Author: Editor

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Michael Greene, 53, third-generation owner and operator of the 70-year-old Matthews Cafeteria in Tucker, Georgia. It has been edited for length and clarity.My family has run Matthews Cafeteria for three generations. A fourth would be rare and special, but I don’t expect it.I have four kids, ages 12, 10, 8, and 4. They’re all boys, and people often assume that at least one of them will take over one day, but I’m not going to push them into this business if they don’t want it.I was one of four, and my…

A common trope of homebuying starts with a wishlist: prime location, under budget, and with plenty of space. But more often than not, you won’t end up in a place that checks every box.The brothers said they’ve been asked countless times over the course of their careers to make miracles happen, but if you’re serious about buying a home, you need to be more realistic.”Sometimes people ask for stuff that is crazy and we’re like, ‘There’s just literally no way this is going to be within your budget,'” Jonathan said. “And a lot of times that ends up being location…

Always products are displayed on a shelf in a supermarket in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina October 29, 2024. Dado Ruvic | ReutersRising inflation and ever-changing tariff policies have led to higher prices across store shelves over the past few years, squeezing consumers’ budgets.An often overlooked example: menstrual products.The average price of menstrual products, including sanitary pads and tampons, has risen nearly 40% since 2020, from roughly $5.37 per unit to $7.43 per unit, according to February data from Chicago-based market research firm Circana.Dollar sales from menstrual products have grown by nearly 30% over that same period, according to Circana.But at the…

This as-told-to is based on a conversation with Allison Sheehan, 26, a former analyst for private wealth at Goldman Sachs and student at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, where she’s building her baking brand, Alleycat. Business Insider has verified her roles at Goldman and her current school enrollment. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.Baking cakes started out as a college hobby — I’d make them for my sorority sisters and, once word got out, the broader Dallas community. When I landed a job in operations at Goldman Sachs in Utah, I stopped baking entirely, though I still…

I used to hold a quiet grudge against my parents for the way they handled my creative dreams.It wasn’t the kind of loud, dramatic grudge that shows up at therapy and needs a name. It was more like a low hum in the background of my ambitions. It was a recurring thought that quietly whispered: They didn’t believe in me.They knew of my love of writing. They saw the journals I filled, the essays that came back marked with glowing commentary from my teachers, and the stories that I’d start and never quite finish. Their response was essentially: that’s cute,…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kanav Bhatnagar, 24, a forward-deployed engineer at Rippling, an HR tech company, who lives and works in New York City. The following has been edited for length and clarity. Loading audio narration… I got into software development because I wanted to build cool stuff.Amazon hired me as a software engineer out of college, and it was a big learning opportunity, teaching me the fundamentals of engineering.But it was a behemoth of a company, and I eventually wanted to work in a smaller environment where I could take more personal ownership over…

Bogg’s founder takes each dupe she sees personally. Loading audio narration… Kim Vaccarella began making Bogg 15 years ago to be the ultimate beach bag for working moms. She saw an opportunity in the plastic material used for flip-flops — durable and waterproof.Thus, the Bogg bag was born with its patented design featuring signature holes and a flat bottom, which Bogg says makes it tip-proof.”My plan was to come up with the idea, patent it, and maybe sell it because I had a career,” Vaccarella said. “Once I put my papers in for the patent and started reaching out to a few companies, I…

Target’s mobile app has long been one of the company’s not-so-secret weapons.The retailer was an early mover among its brick-and-mortar peers to seriously invest in its digital business. The app drove Target’s early success in curbside pickup and continues to serve as a hub for its membership programs.I started shopping at Target much more often when my first daughter was born during the pandemic, and I often wished more retailers had apps as useful as the one with the Bullseye logo. The store map was a particular timesaver for me during a very busy time in my family’s life.In recent…

Real estate investing can be an effective way to build wealth, but it’s not as simple as selecting an index fund, contributing money, and letting it grow. Loading audio narration… Successful real estate investing requires time, strategy, and money — often a significant amount, especially for investors looking to build multi-property portfolios.To scale without having to save for a new down payment and closing costs for each deal, some investors use a strategy known as “buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat,” or BRRRR.The approach involves buying a property with potential, renovating it, and renting it out. Once rented, the next step…

The student-loan repayment roller coaster keeps rolling. Loading audio narration… Over 7 million borrowers who were enrolled in former President Joe Biden’s SAVE student-loan repayment plan will soon have to transfer to a new plan after a court approved President Donald Trump’s legal settlement to eliminate SAVE.While the Department of Education has not yet released its guidance on next steps for SAVE borrowers, the transition is set to be a major operational task for federal student-loan servicers. That could be a problem given diminished servicer oversight, a recent report from the Government Accountability Office said.In addition to the lack of…