thing: my kids are happy. They're good at coming up with things to do on their own, they love playing outside, and they don't beg for screen time. (I mean, they do occasionally, let's be honest, but it's rare.) They're making memories, and unless they're doing something dangerous or being disrespectful, I want them to run with it.

My kids love to play outside and get dirty, and I encourage it

Summer comes with weekend camping trips where they dig in the sand and swim to their hearts' content. Once, we had to remind our 7-year-old to put his life jacket on to fish, and my 5-year-old had to be coaxed into taking his daily naps — there is no tired like sun tired.

My biggest complaint was one I kept to myself: endless amounts of sand in the camper. But even that can be taken care of with a quick sweep-up. Meanwhile, they're making core memories and having a blast.

We also don't mind when they wrestle, though we do have a few rules

We have a similar outlook on wrestling. They like to play rough — and it will happen whether I like it or not. So, instead of waiting for this specific type of energy to come out another way, we channel it. They are allowed to wrestle so long as everyone involved is still having a good time.

It's mostly our two children, but they have been known to create gauntlets with friends, too. Last winter, they lined up the Nugget Couch and pitted like sizes against one another. They did the same at the lake on the water trampoline and dubbed it "Battle Island." It was like watching a real-life episode of American Gladiator, and this 90s-raised mama couldn't have been more proud.

Wrestling also comes with stipulations, like no dirty moves. Hair pulling, kicking, hitting, and similar moves are banned and punishable by the nearest parent. If you're going to play rough, you have to be tough, is one of my most common sayings, too. I only want them to participate if they can handle it.

Wrestling also happens at appropriate times: never in public, as it's too loud and obnoxious and could stress others out. Also, they have to learn to live in society, and cannon-balling onto your brother just isn't appropriate grocery store etiquette.

Finally, we have a household safe word. If anyone yells, "Garfunkel!" the opposing wrestler is to stop immediately. We needed a silly yet memorable word for the kids, and it just stuck!

There's a fine line between being rowdy and disrespectful, and we hover it often. But our young kids with ideas and imagination, and we want to celebrate their fun-natured energy as often as possible.

• South Korea plans to deploy a low-cost laser weapon to shoot down North Korean drones.
• The weapon, called Block-I, will cost around just $1.45 a shot.
• Interest in laser weapons has increased in recent years due to their cheap operating cost and accuracy.

South Korea is set to deploy a low-cost laser weapon that can melt North Korean drones, the country's arms agency said earlier this week.

The weapon, known as Block-I, will cost around 2,000 South Korean won ($1.45) a shot and "is capable of precise strikes against small unmanned aerial vehicles," according to South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).

The "Star Wars project" is set to be ready for "full-scale operation" this year, per the DAPA, which added that the laser system would help strengthen South Korea's ability "to respond to North Korea's drone provocations."

Lee Sang-yoon, a DAPA official, told AFP that the laser worked by transferring heat to oncoming drones.

"When a laser weapon transfers heat to a drone, its surface melts. As the surface melts, the internal components catch fire, causing the drone to eventually fall," Lee said.

It follows calls from South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in 2022 for stronger air defenses after the South Korean military failed to bring down a number of North Korean drones that had ventured across the border for the first time in five years.

Laser weapons have been garnering increasing international interest in recent years.

According to the think tank RAND, Israel, China, Russia, France, India, Turkey, Iran, South Korea, and Japan are just some of the countries investing in national programs.

Earlier this year, the UK announced that it had tested a new high-power laser that could be used against Russian drones in Ukraine.

According to the UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD), the DragonFire weapon typically costs less than $13 a shot.

The US has also previously hinted that laser systems may be available to protect bases in the Middle East from drone and missile attacks, although it's unclear whether they have been used.

"Competing nations are pouring so much investment into DEWs because, if the technology can be matured, such systems hold the potential to tip both the military and economic calculus of modern warfare in their users' favour," RAND said in a report.

• Rising home values in recent years have helped many millennials boost their wealth. 
• But an investing expert says Gen Z might not be so lucky. 
• High home prices, mortgage rates, and the costs of homeownership could make it a subpar investment. 

Homeownership is helping some millennials get rich — but Gen Zers might have a hard time following in their footsteps.

About 55% of millennials owned a home as of 2023, per a Redfin analysis of Current Population Survey data. Many of them became homeowners before home prices and mortgage rates spiked in 2021 and 2022.

As buying a home reached record unaffordability levels in recent years, these millennials kept getting richer on paper due to their rising home values. According to Federal Reserve data, millennials held $3.5 trillion in real estate wealth as of the fourth quarter of 2019. In the first quarter of 2024, this more than doubled to $8.6 trillion.

Some Gen Zers managed to get in on the fun — about a quarter of Gen Zers between the ages of 19 and 26 owned a home as of 2023, per Redfin. But the majority who didn't purchase a home could have a much harder time growing their wealth through home ownership in the years to come, Dr. Roger Silk, a former treasury officer at the World Bank and author of "The Investor's Dilemma Decoded," told Business Insider via email.

He pointed to a few key reasons.

First, while mortgage rates could tick lower in the years ahead, experts don't expect the roughly 3% rates of a few years ago to return anytime soon. Additionally, a lack of housing supply is expected to continue propping up home prices.

This means that, for the foreseeable future, home affordability levels could remain far from where they were a few years ago. And these elevated costs could make it more difficult for Gen Z homeowners to get a return on their investment.

"Higher interest rates and higher home prices make it harder for a new buyer to earn a high return on owning a home," Silk said.

What's more, Silk said there's a larger reason Gen Zers shouldn't count on homeownership to boost their wealth. That's because historically, it hasn't had a great track record as an investment.

Citing US home price and inflation data between 1890 and 2023, Silk said single-family home prices have historically exceeded inflation by an average of only about 0.5% each year. For Gen Zers, buying a home at an elevated price could make it less likely that their home values appreciate more than inflation.

Additionally, the significant costs of owning a home can make homeownership even less attractive.

"It's not guaranteed to provide any investment return," Silk said of homeownership. "Even if the price rises, the person still has to pay a mortgage, property taxes, insurance, maintenance, etc. If you factor all those things in, many people don't make money even if their home rises in price."

These costs are already putting pressure on current homeowners, and by the time more Gen Zers buy homes, they could be even more burdensome. For example, home insurance costs have risen roughly 20% over the past two years — and could rise an additional 6% this year, according to the insurance comparison shopping site Insurify.

Buying a home doesn't guarantee increasing your wealth

Some people think renting is throwing away money, and in one sense, they're correct. Their monthly payment is gone forever, and it has zero chance of providing an investment return.

In comparison, many people view their downpayment and mortgage payments as investments — money they could earn a return on when they sell their home someday.

But according to Silk, a sizable return is far from guaranteed. And even if a person sells their home for more than they bought it for, that doesn't mean it was necessarily successful from an investment perspective.

"The question from an investment point of view is whether or not the price increases are large enough to cover both inflation and the cost of owning the home," he said. "If your cost of ownership is 8% a year — e.g. interest plus taxes plus maintenance — the home price would have to rise by 8% a year just to break even."

Additionally, Silk said people sometimes forget about the ways homeownership can go wrong. In 2023, there were roughly 357,000 US homes with foreclosure filings, according to the real estate data firm Attom.

While homeownership may have a so-so track record as an investment, Silk said this doesn't mean everyone should rent forever.

"It's not clear," Silk said of whether buying or renting is better from a financial perspective. "It depends on the local real estate markets and the needs and expectations of the person."

Silk said a low mortgage rate, living in the same home for many years, and residing in an area where future housing demand is expected to be strong can give current and future homeowners the best chance of achieving a strong investment return on their home. Of course, checking these three boxes is easier said than done, since people can't predict the future.

Being geographically flexible could also be helpful. In the coming years, some experts think home prices will stagnate or decline in certain areas of the US as new homes are built and retirees sell their homes.

If home prices and rents continue to rise in line with historical levels — something Silk said is far from a guarantee — the "overall cost of owning" a home over the next 30 years could be lower than renting one for the average person, per his calculations.

This means that from a financial perspective, buying could be better than renting for many Americans. But it's not guaranteed to be a home run as an investment — or a ticket to wealth.

Have you gone to great lengths to find a home in your budget? Are you willing to share your story? If so, reach out to this reporter at jzinkula@businessinsider.com.

• Larry Fink cofounded BlackRock with seven partners in 1988.
• Today, it's the world's largest money manager, and Fink is one of the most powerful people on Wall Street.
• Here's a look at Fink's career rise to become one of the most influential players in finance.

After more than 35 years at the helm of BlackRock, Larry Fink is preparing to vacate his CEO position in the not-too-distant future.

Fink, now 71, has said he "would prefer to not be at BlackRock in his late 70s," meaning he's likely in his final era at the asset management firm.

Started by Fink and seven other partners in 1988, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager and has earned Fink a spot among the most powerful players in finance.

Here's a look at Fink's career rise and creation of the money-managing giant BlackRock.

Laurence Douglas Fink was born November 2, 1952. He grew up in Van Nuys, California, located in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles.

Fink's father owned a shoe store, and his mother was a professor at California State University at Northridge.

He earned his bachelor's degree in political science from the University of California at Los Angeles, graduating in 1974.

He also got his MBA with a concentration in real estate from UCLA in 1976.

After graduating, Fink worked at First Boston, the investment bank later bought by Credit Suisse.

He rose to become First Boston's youngest managing director at 28 years old and a member of its management committee at 31.

Vanity Fair reported in 2010 that Fink "added, by some estimates, about $1 billion to First Boston's bottom line."

In 1986, he took a hit when his department lost roughly $100 million from incorrectly predicting interest rates would rise when they in fact fell.

Years later, in his 2016 commencement address to graduates of UCLA, Fink reflected on the loss.

"We lost the company a lot of money. And all of a sudden, we went from 'partners' to outcasts," he said. "I was upset with how we were sidelined. But I was even more upset with myself, because I had become complacent…too sure of what I thought I knew. I believed I had figured out the market, but I was wrong — because while I wasn't watching, the world had changed."

He talked more about risk management and that time in his career in an interview with Crain's.

"We probably should have been fired for the amount of risk we were taking during those times," he once told Crain's. "They should have been raising questions: 'How are you making so much money? Are you taking too much risk?' And they didn't ask. They asked it when you had the losses."

Fink later left First Boston for Blackstone Financial Management.

The similarity of Blackstone and BlackRock's names was intentional, despite outside advice to distinguish them to avoid confusion, Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman told CNBC in 2017.

"Larry and I were sitting down and he said, 'What do you think sort of about having a family name with "black" in it?'"

It was under Blackstone's umbrella that BlackRock later got its start. Fink started BlackRock with seven partners in 1988.

His big loss at First Boston inspired a subsequent focus on risk management at BlackRock.

"The greatest lesson for me was: know your risk," he told Crain's of his First Boston loss. "That was a major genesis for the formation of BlackRock. When we started the firm, we focused on risk management."

BlackRock went public in 1999, with shares priced at $14 in its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. The company also began selling its proprietary investment management system, Aladdin, that year.

The firm has made several big acquisitions under Fink's leadership.

Among them are BlackRock's acquisitions of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers in 2006 and Barclays Global Investors, with its iShares exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, in 2009. BlackRock today is the world's largest ETF issuer.

More recently, BlackRock announced plans this year to acquire private equity firm and infrastructure investor Global Infrastructure Partners for roughly $12.5 billion in cash and stock in its biggest deal since 2009.

The deal will create the second-biggest global infrastructure manager with more than $150 billion in assets, according to an internal memo Fink and BlackRock president Robert Kapito sent to employees that was seen by Business Insider.

"We believe this will be one of the fastest growing areas of our industry over the next 10 years," the memo read.

The Fed has enlisted BlackRock's help in key crises.

These include the 2008 financial crisis and the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Throughout his career, Fink has been a proponent of environmental, social, and corporate governance principles in business.

He has been vocal about the climate crisis, for example, writing in 2020 that "climate risk is investment risk," adding that "every government, company, and shareholder must confront climate change."

Fink, however, no longer uses the term "ESG," saying it's become "weaponized" in politics and "misused by the far left and the far right."

Fink has been hit with criticism from both sides of the political spectrum in recent years.

Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called Fink "king of the woke industrial complex, the ESG movement, the CEO of BlackRock, the most powerful company in the world," at the fourth Republican presidential debate in December.

In a response on LinkedIn, Fink noted BlackRock was accused of "pursuing an ideological agenda."

"The only agenda we have is delivering for our clients," he said. "Now I know why they call this the political silly season."

Fink also has critics on the political left. Climate activists, for example, have protested outside Fink's home and BlackRock's New York headquarters in recent years, calling for a divestment from fossil fuels.

Fink's annual letters have helped build his and BlackRock's influence and signal where he's focusing efforts.

In addition to his annual letter to investors, he also wrote an annual letter to CEOs for several years but has since stopped publishing the latter. Key figures in business and politics closely follow his yearly remarks.

Fink focused on retirement in his most recent letter to investors.

Today, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager.

BlackRock's assets under management hit a record $10.5 trillion in the first quarter of this year.

Fink's success at BlackRock has made him a billionaire.

Today, his net worth is estimated at $1.2 billion, according to Forbes.

Looking ahead, Fink said in 2023 that he wasn't planning to depart BlackRock "anytime soon."

Though he hasn't shared further specifics on when he aims to retire, he told The Wall Street Journal in May 2023 that he "would prefer to not be at BlackRock in his late 70s."

He added that he and Kapito have been training five possible contenders to succeed him as BlackRock's CEO. One of the five possible candidates, Salim Ramji, has since left the firm to become CEO of Vanguard.

• Tesla appears to have opened a nightclub at its Berlin Gigafactory.
• Elon Musk first floated the idea of a "mega rave cave" at the factory in a 2020 social media poll.
• Berliners have been mocking the club on social media.

Tesla seems to be embracing Berlin's club culture.

The company's Berlin Gigafactory appears to have opened its very own nightclub, according to social media posts.

Andre Thierig, a senior manufacturing director at the factory, shared a LinkedIn post about the new space called Hamster.

"Say hello to our newest 'facility' at Giga Berlin! Hamster is now alive," he said in the post. "Do you know any factory that has its own club? Party on!"

Thierig shared a video of the new club, which was also posted by a verified Tesla account on X.

The video shows what appears to be Tesla workers walking down an illuminated tunnel leading to a dark club with lights and DJ decks.

The video's soundtrack is a modern version of Richard Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra" — best known from its use in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey."

Tesla CEO Elon Musk first floated the idea of a club at the German factory four years ago. In a 2020 Twitter poll, the billionaire asked users to vote on whether the Berlin plant should have a "mega rave cave."

The world's richest person added the club would have "an epic sound system & woofers the size of a car."

Berliners have reacted skeptically to the new addition to the city's famous club scene.

One popular Instagram meme account, Berlinclubmemes, mocked the Tesla facility in a series of images. One suggested that Musk decided to open the Tesla club after being rejected from Berghain, one of Berlin's most exclusive clubs that is notoriously hard to get into.

It's unclear if Musk has ever visited the famous club, but he once posted on X about being outside and refusing to enter.

Tesla's Berlin factory, which opened in 2022, manufactures battery cells and has a capacity for about 375,000 Model Y cars annually. The factory is located about 22 miles southeast of central Berlin.

Representatives for Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• YouTuber Lamar MK was barely able to drive his Cybertruck because of a host of glitches.
• He got Tesla to replace it with a new one, which also broke within weeks.
• Despite this, he told Business Insider he still loves the pickup, calling it his "dream car." 

Tesla's Cybertruck hasn't had a very smooth rollout — but one owner has had more issues than most.

Lamar MK, who runs a YouTube channel covering Tesla and EVs, told Business Insider that the futuristic pickup was still his "dream car," even though he has been barely able to drive it after both his original Cybertruck and the replacement provided by Tesla were hit with a huge number of issues.

Lamar, who is a Tesla shareholder but declined to say how many shares he owns, had his Foundation Series Cybertruck, which typically sells for over $100,000, delivered on March 14.

"It was love at first sight," said Lamar, who did not wish to provide his full name but goes by Lamar MK on YouTube. "My family didn't love it at first, but after they saw it in person, they actually came around."

Shortly afterward, the problems began. While driving to film a YouTube video, warning lights began to flicker on the Cybertruck's 18-inch central screen, forcing Lamar to pull over.

"The truck just started to flash with this red screen, and it was totally devastating. It was just like, oh my god, what's happening?" he said. "As soon as we pulled over, the truck just completely shut down."

The issue — which Lamar said involved the truck's wiring — kept the Cybertruck in the repair shop for nearly three weeks.

It was quickly followed by several other faults, including an unsettling loud noise while driving and the Cybertruck refusing to hold a charge when he took it on a road trip.

"For the entire two months of having the truck, I only drove it for barely a week," he said.

"It's still my dream car. When it works, it works. Driving it is the best experience you'll ever have. But when it doesn't work, it really sucks," he added.

In a reaction video posted on his YouTube channel after receiving his Cybertruck, Lamar said the pickup's "steer-by-wire" system, which means there's no mechanical connection between the steering wheel and the wheels, made driving it more intuitive.

He also described the Cybertruck as being "like a tank" and told BI it brought back memories of driving heavy equipment vehicles during his time in the military.

Eventually, he got Tesla to replace his broken Cybertruck with a new vehicle, which he coated in a blue and yellow wrap to add more of a personal touch. However, he only had the new pickup for a matter of weeks before things began to go wrong again.

After parking it in the garage and charging it, Lamar says he came back to find the new Cybertruck completely unresponsive and inaccessible.

"I spoke with Tesla roadside service, they said they couldn't even access the vehicle. It was just completely offline to them. It was like a giant brick in my garage," he said.

Once again, he had to have his Cybertruck towed to the Tesla service center, where service technicians managed to regain access to the compartment in the hood of the vehicle by drilling a hole below it.

'Am I cursed?'

Lamar's Cybertruck isn't the only one to report problems since the futuristic pickup began deliveries last November.

In April, Tesla recalled nearly 4,000 Cybertrucks over fears the accelerator pedal could jam open. Last month, the automaker issued separate recalls for over 11,000 Cybertrucks due to problems with the windshield wiper and a part of the truck bed that could come loose and fly off.

Lamar's Cybertruck is now working again, and despite all the issues, he says he has no regrets about buying his Cybertruck in the first place, describing it as his "dream car."

"I still don't have any regrets because it's something that I really wanted; it's so revolutionary. I know once they fix the issue, that issue won't arise again," he said.

"I just hope in the future, no more problems creep up. At this point, I'm really wondering; am I cursed?" he added.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

Do you own a Cybertruck or have a tip? Get in touch with this reporter via email at tcarter@businessinsider.com.