Tag: News

• Red Lobster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after suffering significant financial losses.
• CEO Jonathan Tibus questioned the company's purchasing processes, including from owner Thai Union.
• The $20 unlimited shrimp promotion led to millions in losses and strained the supply chain.

Red Lobster didn't go bankrupt just because of too much endless shrimp.

But the company's CEO faulted owner and key seafood supplier Thai Union for its role in the shrimp debacle — and in Red Lobster's trajectory — in a filing on Sunday.

Jonathan Tibus, a turnaround expert who took the CEO job in March, wrote that Red Lobster had long bought much of its shrimp from owner Thai Union.

"I understand that Thai Union exercised an outsized influence on the Company's shrimp purchasing," Tibus said.

He said that Red Lobster executives objected to then-CEO Paul Kenny's May 2023 plan to add $20 unlimited shrimp to the menu permanently in May 2023. But Kenny forged ahead, a decision that cost Red Lobster $11 million in operational and financial expenses, he added.

While unlimited shrimp boosted traffic to the chain, profits suffered as customers took advantage of this low-margin deal.

The relationship with Thai Union "strained" Red Lobster's supply chain, and Kenny circumvented his company's normal buying processes, per Tibus. Kenny axed two shrimp suppliers "in apparent coordination with Thai Union and under the guise of a 'quality review.'"

As Red Lobster doubled down on unlimited shrimp, its supply chain was strained, "resulting in major shortages of shrimp," Tibus said.

Despite Red Lobster's dire straits, Thai Union has not offered additional financial support, per Tibus. He wrote that Red Lobster's debtors are investigating the relationships among Kenny, Thai Union, and Red Lobster.

Thai Union did not respond to a request for comment.

Problems went beyond shrimp

Red Lobster is perhaps best known for the all-you-can-eat shrimp promotion.

In an earnings call last November, Ludovic Garnier, the finance chief of Thai Union, told investors the promotion was "one of the key reasons for the losses we generated" in the third quarter of 2023.

As BI reporter Emily Stewart wrote earlier this month, the problem was never just shrimp: "The brand has been plagued by various problems — waning customer interest, constant leadership turnover, and, as has become a common tale, private equity's meddling in the business."

On Sunday, the seafood chain said in a statement that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Red Lobster said its restaurants will "remain open and operating as usual during the Chapter 11 process."

The development came just a week after it said it was closing over 50 branches in the US.

• This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.
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Hello! If you had a billion dollars, you'd probably buy a few silly things. (For me, it's a ski mountain.) But what about a boat designed specifically for Navy SEAL missions and a Black Hawk helicopter? This billionaire defense entrepreneur did exactly that.

In today's big story, we're looking at Jamie Dimon's update on his eventual retirement. (For real this time.)

What's on deck:

• Markets: A former Goldman Sachs VP gives a firsthand account of the "boys only" culture that drove her out.
• Tech: Microsoft just gave us a look at AI-powered computers.
• Business: Millennials are throwing some cold water on the FIRE movement.

But first, JPM – JD = ?

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The big story

A retirement looms

The world's most recognizable banker might finally be ready to call it quits.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who has led the bank for almost two decades, said the plan to find his successor is "well on its way," at the bank's annual investor day, writes Business Insider's Paul Squire.

Dimon, who is 68 and has an incentive package to stay through at least 2026, had joked for years that he was five years away from retirement whenever the topic came up. But this time he nodded to his long-running joke, saying it's "not five years anymore."

The comings and goings of Wall Street executives are common, even at the highest levels. Two of the biggest US banks, Citi and Morgan Stanley, have named new CEOs over the past three years.

But Dimon and JPMorgan are a different story.

The bank's CEO since 2006 and chairman since 2007, Dimon's legacy has grown with JPMorgan's size. He helped the banking industry weather the 2008 financial crisis, growing JPMorgan into the largest US bank by assets.

There have been challenges, too, including a $6 billion trading loss thanks to the London Whale. But JPMorgan's continued success in recent years, including its help during the Silicon Valley Bank crisis, has only strengthened Dimon's position atop Wall Street.

As big as Dimon's shoes will be to fill, JPMorgan has been preparing for a while. 

Wall Street has long speculated about who will ultimately succeed Dimon. Earlier this year, the bank offered some clues with a leadership shuffle that saw Jennifer Piepszak, Marianne Lake, and Troy Rohrbaugh take on new roles.

But speculating where Dimon will end up is just as interesting an exercise.

Politics has long been viewed as Dimon's potential post-banking career. His most recent annual letter to shareholders reads like something a politician could build a campaign around.

He certainly seems to have a hang of the whole lobbying thing. A report from The Wall Street Journal this weekend identified Dimon as the key person organizing bank CEOs' fight against proposed regulations requiring lenders to hold more cash on their balance sheets.

Dimon's work paid off, with the Fed now looking to loosen its restrictions, according to the WSJ's report, which cited people familiar with the matter.

In the meantime, JPMorgan continues to push forward with Dimon at the helm. The bank's investor day included slides highlighting plans for its growth in areas like investment banking, AI, and tech spending, writes BI's Reed Alexander.

Dimon and other executives also addressed questions about the untimely death of a Bank of America banker and the impact within their firm, writes Reed.

However, with or without Dimon, investors didn't necessarily seem sold on the bank's vision. JPMorgan's stock finished down 4.5% on Monday.

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3 things in markets

1. What Goldman Sachs is getting wrong with its women employees. Lindsay MacMillan was named vice president at the bank by the time she was 28, but left feeling burnt out. The work wasn't the issue — it was feeling like she had to keep her feminine side tucked away on the job.
2. More than a third of US states are showing signs of real economic trouble. Nancy Lazar, Piper Sandler's chief global economist, highlighted the recent uptick in average unemployment in 19 states as a sign a recession could be looming. The fact the wealthy are still sitting pretty highlights our "very bifurcated economy, unstable economy," she added.
3. FDIC boss resigns. Martin Gruenberg has told staff he'll stand down as chairman once a replacement has been found, per The Wall Street Journal. Gruenberg's resignation comes after an independent report described the FDIC's work culture as "patriarchal," "misogynistic," and "insular."

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3 things in tech

1. More AI is coming. This time, it's for our PCs. Microsoft just unveiled its Copilot+ PCs, which start at $999. The announcement came ahead of Build, Microsoft's annual developer conference, where it's expected to reveal more of its AI innovations.
2. Neuralink is making some changes. After getting the FDA go-ahead for a second implant, Neuralink will embed the wires deeper into the brain to fix problems it encountered with its first patient. A report from the Wall Street Journal says the company hopes to conduct its next implant in June.
3. OpenAI angers Scarlett Johansson. The "Her" actor said in a statement on Monday that she had previously turned down Sam Altman's request to voice GPT-4o — and so was "shocked" and "angered" after OpenAI released a voice for its new model that sounded "eerily similar" to her own.

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3 things in business

1. Millennials' take on the FIRE movement is more about financial independence than slowing down from work. For a certain group of millennials, the FIRE movement — or financial independence, retire early — isn't all about an easy retirement. Instead, they're busy creating their own versions of life after work.
2. Hims & Hers is getting into the weight-loss drug game. The online pharmacy said it will sell weight-loss injectables starting at $200 a month — far less than competitors like Ozempic. The company's stock surged more than 30% on Monday in response to the news.
3. Red Lobster goes bankrupt. The troubled restaurant chain — best known for its all-you-can-eat shrimp promotion — said in a statement on Sunday that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, although its restaurants will stay open for now.

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In other news

• Former Iranian official partly blames US sanctions for the helicopter crash that killed its president.
• What Donald Trump might do if he wins a second term in 2024.
• Diddy's downfall: Sean Combs' career looks bleak after leaked tape, entertainment lawyer says.
• OpenAI pulls ChatGPT's 'Sky' voice after users compared it to Scarlett Johansson.
• Here's how much money you need to make to be middle class in each US state.
• Bill Gates thinks you should read this new book to get smarter on how AI will transform education.
• How Khaby Lame, the world's most-followed TikToker, built his business and where he's headed next.

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What's happening today

• Today's earnings: Lowe's, Macy's, and other companies are reporting.
• Microsoft's BUILD developer conference starts today.

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The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. George Glover, reporter, in London.

• Ukraine's navy is trying to verify whether it destroyed the Tsiklon, a Russian missile carrier.
• If confirmed, it would mean Russia has no more missile carriers in Crimea, a naval spokesperson said.
• Details of the claimed strike and its exact casualties are still emerging.

Ukraine's navy claims it has likely destroyed the last of Russia's cruise missile carriers operating out of the crucial Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.

In remarks made to Radio Free Europe, Ukraine's navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk said the navy was currently trying to verify whether or not it had destroyed the small missile carrier "Tsiklon" on Saturday.

If confirmed, it would mean there is no longer a Russian missile carrier based out of the key peninsula, he told the outlet.

Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and it is home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet headquarters at Sevastopol.

According to KCHF.ru, a Russian site that closely follows news of the Black Sea Fleet, the Tsiklon only entered into service in July.

The vessel's launcher enables cruise missile strikes against ground targets at a distance of up to 1,500 miles, it said.

Pletenchuk, in his interview with Radio Free Europe, said that the Tsiklon may have been hit in addition to the Russian minesweeper "Kovrovets."

The Ukrainian navy earlier claimed to have destroyed the minesweeper in Saturday's attack, hailing it as "another bad day for Russia's Black Sea Fleet."

Ukraine has not provided further details of the attack, such as where it took place or what weaponry was used. However, subsequent reports have noted the ships were based out of Sevastopol.

Russia has not commented on any damage to its ships, saying on Saturday only that it shot down nine ATACMS missiles and one drone over Crimea.

Business Insider was unable to independently confirm the claims.

Crimean Wind, a pro-Ukrainian group that monitors information in Crimea, noted on Telegram that on the night of the claimed attack a ship of similar length to the Tsiklon disappeared from satellite imagery at Sevastopol.

Pro-Russian Telegram channel Spy Dossier, citing its own sources, also said the Tsiklon had been struck.

Separate analyses of open-sourced social media posts by Radio Svoboda, published on Monday, raised the possibility that the Tsiklon, and not the Kovrovets, was hit.

The Ukrainian navy did not immediately respond to BI's request for comment.

If the Tsiklon was destroyed, it would be a blow to Russia, with the rest of its missile carriers now based at Novorossiysk, Pletenchuk said.

Last year, Russia relocated much of its Black Sea Fleet from Sevastopol, its home port, to Novorossiysk, hundreds of miles away on the Russian coast.

The move came amid Ukraine's ongoing campaign against Russian Black Sea ports and warships, using cruise missiles and drones.

In April, Ukraine claimed to have destroyed or damaged a third of the Russian fleet.

• The Saudia Group announced an order for 105 Airbus jets on Monday.
• It comes as a reported Boeing order from Riyadh Air, also government-owned, has yet to materialize.
• Its CEO blamed negative media coverage as to why he hasn't yet announced the deal.

The Saudia Group announced Monday a huge Airbus order in a blow to Boeing.

105 narrowbody jets — a mix of A320neo and A321neo models — will be distributed between the flag carrier Saudia and its subsidiary low-cost-carrier flyadeal.

In a press release, the Saudia Group called it "the largest aircraft deal in Saudi aviation history."

Saudia is owned by the country's government, and the airline's chairman is also the transport minister.

The deal suggests Boeing's reputation is worsening around the world because the planemaker has formerly won big orders from the kingdom.

Last March, Saudi Arabia founded a second national airline, Riyadh Air, which placed an order for up to 72 Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

Boeing also looked set to win the deal for Riyadh Air's narrowbody jets. Shortly before last November's Dubai Air Show, Bloomberg reported that Riyadh Air was eyeing up an order for as many as 100 Boeing 737 Max jets.

However, that order has yet to materialize.

Tony Douglas, the Riyadh Air CEO, blamed negative media coverage during an interview with Reuters on Monday.

"What happened was the media three weeks later spent every hour of every day writing negative stories about commercial aviation," he said.

Douglas told Reuters he wasn't referring to January's blowout, in which an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max lost a door plug in midair.

"The last thing I want to do is present my good news and have it in a context of things that are going on elsewhere, which are not quite as positive," he added. "Be it Airbus can't deliver on time [or] Boeing is having some technical problem."

• Broadcom boss Hock Tan is the highest-earning CEO in the US, per a Wall Street Journal analysis.
• But Tan has to fulfill certain criteria to get his full $162 million pay package.
• Palo Alto Networks' Nikesh Arora and Blackstone's Steve Schwarzman also have nine-figure compensation packages.

America's highest-paid CEO isn't Apple's Tim Cook, Tesla's Elon Musk, or Meta Platforms' Mark Zuckerberg — it's Broadcom's Hock Tan, The Wall Street Journal found in an analysis published this week.

Tan was awarded $162 million in compensation last year, but it comes with a catch: he'll only receive the full amount if his company's stock hits a certain level by 2025, the WSJ said.

Broadcom said that Tan's pay was also dependent on him remaining in his role for another five years, and that he won't get any more equity or cash bonuses until that period has passed.

The semiconductor company's shares are up 27% this year and 106% over the past 12 months, lifting its total market capitalization to $655 billion.

Malaysia-born Tan has been Broadcom's CEO since 2006, and previously topped the WSJ's list in 2017, when he was awarded $103 million.

Two other CEOs made nine-figure salaries in 2023, per the analysis: Palo Alto Networks' Nikesh Arora and Blackstone's Steve Schwarzman.

Arora made $151 million, mostly in the form of share grants covering the next three years, while Schwarzman — who's known for his opulent lifestyle and his past support of Donald Trump — earned $120 million.

Shares in Palo Alto Networks and Blackstone jumped 110% and 54% last year, respectively.

Apple's Cook, Netflix's Ted Sarandos, and Warner Bros. Discovery's David Zaslav also cracked the list of the US's 10 best-paid CEOs, while no women featured in the top 25.

• Jamie Dimon shared a bunch of his worries during JPMorgan's investor day.
• The bank's CEO flagged the risks of sticky inflation, higher interest rates, and dwindling savings.
• The Wall Street billionaire warned about global conflicts and excessive government spending.

Jamie Dimon aired a laundry list of concerns during JPMorgan's investor day on Monday, ranging from sticky inflation and government largesse to overseas clashes and a burgeoning cash crunch.

"I'm cautiously pessimistic," Dimon said, according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense. Between the conflicts raging in Ukraine and Gaza, and rising tensions between countries like the US, Russia, and China, he bemoaned the "most complicated geopolitical situation" since World War II.

"I look at the world situation and I'm quite cautious," the JPMorgan CEO said before echoing Warren Buffett: "I like having a lot of extra capital right now to tell you the truth."

Dimon warned against dismissing inflation and elevated interest rates as temporary headwinds. Annualized price growth has slowed from a 40-year high of over 9% to below 4% within the past two years, but still remains above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. The central bank raised rates from nearly zero to north of 5% to tackle the problem, and hasn't yet made its first cut.

"It's possible that inflation is embedded in the system at 4% for the next year, and there's not a damn thing anyone can do about it," he said.

The billionaire banker also underlined that if rates climb higher, it could change the calculus for investing in many types of assets. Higher rates tend to erode the appeal of risk assets like stocks and housing by boosting the guaranteed returns from savings accounts and Treasurys.

"That's a different world for real estate. It's a different world for assets. It's a different world for private credit. It's a world that a lot of the people in the world have not seen," Dimon said.

The Wall Street heavyweight also emphasized that people are feeling the pinch from historic inflation — which has made basics like food, energy, and housing more costly — and steeper rates that have raised the monthly payments due on their car loans, credit cards, and mortgages.

"We do know the consumers are running out of excess money. Small businesses are running out of excess money. We don't know when it's going to end, but it looks like sometime early next year."

Dimon rang the alarm on the budget deficit and national debt too, warning that both are set to worsen over the next decade and beyond.

"Somewhere along that journey, and I don't know if it's six months, six years, or 16 years, it will be a problem," he said.

The bank chief has voiced similar concerns in recent weeks. In October, he warned of the "most dangerous time" for the world in decades. In his shareholder letter this year, he called out market complacency toward the threats of inflation, interest rates, and recession.

• OpenAI removed a ChatGPT voice that sounded like Scarlett Johansson after she lawyered up.
• It's risky territory — AI firms are often accused of misusing creative work, and this is a vivid, personal example.
• Johansson is a tough operator — she sued Disney in 2021 and got a settlement.

OpenAI made an enemy of Scarlett Johansson when it launched a ChatGPT voice that sounds a lot like her.

The superstar could be a foe that Sam Altman's AI company regrets tangling with.

In a statement to Business Insider on Monday, Johansson said she was "in disbelief" at the similarity between Sky, OpenAI's new product, and her own voice.

The company had asked her to collaborate on a voice product, she said — but she turned it down.

OpenAI says it was just a coincidence — that the voice is another woman who sounds like her.

But to Johansson, it seems like the company just went ahead without permission.

Johansson is not a stranger to squaring up to big companies, even those that employ her.

In 2021, she sued Disney over the release of "Black Widow," saying that it deprived her of earnings by modifying the movie's release schedule.

Disney settled. While the terms were never made public, it looked like a victory for Johansson and was clearly enough to satisfy her.

OpenAI in turn did not seem eager for a fight, pulling Sky at short notice.

It's understandable — Johansson's grievance is a vivid and powerful demonstration of the increasingly prominent concerns around AI.

In her statement, Johansson cited worries anyone could share — deepfakes, protecting your own likeliness.

She also cited grievances specific to creatives whose likeness is their source of income.

Last year, Hollywood was convulsed by strikes, fueled in part by actors anxious that AI could one day mimic them so well that they would lose their livelihoods.

Hollywood's power brokers conceded — the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers struck a deal with the SAG-AFTRA union requiring consent to create AI versions of performers.

It established a new norm that, in Johansson's view, OpenAI disregarded, in an echo of the archetypal Silicon Valley "move fast and break things" approach.

And Johansson is not unique. Smaller actors are suing AI firms, alleging the same kind of thing.

Some publishers, notably The New York Times, are suing too.

It alleges that OpenAI's used its archive to train products like ChatGPT, and is demanding a settlement in the billions of dollars.

Those cases are hard to get too excited about — a text archive is nowhere near as emotive a thing as a voice.

And that's what could make Johansson such a dangerous adversary — a superstar, an ax to grind, and the platform from which to do it.

• Barbara Corcoran has dished out her latest advice for college grads.
• She tells them not to chase the money, and instead to look for the best boss.
• Ending up with a bad boss can seriously impact your experience in the workplace. 

Real estate mogul and "Shark Tank" investor Barbara Corcoran is known for dishing out career advice — and some of it is more controversial than others.

Her latest advice is targeted at college graduates. "Don't take any job based on how much it pays," she said in a TikTok last week, which was reported by CNBC.

Instead of following the money, she advises college grads to find the job where they'll learn the most and where they'll find the best boss.

"Always choose the best boss," she said. "Having a good boss will have more to do with your happiness at work than actually what you do with your day."

And she's not the only one to think so.

A bad boss can seriously impact your experience in the workplace — in fact, toxic workplace culture is one of the top reasons people quit their jobs according to MIT, and that usually starts from the top.

"A bad boss won't just jeopardize your career growth — they'll also negatively impact your personal life," Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert, author, and leadership coach, previously told BI.

"A good manager will bring out the best in you and have a more uplifting effect on all aspects of your life," she added.

That's especially true for those starting out in their careers. One young worker wrote about how her experience with a toxic boss in her first job out of college ruined her self-confidence and made her feel a strong sense of self-doubt in the workplace.

• Ukraine's president told Reuters that the West always gives it weapons a year after it needs them.
• Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the West needs to be more involved in the war and shoot down Russian missiles.
• Delays in US weapons deliveries have left Ukraine struggling to fight back, one expert said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country's Western allies always give it weapons one year after it actually needs them.

"Every decision to which we, then later everyone together, comes to is late by around one year," Zelenskyy told Reuters on Monday.

"But it is what it is: one big step forward, but before that, two steps back," he added.

Zelenskyy made the comments after he and others spent months begging for more weapons as Russia ramped up its attacks.

Republicans in Congress finally approved a $61 billion package last month, which the Pentagon said could reach Ukraine within days.

However, delayed weapons deliveries mean Ukraine is now struggling to push back Russian advances, retired US Air Force colonel Cedric Leighton told CNN last week.

In recent weeks, Russia has launched a renewed assault on the northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv.

Last week, The Institute for the Study of War reported that Russian forces appear to be creating a "buffer zone" instead of pursuing deeper offensives there.

Zelenskyy told Reuters that the situation north of Kharkiv is "under control" but that a "very powerful wave" of fighting is taking place in Donbas.

"No one even notices that there are actually more battles in the east of the country, specifically in the Donbas direction: Kurakhove, Pokrovsk, Chasiv Yar," he said.

Zelenskyy also said that the delays in weapon deliveries, and in countries' decision-making, called for a change in "paradigm," per Reuters.

As part of that shift, Zelenskyy is now asking the US and its allies to allow Ukrainian forces to use weapons supplied by them inside Russian territory, per Reuters — a suggestion the Pentagon has rejected.

Over the weekend, Russia accused Ukraine of firing Western-supplied missiles into its border region of Belgorod.

Zelenskyy also said that its NATO allies could shoot down Russian airstrikes targeting Ukraine using air defenses based on NATO territory, per the news agency.

NATO's former secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, made a similar suggestion earlier this month.

Some NATO countries, including Estonia and France, want to go further and are considering sending their troops to Ukraine, albeit in limited ways.

"It's a question of will," Zelenskyy told Reuters.

• After my husband retired we decided to move to a bigger house to be more comfortable. 
• We didn't tell anyone we were looking for a bigger house. 
• We now have the space we need to fulfill our hobbies and passions. 

My husband retired last year, and recently, we upsized our home. For us, it was a move to what I call "rightsizing."

We lived in a large house built in 1870 in the center of town. We had great access to many shops and amenities, but the downtown was getting busier and noisier. The house needed more and more maintenance, and we had a tenant in a rental unit upstairs and we didn't want to be landlords anymore. We continuously talked about having more space.

After listing our priorities, we started looking for a newer house that we could move into "as is" as we were done renovating. We did look at a few compact houses as we were under the illusion that we needed to go smaller, but we knew in our hearts it wasn't for us.

There are different ways retiring boomers are moving, including a lateral move to another kind of space, changing the age of the house for less maintenance, changing location, and upsizing. Here's why we decided to move to a bigger house.

It felt like the timing was right

As we kept talking about more space, we also thought, if we don't do it now, when will we?

When we first walked into the house we eventually bought, I had goosebumps from the top of my head to the tips of my toes as I stood in the large foyer with marble floors and a spiral staircase. It had an enormous chef's kitchen, a finished basement, and four bathrooms, including an en-suite. The boxes were being ticked one by one. A hot tub in the back garden was a major bonus, and then my husband saw the large workshop in the basement, and his eyes lit up.

Our real-estate agent said as we gazed lovingly at the exterior, "It's a really big house for you two." We made an offer the next day and managed to sell high and buy lower.

We had made a conscious decision not to tell anyone in our circle that we were looking for a larger house because we didn't want to be swayed by their opinions and input, which was the best choice we made. The reaction of friends and family has been astounding, including, "I don't want to offend you, but why are you moving to such a big house with so many stairs at your age."

We have space to embrace hobbies and passions

We now have space to do all the things we love, but didn't have space before.

In our bigger house, my husband now has a full workshop to fulfill his dream of doing woodworking. COVID-19 made us share an office, which drove me to work at the dining table. Now we each have separate big offices on separate floors. In our old house, he would set up his drum kit, play for a while, let the grandkids play, and pack it up again. He now has his drum kit set up and space for a fly-tying desk in his large office. There is a finished basement and a nice backyard with a hot tub to soothe my rheumatoid arthritis.

We have a more active lifestyle in the suburbs now

As we had a large, centrally located older house with income, we sold for more than we bought for because we moved to a quiet suburb into a newer home.

Our old house was downtown in our city and was becoming less safe, so we wanted a quieter, safer neighborhood and opted for the suburbs. We live an active lifestyle biking, hiking, and kayaking and because of travel frequently, easy access to the airport was necessary,

When I called our insurance company with a change of address, our house and car insurance dropped in price because of less crime and fewer car thefts in our new neighborhood, validating our choice.

There's room for our family to come stay with us

We love that we now have space for our grandchildren to stay over in a larger room than before and can invite visiting friends to stay. We wanted a house that we were excited about, and we feel we have transitioned from an "empty nest" to a "welcome home."

The hot tub adds to the enthusiasm of the grandkids visiting, treating it like a pool. We feel as though every house we have sold and profited from before has been working toward this home.

Within a few weeks after moving in, we had a party hosting 65 people because it was the first time we had the space so we celebrated my husband's 70th and the new space.

Melody Wren is a freelance journalist. You can find her at: www.melodywren.com or follow her adventures @melodywrentravels