Category: Business Insider

• Tony Fernandes, CEO of UEGroup, managed his company from a cruise ship for 21 days.
• Fernandes experienced challenges with slow internet and communication but found workable solutions.
• Despite the hurdles, he finds value in being offline at times and plans to continue cruising.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Tony Fernandes, a 60-year-old founder and CEO of UEGroup based in San Francisco, about his experience working remotely on a cruise ship. It's been edited for length and clarity.

My wife and I are in the post-kid, post-pet phase of our lives. Our kids have gone off to college and we had a beloved dog and house rabbits that have passed away. After they passed, that really opened up a window for us to travel — and we did — but extended travel is new for us.

In November, I embarked on a trip where I spent several weeks leading my company from a cruise ship with my wife. We ultimately circumnavigated the globe on two different cruises and with air travel. Leaving California, we went through Europe, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan.

It's been a cool experience. But I found that while working on the ship, you do need some discipline — especially on a 21-day cruise.

You have to create a time for work and a time for play

We didn't realize it, but when we upgraded our internet, it upgraded our drinks package. So, it turned out we could get bottles of Moët & Chandon Champagne for free.

We had a couple of lunches and dinners where we enjoyed Champagne, but we also developed a rhythm where we had work time and playtime. It wasn't rigid — but there were times when my wife, who does finance at UEGroup, and I knew we had to get things done.

Working can set you apart from people who are on vacation. That doesn't mean you can't work in your bathing suit or have a beer before you start your work, but it puts you on a slightly different footing than some of the other people on the cruise.

Expect very slow internet service

One thing I didn't realize prior to the trip was that the cruise ship had only one satellite connection shared by thousands of people. The internet was oppressively slow at times.

For our next long trip, I'm looking into getting a data satellite phone so I can put an antenna on my patio facing the right direction for the satellite. I've still got to figure it out, but there were times when it was really important for us to communicate, and we couldn't.

We're now very mistrustful of statements the cruise lines make about the quality of their internet. For example, we upgraded our Internet, but it turned out the cruise line's definition of upgrading was that we could have more than one device, not that there was any better speed or reliability. You've got to read the fine print about how they define an upgrade.

I would also recommend asking what kind of download and upload speeds to expect.

Create a backup plan for meetings and other communication challenges

Internet access can be unpredictable even with research and planning ahead, so we had backup people for important meetings back at the office. If we weren't able to show up, there was someone prepared with the slide deck. I can't say it didn't create awkward moments at times — and it is one of the downsides — but you can plan for it the best you can.

When my wife was dealing with a bank and needed to get a two-factor authentication code without working SMS, there wasn't much she could do. So, that was a challenge as well.

At some points, I was forced to go ashore and buy SIM cards to leverage local cell service, but this requires research. Depending on the country there might only be one cellphone service that works there, or you might be able to get SIM card brands that work for a larger area.

Being offline can end up being a good thing

I find it hard to be offline, but because the connectivity was so bad sometimes, it just forced it to happen. We were in the middle of nowhere, and it wasn't going to change. In a way, being offline was good because I could just tune out.

My wife and I plan to cruise more in the future and even recently bought a home in Portugal near a cruise port that we're going to commute to using cruises as much as possible.

When we did the math, taking a cruise from California to Portugal was less than two business-class air travel tickets. Plus, you get meals, entertainment, and no jet lag — it seems like the way to go.

If you live or work on a cruise ship and would like to share your story, please email mlogan@businessinsider.com.

• How much money people need in retirement isn’t one defined answer — it really depends.
• While some workers think they’ll need $1.5 million or more, many don’t have nearly that much.
• And while some retirees rely on Social Security, those benefits may not be paid in full in just 10 or so years.

What’s your magic number for retirement? Many Americans don’t know, and it’s getting even harder to calculate — especially as Social Security is poised to start reducing benefits in just about a decade.

But those who do calculate it are upping their savings. According to a press release about the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s recent 2024 Retirement Confidence Survey conducted in January with Greenwald Research and with a sample of 1,255 workers and 1,266 retirees, half “of Americans have tried to calculate how much money they will need in retirement.”

“In reaction to their calculation, 52% of workers and 44% of retirees started to save more,” the press release stated.

A third of respondents who are working and had attempted to calculate their retirement needs think they’ll need $1.5 million or more in retirement.

Similarly, an AARP Financial Security Trends Survey conducted in January showed over a quarter of people aged 50 and over think they will need to save $1 million or more to feel financially secure in retirement.

That’s quite a bit more than what workers actually have in savings.

A third of workers in the EBRI and Greenwald Research survey have less than $50,000 in savings and investments. And while they could use that for retirement, there’s always the chance they’ll have to dip into those savings for other unexpected costs.

So how can you calculate what might be right for you?

Craig Copeland, director of Wealth Benefits Research at the Employee Benefit Research Institute, told Business Insider that there isn’t just one correct number for retirement savings because it depends on different factors for each individual, such as where they live and their lifestyle.

In addition, Americans looking toward retirement could see unexpected inflation like we saw in the last few years or a similarly unpredictable stock market. Finally, Social Security is facing a decline in payouts in just over a decade. It all adds up to a lot of confusion and fear about Americans’ golden years.

“That number is all over the place,” Copeland said, referring to how much people are going to need in retirement savings. “Some people use a multiple of their salary; some have suggested that you need 10 times your salary in assets. That’s sometimes where someone has a six-figure income, you’d expect to have a million dollars.”

Social Security’s uncertainty and inflation add to complications

Social Security is also a key contributor toward financial comfort in retirement. According to the survey, 88% of workers expect Social Security to be an income source in retirement, with 91% of retirees confirming that sentiment, reporting the federal benefit as one of their income sources.

Those relying on Social Security just got some new information on the fate of the program — the latest Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees report found that the program will not be able to pay out full benefits beginning in 2035, a year later than expected. While that offers a bit of breathing room for the funds and new retirees — who would start receiving 83% of the full benefits come 2035 — it could still be a major blow to workers’ prospects if Social Security goes unfunded.

“It will be devastating if people who already are facing very dire retirement prospects get less Social Security than they’re planning on. That would be devastating because, for too many people, Social Security provides the bulk of their income in retirement,” William Arnone, the CEO of the non-partisan National Academy of Social Insurance, told BI.

While people are likely going to need to rely on savings during retirement, some may also need to pick up some type of work as a retiree. Estimating how much you will need in retirement may be helpful, even long before retirement.

Copeland said people “need to be aware that that backup source isn’t always going to be there and that they need to think about making sure that they can get enough savings, that they have that buffer, because many people end up retiring before they expect to or may want to.” Copeland said that a health issue could be one of the reasons behind this earlier retirement.

Some workers think they will also have to work for pay in retirement: 75% of workers said so in the survey, including 40% who said part-time work and 24% who said seasonal or sporadic work. That’s compared to almost a third of retirees who said this, including 17% who said they have worked part time.

“Every adult in America deserves to retire with dignity and financial security,” Indira Venkateswaran, AARP senior vice president of research, said in a statement. “Yet far too many people lack access to retirement savings options and this, coupled with higher prices, is making it increasingly hard for people to choose when to retire.”

Still, the survey from EBRI and Greenwald Research found that “30% of retirees say their overall lifestyle in retirement is better than expected.” Almost half of retirees said they somewhat agree that they’re able to spend money how they want to now as a retiree, within reason.

That highlights the fact that calculating how much you’re going to actually need in retirement is complicated.

“We do see that the people that actually do a calculation become more confident and they start doing things that will get them in that direction,” Copeland said. “They’ll start saving more and they’ll start developing plans for what they’re doing. So it’s really a matter of getting people to really focus on what they need and start building a plan toward that.”

What do your retirement outlook and savings look like? Reach out to these reporters to share at mhoff@businessinsider.com, asheffey@businessinsider.com, and jkaplan@businessinsider.com.

• Karie Fugett bought a dilapidated house in Oregon to renovate and live in with her boyfriend.
• The renovations proved overwhelming and expensive, especially after Fugett became pregnant.
• She and her boyfriend moved to a family property in Alabama after the home became too burdensome.

In 2018, I fell in love with a 1200-square-foot dilapidated home. It sat on 22 acres atop a hill, hidden under overgrown bushes and trees. Ivy crept through the windows, and debris littered the yard. The kitchen and bathroom were gutted, and the smell of rats' nests was so strong I could hardly stand it. But with a little imagination, I could see its potential.

I'd discovered the listing only hours before seeing it. Affordable, buildable land in Oregon didn't stay on the market long — sometimes only a day. My boyfriend and I had been looking at properties for months and knew that if we were interested, we'd need to make an offer quickly.

We drove two hours from our home in Philomath to see it. On the way, I called the real-estate agent, who said she couldn't meet us but permitted us to hop the fence and look around.

The property was located in a town I'd never heard of with fewer than 1,000 residents

The house was less than 30 minutes from Eugene. The listing said it had a good foundation but a bad roof. It didn't have plumbing, but it did have electricity. There was a well, but they couldn't confirm whether it worked.

While I would've loved to find land with a livable home, I knew it wasn't within my budget, and I was prepared to live in a camper as we built one ourselves.

I had been sitting on some life insurance money I'd gotten after my Marine husband died of war wound complications. I'd spent the eight years since his death working toward a college degree and had spent over half of the money during that time.

At that point, I was 32 and wanted to invest what I had left in a forever home. The property was listed for $130,000. If I bought it in cash, I'd have another $25,000 for renovations. We'd probably need more money, but we planned to start there and do everything ourselves.

It was hard to see the house from the property

When we arrived, we took turns squeezing through a small gap in the fence. We walked a mile up a wooded driveway and stopped at what looked to be the house. It was difficult to tell. Blackberries had devoured the property.

I pushed into the home's front door, and it swung open. After admiring the living room, I walked up the stairs. At the end of a narrow hallway, I found a room I imagined could be turned into a writing space. One day, maybe, it could be a baby's nursery.

I knew this house would require a lot of work, but I thought I could turn it into my version of the American dream with enough determination. That night, I made an offer of $5,000 above the asking price.

Within a few hours, my offer was accepted. A few weeks later, we pulled our 25-foot camper trailer onto the land and began working.

The next two years were a whirlwind

We decided to pay a professional to put a roof on the house to prevent further water damage, but money was tight after that. We found used windows and planned to install doors ourselves. We got all the old drywall and paneling off of the walls, but we couldn't afford insulation and new drywall yet. We decided to keep the floor cement to save money.

The labor was overwhelming, especially while living in a cramped RV that didn't offer much relaxation at the end of the day. We didn't have running water for showers or baths. We had some help here and there but struggled to find reliable help we could afford.

The pandemic came, and soon after that, I became pregnant. There were so many unknowns. My boyfriend was also working a full-time job but remained determined to keep the land as the well ran dry every afternoon, as the plumbing he'd run to the kitchen busted, and as the camper grew mold.

Meanwhile, I had morning sickness now, but I still had to carry the bucket we used as a toilet down the hill, often in the rain, to dump it in the woods. I wasn't as optimistic as he was.

Another housing opportunity came to us

My boyfriend's grandmother died in the fall of 2020 when I was seven months pregnant. After she passed, her property in Alabama — 60 acres with a modest, livable home — became vacant. My boyfriend's mother said it was ours to live in if we wanted it.

At that point, we'd lived in Oregon for four years and didn't plan on leaving, but I wondered if it might be easier to have grandparents around and to have a whole house to live in rather than a camper and a distant dream, even if the location was not our preference. I wanted to do what was best for my daughter, and I was tired.

In the meantime, we decided to get an apartment in Eugene. I couldn't tolerate the camper lifestyle anymore. The apartment was an unforeseen expense that made it even more difficult to renovate our home. All work on it stopped when my daughter was born.

I reached my breaking point

One afternoon I told my boyfriend I was ready to give up on renovating the home. I wanted a flushing toilet, a kitchen to cook meals in, and space for my baby to learn to walk.

I'd come to the property hopeful after seeing other families DIY their own homes on social media, but renovating a home was one of the most difficult things I've ever attempted. I realized it's nearly impossible without a lot of money, a community of people to help, or both.

That Christmas, we flew to Alabama so I could look at his grandmother's house and decide whether I could imagine raising a family in it. A week later, my boyfriend flew back to Oregon alone to pack our things while I prepared our new home. I listed the property in Oregon, and we sold our camper.

I got lucky with the sale

The silver lining was that housing prices had skyrocketed since I'd purchased the property. It sold within half a year for $295,000, more than double what I paid for it. While it was a good investment, and I don't regret doing it, I will never take on such a huge renovation project again.

Ultimately, no matter how hard I tugged on my bootstraps, I couldn't build that American dream for myself. Instead, I'm lucky to have my boyfriend's family's generational wealth to lean on — something I don't have in my own family.

Though we're stuck in a state whose politics don't quite align with ours, we're grateful to have a home with loving grandparents nearby. We're not sure what we'll do next, but I know we won't be buying another fixer-upper.

• Apple launched its latest line of iPads on May 7, 2024.
• But an ad for the iPad Pro has been slammed online for its visuals and message.
• Artistic tools like a piano and turntable were crushed by a hydraulic press in the commercial. 

Apple sure got people to start paying attention to its latest iPads.

The tech giant unveiled its latest iPad models on May 7. But while the Cupertino-based company might have wanted people to focus on its blazing new chips and thinner form factor, some were taken aback by the product's accompanying commercial.

The minute-long ad titled "Crush!" showed various artistic tools — a turntable, a trumpet, a piano, and a collection of camera lenses — slowly crushed by a hydraulic press to make a shiny new iPad Pro.

The ad certainly made a statement, just probably not in the manner that Apple intended.

Apple CEO Tim Cook's X post of the video drew over 11,000 replies as of press time, with a large number of them panning the ad's visuals and message.

"Who thought this was a good idea??" X user Joe B. Transue wrote in his reply to Cook. "Did you hire the one person that liked the scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit where the bad guy dips the animated shoe in the toon-killing bath??"

Others offered backhanded compliments to Apple, saying that the ad could be a masterpiece if it were meant to be a critique of tech giants.

"Is this intentionally a metaphor for the damage to the things of value to humanity wrought by tech bros and gen AI for profit/greed? If so, bravo!" another person told Cook.

Some felt the commercial missed the mark compared to Apple's past work. The company made waves with its "1984" Super Bowl ad when it introduced its first Macintosh computer in the 80s.

"Maybe hire Ridley Scott again next time instead," read one X post referencing the award-winning director behind the "1984" ad.

Venture capitalist and Y Combinator cofounder Paul Graham went a step further with his review of the ad.

Apple's commercial, Graham said, would've been an insult to the company's late founder, Steve Jobs.

"Steve wouldn't have shipped that ad. It would have pained him too much to watch," Graham said in his reply to Cook.

Jobs, who handed the reigns to Cook before passing away in October 2011, often sought to portray Apple as lying at the intersection of arts and technology.

"It is in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough—it's technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the results that make our heart sing," Jobs said when he unveiled the iPad 2 in March 2011.

Representatives for Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.

• Tesla is facing an uphill battle in China, the world's largest auto market. 
• The EV ecosystem Tesla built may help catapult that competition to success.
• Elon Musk appears focused on reinforcing Tesla's China business.

Tesla is facing tougher years ahead in the Chinese market, and it couldn't come at a worse time for the company.

Elon Musk's automaker has enjoyed many years of favorable treatment from the Chinese government. When Tesla started building cars at the Shanghai Gigafactory in 2019, it was the first foreign automaker to wholly own its production facility.

The Chinese government also provided Tesla with loans, tax benefits, and subsidies in return for a boon to the local supply base as Tesla worked with companies to source new, lower-cost materials and components.

Creating this ecosystem around the Shanghai factory changed the way electric cars were built in the world's largest auto market and may have sown the seeds for the intense competition Musk now faces in the region.

After years of steady growth in China, Tesla's sales are slipping

Tesla sold 62,167 cars in China in April, down 18% from a year ago, according to data released Tuesday by the China Passenger Car Association.

Local rival BYD, a former battery supplier that has its own mighty hold on the EV supply chain, is now outselling Musk's company, delivering 145,576 of its lower-cost battery-electric vehicles in April.

Now Tesla has to fight with domestic competitors

China fueled Tesla's explosive growth over the past five years, making it the most valuable automaker in the world and a leading seller of electric vehicles. But in the meantime Tesla has played into China's hand, teaching its local supply base how to build better EVs and scale up to mass produce them.

Now, Tesla will have to face home-grown competitors who will benefit from the same EV ecosystem that it helped to build, potentially sowing the seeds of its own downfall in the region.

This strategy of luring an industry leader to the region with favorable treatment to spur innovation for the rest of the sector isn't new for the Chinese government.

Take Apple, for example. China provided the California tech company's iPhone manufacturer, Foxconn, with mountains of economic incentives and tax breaks. Today, a majority of Apple's most popular products are manufactured in China, putting the country at the center of the smartphone manufacturing ecosystem.

Tesla sends in reinforcements

Challenges in China couldn't come at a worse time for Tesla. Musk has tried to keep pace with BYD by lowering prices in China for the past year, but the company is running out of leeway on pricing as a global EV slowdown is finally catching up to Tesla.

Inexpensive Chinese cars are also competing with Tesla in important European and Scandinavian markets, a traditional stronghold for Musk. And while they aren't for sale in the US, BYD's Dolphin Mini goes for just $21,000 in Mexico compared to Tesla's cheapest Model 3, which is down to about $39,000 these days.

Meanwhile, in Tesla's native US market, similar price cuts are losing their luster as traditional competitors like Ford and GM are able to fall back on gas-powered profits and a newfound interest in hybrid vehicles, which Tesla doesn't build.

After his latest visit to the region, Musk appears to be sending reinforcements to the Chinese market. Tom Zhu, one of Musk's most trusted executives and the architect of Tesla's success in Shanghai, is headed back to the region as the company also looks to roll out its Full Self-Driving software.

• Southern European economies have had remarkable recoveries since the financial crisis over a decade ago.
• But a surge in real estate investment, partly due to "golden visas", has led to skyrocketing housing costs.
• Northern Europe is also facing a housing crunch, despite very different economic conditions.

Southern European economies — from Greece to Portugal — have made remarkable recoveries since the European financial crisis just over a decade ago. Tourism is booming, investors and major businesses have moved in, and lots of foreigners are relocating to the region to take advantage of new jobs and a cheaper cost of living.

But one side effect of this growth is skyrocketing housing costs. Home prices and rents have soared in cities like Lisbon and Athens, while beach towns from Spain to the Greek islands are dominated by pricey short-term rentals.

This is in part the doing of so-called "golden visas," hugely popular residency visas for foreign investors. In countries like Greece, Spain, and Portugal, most visa applicants qualify by buying residential property.

Americans make up a big portion of the foreigners flooding into Southern Europe. They're gobbling up some of the most expensive real estate in Spain. They spent more per square meter on homes in Spain than any other nationality besides Danes, The New York Times reported last year. And they purchased more Portuguese golden visas than any other nationality in 2022. Some are escaping increasingly unaffordable housing markets in the US. But they're now contributing to housing affordability issues across the Atlantic.

A surge in real estate investment has pushed home values way up, gentrifying in-demand cities, displacing longtime residents, and preventing young people from moving out of their parents' homes. Despite their booming economies, average southern Europeans still have relatively low wages and just can't compete with foreign investors, homebuyers, tourists, and remote workers.

Portugal, which has had one of the most popular and lucrative golden visas, rolled out its policy in 2012, fast-tracking visas for well-heeled foreigners, including those who transferred at least one million euros to a Portuguese bank account, purchased at least 500,000 euros in real estate, created at least 10 jobs, or donated at least 250,000 euros to certain cultural or artistic initiatives. The visa holders can travel freely in more than two dozen EU countries and are eligible for family reunification.

The visas have had a huge impact on Portuguese real estate and housing costs, João Pereira dos Santos, a researcher at the School of Economics and Finance at Queen Mary University of London, told Business Insider. The vast majority of visa holders have used a real estate purchase as their way in.

"They buy houses, so they do not invest and create jobs. And we know part of this housing is immediately put in the long-term and in the short-term rental markets," Pereira dos Santos said. "So these people that apply for the visa, they do not come to live in Portugal."

Portuguese home prices rose 19% just between 2021 and 2022. The whole market — from cheaper rentals to luxury houses — has been affected, Pereira dos Santos said. "The problem was so salient that it even appreciated houses that were deals between Portuguese buyers and sellers," he said.

Golden visas aren't all to blame. At the same time, Portugal, like the rest of sunny Southern Europe, has seen a huge surge in tourists. Many emerged from pandemic lockdowns with the travel bug — and cash to spend. Last year was "the best year in the history of tourism in Portugal," the country's Secretary of State for Tourism, Trade and Services, Nuno Fazenda, told Bloomberg. The pandemic also ushered in a wave of remote workers and retirees looking for a high quality of life in relatively affordable European countries. New digital nomad visas for foreign remote workers have also juiced demand for housing.

But as Portugal has experienced a worsening housing affordability crisis, Portuguese public opinion on golden visas has soured. Pereira dos Santos and his colleagues conducted a nationally representative survey in Portugal that found that a majority of respondents were in favor of ending the golden visa program even if it harmed the Portuguese economy to do so. Last year, the country changed the terms of its golden visa program to exclude real estate investment.

Other southern European countries are following suit, similarly pointing to skyrocketing real estate prices. Last month, Spain announced the end of its golden visa program, which was almost entirely dependent on foreign real estate investment.

Due to these measures, some of the most in-demand places in Southern Europe will likely see slower housing price growth going forward. But because these economies are still doing so well overall, real estate prices will generally continue to tick up, Holger Schmieding, the chief economist at Berenberg Bank in London, told Business Insider.

"These economies are better places to invest and create jobs for domestic and for foreign investors into the economies as a whole," Schmieding said. "With better employment prospects people feel confident to buy a house or build a house. The real estate market is largely a reflection of the economy being on a more solid footing."

Northern Europe faces its own crunch

The economies of Southern Europe are doing much better than the traditional powerhouses of northern Europe. Portugal and Spain grew more than three times as fast as Germany did in the first quarter of this year. But northern Europe is struggling with a housing crunch of its own.

The Netherlands has one of the most severe housing crises on the continent. Home prices have doubled, on average, over the last decade and now a newly-constructed home costs 16 times the average Dutch salary. Limits on building permits, a shortage of building materials and construction workers, and limited land have all contributed to the country's housing shortage.

Germany has seen a significant home price correction as it faced relatively high interest rates, an energy crisis, and new regulations requiring that homeowners switch from oil and gas heating systems to heat pumps that rely on renewable energy. That combination has helped dampen demand for homes and construction.

German housing prices are expected to start rebounding as the home heating policy becomes better understood, the European Central Bank signals it will soon cut interest rates, and wages rise faster than prices. "The German market for house prices is close to bottoming out, and the same probably holds for building permits and residential construction," Schmieding said.

France similarly saw housing costs steadily climb in recent years, but, like Germany, has seen its prices come down amid high interest rates. Schmieding also expects home prices and rents to tick back up later this year in France as long as interest rates come down.

The country is still facing housing affordability issues — a situation one prominent charity recently called "a social bomb"  — with rising homelessness and a growing waitlist for social housing. The Paris Olympic games this summer are only intensifying housing demand in the capital, including for short-term rentals, which has reduced the number of rental apartments on the market.

Despite very different economic conditions, all kinds of European countries are facing the same dilemma that's plaguing the US: a shortage of affordable homes.

• Affirm is investing heavily in AI-powered chatbots to cater to Gen Z's phone aversion.
• AI chatbots are expected to replace 20-30% of customer service agents by 2026, according to Gartner.
• Despite the potential savings and efficiency, AI customer service has seen limited adoption.

Gen Z hates talking on the phone, so companies like the $9.7 billion buy-now, pay-later giant Affirm are betting big on AI-powered chatbots.

The bots let voice-averse customers solve problems online, Affirm CEO Max Levchin said on an earnings call on Wednesday.

"We've been investing really heavily in this idea that Gen Z consumers really love chatting versus calling and they have no problem chatting with an Al, especially if the Al is intelligent," Levchin said.

Affirm uses chatbots to solve fast queries, like policy questions, and then real people take over for more complicated cases, Levchin said. The PayPal alumnus said chatbots are helping Affirm scale its customer service team.

Affirm built an AI-based assistant and tested it in the last quarter. Less than 40% of users needed to speak with a human after using the bot, Levchin wrote in a shareholder letter.

"No one has yet to lose their job to be replaced by robot at a firm, so that's not a short-term cost saving," Levchin said on Wednesday's call, adding that AI could save the company money over the next one to three years.

Tech research firm Gartner estimated last year that by 2026, AI will replace 20-30% of customer service agents.

The nascent technology is already having a big bottom-line impact for some companies.

Deb Cupp, the president of Microsoft Americas, said in a panel discussion at Davos in January that the software giant saved $100 million in its customer-service operation by implementing AI. Microsoft also sells AI-powered customer service technology.

Mihir Shukla, the CEO of Automation Anywhere, said at Davos that the company cut customer-service costs by 40% while seeing improved performance since introducing AI.

AI customer service hasn't been a panacea for all businesses, though. People tricked and hacked a car dealership's customer service AI in December, and in January, a UK mail service's bot swore at a customer.

And AI bots have not yet been widely adopted. Only 8% of customers said they used a chatbot during their most recent customer service encounter, according to a Gartner survey done from December 2022 through February 2023. Of those who used a chatbot, only a quarter said they would use that bot again in the future.

• Alphabet Inc. was first created after a major restructuring at Google.
• Alphabet is now a parent company consisting of two segments: Google and Other Bets.
• Alphabet is a trillion-dollar company, and one of the biggest  in the US and the world.

Alphabet Inc. is a multinational tech conglomerate that was created in 2015 out of a massive restructuring of Google.

The goal of Google's restructuring, forming the parent company Alphabet, was to enable different businesses within the company to "operate independently and move faster."

Google co-founder Larry Page was Alphabet's first CEO, but Google CEO Sundar Pichai took over Alphabet in 2019. Pichai is one of the highest-paid executives in the world; he earned $226 million in 2022. 

Alphabet has been amping up its efforts to innovate in the artificial intelligence space and incorporate AI into its products — a key priority for its investors. Pichai has long touted Alphabet as an "AI-first company."

In 2023, Alphabet laid off about 12,000 employees, and Pichai said more Google layoffs would come in 2024.

What is the difference between Google and Alphabet?

Google is still Google, but its parent company is now called Alphabet Inc. and contains two main units: Google and Other Bets. Page has described Alphabet as "mostly a collection of companies."

The goal of creating Alphabet was to enable the company to invest in entrepreneurship, new products, and technology, and focus on taking a forward-looking approach.

Google remains the largest business within the Alphabet conglomerate, and includes Google Chrome, Google Pixel, Google Home, YouTube, search, Android, AdSense, Google Maps, and Google Play.

Other Bets encompasses entities such as the research and development unit Google X, Google Fiber, health research company Verily, the venture arm GV, and equity investment fund CapitalG.

Each company within Other Bets has its own CEO. 

How big is Alphabet?

Alphabet is one of the biggest tech companies in the world, and the third-largest company in the US, after Microsoft and Apple.

Like most major tech companies, Alphabet hired prodigiously throughout the pandemic and up to 2022, then slashed costs and implemented layoffs in 2023. By the end of 2023, Alphabet had about 182,500 employees in total.

Alphabet's net worth and ownership

Alphabet's annual revenue for 2023 was $307.39 billion, and its market cap was $1.87 trillion as of the end of March 2024.

Alphabet's main shareholders are Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Vanguard Group, and BlackRock Inc.

• Owners of Marilyn Monroe's former Brentwood home are suing LA for the right to raze the property.
• They want to expand their current residence, which is located next door.
• The City Council is considering whether to designate the house where Monroe died a historic monument.

The owners of the Brentwood home where Marilyn Monroe lived and later died are suing the City of Los Angeles for the right to demolish the property.

Brinah Milstein and her husband, Roy Bank, filed a Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit on Monday, alleging "illegal and unconstitutional conduct and abuse of power" by the city concerning the property they bought in July 2023.

According to the Los Angeles Times, they purchased the home for $8.35 million. Their intention was to demolish it and expand their current residence, which is located next door, according to the lawsuit.

Monroe died from an overdose in the Brentwood property at the age of just 36.

The plaintiffs claim they were issued a demolition permit from the city, which was initially "held" for 30 days to allow for objections.

They claim that no objections were raised and permits were subsequently issued, which led to them incurring over $30,000 in expenses before receiving actual notice of a "stay" invoked by the city.

Last September, the Los Angeles City Council intervened to temporarily halt the demolition of the home, which KCAL News reported was welcomed by fans and historians.

Scott Fortner of The Marilyn Monroe Collection, a superfan and collector, told the news outlet that the "home is the equivalent of Graceland" for Monroe fans.

He said the property, which Monroe purchased in 1962 for just over $77,000, represented a new beginning for the iconic star, following her divorce from playwright Arthur Miller.

Fortner said the home also has significance in memorializing Monroe, noting that its front step tiles read "Cursum Perficio" — Latin for "my journey ends here."

The City Council initiated proceedings last September to consider designating the property a historic cultural monument, a move that would invalidate the demolition permits.

However, Milstein and Bank have pushed back.

They contend in the lawsuit that Monroe lived in the house for only a short period, less than six months in 1962, and that the house has been "substantially altered" over the years.

"There is not a single piece of the house that includes any physical evidence that Ms. Monroe ever spent a day at the house, not a piece of furniture, not a paint chip, not a carpet, nothing," the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit also alleges that the city's push for the designation violated its own codes, which has deprived the plaintiffs of their "vested rights as owners of real property" and has caused them "irreparable harm."

The City Council will vote on whether to declare the house a historic cultural monument by mid-June.

A statement provided by email to Business Insider by the plaintiffs' attorney, Peter C. Sheridan of Glaser Weil Fink Howard Jordan & Shapiro LLP, accused the City of Los Angeles of engaging in "an illegal and unconstitutional conspiracy."

Representatives for the City of Los Angeles did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.

Brentwood boasts a rich Hollywood heritage, counting Betty White and Joan Crawford among its former notable residents.

However, that rich history, combined with the high value of the land, has created tension when it comes to preservation.

Actor Chris Pratt and his wife Katherine Schwarzenegger recently caused an uproar when they demolished a midcentury modern house designed by architect Craig Ellwood to make way for a sprawling mansion.

Liz Waytkus, the US executive director of the conservation nonprofit Docomomo, told Dezeen last month that the demolition highlighted a "systemic" problem in the area.

"The land has become more valuable than the house, and even if people understand the value of such a home, location and land value often trump architectural significance," she said.

Thursday, May 9, 2024: This article has been updated with a response from Peter C. Sheridan, the attorney for Brinah Milstein and Roy Bank.

• Social Security funds are set to begin depleting when today’s 58-year-olds retire.
• Gen X is already struggling financially, with high debt and financial insecurity.
• It’s another blow for the small, forgotten middle generation.

A storm is brewing for Gen X.

The forgotten generation has already been quietly contending with economic headwinds, and now they might end up bearing the brunt of the looming retirement crisis.

That’s because, taken together, the two primary Social Security funds are set to only be able to pay out full benefits through 2035; the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, one of the main funds comprising Social Security, will start getting depleted in 2033.

That’s bad news for the Gen Xers currently ages 56 to 58: Come 2033 and 2035, they’ll start turning 67, making them eligible for Social Security — and they might end up with reduced benefits.

In other words, the moment that today’s older Gen Xers are ready to retire, their Social Security benefits could start to shrink. That could be a real problem for a generation that was already suffering in silence. Gen Xers — born from 1965 to 1980 — have been deemed the country’s “neglected middle child” by the Pew Research Center.

Gen X is deeper in debt and more worried about finances than other generations

You might be able to chalk up Gen X’s invisibility to the fact that, per the Library of Congress, they’re the smallest generation population-wise. Their plights have been dwarfed by millennials‘ massive ranks and prominent woes, and the huge peak boomer population that’s about to settle into retirement.

But Gen Xers have already been quietly dealing with some financial insecurity. In July 2023, Business Insider — in partnership with YouGov — surveyed over 1,800 Americans spanning five generations, asking about work, money, and relationships. And among the different generations, Gen Xers were the most likely to report that they were feeling financially insecure.

Experian consumer data shows that the total average debt for Gen X has been near or over $150,000 in the third quarters of 2021 to 2023, higher than both their younger and older counterparts. The generation also had over $9,000 in average credit card debt, based on data from the third quarter of 2023, which was not only a rise from their average credit card debt a year prior but far above the national average of $6,501 or the average for other generations.

“Generation X is the generation most likely to have the richest credit mix,” the Experian post stated. “That may sound like a flex, but in practical terms it means these consumers are likely to have multiple monthly payments to service—think student loan, mortgage, credit card and car payments.”

That’s not to say other generations aren’t encountering similar challenges. According to a new TransUnion study based on credit bureau data and a December 2023 survey of just over 1,200 Gen Z and millennial consumers, the youngest generation is disproportionately struggling to balance a range of credit products amid high inflation.

Specifically, Gen Zers are seeing higher levels of delinquency on products like credit cards and auto loans compared to millennials 10 years earlier, with 75% of Gen Z respondents saying the pandemic negatively influenced their finances.

“Gen Z consumers have seen their finances significantly impacted by the pandemic and its aftermath, even more so than the challenges faced by Millennials as a result of the Global Financial Crisis,” Michele Raneri, vice president and head of US research and consulting at TransUnion, said in a statement.

An AARP Financial Security Trends Survey from January showed that around a third of those aged 50 and over — that is, the results include part of Gen X — are somewhat worried about having enough money to feel financially secure in their retirement. Plus, around a quarter of them said they were very worried.

In addition to those concerns, how much older Americans have in retirement savings varies — from 20% of older respondents in the survey, excluding those who don’t know about their savings, who aren’t retired saying none to 7% saying at least $1 million.

That all comes as “peak boomers” stand poised to unleash a retirement tsunami. Those are the final boomers to retire, and they’re facing similar challenges — over half will be mostly relying on Social Security for income to get by, according to a report from the Alliance for Lifetime Income’s Retirement Income Institute. That could set the stage for the new crop of Gen X retirees to arrive in an already-precarious retirement economy.

Are you a Gen Xer worried about affording retirement? Contact these reporters at jkaplan@buisnessinsider.com, mhoff@businessinsider.com, and asheffey@businessinsider.com.