Category: Business Insider

• Gen Z's 'decisive decade' of 14 to 24 years can significantly impact their socioeconomic future.
• Educational attainment and mental health can shape young adults' fortunes.
• Gen Zers outcomes also depend on factors like family income level, gender, and race.

Gen Zers are in their teenage and young adult years and it'll shape their fortunes for decades to come.

The generation — who are between the ages of 12 and 27 according to the Pew Research Center's definition — grew up alongside evolving technology, major elections, and the pandemic. Now, they are getting driver's licenses, attending graduation ceremonies, decorating first apartments, and starting new jobs.

The ages of 14 to 24, specifically, are what researchers are calling the "decisive decade." According to an April report from the Brookings Institution, Gen Zers' life circumstances during those years can have significant impacts on their socioeconomic future.

America is already seeing a split among Gen Zers — those who are getting degrees and beginning careers, and "disconnected youth" who are not enrolled in school or working, a cohort that includes about 14% of 18-to-24-year-olds.

Many young people are feeling anxious about adulthood. And there are three key reasons Gen Zers' decisive decade will shape their ongoing mental and financial health.

Education has a major impact on future employment

Educational attainment will inform Gen Zers' future income levels, the Brookings report found, because college graduates tend to land higher-paying jobs.

Based on data from the Census Bureau's Annual Social and Economic Supplement, the report looked at Americans' education and employment milestones between ages 14 and 24.

Just 31% of young people had a bachelor's degree or higher by age 24, while 58% worked full time between 2015 and 2019, even before the pandemic disrupted work and school patterns for millions of Americans. The researchers also noted that about there were about 2.5 million fewer high school graduates enrolled in college in 2022 compared to 2010.

This growing disconnection with education and the workforce correlates to future income. Urban Institute, a research firm, found that a 10% increase in the share of time a young adult spends disconnected is associated with a $7,000 – $9,000 decrease in family income by the time they turn 30.

"If we empower more young people who have within their own lives, they're quite capable of making strong decisions within this period that can have lifelong benefit," Ian Rowe, a senior fellow at the nonprofit policy research firm American Enterprise Institute, said at an April 29 Brookings event.

Continued education has other benefits too, researchers found: lower rates of teen pregnancy, substance abuse, homelessness, and criminal justice involvement, as well as improved mental health levels.

Unhappiness can shape long-term mental health

Gen Zer's mental health outcomes are shaped by their involvement in school and work, Brookings researchers said. And, the generation is increasingly feeling the weight of isolation and financial stress.

At work, many Gen Zers are struggling with anxiety, work-life balance, and burnout — more so than millennials, Gen X, and boomers. Unhappiness and social isolation are especially affecting Gen Zers who reached adolescence during the pandemic. And it's hurting their happiness levels.

In the 2024 World Happiness Report, young adults in the US reported some of the lowest levels of life satisfaction in years, ranking 62nd out of 143 countries for people under 30.

"Happiness, well-being and greater mental health is predictive of a whole bunch of positive outcomes," Lara Aknin, an editor at the World Happiness Report, said at the Brookings event. "Graduating from high school is a meaningful milestone, but it's also satisfaction with your relationship and earnings later on."

Additionally, Brookings found that more young people are living with their parents than previous generations. This trend tends to alleviate some mental health risks and reduce adult poverty levels.

Gen Zers' choice to live in multigenerational households is also a strategy to alleviate financial stress, especially as many young people face staggering student loan costs, rising home prices, and growing inflation levels. 40% of young adults living with their parents cite financial reasons, per 2022 Pew Research Center data.

Not all Gen Zers start on equal footing

To be sure, Gen Zers' education, work, and financial outcomes are also dependent on their life circumstances in childhood. Brookings researchers reported that family income level, gender, and race can also determine young people's futures.

Students who come from low-income backgrounds are less likely to enroll in college, the report found: 89% of students who grew up in the top income quintile enroll in higher education, compared with 51% of those from lowest income quintile.

21-year-olds from top-quintile families are also twice as likely to have met major milestones like graduating from high school and being enrolled in college than those from bottom-quintile families.

These trends also vary depending on a young adult's gender and race, researchers said. Women who are disconnected during their "decisive" ages of 16 to 24 are four times more likely to become young mothers than those who are working or enrolled in school.

Black and Hispanic young adults are also more likely to be disconnected. About a fifth of Black and Hispanic 24-year-olds aren't working or employed, compared to 14% of white and Asian 24-year-olds, the report found.

Are you a Gen Zer who isn't employed or enrolled in school? Are you a parent of disconnected youths? Reach out to this reporter at allisonkelly@insider.com.

• Tesla sent out another round of layoff notices on Sunday night, impacted workers wrote on social media.
• Elon Musk told staff Tesla planned to cut more than 10% of its workforce last month.
• Tesla has continued to cut more workers over the past few weeks.

Elon Musk continues to cut deeper at Tesla. The company sent out another round of layoff notices on Sunday night, according to impacted workers who posted about the cuts on social media.

The latest round of cuts mean that employees at the company are entering their fourth straight week of layoff notices. At least seven Tesla workers took to LinkedIn to say they'd received layoff notices on Sunday.

"After watching my team gradually slimmed down week after week since mid-April, I received the dreaded 'Hello Employee' email this Sunday afternoon," one Tesla worker wrote on LinkedIn.

Another worker shared a screenshot of her layoff email on LinkedIn that showed her last day of work would be May 5.

A spokesperson for Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment ahead of publication.

Workers at the carmaker previously told Business Insider the continual waves of layoff notices had left them on edge, with many looking for opportunities outside of the company.

"I keep waiting for Elon to send another email and tell us they're finally done firing people," one current Tesla worker, who requested anonymity to speak on the conditions of their employment, said. "We need some level of closure or a sign that we can stop worrying about losing our jobs."

Since Elon Musk first announced that Tesla was slashing more than 10% of its workforce on April 14, workers have continued to get layoff notices in waves. At the time, Musk said the cuts were due to a "duplication of roles and job functions in certain areas," according to a screenshot of the April email that was viewed by BI. Within hours of that memo, the company began notifying impacted employees that they'd been terminated. But, some employees did not learn there role had been eliminated until they attempted to badge into a Tesla facility.

In the weeks that followed Tesla workforce reductions have hit different teams — from recruiters and the marketing team to Tesla's Supercharging team. Some Tesla recruiters were laid off, BI first reported.

Musk reportedly told executives last week that the company had to become "absolutely hard core about headcount."

Musk has fewer Tesla executives now too

At least six executives have departed the company over the past month.

The same day Tesla announced its initial round of cuts two executives resigned from the company. SVP of powertrain and electrical engineering Drew Baglino and VP of public policy and business development Rohan Patel said on X they had left Tesla as of Sunday. At the time, Patel told TechCrunch he'd decided to leave the due to big "overall changes" at Tesla. The reshuffling left Musk overseeing 35 direct reports, according to a report from The Information.

Ahead of the cuts, Tesla employed over 140,000 workers globally. Notices that Tesla has filed via the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act show that the company has already eliminated thousands of workers at its sites in California and Texas.

The recent round of layoffs comes at a time when Tesla is facing slower demand for its electric cars. The carmaker reported lower-than-expected delivery numbers in April.

Do you work for Tesla or have a tip? Reach out to the reporter via a non-work email and device at gkay@businessinsider.com or via Signal at 248-894-6012

• The Fed pushing out its timeline for rate cuts could spark an economic crash, State Street's Marija Veitmane said. 
• Tight monetary policy could lead the US into a "no landing" scenario before a downturn, she warned.
• But the Fed doesn't look poised to cut interest rates soon as it keeps an eye on inflation.

The economy is bound to enter a downturn if the Federal Reserve delays cutting interest rates, according to Marija Veitmane, the head of equity research at State Street Global Markets.

The Wall Street vet warned of an impending economic crash if the Fed doesn't ease monetary policy soon. Higher interest rates are already taking a toll on economic strength, she noted, even if growth numbers looked fine last quarter. 

"Delaying cuts has real economic impact. So even though for now we're kind of staying on a level path, not cutting interest rates can create economic problems down the line," Veitmane said to CNBC on Monday, predicting the economy would see a "no landing then a crash."

"I think that's a quite likely economic outlook in our opinion," she warned.

Investors have been keeping up hope for to the prospect of "no landing," a best-case scenario where inflation falls while growth remains robust.

But the economy is already showing signs of strain from the burden of elevated interest rates, Veitmane warned. Companies, for one, are being slammed with higher debt refinancing costs, with AAA long-term corporate bond yields rising to 5.28% in April, according to Moody's data. 

Higher borrowing costs are also weighing on consumers. Commercial bank rates on credit cards rose to 21.6% in February, the highest in at least 30 years, according to Fed data.

Retail spending also appears to be on the decline as Americans are "really pinching pennies," Veitmane said. She pointed to corporate earnings reports from consumer-heavy companies like Starbucks, which just posted its "weakest" quarterly performance, barring the pandemic and the 2008 Recession, according to one Wall Street analyst.

"We increasingly begin to hear about things breaking down," Veitmane said.

Economists have long warned that high interest rates risk could tip the economy into a recession, though GDP growth and the job market remain rock-solid for now. But the Fed isn't expected to ease monetary policy anytime soon, as central bankers still have concerns about the pace of inflation. 

Markets are largely expecting the Fed to keep interest rates level at its next policy meeting. Most investors are pricing in just one or two rate cuts for the year, according to the CME FedWatch tool, down from six at the beginning of the year. 

Former President Donald Trump isn't completely ready to abandon South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem amid the uproar over her disclosure that she killed her 14-month-old dog named Cricket decades ago.

Trump effusively praised Noem and other potential vice presidential picks during a closely watched Mar-a-Lago fundraiser over the weekend, according to audio of the private event obtained by Axios.

"Somebody that I love," Trump said of Noem. "She's been with me, a supporter of mine and I've been a supporter of hers for a long time."

Noem had long been viewed as a potential Trump running mate before her disclosure in a forthcoming autobiography about her decision decades ago to kill her family's dog. Since then, the South Dakota Republican's political stock has cratered. Noem has refused to back down from her description of the incident, even arguing that President Joe Biden should treat his dog Commander, who has had many biting incidents, similarly.

Some Republicans have described Noem as toast amid the uproar.

Decades ago, Noem wrote that she killed Cricket after she decided that the dog was untrainable and overly aggressive.

Noem on Sunday tried to defend her memoir, including its inaccurate claim that she met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a combative interview on CBS' "Face the Nation." She also reiterated that killing Cricket illustrates that she won't avoid hard choices.

"The reason that this story is in the book because people need to understand who I am and some of those difficult decisions," Noem told host Margaret Brennan.

• Peter Gray, 35, from the UK, was jailed in February after scamming three women out of over $100,000.
• The man met his victims on Tinder and took out loans in their names without their knowledge.
• "He was just so good at being the person that you wanted him to be," one of the victims said.

The victims of a romance scammer who defrauded women he met on Tinder out of over $100,000 have spoken out about being targeted.

Peter Gray, 35, from Yorkshire, UK, found his victims on Tinder and won their trust, BBC News reported. He was sentenced to 56 months in prison in February.

Romance scams have boomed since the onset of the pandemic, with Americans losing over $1.3 billion to the practice in 2022, up 164% from 2019, Business Insider previously reported. Some 70,000 people in the US reported being a victim of a romance scam in 2022, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

In the UK, over £92 million (about $115 million) was lost to romance scams in the same year, according to data from the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau.

Gray used information from driving licenses to scam Tinder dates

"It was shocking," a sister of one of Gray's victims told BBC News. "You see these things happening on TV. You never believe it's going to happen to you, but believe me, it can."

Gray engaged in this behavior for several years. In 2018, he matched with a woman BBC News identified as Jessica. On their third date, Jessica went to Gray's apartment and used the bathroom.

She told BBC News: "I left my bag on his dining table, he went in my bag and took pictures of my driving license and both my bank cards,"

A few weeks later, Jessica found out Gray had taken out £1,000 ($1,250) from her bank account and a £9,000 loan (about $11,000).

Something similar happened to a woman identified only as Hannah, who had only been seeing Gray for a week when she realized a loan for £20,000 (about $25,000) had been taken out in her name.

When Gray showered her with gifts and love declarations — in what has echoes of love bombing — the two got back together.

Hannah ended up falling pregnant with Gray's baby without knowing his history. Hannah learned more about Gray when her sister tracked down of his ex-partners and had a conversation with her.

"There's no way that I'm going to let a child be brought up anywhere near such a vile human," Hannah said. "My world had just literally broken apart in front of my eyes in that half an hour conversation."

The third victim, identified as Elizabeth, began dating Gray in 2020.

Gray sent her flowers despite her never telling him her address, and she later found out that he had taken a loan out for £10,000 (over $12,000) using information he obtained from her driver's license.

"You question yourself and your judgment, and it's like, why didn't I listen to my gut?" Elizabeth said. "He was just so good at being the person that you wanted him to be."

In an article on its website, Tinder shares tips on how users can protect themselves from romance scammers, including using reverse image search to check if matches are genuine, never sending money online, and making sure that people have verified their identity — a new tool the app recently introduced in an attempt to clamp down on scams.

Tinder did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, but a spokesperson told BBC News that it "acts to help prevent and warn users of potential scams or fraud by using AI tools to detect words and phrases and proactively intervene."

The spokesperson added: "We have implemented various ways to warn users of potential scams or fraud, from in-app features to pop-up messages and education."

• Judge Juan Merchan hit Trump with his 10th gag order violation Monday, along with a warning of jail. 
• Merely fining Trump $1,000 per violation has not been a sufficient deterrent, the judge said.
• "Therefore, going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction," he said.

Next time, it could be jail.

The judge in Donald Trump's New York hush-money trial on Monday found the former president has violated his gag order a tenth time — and warned that another violation could put him in jail.

"It appears the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent," state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan told Trump, addressing him directly as "Mr. Trump."

"Therefore, going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction," the judge warned.

"The last thing I want to do is put you in jail," Merchan added. "You are the former president of the United States. And you may be the next president as well."

The logistics for incarcerating Trump would be monumental, involving court officers, corrections officers, and Secret Service agents, the judge noted.

"The magnitude of such a decision is not lost on me," the judge said.

"But at the end of the day, I have a job to do," he said.

Trump's gag order violations — the most recent one involved statements he made to reporters — constitute "a direct attack on the rule of law," the judge said.

"I cannot allow that to continue. So as much as I do not want to impose a jail sanction, and I have tried everything to avoid doing so, I want you to know that I will," if appropriate, he said.

The stern warning came first thing Monday morning, before the start of the third week of testimony in the GOP frontrunner's ongoing Manhattan trial on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

• Columbia has canceled its main commencement event in the wake of campus protests.
• The school said it'll focus on smaller ceremonies and relocate festivities away from the South Lawn.
• Protests over Israel's war in Gaza led to dozens of arrests

Columbia is canceling its main commencement event in the aftermath of protests against Israel's war in Gaza that roiled the campus and ended in dozens of arrests.

Rather than the university-wide event previously scheduled for May 15, Columbia will instead focus on school-level ceremonies — where students are individually honored — and Class Days, it said.

Ceremonies were previously scheduled for the Ivy League university's South Lawn where pro-Palestinian demonstrators had set up a camp. Now, a majority of the commencements will be held at the Baker Athletics Complex, Columbia said.

Columbia said it came to the decision based on feedback from students, and the changes would not impact travel plans for families.

"Our students emphasized that these smaller-scale, school-based celebrations are most meaningful to them and their families," the university said in a statement."

Still, Columbia is "looking at the possibility of a festive event on May 15 to take the place of the large, formal ceremony."

The university said it would share more info in the coming days.

The protesters had demanded Columbia divest from Israel and companies tied to the country. But the demonstrations sparked unrest on campus, where Jewish leaders accused protesters of shouting hateful rhetoric at Jewish students.

The outrage sparked calls for the university's president to resign and led major donor Robert Kraft to pull his support for the school.

The demonstrations lasted roughly two weeks before the NYPD was called in, breaking up the encampment and arresting protesters who had taken over a campus building.

• This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Welcome back! The stars will be out at the Met Gala in New York today. But something shines even brighter than the attendees: their incredibly expensive jewelry.

In today's big story, we're looking at people who feel like a middle-class salary doesn't equal a middle-class lifestyle. 

What's on deck:

• Markets: All the best bits from Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting.

• Tech: Our annual list of the 100 best early-stage investors. 

• Business: How Workday became the most loathed workplace software on the planet.

But first, six figures ain't what it used to be.

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The big story

Middle-class meltdown

"Lately, I'm getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over." 

It's been 25 years since Tony Soprano bemoaned his life in the opening scene of "The Sopranos." A quarter-century later, plenty of Americans feel the same about the middle class.

Business Insider's Jennifer Sor has a report on the people making over six figures who think the middle-class lifestyle they dreamed of isn't realistic for their salary. Take Vincent, a 29-year-old medical sales rep who makes $130,000 a year but feels big-ticket items like a home or a car are out of reach. 

The middle class's obituary has been written before. In 2015, the Pew Research Center noted that middle-income households were losing ground.

Still, it's gotten even harder. Owning a home, a key piece of middle-class life, has become impossible for many. According to a recent report from Zillow, homebuyers need to earn 80% more than before the pandemic.

It's not just life-changing purchases, though. Stubborn inflation has made daily purchases — even something as simple as fast food — a burden. And good luck trying to climb the corporate ladder to get a better-paying job. They aren't hiring. 

Let's address the elephant in the room: A six-figure salary is still a lot of money.

What might seem disappointing for some would be a godsend to those barely getting by.

Location plays a huge factor. The aforementioned Vincent lives in Santa Barbara, California, one of the more expensive cities in one of the most expensive states. 

So why not live in a city with a more affordable cost of living?

Relocating is easier said than done. Cities with higher costs of living tend to have more job opportunities and better jobs. (Although, that's changing.) And even if you're lucky enough to nab a fully remote job — again, good luck — moving away from a big city could cost you in the long run.

Perception, though, is just as detrimental as reality for some. It's always been easy to believe the grass is greener on the other side, but now you can see it 20 times a day across social media. 

Constantly seeing how well others appear to be doing can make it a lot easier to feel bad about your own status. It's why people love hanging out with friends who they think make less than them.

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News brief

Your Monday headline catchup

A quick recap of the top news from over the weekend:

• Jon Stewart says Biden is so old he 'shouldn't be president.'

• There's a messy battle over AI going on in DC — and there's no end in sight.

• Tech titans love Modi's economic powerhouse India — despite mass unemployment and abject poverty.

• Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos hang out with celebrities in Miami during the F1 Grand Prix weekend.

• America's big stagflation scare is over.

• Meta employees say internal posts on support for Palestinians have been 'censored,' in an open letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

• A YouTuber let the Cybertruck frunk close on his finger to test the new sensor update. It didn't go well.

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3 things in markets

1. Investors' summer vacations may be canceled. Thanks to higher inflation and stock market volatility, Wall Street workers' dreams of a summer in the Hamptons may be put on ice.

2. Nvidia is dominating earnings season — and it hasn't even reported yet. The chip-maker has been mentioned, both directly and indirectly, in several mega-cap tech companies' earnings calls this spring. Words like "AI Infrastructure" and "generative AI" point to more money heading to Nvidia for its popular H100 GPU chip.

3.  Warren Buffett raised the alarm on AI. During Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting on Saturday, Buffett likened AI to the atom bomb, saying the world has let the "genie out of the bottle." He also made jokes about his age and expressed thoughts about how the company would move forward without him.

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3 things in tech

1. The Seed 100: The best early-stage investors of 2024. Behind most startup founders is an investor who saw their potential, nurtured their ambition, and backed their ideas. Now in its fourth year, our list celebrates these figures, from OpenAI's Sam Altman to Verge Genomics' Alice Zhang. Plus, we're also highlighting the top 40 women early-stage investors, including Serena Ventures' Serena Williams and Array Ventures' Shruti Gandhi.

2. The EV market isn't in peril — it's just changing. The industry is going through its biggest change yet, but that doesn't mean it's all bad news. Despite what it may feel like, demand for EVs hasn't dried up entirely, and legacy car companies aren't going to give up on them yet.

3. Jack Dorsey is no longer at Bluesky. Amid a posting frenzy on X — where Dorsey was spilling tea all over the platform — Dorsey announced that he left Bluesky, the Twitter offshoot he helped get off the ground

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3 things in business

1. WorkDay is the worst part of many workers' workdays. It's supposed to make everyone's lives easier, but job candidates, employees, and HR people say WorkDay does the opposite. Despite its near-universal hatred, more than half of the Fortune 500 companies continue to use it — and the reality is that its pros outweigh the cons.

2. The days of McDonald's dollar menu are long gone. Fast-food prices have shot up since the start of the pandemic, and people are sick of it — they're placing smaller orders or opting to cook at home instead. Grocery inflation cooling off, soaring wages, and more are to blame for rising prices.

3. We need to talk about whatever's happening with Starbucks' drinks. Iced Lavender Oatmilk Matcha, anyone? BI's Katie Notopoulos was left befuddled by the wacky, multi-ingredient sweet drinks now on offer at Starbucks, but she noted that the rise of complicated concoctions has coincided with the rise in popularity of the Starbucks app. 

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What's happening today

• This year's Pulitzer Prize winners will be announced.

• Tonight is the Met Gala.

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The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, editor, in London. George Glover, reporter, in London. Grace Lett, associate editor, in Chicago.

• Debra Crockett decided to retire early eight years ago and moved from the US to Turkey.
• Her Social Security checks are enough to cover her basic monthly expenses given the strength of the US dollar.
• She said moving abroad was the best financial decision she made for her retirement.

Eight years ago, Debra Crockett decided it was time for a change.

She and her then-husband were doing well in the US. They were earning decent wages, owned a home, and had a couple of cars, but after working her whole life — most recently as a director of retail sales — she decided she was ready to see the world.

To make that happen, Crockett retired a few years ahead of schedule, collected early Social Security, and sold her house, cars, and most of her other valuable belongings. Using the housesitting platform Trusted Housesitters, Crockett could live in local homes in her desired travel destinations without having to pay for housing.

When her 90-day visa expired in Europe, Crockett set her sights on Turkey, and she's been there ever since.

"I live here for next to nothing," Crockett told Business Insider.

BI reviewed documents verifying Crockett's expenses. When converted to US dollars, her rent is $463 a month, her electric bills are $25 a month, her water bill is just over $1 a month, and her internet is just over $11 a month.

Even with the nearly $200 it takes to renew her residency in Turkey each year, her Social Security check is $2,929 a month, verified by BI, which is more than enough to cover her basic expenses.

"It's ridiculous to think that you have to have millions or hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank to survive. I live totally on my Social Security," she said. "I have other funds, but I use those mainly for traveling expenses. I don't have any bills. I paid everything off when I left the US, and I keep a daily report of everything I spend."

By keeping daily notes of her expenses, Crockett can easily detect if she goes over her budget one month, allowing her to adjust her spending for the next month. She also said that one of her biggest expenses in the US was her healthcare — something that she has found is also much more affordable in Turkey.

Crockett is among many Americans who became expats over the past few years, moving from the US to a location abroad with the hopes of living a better, cheaper life. Older Americans, in particular, are benefitting from more affordable bills as the US faces a looming retirement crisis, and many boomers feel like they do not have sufficient savings to retire on time — or at all.

Of course, moving abroad has its challenges, requiring funds to travel and the ability to leave friends and relatives behind. But Crockett said it was important to her that she didn't spend the entire second half of her life working, and it's allowed her to make the most out of her retirement.

"We work all our lives from high-powered jobs to blue-collar jobs. It really doesn't matter. We all work hard and we get maybe a few years of retirement," Crockett said. "That just doesn't seem like it's worth it. So if you can, just sell it all. It's only things, and you can replace it with beautiful memories in the future."

'I'm living a great life on limited expenditures'

Crockett rents her apartment to allow her the freedom to get up and move if she choose, but for now she plans to remain in Turkey. Notably, the Turkish economy is struggling — in March, the country hiked interest rates to 50% to fight "higher than expected" inflation that has burdened Turkish citizens.

American expats don't feel the same financial pressures, though, because the Turkish Lira has weakened against the US dollar, allowing American cash to go much further.

"I'm living a great life on limited expenditures," Crockett said.

"There is a huge expat community here, so there's never a language issue at all," she continued. "You can go down to the beach and just sit with a glass of wine and look at the beautiful scenery, or you can be more adventuresome. There's walking groups, there's jogging groups, there's knitting groups, there's yoga, there's something for everyone here."

BI has previously spoken to retirees in the US who are facing severe financial strains. One 63-year-old said that she doesn't see her Social Security keeping her afloat due to the lingering impacts of the pandemic, which caused her to lose her job and run through her savings.

"I know so many people my age that just don't know what they're going to do," she said. "Other countries take care of their older people, and we should be able to do it, too."

Crockett said that living in Turkey has given her so much financial relief that she doesn't see money being an issue for her as long as she remains abroad. She contributes to the community financially through donations as often as she can, and she said she's grateful for the welcoming atmosphere that greeted her upon her arrival.

"It's eye-opening," she said. "It's an amazing, fulfilling experience to wake up in a country where you know absolutely no one, and you have to rely on your skills of communication, intuition, your skills of just being able to survive. And it's so fulfilling and so rewarding."

Are you living abroad? Did moving improve your quality of life or do you want to return to the US? Share your story with this reporter at asheffey@businessinsider.com.

• Walmart primarily focuses on delivering ultra-low prices, which sometimes means lower quality.
• However, the retailer plans to stock more premium items to attract wealthier shoppers.
• I visited Walmart to see which fancy brands and products it already carries.

There's a reason "Save money" comes before "Live better" in Walmart's well-worn motto.

The Bentonville-based retail giant's primary focus since day one has been to drive down costs and offer rock-bottom prices. Before 2007, its motto was "Always low prices."

The strategy has served it well, even if there are sometimes necessary compromises regarding product quality.

But in recent years, the company has taken steps to shake the characterization of cheapness in favor of value, part of a larger push to attract higher-income shoppers with the sort of products and brands you'd see at Target or Whole Foods.

And now, with the announcement this week of its upscale Bettergoods private label grocery brand, Walmart is leaning more into the second half of its slogan.

Before the new products hit shelves, I visited my local Supercenter to see what premium items the retailer already carries.