Author: Editor

In today’s economy, luxuries like buying a mega-mansion, a sports car, or a Birkin bag might be cheaper than raising a child.In step with rising food and housing costs, parents across America are facing the financial challenges associated with having a child.A recent LendingTree study found that, on average, it costs US parents $297,674 to raise a child over 18 years, and they spend an average of 22.6% of their income on child-rearing costs each year.While the costs vary by state, one factor remains constant: the rising cost of childcare during the workday, which is often the largest expense related…

When I became pregnant with my first kid back in 2019, I was set on only buying new clothes for her. It had to be clothing made with the Earth in mind and of the highest quality — sustainably-sourced materials and 100% cotton.My babylist consisted of pricey garments, mimicking that of any momfluencer’s list of newborn must-haves, a point of pride for someone raised on welfare.I wanted my daughter to have the life and childhood I couldn’t have growing up, and I thought expensive clothing would give her just that. I was wrong.Growing up, I knew that ‘free’ came with…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Mike Nay, a claw machine expert and plush reseller. It has been edited for length and clarity.What started as a pandemic hobby — messing around with a couple of claw machines I bought online — turned into a side hustle that’s earned me over $40,000 in sales, so far.I source exclusive plush toys from arcade claw machines and resell them online through platforms like Mercari, eBay, and Poshmark.I sell between three and five plush dolls per day, averaging $20 per sale. However, I’ve sold more exclusive, collectible plushies for as much…

Navigating your professional relationships with your coworkers can be complicated.Did you accidentally say the wrong thing? Overstep a boundary?The good news is that some of the easiest things you can do to build and sustain solid relationships at work are pretty intuitive, according to Daniel Post Senning and Lizzie Post, etiquette experts with the Emily Post Institute.”It’s remarkable how durable the advice is when you get down to what our expectations are of each other on a very human level,” Post Senning told Business Insider.Their book, “Emily Post’s Business Etiquette,” went on sale May 20. It includes a list of…

Before building her multimillion-dollar business, Daniella Pierson said she was “the poster child” for “do not invest in.”Now, she aims to help other “uninvestable” women secure financing for their ideas with her new organization, CHASM, where she wants to help close the gender gap in VC funding.”I had zero investment, not because I didn’t want it. I wanted it very badly,” Pierson told Business Insider. “I went to dozens of VCs, and I was rejected, rejected, rejected, laughed out of every room.”One “household name” told Pierson she spoke too much and too quickly, and didn’t know what she was talking…

In 2020, my husband and I packed up our apartment in Los Angeles and drove to Colorado, where we’d both grown up. I’m a screenwriter, and my husband works at an augmented reality startup — both unpredictable, high-pressure jobs. LA had always made sense professionally, even when it stressed us out personally and financially.Since moving to the West Coast in our early 20s, we had never been out of LA for more than a few weeks at a time, but with the rise of remote work, it felt like the right moment. We thought we’d be there for a year…

Justin Ghio and his fiancé wanted to make the plunge into homeownership when interest rates plummeted at the height of the pandemic in 2020. They made offers on four houses in San Diego, but they were outbid on all of them.Soon enough, home prices and mortgage rates were soaring amid a buying frenzy, and they felt they’d missed their opportunity to buy.”I’d always hoped to own a home,” Ghio said. “With the rising interest rates, it just fiscally wasn’t seemingly responsible to make that decision to try to buy.”But now, Ghio, a 35-year-old talent director, says he’s relieved they didn’t…

Four years, 1,000 applications, and a dozen interviews. As their job searches drag on, Americans tell Business Insider they’re wondering if companies want to fill open roles at all.Since last fall, BI has heard from more than 750 struggling job seekers, ranging between the ages of 18 and 76. Many shared frustrations about open roles they suspect were never filled — either because the posting stayed up for months, or the company went silent after they applied or interviewed.”There are some firms on LinkedIn that are always advertising the same position and have been for almost a year now,” Felipe…

How do you effectively deliver constructive criticism to a colleague at work? Everyone who’s ever done it (and anyone who’s struggled to) knows it’s not an easy conversation to have.You probably also know, all too well, the makings of the “compliment sandwich,” a long-relied-on fallback in cases like these.It goes something like this: You open with a compliment to ease into the conversation, then segue into the critique you’re really there to give, and finally close with another piece of praise to end on a good note.While a compliment sandwich can be a solid starting framework (though it’s not without…

Sarah Cevallos misses her old job.The 41-year-old spent much of her career building her own health tech practice in California, helping cancer patients navigate the complexities of their diagnoses. For a while, the role was rewarding — she felt her work was helping people. After she left in 2021, she bounced between opportunities at other health startups.She was laid off from her most recent employer in summer 2024, but was confident her résumé would quickly secure her a C-Suite role elsewhere. For eight months, rejection after rejection wore down her morale.”Being unemployed is not easy,” Cevallos said. When she landed…