• A couple who won $1.2 million in the lottery plan to keep their jobs as police officers.
• Graeme and Katherine White said they want to show their kids "good work ethic."
• They plan to buy a new house, a puppy, and a trip to Disneyland.

A British couple who won the lottery said they have no plans to quit their jobs because they want to teach the importance of having a strong work ethic to their children.

Graeme and Katherine White won £1 million, or around $1.2 million, in the National Lottery's EuroMillions on May 7, according to multiple reports.

The couple work as police officers in Cambridgeshire, England, and share a 5-year-old daughter and a 3-year-old son.

In a statement shared with the BBC and The Independent, they said they would reduce their working hours but wouldn't quit because they want to set a good example for their kids.

"We're only young and both enjoy what we do, so see no need to stop. But we have cut down our hours, which means we'll have more of a work-life balance," Graeme said in the statement, cited by The Independent.

"I also think it's important for the children to see us working to instill a good work ethic," he added.

Coffee, Disneyland, and a new puppy

Graeme told The Independent that he and Katherine initially thought it was "a mistake" when they discovered they had won.

While waiting for a call to confirm the news, the couple made their first purchase: Coffee from Caffè Nero, a popular British coffee chain.

Graeme told The Independent that Caffè Nero was a "little upgrade" as they usually purchased coffee from Greggs, a British bakery chain known for its affordable menu.

After the news was confirmed, the couple started planning how they would spend their winnings. According to Graeme, one of the first things on their list was a new home.

"We always wanted to live somewhere rural with plenty of outdoor space for the children – and so we could keep some chickens and goats – but thought that would be something we'd have to wait for years down the line when we were able to downsize," Graeme told The Independent.

"However, now thanks to our amazing lucky break we don't have to wait, our dream home can become a reality, and we can start house hunting right away," he said.

"It's crazy to think, but our 20 year plan has now become our 12 month plan!"

The couple also plan to purchase a trip to Disneyland and a Labrador puppy for the children.

"We've already started to think of names, and obviously have some National Lottery-inspired options on the list, including 'Lottie' and 'Millie,'" Graeme said.

The White family aren't the first lottery winners to keep their day jobs.

Richard Nuttall, a British accountant who won $78 million in the EuroMillions earlier this year, said in a press conference that he planned to keep working until the end of the tax year because he didn't want to let his clients down.

Timothy Schultz won $28 million in the Powerball lottery in 1999. He recently told Business Insider that his winnings meant he could retire early at 21, though he continues to pursue passion projects such as documentaries and podcasts.

"After winning the lottery, I thought hard about what makes me happy. Sitting on a beach drinking margaritas is fun, but the novelty wears off," Schultz said.

"I needed a reason to wake up in the morning and a goal to achieve. That is why I went back to college to earn a degree, work on several productions, and pursue my desire to entertain and inspire people positively; I love it, and it drives me."

The National Lottery did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

• Starbucks has rolled out a line of boba-inspired Refresher drinks in the US.
• The blue beverages all include raspberry-flavored popping pearls and its new Summer-Berry Refreshers mixture.
• The drinks looked very attractive, although the coconut-milk-based beverage was lacking in flavor.

Starbucks has rolled out its first-ever line of boba-inspired drinks in the US as part of its summer menu.

The three new iced beverages were released in May, two and a half years after Starbucks said it was conducting a limited test of beverages "made with coffee pearls."

The new drinks, which all have lengthy names, are the Summer-Berry Lemonade Starbucks Refreshers Beverage, the Summer Skies Drink Starbucks Refreshers Beverage, and the Summer-Berry Starbucks Refreshers Beverage.

The drink all consist of raspberry-flavored popping pearls and a summer berries Refreshers mixture designed to taste of blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. Unlike many boba beverages, which use black, oolong, or green tea as a base, none of Starbucks' drinks actually contain tea.

I tried two of the drinks — here's what I thought.

Starbucks has been advertising the drinks with the tagline "summer at first sip."

Signs for the drinks emphasize the contrast between the bright blue liquid and the pinkish-red pearls. Starbucks says that the line constitutes its first blue-colored drinks.

Source: Starbucks

In reality, the drinks weren't quite as brightly colored as they appeared in the ads. All the stores I visited advertised just two of the three drinks from the range on their menu boards — the milky Summer Skies drink and the lemonade-based drink.

The Summer-Berry Lemonade is made by combining the new Refresher with lemonade, popping pearls, and ice. The drink looked very attractive, and the contrast between the blue and red was striking.

The drink tasted quite tart and tangy. "This tastes like a childhood Popsicle more than anything," my friend said.

The other drink I got, the Summer Skies Drink, is made from the new Refresher, coconut milk, popping pearls, and ice. The pearls looked more distinctive in this drink, though the liquid was a much more subtle shade of blue.

I'm not a big fan of coconut, so I was skeptical at first, but you couldn't taste the coconut at all. However, the milk also diluted the flavor of the Refresher, and overall the drink had a very mild, creamy taste. "It tastes like a mild Herbal Essences shampoo," my friend said.

The popping pearls helped give the drink the flavor it needed, though. I was surprised by how strongly the pearls tasted of raspberry.

Boba is often made from chewy tapioca pearls, created using starch from the roots of cassava plants, but Starbucks uses popping pearls instead, which release a burst of flavor when they explode in your mouth.

The pearls were quite irregularly sized, which surprised me. Though they were all perfectly round, some were much bigger than the others.

The drinks were served with a very wide straw, which meant that the pearls didn't get stuck in it — a common issue I've had with boba. You can see here that the straw is wider than the pearls.

My 16-ounce drinks were each served with two scoops of the pearls, which seemed like a good ratio. However, as is the nature of boba, the pearls sunk to the bottom of the cup and I ended up with a lot leftover once all the liquid had been drunk.

At the location I visited in Nashville, Tennessee, both drinks cost $7.05 for a grande (a 16-ounce drink), including tax. Starbucks' website shows that you can also customize other beverages by adding a scoop of pearls for $1.25.

Starbucks said in a release that it "drew inspiration from drinks around the world, especially East Asian beverages with boba or pearls that have been popular for decades."

Source: Starbucks

Did Starbucks' drinks look good? Yes. Did they taste good? Somewhat. But would I choose to go back to Starbucks for boba? Probably not. Dedicated boba stores offer a huge variety of flavors and toppings — my go-to is taro milk tea with chewy tapioca pearls — and you can customize your drink to your heart's desire.

• Sam Altman has invested in more than 400 companies, The Wall Street Journal reported. 
• Some firms reportedly backed by Altman do business with OpenAI, raising questions about conflicts.
• OpenAI says the company carefully manages any potential conflicts. 

Sam Altman and his venture funds have reportedly invested in more than 400 companies.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Altman is one of Silicon Valley's most prolific individual investors, with holdings worth more than $2.8 billion as of early this year.

The CEO does not own a stake in OpenAI, which has been valued at $86 billion. He reportedly earns a yearly salary of around $65,000. His net worth, however, recently crossed the $2 billion mark, Bloomberg reported.

Most of this is due to his sprawling investment portfolio, which includes major companies such as Reddit and Stripe.

The Journal reported that Altman has also drawn on a debt line from his bank, JPMorgan Chase, which allows him to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in private startups.

The Journal report said that several of the startups Altman has poured money into also do business with OpenAI, raising questions about potential conflicts for the AI company's CEO.

In a recent example, OpenAI announced a partnership with Reddit, which sent the company's stock soaring by more than 10% and boosted Altman's personal Reddit stake by $69 million.

In a blog post about the partnership, OpenAI said Altman was not involved in the deal, which was led by the company's COO and approved by its independent board of directors. 

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

When contacted by The Journal, a spokesperson for Altman declined to comment on any potential conflicts of interest between OpenAI and his personal investments.

Bret Taylor, the chairman of OpenAI's board, told the outlet Altman had "consistently followed policies and been transparent about his investments."

"Sam is fully focused on his role as CEO. We carefully manage any potential conflicts and always put OpenAI and our mission first," Taylor said.

Former OpenAI board member Helen Toner, who helped drive Altman's brief ouster from OpenAI last November, recently accused the CEO of "withholding information" and "misrepresenting" what was going on.

In an episode of the "The TED AI Show" podcast, Toner claimed Altman did not tell the board he previously owned the OpenAI startup fund.

Taylor said in a statement to the podcast at the time, "We are disappointed that Ms. Toner continues to revisit these issues."

Reuters reported that it was documented in a March filing that the company had changed the governance structure of its venture capital fund, so Altman was no longer in control of the fund.

• A couple found a safe while magnet fishing in Queens, New York.
• Inside were bundles of cash — worth an estimated $100,000. Police said they could keep it.
• Magnet fishing involves using high-powered magnets to retrieve items from underwater.

A magnet-fishing couple found a sunken safe in the depths of a lake in Queens, New York. Inside were bundles of cash, with an estimated value of around $100,000, according to Spectrum News NY1.

James Kane and Barbie Agostini told the outlet that they reported their find to the New York Police Department, and were pleasantly surprised when they were told they could keep their discovery.

There's no sense of how the safe ended up in the lake.

According to Spectrum News NY1, the couple was in Flushing Meadows Corona Park on Friday magnet fishing — a hobby they got into during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Magnet fishing involves attaching high-powered magnets to a rope and lowering it into the water to retrieve valuable items.

The activity is like "poor man's treasure hunting," Kane told the local outlet.

But this time they struck gold.

The pair told Spectrum News NY1 that, in the past, they had found a World War II grenade, a motorcycle, old guns, and a purse containing foreign currency and jewelry.

When they initially pulled up the safe and discovered bundles of soggy hundred-dollar bills, Agostini told Spectrum News NY1 she thought it was a joke.

Then, she said: "I lost it."

Although many of the notes were soaking wet, and some almost entirely destroyed, the couple decided to inform the police because of any potential "legalities," per Spectrum News NY1.

"Finders keepers rule has worked for us," Kane told the outlet after they were told they could keep the money.

The NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The cost of magnet fishing equipment varies. Kits start at about $15 on Amazon, but specialist kits can cost hundreds.

• A Harvard study found that AI phishing scams are as effective as human ones.
• AI large language models can automate phishing, cutting costs by 95%.
• AI, however, can also help detect phishing.

Online scams might soon just be a battle between AIs, one launching the attacks and another defending against them.

Online scams are only becoming more prevalent, and with new AI technology, Harvard researchers say they could become much more difficult to avoid.

Researchers at Harvard Business School published a study that found 60% of participants were duped by AI-automated phishing emails, which was comparable to the success rates of phishing messages created by humans, they wrote in the Harvard Business Review.

Phishing scams trick users into sharing personal information. A scammer will usually send an email or some other message pretending to be a company or individual asking for credit card information, passwords, or other sensitive information.

While phishing scams are nearly as old as the internet, AI models are enhancing "their severity," researchers said. In the study, researchers found that large language models can automate the "entire phishing process" — from crafting the emails, identifying targets, and collecting information — which can reduce the cost of carrying them out by 95%.

"Because of this, we expect phishing to increase drastically in quality and quantity over the coming years," the authors wrote.

While the AI models could make phishing scams worse, the researchers suggest they could also be used to help detect and fight them.

Some AI models are better at it than others. Claude correctly identified phishing attempts even in "non-obvious phishing emails, sometimes outperforming human detection rates," the researchers wrote.

Several AI models tested in the study also provided "excellent recommendations" for responding to phishing emails once they correctly identified them.

"For example, during our experiment, LLMs encouraged users who received an attractive discount offer email to verify the offer with the company's official website, which is a great strategy to avoid phishing attacks," the researchers wrote in the Harvard Business Review.

The Federal Trade Commission says the best way to avoid phishing scams is to never click on a link from someone you don't know in an email or text message. The agency says to check if you have an account with the company or know the person and if you don't, report the message to its Anti Phishing Working Group.

• Jennifer Romolini is the author of "Weird in a World That's Not" and is the host of the podcast Everything Is Fine. 
• Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Elle, Fast Company, Vogue, and many others.
• This is an excerpt from her new book, "Ambition Monster: A Memoir."

In the 2010s, Silicon Valley loves a "disrupter," but I quickly discover what this translates to in real life is literally just interrupting, raising your hand in the middle of Mitch's overworked PowerPoint and blurting out, "Wait, why are we doing [terrible/expensive idea]? Who's this initiative actually for?"

It's the Tom Hanks in "Big" tactic — so simple, it could be executed by a kid — and I begin to implement it as often as I can. It earns me a reputation as a shit-starter and a maverick, which translates well in these white-collar rooms of mostly white-collared men, particularly because it's unexpected from a "creative type" and, more important, a girl.

The part of the company I run is the "lifestyle" section, a resourced-starved, understaffed afterthought of the "News" division, the unloved stepsister of better-funded and more-well-respected categories like Finance and Sports, which are run by men. I oversee a team of highly capable female writers and editors who cover fashion, beauty, fitness, recipes, parenting, pets, and PG-13-rated sex for an audience that's less edgy-cool coastal elite than it is down-home cozy, a USA Today for the digital age, all low-budget cooking and cleaning hacks and detailed reporting on Kate Middleton's lipstick shade.

I'm good at my job, but it comes at a cost

It's a site I wouldn't necessarily read myself, but I understand the assignment. Unlike my last job, where I often struggled to find the right tone, my editorial vision for the tech company's lifestyle site is confident and clear. Having grown up working class in a house where People magazine was the primary news source, I'm near-preternaturally skilled at a job that entails getting inside the minds of mainstream audiences and knowing what makes them tick and — most important — click.

In addition to meetings and managing the day-to-day operations of our site, I'm in charge of an open-blogging, user-generated-content (UGC) platform, a project of which my bosses are especially proud. They boast about its utility in board meetings, rave to advertisers about how it bolsters "community" and "engagement," how it's all happy Midwestern moms sharing their happy-mom tips. It is not. Even with our team's nonstop screening and moderation efforts, it's less populated by wholesome homemaking tricks than by racism, homophobia, and many, many, many sneaky user-generated dick pics.

The work never stops coming. I put in 60-hour weeks. There's always a fire to extinguish, an ego to soothe, an errant dong to delete. In these early months, I relish most any work challenge. The productivity gives me purpose, clearly orders and arranges my days. I show up overprepared to every meeting. I carefully map out editorial goals. I fight for more resources for my team, mostly in vain.

I frequently field unsolicited feedback from top-tier male executives, which is often a nuisance, if not a total waste of my time. One afternoon, a senior male executive calls me "hot pants" in the office kitchen, a comment on the red trousers I wore earlier that week.

Another morning, an SVP pulls me aside to talk about the number of mothers I've hired: Is your ENTIRE staff pregnant? The same day a high-up guy from marketing suggests that what the site I run really needs is more "nip-slips." I smile politely and ignore them. I tap into a well of competitiveness, a Sun Tzu-level of discipline I didn't know I had.

Killing it at work means other parts of my life suffer

In every strategic, interpersonal way I initially failed at Lucky, I triumph in corporate life. The secret to my success is always-on mania, though at this time, you'd probably characterize it as "passion" for what I do. If I'm not at my desk, I'm on my BlackBerry.

When I'm out, I regularly interrupt friends' stories and life updates to hold up an index finger — Just one second, I really need to address this — and tap out emails, disregarding any damage I've caused to conversational flow. I never slow down long enough to consider how little I'm giving to my friendships, how uncomfortable it must be to sit with someone so checked out.

Staying on top of my work is my top priority; doing so makes me feel responsible and important, a sensation I relish. I'm no longer the messy unreliable fuckup I felt like in my 20s, I think, but a sturdier person; respectable, established, moored.

I'm not only a distracted friend. Outside childcare duties, I'm barely present at home. After the baby's bath and bedtime routines, when Alex and I finally sit down to eat takeout, I often spend the meal refreshing my inbox rather than asking about his day. Later, I pull out my laptop and check traffic numbers while we're supposed to be watching "Game of Thrones." Instead of reaching for him in bed, I lie awake with my back turned, proactively identifying and solving problems at the office in my head. Priding myself on my diligence, how little escapes my gaze.

In a capitalist society, onerous work is often as satisfying as it is depleting. We've been conditioned from a young age to find pleasure in accomplishment's rigors and strains. It feels natural to view my overwork as noble, to settle into that foundational groove of the brain. In these first high-achieving months, I revel in the rush of my own competence, but the accompanying stress means it's at the expense of the health of my central nervous system.

Threats to my job real and imagined keep my amygdala firing throughout my days. Goals at the company I work for remain in flux; it's hard to predict which way to march. I survive multiple rounds of layoffs and I'm assured my department is not a future target, but my position never feels quite safe. The job provides my family's healthcare and our livelihood. By definition, I'm dependent on it. Keeping me motivated to work harder, to do as much as I can with less, is an institutional feature not a bug.

Excerpted from Ambition Monster: A Memoir by Jennifer Romolini. Copyright 2024 Jennifer Romolini. Published by Atria Books.

• A Gen Xer became a stay-at-home dad in the mid-2000s after being laid off from his job. 
• After getting divorced a few years ago, he realized he'd eventually need to return to the workforce.
• But he's struggled to find jobs he's qualified for and may have to delay his return to work. 

In the mid-2000s, Dan was let go from his job at a financial firm. He's been out of the workforce ever since.

At first, he was OK with the change, the New Yorker who's in his 40s told Business Insider via email. He and his wife decided that he would care for their children full-time while she pursued her career.

But after being a stay-at-home dad for over a decade, Dan and his wife got divorced a few years ago. While he received an "enviable" settlement that's helped him pay the bills, he said this money will eventually begin to run dry.

"I'm hoping my cash lasts three more years at least," said Dan, whose identity is known to BI, but he asked to use a pseudonym to maintain privacy for his family. He said he could try to stretch the money out as long as possible, but that this would require a steady reduction in his "quality of life."

So after nearly 20 years out of the workforce, Dan has started to dip his toe into the job market. But it's been quite discouraging so far.

"When I review job sites, I'm underqualified for jobs that I used to do, and I most likely present as too old for entry-level positions," he said. "I'm embarrassed to even attempt to update my résumé or even bother applying to a job with my gap in work history and skills."

While the male unemployment rate is low compared to past decades, Dan is among the American men who are struggling to find a job — or have stopped looking entirely. In 1950, roughly 97% of American men ages 25 to 54 had a job or were actively looking for work, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As of April, this figure had fallen to about 89%.

There are several potential explanations for this decline, including the rising number of men with disabilities, higher incarceration rates, and worsening employment and earnings prospects for people without a college degree. The rising number of stay-at-home dads is arguably a more positive explanation, but in Dan's case, this created an employment gap that could make his return to the workforce more challenging. The career consequences of childcare-related résumé gaps are something women have dealt with for decades.

Dan shared how he's going about his job search, what opportunities he's considering, and why it might be a while before he's able to return to work.

Taking an entry-level job and moving to a less expensive area might be his best option

While he's not actively applying for jobs, Dan said he's been consistently reviewing job listings to figure out whether he's a good fit anywhere.

"I will absolutely reenter the workforce — it's just a question of whether it's something close to what I aspired to post-graduation in my early 20s or like a Walmart greeter or janitor or something in between," he said.

He's not sure how helpful his college degree from over 20 years ago — which was "in the arts" — will be in his search, and he has little desire to pursue graduate school. He said he'd be open to teaching and hospitality jobs, working at a national park, or any type of office role.

"I'm not committed to any direction yet, but I'm not getting any younger," he said. "I'm resigned to ultimately taking an entry-level job if they'll have me."

Dan said he'd been advised to pursue an entry-level job at Home Depot or Costco, in part so he could receive health benefits. He also thinks it would be wise for him to move to a more affordable region of the country to reduce his living expenses.

A path that checks both these boxes might end up being the most practical, he said. But there's another obstacle in his job search, one that might make it difficult for him to move or commit to a significant work schedule for at least a few years.

Even though his ex-wife has custody of the children, Dan said he's the "full-time dad" when she has work commitments like a business trip. He also helps with day-to-day responsibilities like school drop-off and pickup.

"I will probably wait until my kids graduate from high school and then I will move to somewhere cheaper to live and take the best job available to me," he said, adding that this is expected to happen over the next few years.

In the meantime, Dan's trying not to get too pessimistic about his future career outlook.

"Most people identify you by your job," he said. "I don't want to be identified as someone who hasn't had a career during his adult life."

Are you a man who's not looking for work or has struggled to find a job? Are you willing to share your story? If so, reach out to this reporter at jzinkula@businessinsider.com.

• Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant hosted more pre-wedding parties on a luxury cruise and in Italy.
• Katy Perry, The Backstreet Boys, and Pitbull performed, clips circulating online showed.
• Andrea Bocelli performed as the couple and their guests stopped in Portofino, Italy. 

The Ambanis are still pulling out all the stops to celebrate their upcoming wedding.

Anant Ambani is the son of one of India's richest people, Mukesh Ambani. Along with his fiancée, Radhika Merchant, Anant Ambani threw yet another star-studded bash ahead of their nuptials in July — this time on a luxury cruise.

Pop star Katy Perry performed some of her hit singles, including "Firework," on Friday in Cannes, with clips circulating online.

Other video clips shared online show The Backstreet Boys and Pitbull took to the stage as part of the pre-wedding festivities.

The couple and a large group of their guests also stopped over in Portofino, Italy. They took over a plaza where Italian singer Andrea Bocelli performed, Hindustan Times reported.

India Today reported that several Bollywood stars, including Shah Rukh Khan and Ranveer Singh, were seen at the party in Italy. Hollywood actor Adam Sandler was also present, photos shared on social media showed.

The cruise set sail last week from Italy to the south of France. About 800 guests had been invited, along with 600 staff to look after them, the Deccan Chronicle reported.

The four-day affair included a masquerade party and "La Dolce Vita"-themed festivities, Harpers Bazaar Arabia reported.

The Ambanis initially kicked off the pre-wedding celebrations in March with other lavish parties, one of which featured a performance by Rihanna.

Some of the high-profile guests included Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, his wife Priscilla Chan, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, and Ivanka Trump.

Representatives for the Ambanis at Reliance Industries didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

• Sam Mitchell lives comfortably in a tiny New York home on less than $30,000 a year from Social Security.
• He left a high-paying real estate career in 2008 before moving to Peru and road-tripping across the US.
• He said his fellow peak boomers should be more creative about approaching retirement.

Sam Mitchell, 64, has a yearly income of below $30,000 a year from Social Security. But he said he lives "perfectly comfortably."

He lives in a 100-square-foot "little shack" on the side of a road in upstate New York for half the year and in a mobile home at the end of a dirt road in Florida the other half. It's a very different way of life from the corporate real estate job he had 15 years ago in Austin making six figures and owning five homes.

Last year, he made a "whopping" $15,000 from his Airbnb operation in the Finger Lakes region, all of which he reinvested in the business.

He thinks his way of life isn't that far out of reach for other people around his age.

"I have friends who are 80 years old who are still working because they're so terrified not having enough money, and I'm going, guys, look at me," he said. "I am making a fourth of the money I was making in 2008, but nobody is going to do it."

Across the country, many peak boomers — or those set to hit the traditional retirement age of 65 between now and 2030 — are worried they won't have enough saved for retirement. Some have told Business Insider they won't be able to retire ever, while others are concerned that with rising rent and food costs, Social Security payments won't be enough to cover basic expenses.

Mitchell, though, said people's definition of "comfort" may be too idealistic.

"I call it the 'C-word,'" he said. "A peak boomer's definition of comfort is the reason they're so freaked out and feeling FOMO. It's called stepping out of your comfort zone, but people are so terrified and can't do it. They have nobody but themselves to blame."

Leaving luxury behind

Mitchell was born and raised in Atlanta and went to college at the University of Florida. He worked as a journalist in Santa Cruz, California, for a few years, then switched to being a real estate agent, a transition he described as "absolutely absurd."

For two decades, he worked on and off at Keller Williams in the Austin market. He said he would "run up a bunch of money" one year, then take a few months off in countries like Costa Rica, before starting the whole process again. He also was a landlord and bought up rental properties across the state.

He recalled attending lavish parties with musicians performing at South by Southwest and Austin City Limits. He also had a nice car and truck, and he anticipated that by the mid-2000s, he was spending about $80,000 a year on expenses.

"The life I was leading in South Austin in 2008 was the life that 95% of this planet probably would have traded for," Mitchell said. "I had a beautiful four-bedroom, three-bath on the South Austin Greenbelt. I was up to five houses."

Around that time, he had a goal of wanting to own 40 houses in Austin by the time he turned 65, then sell one every six months until he was 85. He wanted to follow the path of one of his real estate investor friends.

But that year, he walked away from all of it.

"I made the decision to disentangle myself, this whole career hamster wheel," he said, noting he began liquidating his assets in April of that year. "The pressure just popped in 2008, even before the market crashed."

He sold his primary residence and three other homes, and his license expired at the end of that year. He paid off all his credit cards, got rid of many of his belongings, and left behind the luxurious life, knowing he could always go back to it and make $100,000 "without getting out of my chair."

Moving to New York and Florida

To start life anew, he bought a farm in Peru and built a small house. He lived in Peru and Ecuador for four years, mostly off the grid, before coming back to the US in 2012. He kept one Austin home that he rented to a tenant, who paid him $650 a month.

Upon moving back, he decided to live out of his pickup truck and drive through California, Oregon, and Washington at first. He had a bedroom in the Austin home he could resort to, but he spent 10 months of the year traveling with his dog, Sancho Panza. He did this for about seven years, getting to see much of the US.

He eventually found a home outside of Ithaca, New York, for $35,000 on 14 acres of land. He had almost no money left and was still three years from getting Social Security, but his sister helped him cover the cost with the promise that he would sell the Austin home to pay back his debt.

He put the Austin home on the market on March 9, 2020, perhaps the "single worst day to put a house up for sale in the 21st century," he said, coming just days before the COVID-19 pandemic would lead to lockdowns across the country. With the money, he bought a "new" 2013 truck that had 200,000 miles on it and been wrecked previously.

Once Social Security payments kicked in, he relied on the $900 a month to get by. He didn't have many expenses, as he had no children to support, no mortgage, and no health insurance. Though the $900 a month could not compare to his salary 15 years ago, he said it's enough to get by and live comfortably.

He started an Airbnb business on his property after constructing his first tiny house from an eight-foot by eight-foot toolshed. He moved into this property and rented out the 384-square-foot house to tenants who take care of the home during the winter.

He worked with a local Amish family to build two other tiny houses on the property. He also built a little community kitchen measuring eight feet by 20 feet. When all homes are rented, he lives in a nine-square-foot camper.

He said he's still on the red on this business, as he's only open five months a year, but he's hopeful it will soon be profitable. He has a small side hustle buying vacant lots in Florida with two friends, sometimes doubling the money on their initial investments and using their returns to purchase more real estate. Still, it's zero annual income as none of it lands in his pocket.

He also goes to Florida each November for a few months, living near a swamp in a 600-square-foot mobile home.

"If you are willing to do this, then you can easily live comfortably in these beautiful surroundings making less than $30,000 a year," he said. "I'm living proof of it. I have other friends who have made similar decisions, and we're all getting a little sick and tired of the whining."

He said many of his fellow peak boomers need to reconsider what they need to live comfortably, arguing that they need to get more creative with income streams.

"I'm not living under a bridge — I'm running a business," he said. "I live in these absolutely beautiful surroundings, but you just have to trim down on all your gadgets. I just traded in my beautiful i7 computer that was going haywire for a Pentium processor. The guy at BestBuy was absolutely horrified that I was making this decision."

Have you recently moved to a new state? Are you worried about retirement? Reach out to this reporter at nsheidlower@businessinsider.com.

American Express used to be your dad's card. OK, your rich dad's card. Or, fine, your rich friend's rich dad's card. But now, for a growing cohort of Gen Zers and millennials, it's their card, too. Amex has cracked the code with the youngs, and it's managed to do so without giving up its prestige image.

American Express has long been viewed as the fancy credit-card company. Its products were historically seen as being for jet-setters and the wealthy, with "wealthy" usually translating to "older." The idea wasn't that young people wouldn't use any Amex products but that they'd get initiated into the low-level ones and then eventually graduate to the most premium versions of its cards as they got better jobs, made more money, etc. Amex also wasn't broadly accepted because of its swipe fees, meaning what merchants pay every time they run a credit card. For years, customers were a lot likelier to get a no on using their Amex at any given merchant than they were when paying with a Mastercard or Visa, sometimes making the former a headache to have.

But that has started to shift. Amex has updated its benefits mix to focus on younger people with the things they might like. It has used those perks to get Gen Zers and millennials — many of whom have that "wealthy" status — to sign up for premium cards sooner rather than later. The companies' acceptance rate, at least in the US, is also much improved. You no longer have to enter a restaurant or store checking to see whether the American Express sticker is on the door. Add all this up, and Amex morphs into a popular, relatively accessible status symbol for young consumers.

The fruits of the new strategy were pretty clear in the company's first-quarter earnings presentation: Gen Z and millennial consumers made up 33% of its billed business in its consumer division, basically meaning using its products for purchases. By contrast, Gen X represented 37%, and baby boomers 31%. According to the company, millennials and Gen Z consumers made up 60% of its new customer acquisitions worldwide, and 75% of its new platinum and gold accounts were opened by millennial and Gen Z members. Those accounts come with some nice rewards — and some high accompanying fees. The gold card costs $250 a year, and the platinum $700.

"We realized that going after millennials and Gen Z was a key thing for us," Amex CEO Steve Squeri said in an April interview with Jim Cramer on CNBC. He explained that while the company used to target them with no-fee cards, it had now turned to trying to attract them with premium, high-fee cards. "With millennials and Gen Zs, what we realized is that they wanted access, they wanted experiences, they wanted to get special privileges," he said. So Amex delivered.

Amex has implemented a number of tactics to pull off its youth revolution and cement its place as a status symbol among relatively affluent millennial and Gen Z consumers. For one thing, as Squeri alluded to, it's done some thinking about what the younger crowd wants in terms of rewards. Yes, travel points for flights and hotels are nice, but so are other benefits that have helped turn it into more of a lifestyle card than just a travel card, Michael Miller, an analyst at Morningstar Research, said. The company has folded in rewards such as credits on Uber rides, Disney streaming services, and New York Times and Wall Street Journal subscriptions. It puts money toward Saks shopping sprees and offers credits for Walmart+ memberships.

"The way they finance this is they work with the actual retailers to split the cost, and they essentially act as really high-end coupons," Miller said. "That's really how they keep the appeal and keep it luxury, by not really compromising on the price of the cards themselves."

Amex gives some of its customers special access for various events, including a chance to buy tickets early or get certain passes to the US Open and Coachella. And it sometimes gives them reserved spaces inside those events, too, keeping its reputation of exclusivity intact. I, for one, have found myself at events staring at some American Express exclusive space and trying to see whether anyone I'm with has the magic card to get us in.

"Amex is like, 'You know what? We know that this age cohort is attending Coachella. We're going to have — if you have a platinum card, you can get into the Amex tent. And we're going to have simple things that are really hard to get or expensive to access at Coachella, free water fountains, a place to kind of sit in air conditioning,'" Daisy Hernandez, the credit-cards editor at The Points Guy, said. "Those are the kinds of people who are like, 'I'm going to have this credit card because I want this extra premium access.'"

Millennials and Gen Zers, many of whom are hungry for experience over possessions, are not sleeping on the Amex travel perks, either. The platinum card, for example, offers credits on hotels and airline fees, covers the cost of a Clear Plus membership for airport security, and grants complimentary lounge access at multiple airports. It also has restaurant-reservation perks through the platform Resy.

"They haven't ditched the travel stuff at all," Miller said. "It's really more of an addition."

They're laying the groundwork for the next generation.

For many young consumers, having an Amex rewards card is sort of like having a good, varied subscription service that runs them less than $60 a month. Amex says that the platinum card's credits are worth something like $1,500 a year, which is more than double the annual fee. (Amex, of course, has a ton of cards that aren't premium and have a variety of different perks or benefits. It's a real choose-your-own-adventure situation depending on which one you might want, if you do at all.)

On American Express' part, this all makes sense. Many young consumers don't carry cash and expect to be able to put everything on their cards. The company's continued focus on high-income, high-spending customers, including Gen Zers and millennials, gives it more bargaining power with merchants who don't want to turn those consumers away. And once Amex gets those customers in the pipeline, it has a lot more time to get value out of them compared with older consumers who are closer to retirement and, you know, death.

"They're laying the groundwork for the next generation, and they feel they have a great offering and great growth potential because if you've only catered to the much older, those folks are not going to be around, potentially, in 20 years, whereas the millennial still will be," Stephen Biggar, the director of financial-institutions research at Argus Research, said.

Amex isn't alone in targeting the rich, young crowd. Chase Sapphire, for example, is giving it a run for its money with some of its offerings, namely, its Reserve card. And all consumers might want to consider the trade-offs of their pricey rewards cards. Research has found that rewards cards can be a transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich because of the high swipe fees that come with them (though those swipe fees are coming down a little for a few years). And even if you're not concerned about what happens to the guy paying cash behind you at the bodega, if you don't pay off your credit-card bill every month and instead carry a balance, you may not get the bang for your buck on your rewards.

All that aside, the Amex Platinum Card seems neat. Did I spend a significant part of the reporting for this story repeatedly looking up said card and trying to decide whether I should eat the fee and get one? I did. I've got some travel coming up, and the Centurion Lounge sounds nice.

Emily Stewart is a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and the economy.