• A 55-year-old health business founder marked his 55th birthday by sharing 55 reasons he feels healthy.
• Kevin Dahlstrom's viral X post promoted quality sleep and strong social connections.
• Dahlstrom told Business Insider his health has been his priority since he fell ill in his 20s.

A health founder marked his 55th birthday by sharing 55 reasons he believes he's his "fittest, sharpest, and happiest" — but you probably only need to follow five to improve your health.

Kevin Dahlstrom, the founder of Bolt. Health, an online testosterone replacement therapy clinic based in Colorado, shared his advice in an X post on Monday. It amassed 4.1 million views and was reposted by Bill Ackman.

In the post, Dahlstrom said that his vitality wasn't down to a secret formula or winning the DNA lottery, but "a million tiny choices, compounded over decades."

While factors such as our genetics and environment play a role in how long we live, research suggests lifestyle factors are also hugely important.

Stacy L. Andersen, co-director of the New England Centenarian Study and an associate professor at Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, boiled Dahlstrom's tips into five must-follows.

She told Business Insider via email: "These tips point to what has been seen in many scientific studies — healthy behaviors such as maintaining an ideal body weight, keeping moving, eating a high-quality diet, getting enough sleep, and keeping your brain active are the best ways to optimize your aging.

"Moreover, evidence shows that doing all of these together can add 10 years to your life!"

Dahlstrom told Business Insider via email Tuesday that his health and fitness have been a priority since his 20s, when he experienced chronic illness, and the list is a result of what he's learned over time.

"Birthdays (especially after the age of 50) are a good time to reflect on life," he said.

Here are five of Dahlstrom's tips that are science-backed.

1. Walk around 5,000 steps a day

Dahlstrom walks upward of 15,000 miles a week, or approximately 2.5 miles a day. "It's critical to longevity," he said.

If you break it down, that adds up to around 5,000 steps a day, half the famous, and arbitrary, 10,000 steps recommendation that originated in a Japanese marketing campaign.

But research does link walking daily to healthy aging. One study published October in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that people who walked for 15 minutes a day at a fast pace were 20% less likely to die early.

2. Take exercise and mobility seriously

While Dahlstrom's recommendation to get "hardcore" about mobility and exercise may not work for everyone, being active is crucial to aging well.

One 2022 study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that of the 99,713 participants aged 55 to 74, those who did regular aerobic exercise and strength training were 41% less likely to die from any cause a decade later.

Business Insider previously reported that making a workout routine fun and talking to close friends and family about it helped people stay consistent for three years in a study.

3. Find your purpose

Andersen said the New England Centenarian Study has shown that longevity is associated with greater feelings of purpose in life, while other studies have found that it is also related to a lower risk of dementia and resilience to Alzheimer's disease.

"Filling your day with activities that are meaningful to you and having things that you want to accomplish keep you invigorated and engaged in life," she said. Referring to Dahlstrom's list she added: "Finding hobbies (#21) and being a lifelong learner (#41) are great ways to also find purpose!"

4. Get 8 hours of quality sleep each night

Getting enough sleep is crucial for our health. Adults should aim to sleep for between 7 and 9 hours per night, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Anything less can have a negative impact on health over time. In one 2022 study published in PLOS Medicine involving over 10,000 British civil servants, those who reported getting less than five hours of sleep a night at the age of 50 had a higher risk of developing chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, and dying from long-term health conditions.

5. Stop drinking alcohol

Drinking alcohol regularly increases your risk of chronic disease and impacts almost every organ in the body. Experts increasingly agree there is no safe amount to drink.

The previous US Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, published a report in January 2025 warning of the links between alcohol and cancer risk.

Don't blindly follow health advice online

Some of Dahlstrom's tips aren't in line with evidence-based health advice, for instance: "avoid mainstream medicine except as a last resort" and "don't take antibiotics except in emergency situations."

Dr. Kurt Hong, a professor of clinical medicine at the University of Southern California, told Business Insider via email that while antibiotic overuse is "very real" and can impact the gut microbiome, patients only using them in situations they deem an "emergency" is "dangerous."

Hong added that while functional and integrative health can be helpful, one should not avoid mainstream medical practices such as preventive care, cancer screenings, and vaccinations. "This is a dangerous recommendation by the author," he said.

And while research indicates psychedelic drugs could be used to treat chronic mental illness in a controlled, clinical setting, Hong said Dahlstrom's recommendation to "try psychedelics" is dangerous, particularly for patients with mental health issues, which can be worsened with psychedelics, such as PTSD, depression, and bipolar.

Dahlstrom's said: "I believe that everyone should take responsibility for their own health and make their own decisions. The mainstream medical system is fantastic for acute illness and injury, but equally bad at chronic illness."

• Comacchio offers Venice-like canals and charm without the crowds or overtourism issues.
• The town features tranquil lagoons, pink flamingos, and eel cuisine.
• This article is part of "Undiscovered Europe," a series exploring overlooked travel gems.

Roughly 20 million tourists visit Venice, Italy, each year, shuffling shoulder to shoulder over tired bridges, crowding alleyways lined with souvenir shops, and snapping selfies from gondolas in congested canals.

For over a decade, overtourism in Venice has made life harder for residents.

Enter Comacchio — an Italian city less than two hours away with a similar landscape and vibe that most tourists have yet to discover.

Like Venice, Comacchio is made up of islands, where you'll find canals rather than streets and historic, colorful buildings lining the waterways. But unlike Venice, this floating city is a hidden gem.

"It's a very relaxed, frozen-in-time atmosphere," Bologna-based blogger Andrea Chierici told Business Insider. "It's a place that is calm with no crowds, no noise, and no big groups with the umbrellas."

Historic lagoons home to pink flamingos

The proximity to Po Delta Park — which includes the Comacchio Lagoons, one of Italy's largest wetland complexes, according to Po Delta Tourism — is one of many reasons to visit Comacchio. The park is part of a protected biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site. A representative of the locally owned tour company, Comacchio Experience, said it's a must-see for visitors.

"You can imagine the lagoon like a big lake, so you cannot see the horizon on the other side of this lagoon, but it's not totally water," the representative told Business Insider. "Inside the water, we have a lot of banks and houses of ancient fishermen."

You'll find many waterbird species in Po Delta Park, including the pink flamingo. Both experts recommend taking a walk, bike ride, or boat tour of the lagoons.

The representative of Comacchio Experience also recommends relaxing at the area's wild beaches, which haven't been taken over by tourists.

"This is a very different experience because in Italy, we have a lot of beaches, but there are umbrellas everywhere and loud music," he told Business Insider. "But here, you can find a quiet and very free place."

Eels are a seasonal delicacy

"If you like food, the main reason to go to Comacchio is the eel," Chierici said.

The eel is a historic delicacy in Comacchio, celebrated with annual festivals.

"The original food of Comacchio, the eel, is a prehistoric fish that comes here naturally, and we've fished for 1,000 years," the Comacchio Experience rep said. "This fish is so important because it was the only economy here until the last 70 years."

The eel is a seasonal food that's fresh in the fall but is preserved to eat all year long. Chierici said that the town has a fishing system that allows all of the smaller eels to go free.

"We keep the life cycle of the eel alive, which is very important because they make a long trip to come to Comacchio," he told Business Insider. "They come from the Sargasso Sea to the unique landscape of the Po Delta Valley, especially near Comacchio, to reproduce."

Chierici said that restaurants around town serve eel in various ways — from grilled entrées to sandwiches and risottos.

Nearby places

Comacchio is conveniently located about an hour away from many other historical cities, like Ravenna, Bologna, and Ferrara, making it a great base for a longer trip to Northern Italy, the Comacchio Experience representative said.

Within a half-hour drive, Chierici also suggests visiting Pomposa and Tresigallo for entrancing architecture.

6 things to do in Comacchio

1. Take a sunset boat tour. Both experts say the best way to explore Comacchio is by boat. According to the Comacchio Experience representative, sunset is the best time to go.
2. Go bird watching at Po Delta Park. Chierici suggests taking a bird-watching tour to find pink flamingos in the lagoon.
3. Tour the eel factory. Chierici suggests touring the Manifattura dei Marinati to see how eel is marinated and preserved.
4. Try eel in all its forms. Eel is prepared various ways in Comacchio. Try it at one of Chierici's favorite restaurants: Vasco e Giulia, La Barcaccia, and Al Cantinon.
5. Attend the fall food festival. Both experts suggest visiting in the fall to attend the annual Sagra dell'Anguilla, a food festival celebrating the eel.
6. Visit nearby cities and towns. Both sources say it's worth visiting nearby places like Tresigallo, Pomposa, Ravenna, Bologna, and Ferrara.

And if you must go to Venice, it's just an hour and a half away.

• Abby Bucco, a 27-year-old fashion merchandiser, got engaged in November.
• Her fiancé proposed with a vintage, floral engagement ring.
• Some people online say the ring is too bold. Bucco told Business Insider that it's perfect for her.

Abby Bucco doesn't really like to wear jewelry.

The 27-year-old fashion merchandiser is known among her friends and family for having a unique fashion sense — but jewelry plays only a small role. It's not something she wears every day.

Still, she realized a few years ago that when it came time to get engaged, she'd go big.

"I was never going to have something that everyone else had," she said.

Speaking with Business Insider, Bucco shared her proposal story, the background of her vintage ring, and a response to online critics who say they hate it.

Abby Bucco met her partner, Chris, in college through mutual friends.

Although Bucco attended Fordham University in New York City, she grew up in Philadelphia and had friends who attended Penn State University.

Through them, she met Chris. He liked her immediately, but Bucco was dating someone else.

Still, the stars were aligned. In 2020, they'd both graduated from college, and Chris had moved to New York City, where a newly single Bucco was still living.

They reconnected and began dating in June 2021.

The couple got engaged in November, and Bucco was shocked.

Bucco said she and Chris, a 28-year-old working in tech sales, would regularly talk about getting engaged. Still, she had no idea a proposal was actually coming.

"We just signed our fourth lease together, so I'm always making jokes, like, 'When are you going to propose?'" she said.

The answer turned out to be an unexpected one: his birthday on November 8. Bucco was under the impression that they'd be getting drinks with friends that afternoon before going to a birthday dinner with his siblings.

"I was running late as always, and he kept trying to rush me out of the apartment," Bucco said. "Then we started walking, and I made him take pictures of me multiple times because I do influencing on the side. He was freaking out the entire time, but I had no idea what was going on."

She realized, though, when he suddenly stopped walking and got down on one knee.

"I was so in shock that I said, 'No, no, not today,'" Bucco said.

Friends and family gathered secretly to celebrate the couple's special day.

Her fiancé's sisters were hiding in a patch of bushes to take photos of the couple, while two of Bucco's closest friends stood nearby, and her parents waited a little farther away.

Together, the newly engaged couple and their loved ones attended a celebratory dinner.

"His parents came as well to surprise me," Bucco said.

Together, they celebrated the couple's engagement and, of course, Chris' birthday.

Bucco's fiancé had one more celebration up his sleeve.

"After dinner, we went to a bar, which was another surprise," Bucco said. "Chris had most of my friends who live in New York waiting there to surprise me."

Everyone dressed in chic black outfits, and the couple drank from custom bride and groom glasses.

The star of the night was Bucco's engagement ring.

As Bucco told Business Insider, she'd never been super excited about getting engaged because she didn't like most engagement rings.

Her mind changed a few years ago, though, when her father bought her mother an anniversary piece from Wilson's Estate Jewelry in Philadelphia.

She became enamored with the store's diamond cocktail jewelry and even found her dream ring. It sold long before Bucco was thinking about getting engaged, and she was devastated.

This past summer, though, a new piece caught her eye.

"I was at dinner with Chris and my mom, and I got an ad on Instagram for a new ring at Wilson's," Bucco said. "I showed them and was like, 'Oh my God, this is amazing.'"

"They were freaking out because they had already talked to Wilson's about buying that exact ring," she added. "My mom had found it a few days before."

The vintage, 1950s piece features numerous diamonds in the shape of two intertwined flowers.

Wilson's Estate Jewelry, which sold the ring to Bucco's fiancé, states on its website that the piece features numerous diamonds, including center stones that weigh about 1.45 and 1.70 carats, a platinum band, and a coiled bypass shape.

When her fiancé proposed with it, Bucco said she was thrilled.

"Once I saw that ring [online], I didn't want anything else. That was the ring," she said. "I loved it even more in person. The pictures honestly don't do it justice."

Bucco's dad didn't initially love the ring, but he came around.

When Bucco's mom first came across the engagement ring online, she sent her husband to check it out at the store.

"My dad did not like it at all," Bucco said. "He thought it was ridiculous and would be way too big for my hand. He didn't want to get it."

So he didn't. The store instead held onto the ring so that Bucco's mom could see it herself.

She loved it, and so did Bucco's fiancé.

"He knows I have a really particular taste," Bucco said about her fiancé. "He said that if I think it's cool, then it's cool. And he knows that my mom knows me well."

The same goes for the rest of her friends and family.

"They all love it," Bucco said. "And if any of them don't love the ring, they love it for me."

Online, critics have been harsh — but Bucco doesn't care.

When Bucco first posted photos of her engagement ring online, the reactions from friends and strangers alike were positive.

After a day, though, Bucco had been inundated with harsh criticisms. Some said the piece looked like a fidget spinner or a can opener. Others questioned if it was even her real engagement ring.

"Some of the comments are so weird," Bucco said. "They'll be like, 'Good luck changing diapers in this!' and I'm like, 'OK. I wasn't planning on changing a diaper anytime soon, or wearing a ring while changing one.'"

In fact, Bucco doesn't even plan to wear her ring every day.

"People are very concerned that it's a cocktail ring," she said, "But it's just not a concern of mine. Any ring, even a plain band, I wouldn't wear every day. I don't like having jewelry on that much."

Bucco's most viral posts about her engagement ring have between 3.4 and 6.1 million views each on TikTok. Bucco said the virality — good and bad — has been fun to experience.

"Even when there are 10 negative comments, there are also 10 positive comments and 10 super nice girls in my DMs on Instagram," she said.

It also helps that she now has the ring (and man) of her dreams.

• Campbell placed an executive on leave after a lawsuit alleged he badmouthed the company privately.
• An audio recording shows an apparent Campbell VP saying its products are for "poor people."
• Campbell denied the person's claims that its meat is 3D-printed.

Campbell Soup Company put an executive on leave while investigating claims made in a lawsuit that he trashed the company behind closed doors, including mocking its "poor" customers and saying the company's meat "came from a 3D printer."

In a statement Tuesday, the company said the alleged comments by Martin Bally, Campbell's vice president of information technology, were "unacceptable."

"Such language does not reflect our values and the culture of our company," the company said. "We do not tolerate that kind of language under any circumstances."

The move follows a lawsuit filed Thursday in a Michigan court by Robert Garza, a former cybersecurity analyst at the company who said he was fired after complaining about Bally.

According to the lawsuit, Garza recorded a meeting with Bally where the executive insulted the intelligence of his Indian colleagues and said the company's products were for "poor people."

The law firm representing Garza provided Business Insider with an apparent recording of the meeting. The recording was not included as an exhibit in the lawsuit, and Business Insider hasn't independently authenticated it.

The recording features a conversation where a person belittles Campbell and its products.

"If you look at our fucking pantry — we have shit for fucking poor people, right?" the person said.

"I don't buy fucking Campbell's products barely anymore," the person continues in the tirade. "It's unhealthy."

At one point in the recording of the meeting, which appears to take place at a restaurant, the person refers to Campbell's food as "bioengineered."

"Even in a can of soup — I look at it, and look at bioengineered meat," the person said. "I don't want to eat a fucking piece of chicken that came from a 3D printer, do you?"

Elsewhere in the recorded conversation, the person recounts an instance where he tried to help a colleague with a tech issue. He blamed "Indians" for not resolving it without him.

"Fucking Indians, they don't know a mother-fucking thing," the person said. "They couldn't think for their fucking selves."

Bally didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

In its statement Tuesday, Campbell said the remarks about its food were "patently absurd" and that the chicken meat in its soups "comes from long-trusted, USDA approved U.S. suppliers."

"Keep in mind, the alleged comments heard on the audio were made by a person in IT, who has nothing to do with how we make our food," the company said.

The audio has become a public relations nightmare for the soup-maker. Despite Campbell's denials, the remarks about bioengineered and 3D-printed chicken have bounced around social media and drawn the attention of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who said he would investigate the company.

"Florida law bans lab-grown meat," Uthmeier posted on X. "Our Consumer Protection division is launching an investigation and will demand answers from Campbell's."

The person in the recorded meeting had other criticisms for Campbell.

He bemoaned the lack of innovation in the food industry and said the company overpaid for its 2023 acquisition of Sovos Brands, which makes Rao's pasta sauce, for $2.7 billion.

"It's a fucking recipe and a brand," the person said. "We don't own a plant. Somebody else manufactures it for us. We're buying, we're getting tomatoes from the fucking family that does the recipe out of Italy. It's a fucking smoke and mirrors."

• Regularly updating my will is an act of love and responsibility for my daughter.
• My parents modeled practical estate planning, making death a normalized topic in our family.
• I think having open conversations about wills and decluttering can ease future burdens.

When I was growing up, every time my parents left to go on a vacation without the kids, they would post their itinerary on the fridge, remind us to behave for whichever relative was in charge that week, and then, almost as an afterthought, say, "The wills are in the cabinet."

Whether they were flying to Greece for three weeks or driving to New Hampshire for a long weekend, the simple yet jarring reminder was always the same. The wills are in the cabinet.

My siblings and I didn't take them too seriously. I recall more than a few eye rolls, but we knew what cabinet they meant. The metal one in the basement that held all sorts of documents, from schoolwork my mother chose to save to savings bonds that hadn't yet matured — and the wills.

My parents weren't morbid, they were practical

Their actions set a tone. One that I didn't really appreciate until I had my own family.

Talking about death and estate planning can feel uncomfortable, especially in American culture, where we tend to avoid the topic. For my parents, though, death wasn't a taboo topic; it was simply part of the logistics of life. Until we were in our twenties, they would also often add, "Aunt Debbie is in charge if anything happens."

They weren't morbid about it; they were practical. They still are. As we got older, they started talking more openly about what was in their wills.

When I got pregnant, I made my own will

When I found out I was pregnant, one of the first things I did, along with daydreaming about names and browsing nursery furniture, was create a will.

I update it periodically, for instance, when I bought a house, and when we got a dog. Not because I am pessimistic, but because I was raised for it to just be a part of life.

My parents modeled that type of planning for me in countless ways. They've always believed in preparing for the inevitable, not out of fear, but out of kindness.

My mom is a big fan of Swedish death cleaning — the Scandinavian concept of decluttering one's life so that loved ones don't have to deal with piles of stuff after they're gone. Annoyingly, this often results in her showing up at my house with a box of things she's saved from my school years, but I do appreciate the effort she's made to declutter the house they've lived in for nearly four decades.

It's a little dark, sure, but also deeply caring. When families normalize these conversations, they remove the uncertainty that often exacerbates the difficulty of grief. My siblings and I will never have to guess what our parents would have wanted, or fight over who's in charge. We already know. The wills are in the cabinet.

The habits of my parents have stuck with me

Now, as I plan trips with my own family, I catch myself channeling my mom. Before we leave, I make sure our documents are in order. I check my guardianship designations.

Because, as strange as it sounds, that simple phrase — the wills are in the cabinet — has come to mean something bigger. It's not about expecting the worst. It's about loving the people who will be left behind enough to make things easier for them.

• Two of the biggest alternative data providers, Yipit and M Science, have settled their legal disputes.
• Yipit's first lawsuit was filed in October of 2024 after two former employees joined its rival.
• The details of the settlement have not been made public.

The nasty courtroom battle between two of the biggest alternative data players has ended in a settlement.

Carlyle-backed Yipit and Jefferies-owned M Science agreed to drop their lawsuits against each other as part of the settlement, according to a person familiar with the arrangement who was not authorized to speak publicly. The details of the settlement have not been made public.

The lawsuits, which centered on claims that two employees stole trade secrets from one rival and passed them on to another, rocked the alternative data world. These firms have grown in scale and revenue as hedge funds and asset managers use their datasets to find differentiated intel to inform bets. Yet, it remains a relatively small industry where everyone knows everyone. The legal drama revealed a side of the industry that had firms worried about how ultra-secretive asset management clients would react.

"There is a sense of industry-wide relief that these companies (and their clients) are out of the spotlight," said Don D'Amico, the founder of Glacier Network, which advises data buyers and sellers.

Yipit declined to comment. M Science and Jefferies did not respond to requests for comment.

The fight began in October of 2024 when Yipit, known for providing hedge funds with data drawn from credit card receipts, sued two former employees. It alleged the employees, who had joined its rival, had stolen "secret information at the heart of Yipit's business," including client information and plans for a new dataset focused on Apple.

At the start of this year, Yipit expanded the scope of its lawsuit to include M Science and its leadership, stating that some of the firm's executives encouraged the two former Yipit salespeople to take their former employer's intellectual property. M Science then responded with its own lawsuit, accusing a Yipit employee of viewing M Science data with an outdated login.

While the settlement is a net positive for the burgeoning industry, the fact that it was behind closed doors increases the likelihood of another fight down the road, D'Amico said.

"We're left without legal precedents to apply to future disputes where employees jump to a competitor, which may be more likely to happen in a job market that strongly favors experienced applicants," he said.

• Michael Burry of "The Big Short" is moving on from managing money to writing a Substack.
• The famed investor told Business Insider that "writing and analysis go hand-in-hand."
• Other investors said writing sharpens their thinking and lets them share lessons and insights.

Warren Buffett writes letters. Ray Dalio drafts essays. Howard Marks pens memos. As of Sunday, Michael Burry writes a Substack

The money manager of "The Big Short" fame is shuttering his hedge fund to focus on publishing a Substack titled "Cassandra Unchained," squarely aimed for now at calling out AI mania and key players such as Nvidia and OpenAI.

It's a return to Burry's roots. Long before he predicted and profited from the collapse of the mid-2000s US housing bubble, he ran a value-investing blog in his off hours as a medical student.

Burry is one of many investors to embrace writing as a core part of their process.

"I do not speak well, but writing and analysis go hand-in-hand," Burry told Business Insider via email. "I have always read a lot, which has fed my love of writing."

"Almost everything I do is at least in part influenced by Warren Buffett or Charlie Munger," Burry added. "I could never thank them both enough."

Buffett — who shut down his Buffett Partnership in 1969 because he was struggling to find bargains in a heady market — will step down as Berkshire Hathaway's CEO before the new year, but he plans to continue penning a Thanksgiving letter to his shareholders.

He underlined how writing supports his investing during a university lecture in 1991.

"Some of the things I think I think, I find don't make any sense when I start trying to write them down and explain them to people," Buffett said.

He added that everyone should be able to explain why they're taking a job or making an investment, and "if it can't stand applying pencil to paper, you'd better think it through some more."

Lawrence Cunningham, a business guru who's written a book about shareholder letters, told Business Insider that writing "forces discipline of thought" for investors.

Having to explain what they did, and why, fosters clearer and deeper understanding of the topic and themselves, and provides "invaluable" transparency to their readers, Cunningham said.

Writing also allows investors to share their ideas in "full paragraphs rather than soundbites," and "present their reasoning, their doubts, and their frameworks exactly as they see them," he added.

That freedom appeals to Burry, who said on his Substack that he has pivoted from managing money to writing in part because he was tired of regulatory restrictions on what he could say and misinterpretation of his disclosures — hence his "unchained" status.

Adam Mead, a fund manager, author, and blogger, told Business Insider that for him, "writing is thinking," so it's a "natural part" of investing.

Mead said it can be difficult to write something that doesn't stand up to scrutiny, but puzzling over what's gone wrong is a "feature, not a bug" of the process.

John Longo, a portfolio manager, finance professor, and author, told Business Insider that investors who publish their ideas invite criticism and put their reputations on the line.

Longo said this "forces the writer to rigorously consider the bull and bear cases" of their investments, encouraging a "thorough research process."

He said that in Burry's case, "properly researching" the dot-com bubble enabled him to make a "more credible" comparison between Nvidia and Cisco as key hardware suppliers to the AI boom and the internet mania, respectively.

Critics would have shredded a comparison to AOL, Longo said, whereas Cisco remains a major telecom company but is worth less than it was 25 years ago, a scenario that Nvidia could feasibly face if it's as overvalued as Burry has argued.

Longo added that when someone like Buffett, Marks, or Dalio puts pen to paper, there's an "element of public service" — they're writing not to make money but to share what they've learned and educate others.

Bill Gross, a billionaire investor known as the "Bond King," told Business Insider that his signature outlooks serve as outlets for his investment views and personal essays.

"I am equally proud of both over a long 40-year-plus history of monthly tomes," he said.

The Pimco cofounder added that he "always thought" if investing didn't work out, "I might try my luck at writing."

• President Donald Trump has narrowed down his list of potential next Federal Reserve chairs.
• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Trump could make his pick before Christmas.
• Prediction markets have a new favorite, Fed Gov. Christopher Waller.

President Donald Trump is checking his list of potential Federal Reserve chairs twice.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has been leading the search, said that Trump could name his nominee to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell by Christmas.

"I think there's a very good chance that the president will make an announcement before Christmas," Bessent told CNBC in late November. "But it's his prerogative, whether it's before the Christmas holidays or in the new year. But I think things are moving along very well."

No matter who Trump selects, Bessent said he wants a less prominent central bank.

"I think it's time for the Fed just to move back into the background, like, it used to do, calm things down and work for the American people," Bessent said.

Powell's term expires next May, but hasn't stopped the White House from aggressively searching for his replacement.

Here are the five finalists.

Christopher Waller

Fed Gov. Christopher Waller told Fox News that he thought his most recent conversation with Bessent went well.

"I talked to Scott about 10 days ago. We had a nice, a great, meeting," Waller told Fox Business in late November.

Waller said that the White House is looking for someone with "experience." It's not clear what experience that entails, but of the reported finalists, only three have experience serving on the central bank.

"I think they are looking for someone who has merit, experience, and knows what they are doing in the job, and I think I fit that," he said.

Just before Thanksgiving, Waller dethroned White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett as the favorite of leading prediction markets. On both Polymarket and Kalshi, Waller holds a narrow edge over Hassett.

Waller, a longtime regional Fed official, was seen as a convention pick when Trump nominated him to the central bank in 2019. Simultaneously, Trump also nominated Judy Shelton, a former campaign advisor and a Fed critic. The fight over Shelton's nomination soon spilled over onto Waller's.

In December 2020, the Senate confirmed Waller 48-47, the narrowest margin for any Fed governor since 1980, per The New York Times.

In July, Waller joined Gov. Michelle Bowman (another Trump first-term pick) in opposing the Fed's decision not to cut interest rates, the first dual dissent in more than 30 years.

Kevin Hassett

Before joining Trump's orbit, Hassett advised a succession of Republican presidential nominees on economic policy, including George W. Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney.

As of late November, Hassett has lost his once commanding lead on prediction markets. He now trails Waller.

During Trump's first term, Hassett served as director of the president's Council of Economic Advisors. He returned to the White House during the COVID-19 pandemic and was severely criticized for publishing a model showing coronavirus deaths hitting zero by May 15, 2020.

In October 1999, Hassett cowrote with journalist Jason Glassman "Dow 36,000: The New Strategy for Profiting From the Coming Rise in the Stock Market." Some economists have heavily criticized the book, largely because the index took more than 22 years to reach that threshold.

Kevin Warsh

Trump told reporters in September that Hassett, Waller, and Warsh were "the top three" to replace Powell.

Back in his first term, Trump reportedly considered Warsh to lead the Fed before he chose to nominate Powell in 2017.

Warsh spent his early years at Morgan Stanley, working as a specialist in mergers and acquisitions. President George W. Bush nominated him to the Fed in 2006 after Warsh served as an economic advisor in the Bush White House.

Drawing on his Wall Street ties, Warsh played a pivotal role in the central bank's response to the 2008 global financial crisis. When he left the Fed in 2011, the Times called him the Fed's chief liaison to Wall Street.

From the sidelines, Warsh has echoed Trump's criticism of Powell, calling for "regime change" at the Fed.

"The specter of the miss they made on inflation, it has stuck with them," Warsh told CNBC in July. "So one of the reasons why the president, I think, is right to be pushing the Fed publicly is we need regime change in the conduct of policy."

Michelle Bowman

In 2018, Trump appointed Federal Reserve Gov. Michelle Bowman to the central bank.

After confirmation, she was reappointed in 2020. In June, she was narrowly confirmed as the vice chair of supervision.

Bowman started as an intern for Sen. Bob Dole. During the George W. Bush administration, she held posts at FEMA and the Homeland Security Department. She was vice president at Farmers and Drovers Bank in Kansas, her family's bank, before becoming the state's top banking official.

In September 2024, Bowman became the first Fed governor to vote against an interest rate decision since 2005. In July, she again voted against holding rates steady, though this time Waller joined her dissent.

Rick Rieder

There's also a big Wall Street name on Trump's shortlist.

Rick Rieder, chief investment officer of global fixed income at BlackRock, has spent decades on Wall Street, dating back to his time at Lehman Brothers.

Rieder is responsible for managing roughly $2.4 trillion in assets, per BlackRock. He's served as a member of the Fed's Investment Advisory Committee on Financial Markets.

The hopefuls who appear to have missed the cut

Trump's shortlist at one point reportedly had almost a dozen names.

CNBC previously reported that the following are no longer under consideration: David Zervos, Managing Director and Chief Market Strategist at Jefferies; Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan; former St. Louis Fed President James "Jim" Bullard; Fed Gov. Philip Jefferson; and Marc Sumerlin, a former economic advisor to President George W. Bush.

Former Fed Gov. Larry Lindsey told CNBC that he withdrew from contention.