• Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was sentenced to over 11 years in prison for defrauding investors.
• Prison records show the ex-CEO has had nearly three years shaved off her sentence.
• Holmes' projected prison release date is now December 30, 2031.

Disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has had roughly three years shaved off her prison sentence for defrauding investors in her failed blood-testing startup, Business Insider has learned.

Holmes reported to a cushy minimum-security women's prison camp in Texas on May 30, 2023, after the former CEO was sentenced in 2022 to 11 years and three months behind bars.

Now online records from the Federal Bureau of Prisons show Holmes' projected release date to be December 30, 2031. That means if nothing changes, Holmes would be set free two years and eight months early.

Attorneys for Holmes did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, nor did the BOP.

A BOP spokesperson has previously told Business Insider that release dates are calculated by considering projected "good conduct time." Qualified inmates are eligible to earn 54 days of good conduct time for each year of their sentence, according to the BOP.

In January 2022, following a nearly four-month trial, Holmes was convicted of four federal counts of conspiracy and wire fraud in connection with a scheme to dupe investors in Theranos out of hundreds of millions.

Holmes had repeatedly claimed that her now-defunct Silicon Valley biotech startup, once valued at $9 billion, had developed a revolutionary blood analyzer capable of testing for hundreds of diseases and conditions using only a few drops of blood from a finger.

Earlier this year, a US appeals court upheld Holmes' conviction, as well as the fraud conviction of her ex-boyfriend and Theranos' former president, Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani.

BOP records show that Balwani, who was sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison, also has had his sentence reduced by almost three years. Balwani's projected release date is now April 21, 2033, according to those records.

His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

While Balwani is incarcerated at a minimum-security prison camp in California, Holmes is spending her time at Federal Prison Camp Bryan — a facility about 100 miles from Houston, where she grew up — alongside Ghislaine Maxwell and former "Real Housewives" star Jen Shah.

Holmes told People magazine earlier this year in her first interview from behind bars that her prison routine includes waking up just after 5 a.m., having fruit for breakfast, and working out for 40 minutes.

"I truly did not think I would ever be convicted or found guilty," she told the magazine at the time, adding, "I refused to plead guilty to crimes I did not commit. Theranos failed. But failure is not fraud."

The public downfall of Theranos began in 2015 after a Wall Street Journal investigation revealed the firm was using third-party blood-testing machines because its own couldn't provide accurate results.

Meanwhile, Holmes' X account has been consistently posting, sometimes cryptic, messages in recent months.

"Never left. Just was silenced," read an August post.

It's unclear who is behind the account.

When a woman in her 80s rang up my $2 bottle of water at a grocery store in San Francisco, she couldn't have known I was right in the middle of a work project that had already changed my life.

The two-minute exchange at the cash register came in the middle of a yearlong reporting effort. I had wanted to find out why so many people 80 and older work long past retirement age.

Along the way, I found out a lot about myself, too.

That day at the grocery store, other customers waited impatiently behind me, so our conversation was brief. She told me she was working because costs everywhere were rising so quickly. As I walked out the door, she said something that stuck with me. It only strengthened my resolve to keep writing:

No one ever wants to know about us, she said.

I did. And over the past year, I've written more than a dozen feature stories for my "80-over-80" series for Business Insider. It became apparent during my reporting that older people were accustomed to being ignored — by employers, by their families, and by researchers. So many wanted to tell their stories that the project outgrew its name: I've spoken to nearly 200 of America's over-80 workers.

They're part of a group that's the fastest-growing segment of the labor force: Americans 75 and older are twice as likely to be in the workforce now as they were in the early 1990s, and the trend is expected to continue growing as pensions weaken and Social Security is projected to be depleted. As of 2023, nearly 550,000 people were working into their 80s and beyond, according to our analysis of Census data — more than 4% of the population over 80.

As a 24-year-old journalist wanting to cover these older workers, I heard, "You won't understand" or "You're too young." The more I wrote, the more people I found who would speak candidly — because someone was finally listening.

The people who shared their stories and expertise trusted a reporter two years out of college. They discussed their finances, anxieties, health conditions, and life outlooks. The conversations made me rethink how I speak about aging. I found myself trying to learn more about the older people I encounter daily, and I've called out friends who used ageist language or shared myths about older Americans.

Many of the older people I spoke with described themselves as hardworking and dedicated despite health challenges, and they wished they were more respected for their contributions.

For the 80-over-80 series, I:

• Spoke with workers in 44 states across dozens of professions and verified their employment and financial details.
• Met workers in person in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Kansas, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania.
• Interviewed 75 members of Congress, professors, researchers, doctors, lawyers, and anti-ageism advocates.
• Verified details with over 50 family members, friends, and colleagues of sources I interviewed.
• Read through hundreds of Occupational Safety and Health Administration reports, hundreds of pages of age discrimination and workplace compensation lawsuits, and dozens of studies on aging at work.
• Contacted more than 70 companies about their policies and initiatives and dug through hundreds of earnings calls and SEC filings.
• Analyzed thousands of rows of Census Bureau data to pinpoint professions, financial situations, and geographies of these workers.
• Featured 28 original photographs of these workers and highlighted four of them in a short documentary.

I'll soon travel to Japan for more than a week with friends, where I'll be eager to compare the stories of older Japanese workers to those of their counterparts in the US.

The aging US workforce is something that economy-watchers say we need to be studying, especially since 57% of labor force growth is expected to come from workers 65 and older through 2032, according to Pew Research Center.

"I believe that the most extraordinary new territory in human civilization is not AI or climate, which are very serious issues," said Ken Dychtwald, cofounder of the think tank Age Wave. "It's global aging. It's the frontier."

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Rethinking the goal of retiring at 65

Before covering older Americans, I focused on the FIRE movement (financial independence, retire early). People I spoke to had saved enough to retire or pivot from a 9-to-5 in their 20s, 30s, and 40s.

For the 80-over-80 project, I expected to hear overwhelming regret and bitterness from those working decades past retirement age. I found the opposite.

Nearly 550,000 Americans in the Silent Generation, born between 1928 and 1945, are still working, according to my analysis of Census Bureau data. They're concentrated in education, construction, religious services, real estate, and law, but thousands also work as retail salespeople, truck drivers, personal care aides, and janitors. Women, who are more likely to work past 80, told me their husbands had been the breadwinners but didn't live long enough to support them forever.

The reasons for working were as diverse as the people. I interviewed people worth millions of dollars on the same day I talked to people with six-figure debt — some whose savings were wiped out by the 2008 financial crisis, faced a painful divorce, or had unexpected medical bills. I interviewed people who loved working, and people who wept about their fading dream of retirement.

People largely fell into two groups: seniors who needed to work to pay the bills (who made up the majority of my interviews), and those who worked simply because they liked to.

"I'm working because I have to. I don't want to," said Rebecca Reed, 87, who earns $12 an hour as a church secretary in New Orleans and as an editorial assistant. "I'm the only one still working in my family."

While most said Social Security helps, it's primarily a supplement, since cost-of-living adjustments haven't kept up with inflation for major budget items like housing and healthcare. In addition, the Silent Generation was caught in the middle of the generational shift away from lifelong monthly pension checks to self-guided retirement instruments like 401(k)s, putting more of the financial planning responsibility on them.

The overwhelming majority of workers I talked to weren't working solely for the money. Many found retirement overrated and described their passion for continuing to work, learn, and contribute to society. Some recalled friends who retired and died months later.

"I hear people who retire and they're busier than they've ever been because they're volunteering at levels and with causes that their full-time job did not allow them to, or they're returning to part-time work in a field that they missed," said Josh Andrews, advice director at USAA, a financial services company for members of the military, veterans, and their families.

"I'm still full of energy. I'm still very much on my game," said Alan Patricof, 91, who cofounded the venture capital fund Primetime Partners, investing in companies serving older adults. "I still have my memory. I still have my faculties."

For comedian D'yan Forest, 91, work has been crucial to avoid cognitive decline and stay connected with different generations, especially while battling cancer and heart issues.

"Every day I'm memorizing new lines, talking to new people, answering new questions, and working with young people all over the world," Forest said. "At heart, I'm still a teacher, so I'd like to educate people, make them laugh, and make comedy."

Many of the people I spoke to struggled to find work, and they blamed their age. Although the US has made progress in combating ageism, it persists in many forms. According to a 2024 AARP study, 60% of workers age 50 and older believe they have experienced or seen age discrimination at work. One 81-year-old told me they still work in retail to "laugh in the face of ageism."

Many employers fall for stereotypes that older workers "have lower work performance than younger employees, which is not true; and they are less motivated to do good work, which, not surprisingly, is also not true," said Cort Rudolph, a psychology professor at Wayne State University.

RJ Tate, 81, said she rarely gets judged for her age but said living out her later years requires extra planning. Tate is an elementary school supervisor in California, earning $22 an hour to supplement her $1,900 monthly Social Security.

"After all my years of not looking at my checkbook and stressing, I finally had myself on a budget," Tate said. "Still, it's so fulfilling and rewarding, mentally and physically, to be out with all age groups. Life does not have to stop in your 60s and 70s."

Studies show that work contributes to positive short- and long-term health outcomes: prolonged mental acuity, stronger mental health, or improved physical performance. Some studies also show that higher-intensity labor and stress contribute to physical and cognitive decline or riskier health habits.

Harriet Newman Cohen, 92, works full-time as a partner at her family and matrimonial law firm. In her career, she represented Andrew Cuomo, Tom Brady, and the former wives of Harvey and Bob Weinstein. Working with younger talent and constantly having goals to work toward has motivated her to keep going.

"I do have to continue to work because I believe it's my obligation to take care of my family," Cohen said. "I want to be able to leave substantial amounts of money for them, and I want them to be able to enjoy the good things in life."

---

A growing need to accommodate older workers

During interviews, many workers asked me about the economy. I'd mention that, as the country ages more rapidly, workplaces may look a bit older, and it may not be as shocking to see 80-year-old truck drivers.

"Sounds like there will be a lot more people like us soon," one worker said.

The oldest baby boomers are about to hit 80. The number of Americans 65 and older is expected to grow to 82 million by 2050 from 61 million in 2024. Innovations in regenerative medicine, pharmaceuticals, and AI-powered cancer screenings have contributed to longevity, with life expectancy for women now at 81 and men at 76, according to 2023 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This demographic shift coincides with a resource crunch. Nonpartisan government projections say that Social Security's reserves may begin depleting by 2034, potentially reducing benefits by about 20%. Some Medicare and Medicaid programs have been or are at risk of being cut. A frozen job market and higher-than-desired inflation add to the challenges for older Americans. Some estimates show that an aging workforce may contribute to a fall in GDP per capita.

Despite higher minimum wages in 30 states, the federal minimum wage has been at $7.25 since 2009. Older workers who cannot find higher-paying roles may work jobs that don't allow them to live comfortably. Research shows employment rises among lower-wage older workers when the minimum wage increases.

The immigration crackdown may also impact how Americans age. Over a quarter of direct care workers are immigrants, compared to about 17% of the US labor force.

The US faces a growing caregiver shortage. There are about 63 million caregivers in the US, about 53 million unpaid, including spouses.

Lastly, because many workers in their 80s are healthy enough to live independently, they often financially support their children or grandchildren, said Emily Wiemers, a professor of aging at Syracuse University.

---

The power of intergenerational connections

In August, I was invited into the home of anti-ageism advocate Ashton Applewhite, whom I interviewed for the series. Surrounded by a dozen people who work in the aging space, I sipped wine as we discussed what aging means, how age fuels stereotypes, and why intergenerational connections are essential to better understanding each other and ourselves.

"A common myth about older workers is they should get out of the way to make room for younger workers," said Applewhite, adding that there is little evidence that the growth of older workers would negatively impact employment opportunities for younger people.

Donna Davis, 84, who runs a children's entertainment company, said hosting events for hundreds of children and watching them grow up and have their own children has kept her mind strong and brought her joy.

"I think I'm going to be here for another 10 years," Davis said, adding she wishes she had saved more earlier in life.

Business Insider reached out to over 70 companies about their aging-related initiatives and heard back from about a dozen. They emphasized the importance of rewarding longtime employees, fostering intergenerational connections, and providing medical resources for older workers. Labor economists, workplace consultants, and management professors said that companies have been accelerating their efforts to support older workers, but have much to do.

Experts proposed examples of workplace solutions that could remove some of these barriers, including:

• Mentorship in both directions. Reverse mentoring, in which younger employees lead meetings or workshops, can bridge generational gaps.
• Tailoring job expectations to certain people's physical abilities.
• More part-time roles or hybrid arrangements for older employees.
• Age-blind resources or hotlines for asking technology questions.
• Hiring initiatives for people in their 50s and above.
• Benefits that account for common medical conditions for older workers and prevention.

Some workers long for more intergenerational connections outside the office. Researchers working to develop so-called age-friendly communities, such as Emily Greenfield, director of the Hub for Aging Collaboration at Rutgers University, told Business Insider they hope to create neighborhoods or community centers to support an aging population through housing, transit, and community designs that can better integrate older workers.

I've found myself seeking more connections to people of all ages and demographics as I've reported this series. Reporting on people three to four times my age also helped me better prepare for my future.

Because many regretted not saving enough earlier in life, I now put aside much of my paycheck for my savings, 401(k), and portfolio, while trying not to sacrifice my quality of life. Many regretted not being more ambitious and settling for whichever job they could find. Others said they should've networked more to get ahead. I have taken their advice to heart.

While some who work out of financial necessity view themselves as cautionary tales, others have few regrets. Some said they live in the moment, prioritize family over long-term security, and stress little about financial milestones. While I'm more cautious, parts of their philosophy will stick with me.

These stories sparked an excitement for my future that I hadn't unlocked. I had been conditioned to want to buy a house by 30, get married by 35, and retire by 65. The stories of the older workers I interviewed calmed me down about my future planning and reminded me that life isn't a race.

Many of those still working do it because of circumstances outside of their control. A health issue, a difficult family situation, a broken marriage, or a layoff could all happen to me. I'm glad I've internalized this now to maybe help avoid disappointment later.

I'm sure many people like me who are first embarking on their careers can learn from these older workers. As a few said, it'll never be too late to start over.

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• As the secondhand luxury market continues to grow, shoppers are increasingly buying with resale in mind.
• When it comes to handbags, certain styles, designers, and colors tend to hold their value more than others.
• Fashionphile founder Sarah Davis broke down what to look for when buying and selling luxury bags.

The first handbag Sarah Davis ever sold was a Louis Vuitton red Epi bucket bag. As a law student looking to make money, she'd bought it at a DC thrift store in 1999 for $250 and flipped it on eBay. She used the proceeds to buy two more and do the same.

While she ditched eBay and outsourced procurement, she's essentially doing the same thing 25 years later as the founder of Fashionphile, a secondhand luxury platform. Over the past 25 years, the company said it has sold 2 million accessories — including several Louis Vuitton red Epi bucket bags.

The company expects to sell more than $500 million worth of products this year and is profitable, it said.

Fashionphile's rise has coincided with a surge in the luxury resale market.

The secondhand fashion and luxury market is expected to grow two to three times as fast as the firsthand luxury market over the next two years and reach $317 billion globally by 2027, according to a November report from McKinsey.

Affordability and accessibility are driving the growth.

"There was a day that there were two real, in my opinion, entry points to luxury," Davis said: Coach and counterfeits. "Now they don't have to do either. They can come straight to us."

As secondhand becomes second nature, consumers are shopping with resale in mind.

Luxury watches, jewelry, and bags — all of which Fashionphile sells — are popular investment pieces, the McKinsey report said. They tend to hold their value and can sell for more on the secondhand market than they do on the primary one.

Davis buys into the model. One of her favorite bags is a mini Chanel flap bag that she's had for more than a decade. She bought it used, of course, and plans to resell it soon, only because her new phone can't fit.

"I could sell it for thousands more, even in the shape it's in," Davis said.

As the ultimate handbag reseller, Davis shared three tips for shopping and selling handbags on the secondhand luxury market.

1. Classics are classics for a reason.

If you're looking for resale value, stick to signature styles.

Fashionphile's No. 1 selling bag this year is the Louis Vuitton Speedy. The Chanel Double Flap and Hermès Evelyne are also hits.

"We sell, every day, dozens of the classics," Davis said. "They get on the site; they move very quickly."

These bags are never on sale, and their prices increase every year. That means if you wait it out long enough — and treat your bag well enough — there will be a payday.

"You take that Louis Vuitton bag, keep it for a few years, you will be able to sell it for more than you bought it for," she said. "It's kind of like buying a house; you sell that, get more money, build your way up to your Birkin."

2. Black and brown can equal green.

Like classic styles, classic colors hold their value the best.

"Black is always a go," Davis said.

Brown — ranging from taupe to caramel to chocolate — is Fashionphile's second most popular color.

Unlike other colors, which can trend in and out, these neutral tones are timeless, which means you can resell an item in one of these hues next year or in 10 years.

3. Don't be afraid to dig.

Getting the best deal, whether or not you're planning to resell, takes work, Davis said.

"There are so many bargains to be had — 70%, 80% off retail — if you're willing to do the search," she said.

Fashionphile has tens of thousands of items available at any given moment. Most users, she said, won't go through them all, focusing instead on new arrivals or the most popular styles.

Some of the best deals are on items that are a slight variation of the classic. A navy Chanel bag will sell for less than a black one, for example, and a more obscure shape Louis Vuitton will sell for less than a Speedy.

"There are some funky little styles, and you take a little bit of color, you're going to get an incredible deal," she said.

Four Americans in their 80s share why they're still working to pay the bills. Whether it's driving for Uber or substitute teaching, their stories reveal resilience, purpose, and what it really means to keep going past 80 in an economy with little safety net.

• Audrey Serna, 33, left college after two semesters.
• It was challenging to find a job while pregnant and without a college degree.
• Serna now makes six figures, and she doesn't regret her decision to forgo college.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Audrey Serna, 33, who dropped out of college after two semesters. It has been edited for length and clarity.

It was a horrible feeling to drop out of college when all of my peers chose that route. But I wouldn't have done anything differently.

After graduating from high school in 2010, I enrolled at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta. I grew up in an environment where I was told that college was the only path to success, so I didn't even consider taking a different route. I quickly realized, though, that college was not the right fit for me: I struggled to balance school and my social life while working part-time jobs, and it was weighing on my mental health.

I withdrew from college after two semesters and started on an emotionally and financially draining career journey that I'm now grateful for.

Job searching without a college degree

I felt like a total failure leaving school at 20 years old. I was working just to pay the bills — I held two jobs as a restaurant server and in retail, and in the back of my mind, I always had motivation to push myself to find a more stable career. I just didn't know how.

Many companies rejected me right off the bat because I didn't have a college degree, which wasn't a good feeling. I had moments where I felt like I wouldn't make it anywhere because I didn't have a degree, but I persevered. All it took was meeting just one person who was willing to take a chance on me.

Job searching while pregnant was frustrating. When hiring managers saw that I was pregnant, that was usually the end of the road for me, but knowing that I had a child to support was a big motivator to keep pushing and find a salaried role.

I had my first child in 2014, and that's when my career actually started to take off. I landed an entry-level payroll job — my first 9-to-5 job — and I went into it with the attitude of trying to be the best employee at the company, which meant being responsive and working quickly. Upper management liked my work ethic and decided to take a chance on me, and they offered me a managerial position that I held at the company for about six years.

It wasn't easy, though. Before I had my child, I was paying the bills as best I could, but I was struggling for a while. At one point, I went six or seven months without power in my apartment because my minimum-wage jobs weren't enough to cover my expenses.

I don't regret leaving college

I'm now a mom of two kids living in the DC area, and their fathers are not in the picture, so I support myself and my children financially. During the pandemic, I was struggling with my salary at the company where I had started, so I sought a better opportunity. I connected with a recruiter on LinkedIn who helped me land my first job, which was close to six figures. I was later recruited for my current role as a payroll operations manager, where I earn a six-figure salary. I can pay my bills, and I'm working on improving my credit.

Saving money is an ongoing process, and I'm doing what I can to budget for my long-term goals, like owning a home and traveling. I try my best to eat at home and throw excess money into a savings account that accrues interest. There are always months that are tighter than others, but as someone who has had many bad years financially, I try to give myself grace and know that things will get better.

It makes me emotional to see where I am now, compared to how I was when I was 19 years old, unsure of what to do with my life without a college degree.

I don't have any regrets because I took the path that life wanted me to take. Education is obviously important, and while college does not define your worth, it can definitely make things easier. It's an amazing accomplishment that jobs like to see. But I also think that with the right motivation, you can be equally successful without a degree. It's just a little more difficult.

I still haven't ruled out returning to college later in life. The costs are a barrier, though, and it's not my top priority while I'm raising my kids.

Still, I want my kids — and anyone else struggling with a college decision — to know that a college degree does not define your value. Never feel like, because you didn't go to college, that you're less worthy or less than anybody else in the world. What's right for you is not what's right for somebody else, and you're going to get to your end goal some way or another.

• Sitting at a computer all day can lead to poor posture and back pain.
• Dr. Jason Snibbe, an orthopedic surgeon, shared tips for staying upright while you work.
• Find a chair with lower back support and armrests.

It's tricky to maintain good posture while sitting at a desk for hours each day, but a few simple adjustments to your work setup could make a big difference, a top orthopedic surgeon said.

It's thought that around 66% of Americans have what's known as tech neck or forward head posture, where the head and chin protrude and put pressure on the neck.

It's common in office workers who crane their necks to look at screens (big and small) all day. This can cause neck and back pain, headaches, and lead to more serious musculoskeletal problems, like kyphosis (curvature of the spine).

"When you're sitting at a desk, your body gets stiff, your body gets tight," Dr. Jason Snibbe, the official orthopedic surgeon of the LA Clippers, who also counts Kris Jenner as a patient, said.

But getting up from your desk and stretching or going on a short walk can help your muscles stay strong and flexible, he said.

Snibbe shared four tips for supporting good posture and preventing back pain if you work at a desk.

Try a standing desk

Using a standing desk can be a great way to take pressure off your spine and reduce the number of hours you spend seated each day, Snibbe said.

"Your body can shift and move," he said.

A small 2024 study published in Healthcare found that people with forward head posture scored better in a postural assessment and muscle tiredness test after working at a standing desk for 30 minutes than those who used a regular desk. The standing desk group also scored higher in a self-reported comfort questionnaire.

AirPods are your friends

Snibbe tells his patients with sedentary jobs to set an alarm for every 30 minutes or so to remind them to get up from their desks and move around a little.

But he knows this isn't always possible, so recommends using wireless headphones to integrate more movement into your working day.

"The beauty of that is people can now take calls. They can go on a walk and take a call, they can have a conversation, they can have a business meeting while they're exercising, which I think is a wonderful, wonderful thing," he said.

Use a chair with lower back support and armrests

It's important to sit on a chair that has cushioning or some kind of support for the lower back, Snibbe said. It helps to keep the spine in correct alignment, which prevents slouching and back pain.

He said you should also choose a chair that has armrests, particularly if you're working on computers and typing a lot, because they take stress off the neck and shoulders.

Getting a laptop stand, or simply placing some books under your computer to bring it to eye level, will also help you sit with the correct posture, he said.

Put resistance bands all over your office

When your work requires you to sit uninterrupted for hours, it means you're not using and strengthening your muscles, but strong muscles play a big role in maintaining healthy posture.

To combat this, try tying resistance bands to handles, doors, or hooks around your office, and use them to do some strength training while you work. You can use them to internally and externally rotate your shoulders, for example, he said.

He suggested tying a band to the legs of your desk and pushing against it, mimicking a leg press. "So you're activating your muscles, you're moving, you're getting the blood flowing," Snibbe said.

• Barbara White downsized to a 55+ community after selling her Florida home for a profit.
• Demand for retirement communities is rising as older Americans seek active adult lifestyles.
• White likes the amenities, the proximity to family, and the freedom to travel more.

When Barbara White decided it was time to sell her four-bedroom house and downsize, it helped that she had 40 years of experience as a real estate agent to inform her search.

Still, it wasn't easy to find her next home. After selling her property on Amelia Island in North Florida in July 2024 for nearly $500,000, she moved into a rental for six months while continuing to look for a smaller place closer to her two sons.

Finally, she bought a newly built, two-bedroom, 1,300-square-foot home in a new 55+ community about 200 miles south in Brevard County. She moved in last February. Crucially, she was able to use cash from her home sale to buy the new house, which she got for a bit less than its listed price of $250,000.

White, 72, is part of a surge of older Americans moving to retirement communities. Over the last decade, there's been an explosion in demand for age-restricted "active adult" or independent living, particularly in the Sunbelt. Perhaps the country's most famous retirement community, The Villages, has become one of Florida's fastest-growing metro areas.

As Americans live longer, healthier lives, they want to retire in "aspirational" places that focus more on activities, hobbies, and community than healthcare, said Bob Kramer, founder of the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care (NIC).

"As people are living longer, you have people in their 60s, 70s, and 80s who are just looking for a lifestyle alternative," Kramer said.

Are you 65 or older with a story to share about your housing? Reach out to this reporter at erelman@businessinsider.com or fill out this form.

White has found it easier to make friends in a community full of older people, and she's taking advantage of some of the amenities and programming, including water aerobics.

She's also relieved to live in a smaller home with about half the square footage of her last home and much less stuff filling it — she donated much of her old furniture to a family in need. She made a generous profit on her home sale and feels like she got a good deal as a buyer. Her previous home sold for $481,000 after she bought it seven years earlier for $243,000. The house doubled in value largely because of Florida's pandemic-induced population boom, which pushed home prices way up across the state.

"Everybody from the Northeast was moving down to Florida. And every time you turned around, people were overbidding on the properties," she said.

These days, White is semi-retired from her career as a realtor. She sold a few homes this year, but she's only taking referrals and not actively seeking work. With Social Security and some savings, she feels financially secure. So she uses the income she makes from real estate to travel as much as she can. This past summer, she went to Norway. In recent years, she's visited Prague, Budapest, and Vienna for the Christmas markets and gone island hopping in Greece in the summer. Sometimes, she wishes she could sell everything and travel full-time.

But for the time being, she's happy with her slower pace of life in her new home.

"I keep busy doing nothing," she joked. "The days and the weeks go pretty quickly."

Emily Reynolds runs a PR company, and with that responsibility comes the pressure to look young, she tells me.

She's 44 but often passes as younger, and that's by design. Reynolds has tried Botox, filler, laser facials, hydrofacials, and invests in expensive skincare products. She has a Peloton and does intense workouts a la Barry's Bootcamp. She's walking the precarious line, she tells me, between looking mature enough to show she's an experienced professional who can run and mentor a team, and young enough to be relevant.

Even as she thinks critically about beauty standards imposed on women, Reynolds worries what would happen to her business and professional reputation if she abandoned her rituals and routines — and what's going to happen as she continues to age. "How long will I be quote-unquote publicly perceived as attractive?" Reynolds says. "And when I'm not, what happens to me professionally? That's the thing I think about daily."

While talking about looks in the corporate world remains taboo, years of research show attractive people tend to gain more trust than their plainer-looking counterparts, and that pretty and thin people tend to land jobs and advance up the career ladder to earn more money than others. Now, thanks to filters, Facetune, modern shapewear, high-end gyms, and a revolution in skincare products, corporate workers can be their own glam teams. GLP-1s lure people with a seemingly simpler path to thinness than diet fads and Weight Watchers menu items. And because conventional beauty has never been more accessible, the expectation that the average worker attains it has perhaps never been higher.

These beauty secret regimens aren't secrets — no longer treatments just for those with pretty people jobs like modeling and acting, but touted by regular people with 9 to 5s all over TikTok, where office workers sit before the camera and show themselves doing multi-step skincare routines and complex makeup and morning routines. You, too, can have a perfect, poreless face like the people on your Instagram feed, if you're willing to invest.

And in a precarious job market notoriously frosty to older workers, what better to justify that investment than thinking being hot can advance your career?

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The rise of remote work let workers trade pinching shoes and tailored pants for slippers and sweats worn out of frame, but it also forced desk workers' faces in front of unforgiving cameras daily.

That meant confronting a mirror of their own image and imperfections while trying to focus on meetings. A study published in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal in 2021 found that more than one-third of participants in Australia started to negatively judge parts of their appearance after spending more time on video calls during the height of the pandemic. A survey of dermatologists published in 2021 in International Journal of Women's Dermatology found that more than half of practitioners reported an increase in cosmetic consultations, with more than 80% of patients citing concerns with their appearance on video calls. Data from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) shows that cosmetic surgery procedures increased by 19% from 2019 to 2022, and have continued to climb at a slower rate since.

As conventional beauty has never been more accessible, the expectation that the average worker attains it has risen.

Beyond COVID, age-old ageism and workplace pressure also drive people toward cosmetic procedures, C. Bob Basu, president of ASPS, tells me in an email. "Many patients tell us they want to look 'less tired,' 'more energetic,' or 'more alert' — especially in leadership roles, client-facing environments, or fast-paced industries where confidence and presence matter," Basu says. These people often focus on their faces and necks, engaging in procedures that lessen under-eye bags, lift eyelids, or lead to sharper jaw lines, Basu says. While the workplace is "rarely the sole driver" behind a cosmetic procedure, he says do weigh it in their choice, and that many patients cite watching themselves on video calls as the inciting incident.

Alanna Barry, a 30-year-old working in public relations, says that after staring at herself on screen for months, she became fixated on her teeth. Sometimes, when she smiled, the light in the room would hit them in a way she felt accented their imperfections. She's looking to pay out of pocket for Invisalign to get the smile she wants — to feel more confident herself, and so that energy comes off when speaking to clients. But she also feels that having a perfect smile could make her more memorable. "My confidence is just completely shot," Barry tells me. "I do feel like there's a stigma that if you present yourself a certain way and you're more polished or you have less flaws that are visible, you tend to get better opportunities than someone who's maybe not looking their very best."

LinkedIn has made looks a part of even the job seeking process by showing recruiters your face for roles that, in theory, shouldn't rely on looks at all. Now there are several companies offering ways to use real photos combined with to generate well-lit, flawless AI professional headshots — a glowing professional image previously only in reach for those who could pay photographers with good equipment and good lighting. With AI initially evaluating so many profiles for jobs it's become fitting for more to rely on AI to boost their online persona.

But with the mass adoption of AI as an image editor, people might start looking the same. AI editing "tries to neutralize literally everything, and in that homogenization, what we get is a loss of individuality, and a loss of cultural diversity," says Gretchen Andrew, an artist who uses AI and oil painting in her pieces that comment on the highly filtered beauty standards. Bill Cava, who runs AI consulting firm Generative Labs, tells me he experimented with an AI version of himself. It created a more polished look — smoother skin, no gray hairs. But he says he learned from his clients' reactions that showing up deeply human and authentic was the better move. "I was like, 'hey, that looks wonderful,'" Cava tells me about seeing the AI version of himself. "But my clients were like: "No, please don't do that.'" He realized that "it seems to violate the trust" he had with people.

Similar to minor dental work, it's some of the least invasive, low-lift cosmetic procedures that are growing in popularity. The ASPS says lip augmentation procedures have increased steadily year-over-year, growing from 1.38 million in 2022 to 1.45 million in 2024. The number of people using injectables like Botox has nearly doubled between 2019 and 2024, from just over 5 million to nearly 10 million. The global beauty industry, currently valued at $450 billion, is expected to reach a $590 billion valuation by 2030, according to a 2025 analysis from McKinsey, with skincare making up some 40% of the market.

Even people who oppose the role looks play in the workplace find themselves drawn to manipulating their image. Maureen Wiley Clough, who hosts the podcast "It Gets Late Early" about ageism in white-collar America, tells me she got Botox for the first time after watching herself on a screen and obsessing over lines on her face she hadn't noticed much before. She quit Botox about a year ago, after she became worried about possible long-term effects. Wiley Clough is an advocate for breaking down age-based barriers in the workforce, yet still found herself judging lines on her face. "Aging is something that you think happens to other people," she says. "I wasn't ready for it."

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The workplace benefits of pretty aren't just a perception — there's data to show more attractive workers earn more. A study published in 2023 that found attractive MBA holders earn 2.4% more than other MBA graduates, and that the prettiest people can earn $5,500 more annually. The study used machine learning models trained to evaluate the attractiveness, and found that the benefit of good looks persists throughout a career, not just for young interviewees. "It's not that they are only benefiting right in the beginning, in the quick interview with their MBA program, but the benefit actually persists five years, 10 years, into their career as well," Nikhil Malik, a marketing professor at the University of Southern California and lead author of the study, tells me. Another surprising finding: "It matters as much for men as it does for women."

I have to reverse age to stay here. Why is the window so short to be professionally relevant?Emily Reynolds, PR executive

High-powered men in tech are increasingly getting facelifts. Men now make up 7% of plastic surgery patients, according to ASPS. "While certainly less controversial or stigmatized thanks to social media and other trends, men's pursuit of cosmetic surgery may be a way to get a leg up in an uncertain economy," the society's 2024 report says. "An increasingly competitive job market may be fueling renewed interest for men in aesthetic health because it offers an opportunity for men to improve their confidence."

The boom in GLP-1 use for weight loss (some 12% of Americans say they are currently using the drugs, according to health research firm KFF) has only furthered perceptions that people can and should be thin, says Ally Duvall, senior program development lead at Equip, a startup focused on eating disorder treatment. The Society for Human Resource Management surveyed about 1,000 human resource professionals in 2023 and found that about a quarter said obese employees are more likely to be perceived as unmotivated and lazy than slimmer workers. And fear of missing out on your job due to your size is realistic — weight-based discrimination is legal in much of the US. While workplaces celebrate diversity of race, sexuality, or religion, they rarely touch on body size. Duvall says weight stigma may seem justified at work, because some people inaccurately link thinness with health.

"If you aren't doing things about it, then you're morally wrong, or you're a bad person, or you're not taking your life seriously, or you're not doing the things that you should in order to achieve this most successful life out there," Duvall says people may think about larger workers to justify their bias.

Work isn't the sole motivator for many who want to control their appearance. Reynolds tells me it's not just for her PR firm — wants to look good and feel good for herself. She's confident about her abilities, and proud of the hard work she did to get to a place of expertise. Despite her accomplishments, it feels like her work could slip away. "Now, I have to reverse age to stay here," Reynolds tells me. "Why is the window so short to be professionally relevant?"

Ageism, weight stigma, and pretty privilege are some of the hardest biases to dismantle; doing so requires unraveling the conscious and subconscious ways we've come to value and interpret beauty over a lifetime, and also confronting aging and mortality without fear. We're typically our own harshest critics, but there's enough evidence to wonder if others are critiquing our looks alongside our resumes, too.

"If people think that they can get further in their career by throwing some Botox in their forehead, they're going to keep doing it," says Wiley Clough. "The sad part is, in many ways, I think they're probably not wrong."

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Amanda Hoover is a senior correspondent at Business Insider covering the tech industry. She writes about the biggest tech companies and trends.

When I saw a British newspaper warning that rich Americans were "invading" the Cotswolds, I had to see for myself if the headlines matched reality.

In late October, I made the 90-minute train journey from London to the quaint collection of towns and villages in the English countryside, as I've done many times for family holidays and weekend escapes.

I didn't find an "invasion," but it was clear the Cotswolds is changing — and fast. This sense didn't just come from the American-sounding accents I heard on the streets, but from conversations with the people I met.

Long associated with Barbour jackets and tweed-clad royals, nowadays if the Cotswolds were a party, its guestlist would rival the Met Gala's.

Last year, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi bought a $20 million estate here. Tom Cruise, as well as Jay-Z and Beyoncé, are rumored to be next. Recent visitors include Taylor Swift, Kourtney Kardashian, Bill Gates, and Vice President JD Vance — along with the rich and powerful who keep a low profile.

The Cotswolds was already a hotspot for the wealthy before Americans took serious interest. Its existing luxury amenities are part of its appeal, helping to create a cycle of upmarket offerings attracting more and more affluent visitors.

In 2023, the upscale American home furnishings brand RH opened shop on the grounds of a 17th-century country estate, and last year the Cotswolds added Estelle Manor to its roster of members' clubs, which also includes Soho House.

Meanwhile, Americans are among the ultra-wealthy snapping up heritage homes, a considerable number of which are on the market for upwards of $10 million.

This series looks at how the Cotswolds has transformed into a playground for America's rich and famous, earning it the nickname "The Hamptons of England."