• F1 Arcade, an F1 racing simulator experience, is coming to Washington DC and Las Vegas by 2025.
• Netflix's "Drive to Survive" series has boosted Formula 1's US popularity.
• I tested F1 Arcade in London to see what all the fuss was about.

F1 Arcade, a restaurant and bar that houses e-sport racing game machines meant to mimic the Formula 1 driving experience, is one of the latest ways the sport is being monetized after Netflix's hit series "Formula 1: Drive to Survive."

The Arcade — backed by Formula 1 and Liberty Media — has been open since 2022 in the UK and, after launching a branch in Boston in April, is now expanding further in the US.

This month, it was announced that F1 Arcade had completed a $130 million fundraising round to enable it to open another branch in Washington DC this fall and a flagship site in Las Vegas in 2025.

The announcement comes just months after the release of the sixth season of the 2019 Netflix hit series "Formula 1: Drive to Survive."

The hugely popular series has been credited with helping Formula 1 break into the US market, where the sport had largely been overshadowed by NASCAR and IndyCar.

I visited the F1 Arcade in London to see if the venue is worth it for die-hard racing fans.

The arcade is located in the heart of central London.

Games were priced at £15.95 ($20) for three races or £25.95 ($34) for five races. I thought this was expensive, given that each race only lasted six minutes.

I was excited to get on a simulator and start racing. The venue houses 60 machines at five different skill levels.

But first I had to order a cocktail. The most popular was the "Passion and Glory" which is made with Ferarri Trento Brut, the official sparkling wine of Formula 1.

I tried both "Rookie" and "Elite" modesm, the easiest and most difficult race settings. "Elite" mode threw me around in the seat a lot, which was a lot of fun, especially because it's difficult not to spin out on the corners.

The simulators are immersive, with multiple high-resolution screens offering different angles on the race. The surround sound makes it feel like you're really on the track.

I was surprised at how similar the machines felt to driving a car with accelerator and brake pedals. Staff told me that the simulators can adapt to in-game weather conditions, such as the feel of a slick track on a rainy day.

I really enjoyed the races, but the three-race package was short.

After I had completed my races, the only option I had — other than purchasing more — was to order lunch. The menu is designed to offer "high-end comfort food."

I ordered the truffle mac-and-cheese croquettes for £9 ($12), fried halloumi with a green sweet chili sauce also for £9 ($12), and miso mushroom tacos for £8.50 ($11).

The truffle mac-and-cheese croquettes were definitely my favorite. They were crispy, without too much truffle, and didn't feel heavy.

The quality of the food was very good, but it wasn't cheap. The bill came to £48.93 ($63) with service charge.

I think that F1 Arcade is quite expensive for what it is.

Although the races were a lot of fun, and the simulators were worth the hype, I found that there wasn't a lot to do once you were finished.

For visitors who are willing to pay more, you can earn enough "Arcadian" points to gain access to other Formula 1-themed games, including one that tests your reaction speed.

However, for guests on any kind of budget, paying for food, drink, and three races might not be worth the trip.

The simulators and the mac-and-cheese croquettes were great, but because the actual racing time was so short, I wouldn't hurry back.

• A 60-year-old says she's essentially been aging in reverse for about the past four years.
• One "biological age" test she recently did said her body is 35.
• She enjoys hiking, raving, hormone therapy, and fasting.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Tina Woods, a 60-year-old healthcare entrepreneur and the CEO of Business for Health in London. It's been edited for length and clarity.

I just turned 60, and I've never felt better.

I've got the strength of an ox, dance moves to rave all night, and I radiate renewed joy for my marriage and my job.

I made a conscious decision to change the way I live a few years back. I was in the midst of quitting the corporate world, watching my kids enter adulthood, and starting hormone replacement therapy. I decided this would be a good time to embark on a very simple — but remarkably effective — longevity quest.

It all started when I was researching my 2020 book, "Live Longer with AI," and I began seeking out the advice of longevity experts all over the world. At that point, longevity science was still pretty fringe, so there were a lot of fairly out-there characters I spoke to who wanted to live forever and who touted radical life extension as something within our grasp.

But even among the most die-hard immortalists I spoke with for the book, I started to notice a trend. Most of the stuff they were actually doing day in and day out to stay young is pretty simple and cheap. It usually involves some form of caloric restriction, a healthy diet composed of lots of plants, decent exercise, and good sleep. In short, the basics. Stuff your grandmother could have recommended.

I reduced my 'biological age' by 10 years — here's what that means

Tests I took on my 60th birthday this spring suggest my brain is aging like that of a 35-year-old, my heart health is mid-40s, and so is my metabolism.

It's amazing to realize that in just four years, I've reduced one key measure of biological aging by a decade — my GlycanAge has plummeted from 46 to 35, while I've aged from 56 to 60. (The GlycanAge test is a finger prick that's meant to track the level of chronic inflammation in your body, which directly predicts a lot of age-associated decline.)

It drives me crazy when people wear these kinds of one-off "biological age" stats like some sort of badge of honor. As if any of the new tests being used for aging are definitive or validated.

I find that what they can do is help provide an overall snapshot of our health. Taken together, along with daily data from my smartwatch and various apps I use to track my health over time, my GlycanAge provides a single datapoint that goes hand in hand with how I feel, which is fantastic.

If I hadn't been doing research for my book, and meeting with experts offering to let me try out all this longevity medicine tech for free, I probably wouldn't have ever paid for a biological age test. It costs hundreds of dollars just for one. Do I really need a test to tell me that I have never felt this good? Regular checkups, blood tests, and scans at the doctor are one thing, but I wouldn't pay 300 pounds just to brag about a biological age result. (Though it is cool to see.)

4 simple changes I made to stave off aging

• Supplements: I do take some supplements, but I don't expect them to perform miracles.

  Like a lot of longevity-seekers, I make sure to pop some vitamin D every day, and then there's B12, omega-3s, and collagen for my joints — which are definitely not what they used to be, I'd probably rate them my oldest body part, biologically speaking.

  A bone scan I did as part of my recent longevity workup in Poland has proved to be diagnostically useful, and has convinced me to start supplementing a bit of calcium as well. I do enjoy eating Swiss cheese on my non-fasting days, and I also try to prioritize proteins like chicken and fish in my diet, as well as lots of plants. I make a mean lentil soup, and I snack on seeds and nuts, generally avoiding ultra-processed foods.

• Caloric restriction: Four days a week I stick to only eating one meal a day, and — though it's still somewhat controversial — I'm convinced this is one of the big keys to healthy aging. It was a conversation with geneticist and longevity doctor Nir Barzilai in New York that really pushed me over the edge on this idea, as he explained how, mechanistically, it makes sense that a little caloric restriction, and specifically, some fasted time each day, might be good for human longevity. (We already know this is great for flies, worms, and mice, and there is enough anecdotal evidence of a benefit in people that many longevity scientists already practice some form of caloric restriction or fasting themselves.)

• VO2 max: I also hold a religious devotion to exercise — I enjoy Zumba class twice a week, plus strength training at home in the cellar (my "gym") and YouTube videos for some conditioning. My VO2 max, a key measure of heart health and fitness, is off the charts!

  

  All this regular training keeps me fit as a fiddle and ready to rave all night with my husband at some of London's grooviest clubs. Being on the dance floor absolutely electrifies me, and it has also rekindled aspects of my relationship with my husband which I'd lost during early menopause, bringing us closer together in a funny sort of way. I feel like music is my lifeblood. I even DJ now — I recently turned tables at the world's first longevity rave (held at a vegan cafe, of course).

• HRT: One of the most pharmacological ways I've changed my biological age since I started this journey is hormone replacement therapy for menopause. It's been an eye-opening experience. I'd always been pretty fit and relatively healthy, but I noticed during menopause that I was starting to gain some weight, and I felt just generally kind of low-energy, not like myself. Low sex drive, urinary issues. Yuk, I thought. This is a bit boring.

  My doctor suggested I try HRT — I started with a patch version, but that didn't work very well. My current regimen is a few pumps of estradiol gel, which is rubbed into the skin, plus progesterone capsules and a tiny bit of testosterone gel I take off-label (I monitor my hormone levels very closely with regular blood tests, and make sure my testosterone sachets are brand name, not sourced from a dodgy online pharmacy.) It took a while for me to find the dose that worked well for me, but now I absolutely love it, and I'm convinced that it's played a big part in my recent biological age reduction (along with eating healthier, losing about 20 pounds, finding my joy, and everything else!) I was initially worried that the testosterone might hurt my heart health, or mess with my cholesterol levels, but I'm pleased to report everything seems to be going really well.

Joy is a key component of my longevity

I do hope that more effort is placed on measuring how happiness and optimism can change our lives and help improve our longevity. There's already been some study of how big stressors and health events — like a pregnancy — can temporarily speed up biological aging. And we know that happier, more optimistic people tend to live longer.

Scientific studies on flies, worms, and mice won't ever give us better insights into how happiness, purpose, and joy affect human health. I'm looking forward to seeing how we might better study this in people, gathering biological age data that will illuminate the simple, low-cost things we can all do to live more fruitful and, yes, longer lives.

I know the longevity Blue Zones have gotten a lot of attention as beacons of healthy aging, and a lot of the techniques their backers espouse do make sense. But I'd like more solid, scientific data to inform what the rest of us can do moving forward to make the most of our days, in a relatively cheap and simple way.

It's amazing to see the impact of all this basic stuff: nutrition, fitness, purpose, joy. I'm not getting any IV blood transfusions, stem cell treatments or any of that other biohacking stuff that costs an arm and a leg, I'm doing all of this pretty low-cost. I'm now convinced that hope and happiness will outdo any pill when it comes to improving biological aging. That's just my opinion for now, but it's based on what I've seen in myself.

• The Chinese yuan has become a key currency for Russia's trade settlement.
• But tightened US sanctions are freezing and delaying yuan payments, Bloomberg reports.
• Russia is eying alternative payment systems, including cryptocurrency, to bypass Western sanctions.

Western sanctions have shut Russia out of the dollar-dominant global financial order, but the country has managed to keep its wartime economy humming thanks to the Chinese yuan.

But even this line of trade looks like it's starting to get shut down, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. It's unclear how widespread this issue is.

Several unnamed major Russian commodity exporters told Bloomberg that trade with China has become increasingly difficult as even direct payments made in the yuan are getting frozen or delayed. This is the same with Chinese customers buying Russian products, they told the media outlet.

The US tightened sanctions on Russia in June, but there were already problems before this round of restrictions, according to earlier local media reports.

Last June, a major Chinese lender started restricting transitions between Russian clients and lenders in the West. In February, some Chinese state banks stopped accepting payments from sanctioned Russian financial institutions due to fears of US secondary sanctions.

The problem appears to be widening as even some smaller Chinese lenders are not processing yuan payments to Russia, per Bloomberg.

In mid-June, analysts at Sberbank — a Russian bank major — acknowledged there had been problems setting trade in the yuan.

Russia explores alternative payment infrastructure

Bloomberg's report about the difficulties Russia has with yuan payments — one of its last few international currency options — highlights the challenges the country's isolated economy faces amid Western sanctions.

The West blocked some Russian banks from the widely used SWIFT messaging system for payments early in the war, but Russia and its trade partners have been able to skirt sanctions by using smaller banks or other payment modes.

Russia is now looking into alternative payments infrastructure — which a top Russian banker said should be made a "state secret" because it's likely the West would shut them down really fast.

On Wednesday, Russia's money laundering watchdog said the country should create a cryptocurrency payments infrastructure, Reuters reported.

"This is a need for businesses, especially in cases involving sanction mechanisms, when they need to enter the international market, and it can't always be resolved through standard methods," said the watchdog's head, Yuri Chekhanchin, per the news agency.

• Elon Musk said SpaceX would move its HQ to Texas in response to California law protecting LGBTQ+ youth.
• Other space startups have responded by appealing to SpaceX employees to come join them.
• One CEO of a French rocket firm offered SpaceX engineers 12 bottles of champagne if they jumped ship.

Elon Musk says he plans to move SpaceX to Texas, and some of the company's competitors are trying to capitalize by poaching his employees.

At least two space firms have launched public appeals for SpaceX employees to join them after Musk announced SpaceX would move its HQ from California, with one CEO promising engineers 12 bottles of champagne if they make the move.

Stanislas Maximin, the CEO of rocket startup and SpaceX rival Latitude, responded to Musk's post announcing SpaceX's move to Texas with an appeal for disaffected SpaceX employees to move to France, where the company is based.

"For SpaceX employees misaligned with these values and looking to join an inclusive and highly ambitious rocket company in a great living city near Paris, my DMs are open," he wrote on X.

"We take care of everything for you; moving out, visas, full healthcare, your house/apartment, finding your spouse a job… a few have already taken the plunge, join them!" Maximin said. He added that he would offer 12 bottles of champagne to every engineer making the move.

A spokesperson for Latitude confirmed to Business Insider the company was "absolutely" open to hiring SpaceX employees uncomfortable with the move, and was making efforts to hire US talent more generally.

Asteroid mining startup AstroForge, which used a SpaceX rocket to launch its first mission in 2023, also responded to Musk's post with an appeal to SpaceX employees.

"We are hiring, and located in Seal Beach, CA," the company wrote on X.

Musk wrote on X that both SpaceX and X would move headquarters to Texas, in response to a new California law protecting LGBTQ+ youth that he said was "attacking both families and companies."

SpaceX dominates the space industry, conducting far more launches than any other company last year.

However, the rocket firm has faced scrutiny in recent years over its culture, with a group of former employees recently suing the company, alleging they were fired for speaking out against a hostile and misogynistic work environment.

SpaceX, Latitude, and AstroForge did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, sent outside normal working hours.

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

• Job-search platform Indeed published a list of fast-growing jobs without many people applying.
• Based on how Indeed ranked the list, five of the top seven don't typically require a degree.
• Indeed's Gabrielle Davis said the list shows "new avenues for job seekers to consider."

Not all job postings get a lot of attention. Roles that are being overlooked by job seekers could be a new opportunity if they find one that fits their interests.

Job-search platform Indeed published a list of top jobs that are "waiting for you to apply" based on a year's worth of US job postings, starting with ones in March 2023. The list includes jobs that had seen a large growth in their share of postings across the site that also had very small numbers of job seekers checking those postings out.

"The criteria included the largest percentage increase in job postings per million, as well as the lowest click share," Indeed said.

Gabrielle Davis, a career trends expert at Indeed, told Business Insider that this list highlights some potential "new avenues for job seekers to consider if they're feeling stuck in their job search."

Davis said that despite a positive-looking labor market, job seekers may find it tough to land work. Amid a modestly slowing job market, Davis suggested job seekers focus on things they can control, such as having their résumé and online profiles in order.

"It can seem like a full-time job in and of itself," Davis said, emphasizing the importance of consistency and working toward goals in the job search process, like dedicating an hour to update your résumé and another to apply to roles.

Below are the seven top jobs on the new Indeed list, which were ranked using the increase in job share per 1 million. According to the Indeed report, banking consultants and board-certified behavior analysts were the only jobs among the top seven that typically need a bachelor's degree.

7. Banking consultant

Increase in job share per 1 million: 287%

Average salary: $110,318

6. Licensed realtor

Increase in job share per 1 million: 309%

Average salary: $205,609

Indeed said this average "accounts for performance-based commission."

5. Stock supervisor

Increase in job share per 1 million: 347%

Average salary: $33,249

4. Board-certified behavior analyst

Increase in job share per 1 million: 397%

Average salary: $75,158

3. Insurance broker

Increase in job share per 1 million: 424%

Average salary: $90,293

2. Mortgage consultant

Increase in job share per 1 million: 592%

Average salary: $64,049

1. Document reviewer

Increase in job share per 1 million: 975%

Average salary: $51,883

In June, the pop artist Charli XCX released her sixth studio album, "Brat." A few days later, she released a second version, with three more songs, and cheekily called it "Brat and it's the same but there's three more songs so it's not." Some speculated this was a dig at Taylor Swift, whose album rereleases have drawn criticism by some who see them as a push to stay atop the charts. Really it was a nod to the same game many big artists are playing today: rolling out a tidal wave of iterations of albums and songs as they seek to grab attention and please the algorithmic gods on crowded apps like Spotify and TikTok.

"Everybody's playing a streaming game," said Nima Nasseri, a former A&R lead at Universal Music Group who manages the music producer and artist Hit-Boy.

In the streaming era, more is more, and the biggest stars in pop are fully embracing the never-ending album-release cycle — as well as nearly never-ending albums. Country artist Morgan Wallen's 2023 album "One Thing at a Time" clocked in at 36 tracks. In March, Beyoncé released 27 songs for "Cowboy Carter." In April, Swift gave her fans two hours to comb through her 16-track album, "The Tortured Poets Department," before unloading an additional 15 songs in an anthology edition just a few hours later. The music executive Nathan Hubbard, who podcasts for The Ringer and was trying to review Swift's first version when he got hit with the second, described the onslaught as a "hostage situation."

Swift has since released more than 30 different iterations of "Tortured Poets" in the form of remixes, vinyl editions, cassettes, and first-draft phone memos. In May, Billie Eilish released nine vinyl editions, four CDs, and a slew of sped-up and slowed-down versions of songs from her album "Hit Me Hard and Soft."

"It's a very momentum-driven market," said Ben Klein, the cofounder at the record label and music-marketing firm Hundred Days. And when an artist has momentum, he said, "you want to really capitalize on that by putting out as much product as possible."

Long albums can feel like a sprawling mess, particularly as most TikTok-era listeners rarely take time to play even full songs, never mind 31-track sagas. But while they grate on casual listeners, and critics, they can also delight superfans who take pleasure in conducting forensic analysis on lyrics while buying limited-edition vinyls to hang on their walls. "If you have the power to do so, small changes to the format or capsuled editions allow for artists to continue to satisfy their rabid fan bases," said David O'Connor, the vice president of artist and business development at Live Nation Entertainment. For megastars, the real money is in catering to their base.

What these trends ultimately reveal is how a handful of tech platforms like Spotify and TikTok continue to dramatically shape how music is made and consumed today. No artist, no matter how big, can ignore the algorithm.

Gen Z was too young to remember this, but not long ago, if you wanted to hear a song and it wasn't on the radio, the only way was to go to a store and buy a full album.

For decades, the record industry's stranglehold on music distribution kept record sales growing at a healthy clip, peaking in the US at about $15 billion in 1999 (some $27 billion in today's dollars). But Napster arrived that same year, bringing illegal music downloads into the mainstream. In 2003, Apple's iTunes music store began selling individual songs for about a dollar, returning some revenue back to rights holders but further diminishing the album's position as music gatekeeper.

"Steve Jobs radically remapped the music industry," said Robert Fink, a professor of musicology and the music-industry program chair at UCLA's Herb Alpert School of Music. "He arguably saved the record business by creating a store where people would actually pay $0.99 for a song as opposed to zero. That was great. But what he also did is he re-created the singles format. You could just buy the one song."

Some artists even admit to thinking about TikTokable moments during the songwriting process.

The album took another blow with the arrival of playlists on subscription streaming services like Spotify. And now, in the attention-span-depleted TikTok era of music discovery, the most meme-able 15 seconds of a song have started to matter more than the full track, much less a full album. Some artists even admit to thinking about TikTokable moments during the songwriting process. As it has with politics and news, the sound-bite-ification of social media has come for music.

"Most of my fans aren't really looking for an album," said Charlie Green, an artist and YouTuber who performs under the stage name CG5. "In the music industry today it's very important to just see how your singles do, and if they do well, then you release an album."

"It's a little bit of the Wild West when it comes to why we release tracks on certain artists and albums on the other," Taylor Lindsey, a senior vice president of A&R at Sony Music Nashville, said. "So much of it is just about artist preference and also where they are in their careers. But in the same breath, because we are in a world where there are 100,000 tracks uploaded to digital streaming platforms per day, and because the attention span is like 2.5 seconds, there's this sense of, 'You need more.'"

Still, for some artists, albums can be a useful tool for marketing, streaming economics, and nourishing their biggest fans. More tracks on an album can also help it have the best chance at breaking through.

"The more songs on an album, the more bites at the apple for editorial and user playlisting and the potential for higher first-week sales," said Brian Zisook, the head of artist and label services and executive vice president of global operations at the music-streaming platform Audiomack.

"There's just less cost-prohibitive reasons to not put more songs on a record," said Audrey Benoualid, a music lawyer at the firm Myman Greenspan who has worked with artists like Ariana Grande and Tate McRae. "If you're capturing all of your fans and the fans are streaming 10 songs or they're streaming 30 songs, it actually makes a big difference on charting and streaming revenue."

Of course, writing lots of quality songs for an album is easier said than done. And some artists are wary of letting social-media strategies or streaming incentives bleed into the creative process.

Performers, whether indie artists or chart-topping pop stars, know digital virality can be fleeting and many listeners will hear their music only once. What matters more for their long-term careers is building an audience of superfans. That's where albums can really shine.

"Our core fan, as far as people that are buying meet-and-greet tickets to Judah & the Lion shows, I do think that they love records," said Judah Akers, a singer and guitarist in the folk band Judah & the Lion, which released a 19-track album called "The Process" in May.

Superfans are the listeners most likely to buy concert tickets, drive repeat Apple Music streams, and shell out money for physical records that they can listen to or frame as a wall hanging. The resurgence of vinyl sales as a fan collectible in recent years reflects that. US revenue from vinyl records, CDs, and other physical formats grew to $1.91 billion last year, a 10% increase from 2022, per data compiled by the RIAA. According to entertainment industry data firm Luminate, the top 10 best-selling albums of 2024 had an average of seven vinyl releases, 13 CDs, and two cassettes.

"The album as a form is simultaneously dying and living its best life," said Marie Clausen, a managing director at the record label Ninja Tune. "Now that music discovery is driven so much by TikTok and shorts and reels, it is really important to offer these real-life touch points or experiences basically where you can hold a record in your hand."

Like their counterparts in pop, Akers' band plans to release an extended deluxe version of "The Process" with five additional songs later this year. He hopes fans will try to guess how those added tracks fit into the album's broader storyline, which tackles the artist's and his cowriter's experiences with grief.

"A 24-song record is like feeding someone a full-course meal and then giving them free desserts," Akers said. "It could be too much. But I think for us, since this record is so important to us, we want to keep pointing our fans back."

With no physical bounds, an album today can really be whatever an artist wants it to be (even if the nebulous shape of it can make it a moving target for music critics).

"What defines an album is entirely up to the artist," said Nathan Hubbard. "I think constraints can breed creativity, and historically they have. But I think that the removal of those constraints has given artists the ability to just create on their own terms and to define whatever an album is for them."

Dan Whateley is a senior media reporter at Business Insider covering social media and the music business.

• Julie Berninger, 35, now spends over $25,000 a month so she can spend more time with her kids.
• Berninger amassed wealth through tech jobs and passive income to achieve financial independence.
• Still, she outsources most daily tasks to invest more time in her businesses.

Julie Berninger, 35, and her husband used to save 70% of their income. Now, they spend over $25,000 a month on outsourcing aspects of their lives like cleaning, cooking, and transportation.

Berninger and her husband have built their high net worth through previous high-paying corporate jobs, Berninger's digital course businesses, and passive income, which has given them the comfort of knowing they could retire early. However, Berninger said she's investing in the growth of her companies — and is spending a lot to do so.

She said these purchases have allowed her to spend more time with her family, keep work to under 40 hours a week, and focus on expanding her companies without being overworked. She's been satisfied with her spending choices and isn't too worried about adhering to all principles of the FIRE — financial independence, retire early — movement.

"When I was pursuing FIRE, I was trying to get to the lowest monthly cost possible," Berninger said. "Now that I found my passion, I want to have it all. I want to be able to give my kids time to see me."

Working toward FIRE

Berninger grew up middle class and said she didn't have much financial literacy until getting to college. She got scholarships and financial aid but still had student loans.

Shortly after graduating, Berninger and her husband paid off over $100,000 of student loan debt as Berninger worked high-paying jobs in tech. She was a project manager at Apple and Amazon, rising the corporate ladder. Around this time, she started getting into the FIRE movement, and she knew she wanted to achieve financial independence by her 30s.

She started a FIRE blog called Millennial Boss in 2015, and starting in 2017, she hosted podcast episodes that got over 2 million downloads within the first two years. She spoke with various leaders in the movement who shared their best advice for building wealth. She and her husband, now a strength and conditioning coach, had saved over $1 million.

"While I did love my tech job, which I found very interesting and stimulating, and I was accomplishing a lot, it wasn't quite the same as following a passion," Berninger said, noting her blog brought in about $35,000 in passive income last year.

She had a solid financial base, which allowed her to consider stepping away from the corporate world and starting a business. While at Amazon, she started selling digital products part-time on Etsy, as she wanted side income and opportunities to try different fields of work.

During her first few months, she made a couple hundred dollars selling printables, which quickly grew into the thousands. Later, she collaborated with Cody Berman, an entrepreneur who achieved financial independence at 25, on Gold City Ventures, which created online courses for selling products on Etsy.

In five years, they've helped over 15,000 people start Etsy shops. She said the business brought in over $2 million in gross revenue last year.

"The people who sell on Etsy are basically just everyday people. They're not huge corporations but rather your neighbor down the street who makes personalized, handcrafted things," Berninger said. "There's a printable for every profession."

Shifting spending habits

In 2023, she also founded Auros Agency, a boutique digital course creation agency with a similar business model. However, as her "flexible but not passive" business became more involved, she spent less time with her two kids. She didn't want her kids in day care every day, but she also didn't want to sacrifice her business.

She began to outsource many daily tasks, such as dry cleaning, folding laundry, cooking, and landscaping. Her home payments were small because they had a large downpayment, and her and her husband's income allowed them to reduce their savings rate. She estimates her current savings rate is around 18% of her income, well below her past peak of saving 70% when starting her business, but she noted that her overall income is now much higher.

"If my goal was to stop working at 40, then I obviously wouldn't be doing all these things," she said. "I would be hanging out with my family, and I wouldn't be working. But I genuinely love everything I'm doing and have much bigger ambitions."

As of the end of May, Berninger spent slightly over $200,000 and made almost $250,000 gross so far in 2024, screenshots shared with BI show.

She said this choice has given her the flexibility to take off whenever she chooses, as she can hire others for temporary positions if she needs more time off. She makes time for lunches with her kids and often works at night and on weekends when her kids are asleep. She estimates she works fewer than 40 hours a week.

She's also recruited successful course participants to coach the next class of future Etsy sellers. She said it was a breath of fresh air not to have to worry about job security, though it took her time to accept being in full control of her destiny.

She said that even if her business crashed overnight, she still had over a million in savings and could easily pivot to her original FIRE principles. Still, she doesn't consider herself completely financially independent.

She said her FIRE ethos is not oriented where the goal is not to get out of productive work — the goal is to have a greater impact on the world, to get personal fulfillment, and to make life more interesting," she said. "Sometimes, if you're just optimizing toward regular FIRE and you try to get out as fast as possible, then I think you're missing out."

Are you part of the FIRE movement or living by some of its principles? Reach out to this reporter at nsheidlower@businessinsider.com.

• Trump told Bloomberg Businessweek the Fed should not cut rates before the presidential election.
• However, some economists and lawmakers say cuts should happen soon.
• The Fed has two interest rate decisions before November; traders expect cuts to start in September.

Former President Donald Trump said the Federal Reserve should not cut interest rates before the presidential election, according to an interview he did with Bloomberg Businessweek.

In a June 25 interview that was published on July 16, Trump said the Fed may cut rates before the election, but it's something Fed Chair Jerome Powell and Fed members "know they shouldn't be doing."

His comments are at odds with what some economists and Democratic lawmakers have said about the need for cuts soon.

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, told Business Insider that when rate cuts do happen, it could "provide immediate relief" for consumers, small businesses, and lower- and middle-income households. For instance, interest rates on credit cards could come down, he said, which would benefit consumers.

Trump's remarks echo his previous claims that the Fed could become politicized ahead of the presidential election as opinions on the timing of interest rate cuts split across party lines. The Federal Open Market Committee has two interest rate decisions scheduled before the election in July and September.

The Federal Reserve is meant to operate independently and apolitically.

"Congress has entrusted the Federal Reserve with operational independence that is needed to take a longer-term perspective in the pursuit of our dual mandate of maximum employment and stable prices," Powell said before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on July 9.

The FOMC monitors economic data to decide when to cut rates without spurring inflation. According to market predictions, the central bank is expected to once again hold rates steady during its July meeting but potentially cut in September.

Trump said the Fed has a "dream" to lower interest rates, but he'd advise against it. "Right now, you have to keep rates where they are," he said, citing general inflation as a concern.

"Inflation is a country buster," Trump said, and while he said he knows Fed members want to cut interest rates, he would not do so before the presidential election.

June inflation data showed consumer prices increased 3% year-over-year, the lowest rate in a year. Some economists think it's time to cut rates, with cooling inflation and job growth suggesting the Fed's job is already mostly done.

"I think it's past time for them to cut interest rates," Zandi said. "I think they have achieved their objective of full employment and inflation at target."

Meanwhile, Claudia Sahm, chief economist at investment management firm New Century Advisors and former Fed economist, said indicators show it's time to cut rates.

"We have seen the US economy has been getting back on track, normalizing, rebalancing, all of the Fed's catchwords for some time now," Sahm said.

Zandi thinks the Fed will start making rate cuts in September. He noted that the bar for cuts is higher than it typically is because the Fed fears a reacceleration of inflation. He also noted that the election a few months away could play a role.

"They're thinking maybe if they start cutting rates, they're going to be brought into the political debate, and it's a pretty uncomfortable place to be," he said.

This isn't the first time Trump has criticized Powell and the FOMC's interest rate decisions. During a February interview with Fox News, Trump accused Powell of being "political" and planning interest rate cuts to coincide with the election.

"I think he's going to do something to probably help the Democrats, I think, if he lowers interest rates," Trump said, adding that "it looks to me like he's trying to lower interest rates for the sake of maybe getting people elected."

Powell has consistently maintained the Federal Reserve is an independent entity that does not consider politics or policymaking in its decisions. Powell said in April during Stanford's Business, Government, and Society Forum that "our analysis is free from any personal or political bias, in service to the public."

"But our decisions will always reflect our painstaking assessment of what is best for our economy in the medium and longer term — and nothing else," Powell said.

Zandi said the Fed may want to have a few more months of "good inflation statistics" — like the consumer price index data for June, which was released on July 11 — so that it can "mitigate the risk that they become politicized."

Trump allies were reportedly writing a plan to curb the independence of the Federal Reserve and allow Trump to have a say in interest rate decisions should he win the upcoming election, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Trump told Bloomberg Businessweek that while he's had his "own disputes" with Powell, he would allow him to finish his term as Chair of the Federal Reserve if Trump thought he "was doing the right thing."

• Joe Biden said he would reconsider running for president if he was advised by his doctors.
• The president previously pushed back against criticism of his cognitive abilities.
• The 81-year-old tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday. 

It's been three weeks since Joe Biden's shaky debate against Donald Trump prompted calls for him to drop out.

Since then, 81-year-old and his inner circle have repeatedly pushed back against criticism of his cognitive abilities and his age.

But it turns out that one group of people could convince the president to call it quits: his doctors.

Speaking with BET News' Ed Gordon on Wednesday, Biden was asked which circumstances would cause him to reevaluate running for the presidency.

"If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody — if doctors came to me and said you got this problem, that problem," Biden responded.

"The only thing age brings is a little bit of wisdom. And I think I've demonstrated that I know how to get things done," Biden said later in the interview, adding that he is "reluctant" to walk away from the race.

Biden didn't elaborate on what kind of medical condition would spur him to reconsider running for president, though it's worth noting that he has previously rejected the idea of taking a cognitive test.

The interview was aired on the same day the White House announced that the president had tested positive for COVID-19.

It's the third time in the past two years that the president has contracted the virus.

"Earlier today following his first event in Las Vegas, President Biden tested positive for COVID-19. He is vaccinated and boosted and he is experiencing mild symptoms. He will be returning to Delaware where he will self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time," Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

"The White House will provide regular updates on the President's status as he continues to carry out the full duties of the office while in isolation."

Paul got his first bottle of pills from Hims in May. He said he didn't really need the generic Viagra, but after a friend bragged that he'd been using it for years to "go multiple rounds," Paul figured he'd give it a shot. So he signed in to Hims and found that the process of getting it from the direct-to-consumer telehealth company was almost disturbingly easy. Paul, who's in his early 40s, answered some multiple-choice questions online, a doctor supposedly reviewed his responses, and then a bottle of pills showed up in the mail a couple of days later.

He's used the drug twice, though it doesn't really work how he thought it would. Nobody had explained what to expect, which probably wouldn't be the case in a regular healthcare setting. When I asked Paul (a pseudonym) why he didn't just go to his regular doctor for the issue, his answer was succinct: "Speed, convenience, positive my doctor would say no." His primary-care provider had mentioned a while back that he thought Viagra was overprescribed.

The direct-to-consumer health industry has exploded in recent years. The pandemic accelerated the rise of telehealth, which these DTC companies are a part of both culturally and legally. Grand View Research estimates that the global telehealth market was worth $101.2 billion in 2023 and that it's growing rapidly. Multiple startups have popped up to capitalize on this growth, with venture capital and investor dollars flowing in. Hims & Hers Health has a market cap of over $4 billion. Ro, one of the other main players in the industry, has raised over $1 billion and has a valuation of $6.6 billion, according to PitchBook.

These companies sell a wide array of products to help with everything from weight loss to mental health. Much of their business proposition, however, is targeted specifically at young men and, more specifically, at their insecurities. Are you worried about your hairline? Your fertility? What about getting an erection? Are you scared to talk to a doctor face-to-face about any of this? Well, Hims promises you can "skip the awkward doctor visits" and offers "ED meds from your couch." A "healthy, handsome you" is only a click away.

"These platforms are basically set up to minimize the distance from advertising and hooking the consumer to getting a prescription in their hand," said Matthew McCoy, an assistant professor in the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. "The advantage of that is efficiency — people, understandably, don't have a lot of time always to spend on these sorts of things. The downside of that is risks that you're not making fully informed decisions or that the kind of advice that you're getting is being colored by the company's financial incentives rather than a doctor's honest opinion of what's in your medical best interest."

Those at the forefront of the DTC health revolution have American guys right where they want them: insecure, on edge, and ready to open their wallets.

There are some variations in how these services work, but the gist is this: You go to a website (probably because you saw some ad for it), fill out a questionnaire about your condition, maybe chat with a doctor (though often you don't), and then voilà, a prescription is on its way to you in what's promised to be discreet packaging.

"It typically bypasses traditional healthcare settings, and often there's little to no involvement of a healthcare provider," said Ashwini Nagappan, a doctoral candidate at UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health who has studied DTC medicine and ethics.

There is some altruistic appeal: DTC medication services can help with access for people who live in remote areas or can't easily get to a doctor. But for many clients, and especially young men, the upside is that it's simply more convenient than a traditional appointment.

"In general, men are less likely to utilize healthcare when compared to women," said Joshua Halpern, the chief scientific officer at Posterity Health, a male-fertility clinic, and an adjunct assistant professor of urology at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. "And we know that many young men don't even have a primary-care physician to begin with, so the process of establishing care can be daunting, especially when it can take months to get an appointment."

Even if they do have a relationship with a medical provider, it may not be the type where they feel comfortable bringing up sensitive or stigmatized issues. Research indicates that when it comes to seeking care for sexual-health concerns, privacy is a primary consideration for young men. A review of literature on DTC telemedicine and men notes that men who use DTC platforms cite convenience as an important motivation, as well as embarrassment and discretion. Financial factors, interestingly, aren't very much in play. A survey conducted in late 2019 and early 2020 found that men under 40 and in the middle-income range were likelier to use DTC telehealth services than older, wealthier men.

While DTC services may help with timely access and do some work on destigmatizing certain issues, there are substantial drawbacks. Men using these services might not get the comprehensive evaluation they need to uncover underlying conditions and address their overall health, Halpern said, and they may not be seeing a healthcare provider who is most appropriate for managing their condition.

"They can also end up paying more for care that would be more affordable elsewhere or even covered by their medical insurance," he said.

His research suggests that some platforms may also be providing what's known as guideline-discordant care, meaning patients are getting unnecessary tests and inappropriate treatments, such as testosterone replacement for men who are trying to conceive, which can be detrimental in some cases. Plenty of doctors have sounded the alarm about DTC telehealth companies, and some firms have gotten into legal trouble, too. The Department of Justice has charged the leaders of the ADHD-focused telehealth company Done with fraud over its Adderall prescription practices and advertising.

For all the issues with DTC companies, it's fair to note that traditional healthcare settings are far from perfect. Patients can lie to their doctors in person. Providers don't always have a full view of their patients' health or everything they're taking. Navigating insurance and appointments is a hassle. But handing out drugs in a faceless manner across the internet is markedly different from what has happened in healthcare historically, and it presents different risks.

These companies are in the business of selling drugs.

"When you're in person or you're doing telehealth through a more established healthcare entity, there is a little bit more collection of your medical history," Nagappan said.

While DTC platforms say they serve a valuable purpose in getting young men to address medical needs they would otherwise ignore, the monetary factors involved are different from those at a regular physician's office.

"These companies are in the business of selling drugs," McCoy said. "A medical provider ideally is in the business of providing the best medical care, which sometimes involves writing prescriptions for drugs, but sometimes involves alternative modalities or nothing at all."

One man who got generic Viagra through Hims told me he went through the platform to avoid the "8 million" questions his doctor would ask — and he knew he'd probably be approved. "I mean, whenever you deal with these drug companies that are trying to do direct-to-consumer, you've got to know that their doctors are just checking a box," he said. "They're not going to give you too much crap. If you have a pulse, they're going to give you a prescription." (He was also concerned about privacy, but he said the packaging wasn't as discreet as he'd hoped — "Hims" was on the shipping label, and he knows his mail guy.)

These companies make money if you buy something, and it's even better if you set up a recurring subscription, so advertising that leans into young men's fears can be especially fruitful.

"You might say that makes them a target for high-pressure, potentially even manipulative marketing in a way that we should worry about," McCoy said.

The dynamic is similar to pharmaceutical ads on TV for drugs like Ozempic or Cialis. Instead of getting advice from disinterested parties, like their doctors, people are getting messages from quite interested parties — pharmaceutical companies — hoping they show up at their next medical visit and make an ask.

A spokesperson for Hims said in an email that a "core tenet" of the company is "to help people address issues that may be hard to talk about, but are important for feeling good and being healthy" and that its platform and customer experience is "is designed to help customers bypass the various hurdles that come with getting the care and accessing necessary treatments." When asked how doctors are compensated, they said it's a time-based model that takes into consideration time spent and "certain efficiency metrics," but it's not about prescriptions written. The spokesperson emphasized that "the health and well-being of our customers will always be our top priority" and confirmed that fees are only charged if someone receives treatment. A spokesperson for Ro said that it's a "misconception" that its patient base skews younger and that 87% are over 30. They said that providers' prescribing decisions do not impact their compensation and provided a link to their operating system.

DTC telehealth can play a role in people getting treatment they may otherwise not seek, whether for alcoholism or depression or hair loss, and at the very least it can help people realize they're not so alone in whatever issue that's ailing them. While I was reporting for this story, a friend told me he got a hair-loss prescription from Hims after his barber mentioned his bald spot — to me, that seems fine.

But it's hard not to recognize these companies' financial incentives and the ways they may distort care. They're prescribing all sorts of drugs constantly and not asking too many questions in the process. That young guy listening to a hair-loss ad on his favorite podcast isn't just a patient — he's a customer.

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