The millionaire boomer next door: How 4 older Americans retired comfortably — and why some wish they worked less

 Four older Americans (not pictured) told BI the strategies they used to grow their wealth.

Manuel Tsanoudakis/Getty, PNC/Getty, Marat Musabirov/iStock, Elena Frolova/iStock, Ava Horton/BI

• BI spoke to 4 older Americans who retired comfortably with over $1 million in assets.
• Dozens of older Americans said they still maintain frugal habits despite having significant wealth.
• Still, some retirees said they regretted how they balanced saving too much with enjoying life.

Brian Loffredo, 68, still does his own yard work and watches his grocery spending despite having millions in the bank.

Loffredo, who lives in Connecticut, worked in retail management for decades but said finances were tight early in his career while raising four stepchildren. He recalled winters where he could "see the breath coming out of our mouths" because he couldn't afford heat.

As he navigated higher-paying jobs, including management roles where he worked 50 to 70 hours a week, he learned how to do home improvements himself to save money. In addition to smart investments and staying at one company for 26 years, these strategies helped him grow his wealth during difficult times — and he plans to keep them.

"You do what you have to do, you learn to do it yourself, and you can get it done," Loffredo said. "In the meantime, you're saving money that allows you to buy presents for the kids."

Loffredo could be seen as an example of a "millionaire next door," as described in a classic 1996 finance book. Many wealthier Americans live in middle-class areas and achieve their wealth through careful planning and investing instead of risky business moves or very high-paying jobs.

We want to hear from you. Are you an older American who thought you retired well? Do you have any life regrets that you would be comfortable sharing with a reporter? Please fill out this quick form.

For many Americans like Loffredo, more money doesn't necessarily mean a drastic lifestyle shift. Business Insider heard from dozens of older Americans who retired comfortably but still remain frugal. Some older Americans told BI they're working while enjoying seven-figure net worths, whether for financial security or simply having something to do.

Some regretted over-saving and not enjoying their money when they were younger, but most said they would change little about their retirement strategies and believe they would not be who they are without making these sacrifices.

Loffredo hadn't thought seriously about investment strategies until 2000, a few years after his wife died. He watched financial cable news channels and read about diversifying his portfolio. He took $100,000 of his savings and day-traded it before taking the buy-and-hold approach.

After searching for areas with less costly real estate, he sold his 2,200-square-foot house for a 3,500-square-foot home that cost only $10,000 more. Despite a demotion from a six-figure income to about $60,000, his investments, including his 401(k) and IRA accounts, continued to grow.

"I could have bought a house for a million and a half, and my investments have made some money," Loffredo said. "I don't believe in wasting that kind of money, and every house you get that is more valuable costs you more to maintain it."

Loffredo retired in April 2021 and volunteers in the community. He recently splurged on a Corvette, though he continues living frugally in other aspects. He still sometimes waits until he has a coupon to get new clothes.

"Before you spend money, think about what that money could have earned if you hadn't spent it," Loffredo said. "Whether it's a frivolous vacation or a fancier car, is that more important to you than what that extra money might have earned?"

A magazine article sparked a financial awakening

Ken Curell, 73, recalls reading an article from a financial magazine decades ago arguing that people save money before spending it. Curell said except for wishing he had invested more in Roth IRAs, his retirement planning strategies worked well.

The Ohio resident served in the Air Force for over three decades. During this time, he married his wife and raised two children. He left active duty to fly for airlines until his retirement in 2012, and he taught his children how to fly planes.

"Angry perseverance for me was the impetus, the fuel, the ignition source for not giving up on flight and doggedly pursuing an avenue where I wanted to go," Curell said.

Ken Curell retired in 2012.

Ken Curell

Curell said one of his major regrets was devoting too many hours to work. "My employers conditioned me to the idea of more time spent in the office and after-work-hours attention to work-related actions made me the better employee," Curell said.

Many older Americans who told BI they retired well wished they had worked less. In December, BI released a series on older Americans' retirement regrets, and a common theme was over-saving — being too frugal or putting in long hours without vacations.

Curell read extensively about retirement planning, investing in stocks, bonds, low-cost funds, and IRAs that have grown to seven figures. He said his portfolio is about 70% stocks and 30% bonds. In the early 2000s, amid pay cuts for pilots, he said he cut coupons and cut back on unnecessary expenses. He and his wife of 46 years, also an Air Force veteran, receive annuities that have made retirement planning less stressful.

"The first rule of thumb is to check your emotions at the door when you start dealing with your finances, making it purely about the numbers," Curell said.

Working too hard but celebrating the little things

Deborah Hrustich, 69, has rediscovered herself in retirement.

Hrustich, who lives outside Albany, worked 5 a.m. shifts as a neurosurgeon so she'd finish early enough to attend her three children's activities. She spent years sleeping five hours a night, working until she was 61.

Hrustich said she had few regrets about her spending, as she spent a lot on her children's activities but cut back on cars, clothes, and her home. She and her husband spent her money and saved his — they took extensive trips, bought Super Bowl and World Series tickets, and paid off their mortgage early.

They hired an accountant to manage their money, as she said neither of them knew how to properly invest. She said they had saved enough money to live until 100 and be financially stable.

"I don't think young people at 35 understand that you have to have money to retire, that you can't live on Social Security, but you want to balance that with fun times," Hrustich said. "If you dream of taking a trip somewhere, take it."

However, with millions saved for retirement, she said it took a few years to fully enjoy it. Her husband died suddenly three years ago, putting her retirement plans in flux. She also wished she would have taken more time for herself earlier in life.

"I never ate the last piece of cake," Hrustich said. "I always put the needs and wants of everyone else first."

She said it took two years after her husband's death to rebuild her life and surround herself with people who share her values. Hrustich volunteers as a caregiver for Alzheimer's patients and as a tutor, and she hopes to continue traveling.

Careful saving, tragedy in retirement, and bouncing back

Karen Jones, 69, didn't have stable work or actively save until her 30s. She worked as a customs broker while her husband stayed home with their children, and she started a customs brokerage and forwarding firm in Boise at 44.

"We were in our late 30s before we even thought of or cared about retirement, and we had a lot to make up," Jones said. "We maxed out our 401(k). If we had to make payments for two years for a couch, we didn't buy it."

Karen Jones retired comfortably after selling her company.

Karen Jones

She ran her company for 16 years, working long hours and saving much of her earnings. She and her husband stayed in the same house for 25 years, drove their cars for over 20 years, and bought a camper in cash. She planned to find a buyer for the firm after 10 years, but she ran it until she was 61 and retired at 64. She sold her company for about $700,000, including the payout for three additional years, and paid off her house and other debts.

"We were the only customs broker for a long time in Boise, but I treated my customers like there were a million of us around," Jones said.

Three days after her retirement, while preparing for a camping trip, her husband had a heart attack and never fully recovered. She spent two and a half years as his caregiver until he died, and she regretted not taking more time off while working to go on trips with family.

Jones teaches college courses, takes piano lessons, tends to her garden, and travels frequently. She earns about $5,000 a month from Social Security and investments and plans to move to Madrid.

"My finance guy keeps telling me to spend more," Jones said. "People save all their lives, and then they can spend it, but they don't know what to spend it on. Still, I don't think I have to worry about money."

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Battle of the bags: How carry-on luggage became an all-out war

A 45-year-old trainer for celebrities like Gal Gadot does 3 things to stay fit and maintain muscle — while enjoying life

Magnus Lygdbäck balances his fitness goals with enjoying life.

Courtesy of Magnus Lygdbäck

• Magnus Lygdbäck takes a balanced approach to staying fit and in shape.
• The celebrity trainer makes sure his activities are enjoyable, necessary, or something he'd like to master.
• Lygdbäck's health also essentials include sleep, stretching, and avoiding negativity.

Magnus Lygdbäck is not interested in "optimizing" every aspect of his day to live as long as possible.

Sure, the Hollywood personal trainer who has worked with the likes of Alicia Vikander, Gal Gadot, and James McAvoy would like to stay as fit, healthy, and in shape as he was in his 20s. But the 45-year-old isn't not striving for perfection and, unlike other elite trainers and some self-proclaimed "biohackers," enjoying life is a high priority for Lygdbäck.

"If we find out in the future that cold showers in the morning prolong our lives, I'm pretty OK with living a little bit shorter," Lygdbäck, who is from Sweden and based in LA, told Business Insider.

Lygdbäck feels particularly strongly about sharing his more balanced approach to health with so much noise online about "optimizing health" for "maximum results."

"I think that we focus too much on how to live the longest life, how to build the most muscle mass," Lygdbäck said. "Nowadays it's all about optimizing and finding the best way to do everything. That's great to know, but you don't have to live that way. For me, it's much more about: how do I live my best life and what makes me happy?"

Lygdbäck shared his three-pronged approach to staying fit, strong, and in shape — while enjoying life.

1) Make sure your workouts tick 3 boxes

Magnus Lygdbäck prioritizes happiness in life.

Magnus Lygdbäck

Lygdbäck thinks holistically about exercise and ensures he is doing something to tick each of the following boxes:

1. Something he enjoys
2. Something his body needs
3. Something he wants to master

For Lygdbäck that means strength training for number one; pilates, yoga, or stretching ("my body needs it, I don't love doing it all the time") for number two; and pickleball or jiu jitsu for number three.

"I think that's how we need to look at not only training and health, but life in general," Lygdbäck said.

Like many people with life and work commitments and families, Lygdbäck is busier some weeks than others, so he can't always fit in as many workouts as he'd like.

In an ideal world, however, he'd do strength training four times a week, play pickleball twice, and then do some stretching or pilates at the weekend, he said.

He hopes this will enable him to do what he loves for as long as possible.

"I want to make sure that my body can function and move well because that gets harder with age," he said. "I want to feel great, I want to be strong, and also want to be able to do everything that I did when I was 25."

His priority is maintaining his current levels as best he can rather than hitting new records or pushing himself to his limits.

2) Follow the 17/20 rule for an enjoyable and nutritious diet

Lygdbäck with Gal Gadot, whom he has trained.

Magnus Lygdbäck

Lygdbäck takes a similarly balanced approach to food by following what he calls the "17/20 principle." 17 out of 20 of his meals and snacks are "on point" (he prioritizes protein and fiber), and for the remaining three he has whatever he wants.

3) It's vital to rest and recover

Unlike many people in the fitness industry, Lygdbäck is not a fan of so-called "active recovery," which is usually low-intensity steady-state cardio like jogging or cycling.

"I see it all the time from people who want to work out, they call it 'active recovery' but it's more like a cardio session, even if it's a lighter one," Lygdbäck said.

Lygdbäck's recovery principles are simple: He tries to sleep for seven hours a night, stretches, and uses a foot massager.

And despite his aversion to cold morning showers, he will occasionally intersperse them with sauna time to reap the well-established recovery benefits of hot and cold therapy.

Ultimately, Lygdbäck's health non-negotiables are moving often, eating well, sleeping enough, and avoiding toxic people.

"I avoid hanging out with people that are negative or have bad energy," Lygdbäck said. "You can't lecture the world, but I make sure to remove myself as soon as I can."

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Why universal basic income is a long shot in the UK

Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI

• Universal basic income in the UK is politically controversial.
• The prime minister has previously said he "isn't attracted" to UBI and prefers retraining workers.
• Wales launched a small basic-income pilot in 2022 that ends this year.

Governments around the world are testing programs that give people money with no strings attached.

That includes the Welsh government in the UK, which in 2022 launched the first guaranteed-basic-income pilot in the country. The program, called Basic Income for Care Leavers, gave 638 young adults leaving the foster-care or local authority-care system a monthly payment of about £1,280, or $1,580, after taxes that they could spend on whatever they wanted.

The pilot is set to wrap up this year, and its results could inform a controversial debate in the UK over basic income. Guaranteed basic income offers recurring cash payments for a set period of time to a specific group of people, like mothers or artists. Universal basic income provides recurring cash payments to all people in a population, regardless of their socioeconomic status.

Countries testing basic income include the US, Canada, and Kenya. Supporters of basic income argue that it can address growing inequality and insulate workers from economic recessions and technological advances like artificial intelligence, while opponents are concerned that basic income disincentives work and that programs are too expensive to implement.

"There is experimentation going on, and there is a familiarity within policy circles, but it's still quite a controversial idea," said Jack Kellam, a spokesperson for the Autonomy Institute, a UK think tank that studies how to reshape work to address modern crises. "That's why people are cautious about touching it within mainstream politics."

Nearly half the 2,233 Britons in a July YouGov survey said they supported the idea of introducing UBI in the UK, while one-third opposed it.

Hurdles for basic income in the UK

One of the arguments against basic income is the price tag. Estimates of the cost in the UK are wide-ranging. A Georgetown University study published in 2023 found that implementing UBI in the country would cost about £45 billion a year, or 2% of its GDP. A working paper by the Institute for Policy Research in 2017 estimated it would cost more than £427 billion annually.

Smaller guaranteed-basic-income programs can be easier to implement. For example, the Welsh government allocated about £20 million over three years for its pilot.

The pilot hasn't been without controversy. The UK government, which in 2022 was controlled by the Conservative Party, opposed the Wales pilot and said UBI would discourage work and require significant tax increases to fund. Britain's Labour Party swept to power in July, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer has previously said he "isn't attracted" to UBI in response to advances in AI. He said the focus should be on retraining workers.

The Labour Party also controls the Welsh Parliament, but Kellam said that in Wales the party tends to be more progressive than its national counterpart.

The Autonomy Institute in 2023 proposed its own basic-income micropilot in the UK for 15 people, but Kellam said it hadn't attracted a funder yet. He hopes the results of the pilot in Wales, as well as emerging research in the US indicating the success of similar pilots, will create some momentum.

An analysis of 30 basic-income pilots in the US by the Guaranteed Income Pilots Dashboard — a research group that visualizes data from the programs — involving nearly 8,500 participants found more than half the cash grants went toward food and groceries, transportation, housing, utilities, healthcare, and education. Smaller basic-income studies and experiments found that cash payments helped participants earn higher wages, boosted job satisfaction, and improved productivity.

Kellam said another obstacle to implementing basic income in the UK is the government's centralized structure, which thwarts local leaders' ability to launch their own basic income pilots, like in the US.

"In the US, a lot of these trials are taking place at the town and city level," Kellam said. "We lack a lot of that infrastructure in the UK. We're involved in some of the discussions at local councils. But it's seen as less politically contagious."

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Where to invest $10,000 right now, according to 6 experts

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• Some experts suggest diversifying investments across stocks, bonds, and real assets for 2024.
• Others suggest leaning into the AI trade, or buying your first rental property.
• Investing can be tricky. Need ideas? We've got you covered.

Do you have $10,000 burning a hole in your pocket? If you're looking to invest it, you've come to the right place.

Investing can be tricky. How much should you allocate to stocks and bonds? What if the market crashes? What if you need the money in five years?

Ultimately, everyone has different goals and needs with their money, and deciding where to put it calls for individualized plans that account for timelines and how much potential losses one can stomach.

If you're looking for ideas, we've got you covered. In recent weeks, we asked six experts where investors sitting on a chunk of money should consider putting their cash for the months and years ahead. Answers varied across asset classes and timelines and are listed below.

James Ragan, director of wealth management research at D.A. Davidson

Stock-market valuations are high, leading some of Wall Street's biggest names to worry that the S&P 500 is a bubble ready to pop. While Ragan recognizes valuations are elevated, he still sees opportunities for investors to put cash to work.

"We're still pretty comfortable adding funds to the market," Ragan told BI. "We still like the S&P 500 and large-cap US equities."

Among large-cap companies, technology stocks have led the market higher, which is why Ragan believes it's important to maintain a dedicated allocation to tech.

"On one hand, we're saying don't get too overweight there, but I think you still want to have exposure in that sector," Ragan said of tech.

However, it's important to have diversified sector exposure, and Ragan sees opportunities in communication services, healthcare, and financials. Companies in these sectors tend to have low price-to-earnings-growth ratios, meaning they're undervalued relative to their earnings growth rate. These sectors will also benefit from increased deregulation under President Donald Trump, according to Ragan. Dividend stocks are also trading at attractive valuations, he added. These stocks can benefit a portfolio by providing a steady income stream.

With rising yields, Ragan also sees opportunities in fixed income, particularly in short-term bonds. Don't just stick with Treasurys, though. Ragan recommends adding corporate and municipal bonds to the mix.

Examples of funds that offer exposure to these areas of the market include the SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF (SPYD) and the Invesco KBW Bank ETF (KBWY).

Lance Dobler, vice president and senior regional director at TIAA

On the heels of two stellar years for the stock market, Dobler said he's inclined to be a bit more defensive and cautious in the year ahead — especially if he has more of a short-term time horizon. Price-multiple expansion won't come as easy, and investors are going to be looking for real earnings results, he said.

Broadly speaking, that boils down to taking a three-part approach: allocating to fixed-income amid robust yields; to so-called real assets as inflation stays elevated; and to defensive parts of the stock market amid stretched valuations.

Within fixed-income, Dobler likes investment-grade credit, Treasury inflation-protected securities, and municipal bonds. US money market funds and high-yield savings accounts are also attractive options, he said.

As for real assets, he said real estate, commodities, and infrastructure plays would get a boost as inflation remains sticky.

And for defensive stocks, he said quality companies — those with stable and consistent earnings track records — would benefit if growth stocks start to hit trouble like they did in 2022.

"The economy is slowing, financial conditions are tightening, and so it'll reward more of a defensive- and quality-focused strategy," Dobler said.

Some examples of exchange-traded funds offering exposure to Dobler's ideas include the GMO US Quality ETF (QLTY), the VanEck Real Assets ETF (RAAX), and the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD).

Gary Quinzel, vice president of portfolio consulting at Wealth Enhancement

US exceptionalism will drive the stock market in 2025, Quinzel believes. US stocks have posted strong earnings, US GDP is slated to grow at 2-3% this year, and secular tailwinds such as AI will provide a significant boost to the economy, Quinzel said.

If you're looking to grow $10,000, "you certainly want to have diversified equities, and you certainly want to be focused on the US," Quinzel told BI.

In this environment, investors shouldn't feel constrained by the 60/40 stock-to-bond portfolio, especially if you have a long time horizon, according to Quinzel. It's perfectly okay to take advantage of the robust economy and allocate 80%, or even all, of your portfolio to equities, Quinzel said.

For those who want to add more stability to their portfolios through fixed income, Quinzel recommends steering clear of high-yield bonds and going for Treasurys, corporate credit, and asset-backed securities.

Quinzel also echoed Ragan's suggestion for investors to branch from the Magnificent Seven. He sees plenty of opportunities to play the Trump trade, such as financials and industrials. Both of these sectors will benefit from deregulation, M&A activity, onshoring, and defense spending, which Quinzel anticipates will increase under the new administration.

Quinzel is also a fan of momentum and quality investing.

"One great way to start investing is by simply utilizing funds that have those traits of momentum and quality because both of those can do really well in this kind of late cycle mode that we're in," he added.

Funds that provide exposure to these market areas include the iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF (MTUM) and the Invesco S&P 500 Quality ETF (SPHQ).

Brian Rudderow, CEO of HBR Colorado

For those up for a more hands-on project, buying a multi-family property could be a good option, says real-estate investor and CEO of HBR Colorado Brian Rudderow.

While that may sound like it's outside the realm of possibility with just $10,000, Rudderow pointed to a Fannie Mae program launched in late 2023 that allows mom-and-pop investors to buy multi-family properties with just a 5% down payment. That's $10,000 for a $200,000 property.

That's still relatively cheap for a multi-family property, let alone for a single-family home, in many areas around the US. But they do exist.

"If you can find a lower-income city or a cheaper side of town, then you can do it with $10,000," Rudderow said.

The monthly mortgage payment on a property at this price point would be around $2,500, Rudderow said. So, if you charged around $1,500 per unit, you could generate a positive cash flow of $500 a month.

Daniel Milan, managing partner and investment advisor at Cornerstone Financial Services

The stock market performed strongly in 2024, and Milan believes investors should be optimistic about its continued growth.

There are plenty of opportunities for investors to put their cash to work. Industrials, financials, and energy are popular sectors for investors looking to take advantage of the Trump trade, according to Milan. He also sees individual opportunities within those broad sectors. Investors should keep an eye on energy in particular.

"For the first time in a number of years, there's a significant amount of value and strength in the energy sector," Milan said. If Trump's first term is any indicator of what's to come, Milan is bullish that the president's policies will be extremely beneficial for energy companies.

Milan is less focused on big oil companies and more interested in natural gas: "Natural gas pipelines are showing extraordinary strength from a momentum standpoint right now," he said.

His top picks include Enterprise Product Partners (EPD) and Energy Transfer (ET).

Within financials, Milan is bullish on large private equity firms such as Blackstone (BX), Apollo Global Management (APO), and KKR & Co (KKR).

"I think we're at the beginning stages of the next evolution within those types of firms, especially with regards to private credit," Milan said. These firms have all poured a significant amount of resources into the private credit business, and Milan believes the asset class will take off in the coming years.

Lance Roberts, CIO at RIA Advisors

Looking into the next 12 months, Roberts said he's increasingly leaning into the AI trade with the $2 billion portfolio he manages as infrastructure investment continues to grow.

"It's coming, and it's coming fast," Roberts said.

Part of that trade means investing in software and chips companies, like Twilio (TWLO), Palantir (PLTR), Nvidia (NVDA), and AMD (AMD), he said.

Another piece of that play is in the energy companies that will provide the power to run data centers, he said. Some of his holdings include American Electric Power (AEP), Duke Energy (DUK), Kinder Morgan (KMI), and GE Vernova (GEV).

But Roberts isn't blanketly bullish on AI-related stocks. Investors will start to put more of an emphasis on fundamentals, he said, and parts of the growth factor may start to get washed out in the year ahead. This may come amid a move into safer, dividend-providing stocks like Procter & Gamble (PG), he said.

"I think the unobvious trade is a rotation potentially from high-beta growth," Roberts said. He added: "Dividend value has been really ignored over the last couple of years, and it's very out of favor."

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Bill Gates says he thinks it's 'insane' that Elon Musk is allowed to 'destabilize' politics in other countries

"It's really insane that he can destabilize the political situations in countries," Bill Gates said of Elon Musk's interventions in foreign politics.

Sean Gallup via Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images

• Bill Gates says that Elon Musk shouldn't be weighing on foreign politics.
• In recent weeks, Musk commented on politics in Europe, including the German elections.
• Gates said Musk should not be telling people who to vote for.

Bill Gates doesn't like how Elon Musk has involved himself in the politics of foreign countries like the UK and Germany.

"It's really insane that he can destabilize the political situations in countries," Gates said in an interview with the UK's The Times newspaper published Saturday.

Musk has become increasingly vocal about his views on UK and German politics in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, Musk called for the removal of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The Tesla CEO accused Starmer of not doing enough to prevent the rape of girls when he was Britain's chief prosecutor from 2008 to 2013.

And on Saturday, Musk spoke virtually at a campaign rally for the Alternative for Germany, Germany's far-right party. Germany is set to hold national elections in February.

In December, Musk said in an op-ed for the Welt am Sonntag, a prominent German newspaper, that the AfD is "the last spark of hope for this country." Musk also praised the AfD for their "controlled immigration policy" in his op-ed.

"I think in the US foreigners aren't allowed to give money. Other countries maybe should adopt safeguards to make sure super-rich foreigners aren't distorting their elections," Gates told The Times.

Musk's political influence has increased significantly following President Donald Trump's victory in November. Musk spent at least $277 million backing Trump and other GOP candidates in last year's elections.

That bet has since paid off for Musk, who called himself Trump's "first buddy." The billionaire has joined Trump on calls with world leaders like Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

Musk is also leading Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The commission has been tasked with reducing government spending and cutting excess regulations.

It is unclear if Musk has donated to foreign political parties. Last month, British politician Nigel Farage said that Musk was giving "serious thought" toward making a donation to his right-wing party, Reform UK.

Musk shouldn't be making such outspoken political declarations, Gates told The Times.

"I thought the rules of the game were you picked a finite number of things to spout about that you cared for, focused on a few critical things, rather than telling people who they should vote for," Gates said.

"If someone is super-smart, and he is, they should think how they can help out. But this is populist stirring," Gates added.

Gates and Musk did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

To be sure, this isn't the first time Gates has disagreed with Musk.

In 2021, Gates told Kara Swisher on her "Sway" podcast that he wasn't interested in space travel. Musk is the founder and CEO of SpaceX, a rocket company.

"No, I'm not a Mars person. I know a lot of Mars people," Gates told Swisher.

"I don't think rockets are the solution. But maybe I'm missing something there," Gates said, adding that he would rather spend his money on vaccines than buy a ticket to space.

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Investors are buzzing about voice AI. Here's where they see the most untapped potential.

OpenAI's much-anticipated Voice Mode was released last year.

OpenAI

• Voice AI startups raised over $398 million in VC funding in 2024, per PitchBook data.
• The technology is expanding into enterprise uses like customer service and assistants.
• BI spoke to investors about the untapped opportunities in the nascent voice AI space.

Voice is fast becoming the new AI battleground.

From buzzy virtual assistants to speech synthesis tools, the technology has taken off in the past year.

While AI voice tech isn't new, the tools have rapidly become more sophisticated, driving adoption from the call center to recruitment agencies.

Its use cases are vast, from real-time audio transcriptions to generating synthetic voices from text prompts.

Investors looking for the next opportunity in the highly competitive AI market have thrown their checkbooks behind startups. According to PitchBook data, startups developing voice AI technology raised over $398 million in VC funding in 2024.

London-based PolyAI, which has developed voice assistants for call centers, secured $50 million in a funding round from Hedosophia. London and New York-headquartered ElevenLabs, which has developed a voice cloning technology, raised $100 million in January 2024 — and is said to be raising a further $200 million, Business Insider first reported.

"Recent breakthroughs in real-time speech-to-speech processing have unlocked new use cases, including virtual assistants, customer support, and voice-based productivity," said Sivesh Sukumar, an investor at VC firm Balderton. "Companies like ElevenLabs and OpenAI are at the forefront of this space, with ElevenLabs releasing a real-time API expected to drive further adoption."

Voice AI is a comparatively nascent space, so there isn't an established incumbent yet — but it's triggering investor excitement for the untapped opportunities in the sector, Sukumar added.

An expanding ecosystem

Startups are quickly identifying how to tailor voice technology to a host of enterprise and consumer needs. And with agentic AI a hot topic for CEOs, its overlap with voice technology could hold high potential.

PlayAI, a startup that is developing an AI platform for text-to-speech models and AI voice agents, raised $21 million in seed funding in November.

"We've seen a massive increase in interest in building voice agents, which a human can speak to just like it's another human," said PlayAI cofounder Hammad Syed. "Voice AI is going mainstream and will be a key interface in how people interact with technology. Investors definitely realize this opportunity," he added.

VCs scouring the ecosystem to make their next big bet are now looking at voice AI as a technology stack, said Steve Jang, founder and managing partner at Kindred Ventures, which also backed PlayAI. The firm's investment thesis is to back startups "with multiple layers with many use cases in consumer, enterprise, and creativity."

"First, there are specialized and foundational models. Second, there are infrastructure services and tools, which offer access and integration with these models. And then, perhaps most importantly, there is the vast vertical application space," he told BI.

The sector is also attractive to investors because voice is an easy category to cash in on. "You can price it by the outcome, so it's pretty easy to monetize," said Jonathan Userovici, general partner at VC firm Headline. "That's why you have so much revenue traction — it's pretty easy to get a return on investment, especially if you're replacing a human doing that labor."

Consumer appetite for voice AI has also skyrocketed. With more users preferring to take in information through audio formats like podcasts, Sukumar highlighted the growing consumer demand for voice control and audio interfaces. He built PersuAIsion, a voice AI platform that allows users to practice real-world conversations — from job interviews to first dates — because he saw the scope for voice to cater to such consumer needs.

"If OpenAI can capture the consumer voice agent, they'll be what Siri was supposed to be," he said. "I think there's going to be a lot more interfacing with personal devices, and there's just going to be better e-commerce consumer experience on that front."

Frontier labs are catching up

Despite its growing popularity, voice AI doesn't seem to have one established juggernaut just yet. Part of the reason could be that frontier labs have largely stayed away from the space, possibly due to a concern that a misuse of voice generation capabilities could result in a potential backlash, according to Air Street Capital's 2024 State of AI report.

"Despite scraping huge quantities of audio and video data, frontier labs have been slow to release text-to-speech products," said Nathan Benaich, founder and general partner of Air Street Capital. He pointed to OpenAI's Advanced Voice Mode, which was repeatedly postponed, and Google's NotebookLM, which "is relatively locked down."

AI experts had sounded the alarm about the possible rise of deepfakes in a year marked by global elections — but that didn't end up being the case.

"In all likelihood, labs were keen to avoid being dragged into the panics about deepfakes that often accompany major elections. I think it's inevitable they will play more in this space, just because the potential commercial opportunity is so large," Benaich said.

Big Tech may be slowly pivoting toward the trend. Amazon's plans to ramp up its voice assistant offerings through Alexa were delayed until 2025, and Apple recently bulked up its Siri feature by adding ChatGPT capabilities.

Still, Benaich noted that it won't be an easy task for any one company to take the crown. "Displacing companies like ElevenLabs, who already enjoy widespread adoption and have been optimizing their tools for enterprise users for years now, could prove challenging," he said.

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Fears of a return-to-office mandate prompted a millennial to secretly get a second remote job

 

Tetra Images/Getty, Ava Horton/BI

• A millennial began looking for a remote job in response to his company's return-to-office plans.
• He's juggling two remote roles, earning $250,000 annually, and is considering retiring by age 50.
• He said working two remote jobs can be stressful at times, but it is worth it.

George was worried his employer would demand he return to the office, so he executed a backup plan: start secretly working a second remote job.

In 2022, George was working remotely in an IT role in the finance industry. When his company began discussing return-to-office plans, he balked and reached out to an IT recruiting firm in the hopes it could help him find a new remote role. Shortly after, he landed an offer for a remote position that was similar to his current job.

But with the specifics of his original employer's return-to-office policy unclear, he said he was on the fence about leaving his current role. George said the recruiter he'd been working with convinced him to take an unconventional path — and juggle both roles simultaneously.

"I ultimately decided to try it since I could easily just drop one if it was too much," said George, whose identity was verified by Business Insider but asked to use a pseudonym due to fear of professional repercussions.

It's been more than two years since George started his second remote gig. He's earning about $250,000 a year — roughly double his prior income — and said he typically doesn't work more than 45 hours a week. George said the extra income from "overemployment" has allowed him and his wife to make extra mortgage payments and build a multimillion-dollar nest egg, adding that he's considering retiring at age 50.

He said his wife sometimes wishes he would scale back to one job temporarily to reduce his stress, but that he has no current plans to do so.

"Despite the extra stress, I can't imagine going back to single employment permanently out of choice," he said.

George, who's 39 and based in the southeast, is among the Americans who have worked multiple remote jobs on the sly to supplement their incomes. Over the past two years, BI has interviewed more than two dozen overemployed workers who've used their extra earnings to travel the world and pay off debt. To be sure, holding multiple jobs without employer approval could have professional repercussions and lead to burnout. But many current and former job jugglers have told BI the financial perks outweigh the downsides and risks.

Job juggling can require lowering your expectations

At his original job, George said his team was classified as remote, but that over the past few years, some teams have been required to come into the office three days a week.

He still has some concerns that he could be required to return to the office, in part because he's heard about other companies rolling out stricter RTO policies in recent months. George said he lives roughly 14 miles from the nearest office — an hourlong commute with traffic and about half an hour without. He's less concerned about an in-office push from his second employer — which no longer has an office in his state — because he said its messaging to employees suggests it has permanently embraced remote work.

George said his overemployment situation is far from ideal because his jobs require a fair amount of work and meetings. This has made it difficult for him to excel at both roles, which is something he said he's had to grapple with.

"Accepting that when you're splitting your time you're not always going to stand out as an overachiever at one place," he said. "The goal goes from being great and climbing the ladder at one job to being good or decent in multiple roles."

George added that consistent communication with his colleagues and bosses has been key, particularly when meetings are double-booked or he has to delay work for one job due to commitments at another.

"As long as the quality of work is good, timelines are reasonable, you're honest about timeline delays, and people don't mind working with you, people don't really have a reason to go digging," he said.

Looking ahead, George said he hopes to remain overemployed until he retires so he can boost his savings and protect himself in case of a potential layoff. He said he hopes to retire, travel, and eventually move abroad to reduce living expenses and help ensure that his retirement funds last.

George said he's lucky enough to work in a field where the demand for workers exceeds supply — which has made it easier to land remote roles. But he said he knows these favorable conditions aren't guaranteed.

"Who knows how long that will last so I'd rather take advantage while it's available than wish I had later," he said.

Are you working multiple remote jobs at the same time and willing to provide details about your pay and schedule? If so, reach out to this reporter at jzinkula@businessinsider.com.

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The cord-cutter's guide to streaming live sports

Netflix streamed its first NFL games in December.

Joe Sargent/Getty Images

• Streaming companies are doubling down on live sports.
• ESPN is set to launch a new sports TV service, while streamers like Amazon add more live sports.
• We break down the streaming options for sports fans, including how to get NFL, NBA, and more games.

Live sports are officially in their streaming era.

A bevy of new services are set to launch this year, including live sports offerings from ESPN, Fubo, and DirecTV. Streamers like Netflix and Amazon Prime have been vying for sports rights, from NFL to soccer matchups. Even the Super Bowl is doubling down on streaming, with the big game set to run this year on Fox's Tubi.

Sports fans now have more alternatives to cable TV. Streamers are starting to compete with traditional TV in areas like cost, the ability to watch your favorite out-of-market teams, ease and convenience, and the overall user experience.

The new offerings could hasten cable TV's decline. Traditional pay-TV services such as cable and satellite lost roughly 50 million subscribers in the last 10 years, going from being in about 85% of households to 36% as of the third quarter of 2024, according to MoffettNathanson. Meanwhile, Leichtman Research Group's analysis of seven top streamers, including Netflix, Disney+, and Max, found those platforms had added over 28 million domestic subscribers in the last year alone.

Still, there isn't truly a one-size-fits-all approach to sports streaming like there is for other categories, such as music. Live sports are increasingly fragmented in the streaming world. Where sports fans once turned to the TV guide to find the game, they must now navigate broadcast, a slew of streaming options, and local channels.

"In the shift to streaming, sports fans have definitely drawn the short end of the stick," Alan Wolk, the cofounder and lead analyst at TVREV, told Business Insider. "They're the ones more than any other group or genre who are frustrated because it's all over the place."

If you're a sports fan considering a switch to streaming, here is a comprehensive list of what leagues are broadcast where, how to find them, and how much it will cost.

Live-TV streaming services

The first step in making the jump is identifying your sports-viewing needs. Is it important to have your local teams? Are you looking to watch one team all year round? Or maybe you want to watch one league, like the NFL or the NBA, and you want to go all in on whatever access is available to you.

Companies such as Fubo, YouTube TV, Sling TV, and Hulu + Live TV offer streaming alternatives to the basic cable bundle. These services carry live sports from most of the major broadcasters and sports networks, such as ESPN and TNT, as well as entertainment channels and DVR options.

Some also have local channels, but the regional offerings are generally less robust than those on cable.

Still, the packages are a bit cheaper, with most starting at around $80 a month, compared to the $140 cost of the average cable and internet bill in major US cities.

And you could pair any of these with an indoor TV antenna to access your local TV stations for games on ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox.

Here is a breakdown of the streaming-based cable alternatives and what they include:

Company:	Base price:	What is included:	Sports add-ons:
Fubo	$80 a month for Fubo Pro (the ideal package for sports fans)	Over 150 channels, regional networks, and local game broadcasts (for an additional fee)	$90/month for Fubo Elite, which has all the same stuff, plus NFL RedZone, and select live sporting events
YouTube TV	$83/month	Over 100 channels, including local networks, ESPN, CBS, NBC, and Fox.	NFL Sunday Ticket (2025-26 pricing not yet announced); $10.99/month for NFL RedZone with Sports Plus; $14.99 for NBA League Pass
Sling TV	$46/month for Sling Blue and Orange (ideal option for sports fans)	Blue: up to 46 channels, including local broadcasts on NBC, FOX, and ABC (in select markets)Orange: 35 channels, including Disney and ESPN
Hulu + Live TV	$77/month with ads	Over 95 channels, including local networks, plus access to ESPN+ and Disney+	$90/month for ad-free

More options are on the way. Fubo and DirecTV have announced "skinny" bundles of sports channels at lower price points because they aren't laden with entertainment networks.

Streamers with live sports

Beyond the cable alternatives, many major streaming services carry live sports.

Below is a high-level overview of the popular US streamers, the sports they carry, and their prices. For the most part, each platform only offers a selection of games from each league. Amazon, for example, is set to stream 66 regular-season NBA games starting later this year, while NBC gets up to 100 games, with some running on streamer Peacock and others on its TV network.

Company:	Leagues included:	Price (for base package):
Amazon Prime Video	NFL ("Thursday Night Football") NBA (starting 2025-26) WNBA NWSL Some regional sports networks like the YES Network	$8.99/month (or included in a $14.99/month Prime membership); NBA League Pass starting at $13.99/month
Peacock	Premier League NBA WNBA NFL ("Sunday Night Football") WWE	$7.99/month; $13.99/month for ad-free and local NBC
Netflix	WWE NFL (Christmas games)	$7.99/month
ESPN+	Select college sports NFL ("Monday Night Football") NHL UFC	$11.99/month
Apple TV+	MLB MLS	$7.99/month
Max (through B/R Sports)	NHL NBA MLB Select college conferences US National Soccer Teams	$9.99/month
Paramount+	UEFA Champions League NFL	$7.99/month

Streaming services by sport

Cobbling together the best streaming services for you depends on the type of sports fan you are.

Wolk, the analyst, said there are two main types of sports fans: "You have fans of a team, and people who are fans of a sport."

Wolk explained that if you are a diehard Boston Celtics fan, you might want access to all the team's games without blackouts and the ability to watch games regionally when they're broadcast on a local network like NESN, for example.

General fans of the sport would be more interested in a mix of NBA games, on the other hand.

Whether you want to watch one league or cram your weekends with sports, here is a breakdown of the streaming options by sport, including the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, college sports, and combat sports.

NFL

NFL games are available across several streaming services without a cable subscription. While national game broadcasts, like NBC's "Sunday Night Football," are available for free with a digital antenna, you'll need a streaming subscription to watch other matchups like the Thursday night games on Amazon.

Here's where you can find most NFL games on streaming:

• Amazon Prime Video has "Thursday Night Football." A stand-alone Prime Video subscription costs $8.99 a month. If you have a Prime membership ($14.99 a month), the games are included.
• ESPN+, which costs $11.99 a month, has most Monday-night games.
• Paramount+, which starts at $7.99 a month, streams the NFL games that air on CBS.
• Fox is streaming the Super Bowl for free on Tubi this year.
• NFL Sunday Ticket with YouTube TV is the simplest way to watch teams outside your market. You can add the package on top of an existing YouTube TV subscription or as a standalone service through YouTube (pricing for the 2025-26 season hasn't been announced yet). It can also be bundled with NFL RedZone for an extra $10.99.
• NFL RedZone, which shows the key moments from every game on Sunday afternoons, is also available as an add-on to live-TV streaming services like Fubo, Hulu+Live TV, Sling TV, and the standard YouTube TV plan.

NBA and WNBA

NBA and WNBA games mainly stream on Max, for now, and through the leagues' direct-to-consumer platforms.

• Max streams a selection of NBA and WNBA games. It'll cost $9.99 a month with ads, plus an additional $9.99 a month for the B/R Sports add-on.

This is set to change with the coming 2025-26 season, where NBA and WNBA games will be spread across Amazon, Peacock, and ESPN's upcoming stand-alone service.

The NBA and the WNBA also each have a League Pass, which are a one-stop spot for out-of-market games.

• NBA League Pass starts at $49.99 a season. It can also be bundled with a YouTube TV subscription for an additional $14.99 a month.
• WNBA League Pass is $12.99 a month.

MLB

MLB has its own streaming service and streams some games through partners Apple TV+ and Roku.

• Apple TV+ streams "Friday Night Baseball," which features a doubleheader every Friday when in season. The service costs $9.99/month.
• Roku offers Sunday MLB games for free with a Roku streaming device.
• MLB Network, the league's TV network for live out-of-market games, offers a stand-alone streaming subscription for $5.99 a month. For an extra dollar a month, it offers an "At Bat" bundle with live game audio, minor league games, and highlights.

Soccer

• NBC's Peacock streams a selection of live Premier League matches. The service costs $7.99 a month with ads.
• Paramount+ has the rights to the UEFA Champions League games through its standard subscription, which costs $7.99 a month.
• Apple TV streams Major League Soccer through the league's direct-to-consumer option, MLS Season Pass. It costs $14.99 a month through the Apple TV app, or $12.99 a month with a $9.99 Apple TV+ subscription.

For women's soccer, NWSL matches are streamed across Paramount+, ESPN+, Amazon Prime Video, and league's free streaming service, NWSL+.

College sports

College sports have a streaming home on ESPN through an exclusive deal with the NCAA.

• ESPN+ carries a selection of ESPN's rights to 40 NCAA championships, like football and women's basketball, with some rounds exclusively available on the platform.
• Paramount+ also carries a few college events, including the March Madness games that air on CBS.
• Peacock has Big Ten games.
• B/R Sports has the rights to college football and the March Madness tournament through a Max subscription.

Combat sports

Combat sports like boxing or MMA are included in some streaming subscriptions, but some are pay-per-view and cost an additional fee to watch. The price can vary by match.

• ESPN+ has UFC and the PFL. Pay-per-view fights are also on ESPN+.
• Fight Pass, UFC's streaming service, is $9.99 a month or $95.99/year. The pass gives you the entire UFC library, pay-per-view preliminary fights, and other combat sports.
• Netflix streams WWE's "Raw" on Monday nights, which premiered earlier this year to 4.9 million viewers around the world.
• Peacock streams other live WWE events.

What's next: stand-alone ESPN and 'skinny' sports bundles

The landscape of sports TV many soon look very different. In the coming year, expect to see:

• The fall launch of ESPN's flagship streaming service, which is expected to include ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News and some college conferences, along with the ability to watch things that are on ESPN+.
• A new sports-TV bundle from Fubo.
• A "skinny" sports bundle from DirecTV called MySports. MySports will allow DirecTV users to pick and choose which networks are most important to them, and bundle them together for $49.99 for the first three months.

However you go about this new era of sports TV, there will be no shortage of content to consume. Whether you choose one service for a single sport or a combination of streamers to replace cable TV, the options are there for you to explore.

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I invented a simple game that motivates me to keep up healthy habits like going to the gym

Lily Cheng started using a point system to motivate herself to do things she didn't want to do a year ago.

Lily Cheng

• Lily Cheng struggled to motivate herself during weekends and college breaks.
• Implementing a point system into her daily life helped her create new, healthier habits.
• She earned points by doing tasks she didn't want to do, which she could "spend" on fun activities.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lily Cheng, 21, a game design student and YouTuber who lives in New York. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

For the past year, I've been using a point system to motivate myself to get things done. It's helped me stick to healthy habits and allow myself to rest without guilt.

I have a busy schedule and there's a lot I want to fit in. I'm a college student who interns and works a part-time job. I also make fan art that I sell at conventions, I'm designing an indie video game, and I make lifestyle content on YouTube and Instagram.

My routine varies a lot, and I find that when I have the structure of a work shift or class, I'm productive. But on school breaks and at weekends, I find it difficult to get myself to do anything.

During winter break in 2023, I was feeling really unmotivated. It was hard for me to get even the most simple things done, like cooking or getting out of bed. I was stuck in a negative cycle where I never properly relaxed or treated myself to nice things because I felt guilty about being unproductive, which meant I stayed unmotivated.

Lily Cheng bases how many points she gets for something on how motivated she feels in the moment.

Lilly Cheng

I could get myself to do things if it led to a reward

One day, as I was scrolling through social media, I came across a video that was titled something like: "How to make your life like a video game." I didn't even watch it, but it sparked an idea: I could motivate myself to do the simple things I was struggling with, like getting out of bed, if it meant that in the future, I might reward myself with something.

I designed and implemented a system for my daily life where I get points for doing things I don't want to do. I then get to use those points to do things I enjoy that cost money. For example, at the start when I was really unmotivated, I'd give myself 50 points for taking a shower and cleaning my room. I'd then "spend" those points on going to a café, which might cost 30 points, or thrifting, which might cost 100.

My recording system is just updating a number on a document. It's simple, so it's easy to maintain.

Cheng used the point system to motivate herself to exercise more.

Lily Cheng

The system gave me the motivation to create new habits

The point system has helped me create and stick to healthy habits too.

It gave me the motivation to change my lifestyle, which led to new habits over time. After a while, I no longer needed the points as motivation to cook instead of eating out, or wake up early.

Points are based on how motivated I feel to do something in the moment. If I'm feeling particularly in the mood to clean my apartment one day, I won't get any points for doing it. But if I've been lying in bed all day on my phone, I might give myself 30 points for getting up and having a shower.

One habit I really wanted to build was going to the gym regularly. There was a period in my life when I went twice a day, but I had pretty much stopped going by January 2023. I was struggling to get back into it because I didn't have as much time or energy to spend on hitting my muscle-building and weight goals, and it made me feel discouraged.

The point system rewarded me for simply showing up to the gym, which not only helped me rebuild the habit, but also to develop a healthier mindset around exercise. It helped me see that going to do something active is worthwhile regardless of the result.

The point system helped Cheng realize that she gets more done in a day than she previously thought.

Lily Cheng

Tracking what I do in a day has helped me achieve a better work-life balance

Using the point system has helped me achieve a better work-life balance. Tracking the sometimes-mundane tasks I do made me realize that I tend to do more than I think I do.

In the past, I often unknowingly overworked but couldn't fully enjoy moments of rest or reward like eating out with friends or going shopping. I didn't feel like I had earned them.

Now that I track my work more closely, I feel guilt-free about spending money or time on non-work-related activities because I know it helps me stay motivated to get my work done.

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Inside TikTok's weekend of whiplash

 

TikTok; Chelsea Jia Feng/BI

At the Sax Restaurant and Lounge on the eve of Donald Trump's second inauguration, it seemed like business as usual for TikTok.

The wildly popular video app was sponsoring a Washington, DC, party for a gaggle of conservative influencers sporting bright-red Make America Great Again hats. Bryce Hall wandered around in a black bow tie as other creators sipped cocktails and danced to Don Omar's "Danza Kuduro." Guests combated the frigid temperatures outside with TikTok-branded beanies and earmuffs.

Amid the gaiety, it was easy to forget that just 24 hours earlier, the ByteDance-owned social media platform had briefly gone dark for its 170 million American users.

It was just one twist during a whirlwind January weekend that featured everyone from Neil Gorsuch to Trump to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. What began with a bombshell Supreme Court decision on Friday morning culminated in TikTok CEO Shou Chew as a guest at Trump's inauguration, hobnobbing with tech leaders like Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai.

As TikTok continues to navigate a divest-or-ban law designed to target the company's connections to China, the app is back — for now. But the weekend left some feeling unsettled.

"This situation showed how quickly you can have something and then that something can be taken away," said creator Kyle Barber.

How quickly? Let's turn back the clock.

Friday, 10 a.m. ET: A decision comes down

After months of buildup, including a last-ditch attempt by the app to preserve its US presence, the Supreme Court dropped its opinion on TikTok Inc. v. Garland on Friday morning, ruling that a law forcing a sale of the app was constitutional.

TikTok then had 38 hours to broker a sale of its US assets or "go dark" when its service providers cut ties to avoid hundreds of billions of dollars in potential fines.

From the moment the court publicized its ruling, fear set in among some of the app's creators and partners. TikTok is often more than just a tool for mindless scrolling: It can be a source of substantial income for small businesses selling products or a platform to rocket-launch a career as a creator.

In spite of this, many TikTokers, advertisers, and other businesses had spent months shrugging off the threat of a shutdown. Internally, it was "business as usual," as one current TikTok staffer put it. The Supreme Court ruling changed all that.

"After the Supreme Court ruling hit and they still hadn't announced a buyer, it's like, OK, this thing could be gone," said Barber, who has around 40,000 followers on the app. "So immediately I had to go into emergency mode, and I was spending all this time trying to archive my content."

Some influencers had contingency plans in their contracts that dictated they would move sponsorships to other apps in the event TikTok went dark. Others spread out across different social platforms, like Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat, and newcomers like RedNote.

To many in the TikTok community, it was still unclear what would happen next. A week earlier, a lawyer for the company told the Supreme Court that the app would "go dark" and essentially "stop operating" on January 19 without legal or political intervention.

When Chew finally emerged with a TikTok message around 12:30 p.m. on Friday, he didn't say what would happen over the weekend.

He said TikTok had been fighting to "protect the constitutional right to free speech" for Americans who use the app. "On behalf of everyone at TikTok and all our users across the country, I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States," he said.

Users flooded the comments section of Chew's video. One pleaded with Chew not to sell the app: "[I]t won't be the same."

"TikTok has gotten me through some of my darkest moments in the past 5 years," another commented. "I'm eternally grateful for my time here and will miss it 💔"

In the hours after the ruling dropped, some staff told BI they felt unclear about what would happen next. The company told US employees a few days earlier that their employment, pay, and benefits were secure, and offices would remain open even if the situation wasn't resolved before the January 19 deadline. The company sent a message on Friday that linked to Chew's video and included some assurances about their employment, an employee said. (A TikTok spokesperson told Business Insider the company communicated regularly with employees throughout the weekend.)

The other TikTok employee felt there was no work to be done that day with the app's future hanging in the balance. (The staffers asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak about their employer. Their identities are known to Business Insider.)

At 8:36 p.m. ET, the company issued a written statement about its plans — and said much of the uncertainty lay with the Biden administration.

"Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19," the statement read.

Saturday afternoon: Confusion swirls

On Saturday, TikTok's global e-commerce team sent out an "important notice" to its Shop agency partners, a group of vendors that work with merchants to sell products on the app.

The app would be suspended at 8:30 p.m. ET, according to a copy of the memo reviewed by BI, though agencies could continue to check orders and access other platform data. Some e-commerce partners who had spent weeks preparing for a potential app shutdown — with what they said was little guidance from TikTok — began chattering about the app's imminent demise, one Shop partner told BI. (They asked to remain anonymous to protect business relationships. Their identity is known to BI.)

But the memo appeared to be inaccurate. A few hours later, in a follow-up email, the company informed its partners that "an unauthorized individual sent an erroneous email about TikTok Shop's business service" and it would share "official company communications with users, creators, and partners when plans are finalized."

"No idea what is going on honestly lol," the Shop partner messaged BI after the second email went out.

Saturday around 10:30 p.m. ET: 'Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now'

On Saturday night, users were greeted with a pop-up when they opened the app: "We regret that a U.S. law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19 and force us to make our services temporarily unavailable. We're working to restore our service in the U.S. as soon as possible, and we appreciate your support. Please stay tuned."

Delirious is one way to describe the app's final hours.

"This is not OK," Alix Earle told her 7.2 million followers in a video posted from bed before the shutdown, wiping tears from her eyes. "Someone's gonna have to, like, check me into a mental hospital."

Barber said he was struck with a feeling of, "What am I supposed to do?"

"You're scrolling through TikTok and you're seeing everybody saying their goodbyes in tears," he said.

Others confessed their secrets to millions on the app, while some took to comedy.

"They want to laugh up until the last second and I want to laugh, too," said Victoria Paris, a lifestyle content creator who has about 2 million followers. (Her content leading up to the ban included several videos in which she licked Jawbreaker candy.) "I've cried a million times on this app. You don't need to go out watching me cry. Let's go out watching some stupid shit. That's why we love this place."

Finally, around 10:30 p.m. ET, TikTok called it quits.

"Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now," a second pop-up read. "A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!"

Paris described the cutoff as "shocking and jarring."

Lukas Battle, a comedy creator with around 620,000 followers, said his feed was frozen on a video of Jane Goodall. "Every time I accidentally opened it," he said, "it would just be Jane Goodall and a piece of glass and a gorilla, and I was like, I love this. I kind of feel like this is a good representation of what's going on."

"Minutes before I was going to post my goodbye video, I couldn't, the app wouldn't let me," Barber said.

Sunday: TikTok's game of chicken

For about 14 hours, TikTok was dead.

Then, around 12:30 p.m. ET, it rose again.

"In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service," TikTok said in a statement, referring to partners like Oracle that it works with to store data and deliver videos. The company thanked Trump, whose inauguration was set to begin roughly 24 hours later.

Earlier that morning, Trump posted on social media that he would "issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law's prohibitions take effect."

The general feeling for users and creators was: Welp, that was a waste of energy.

"I thought it was going to be at least a full day, or even a week," Battle said.

"We all have whiplash from it coming back," Paris said.

Advertisers received an email from TikTok on Sunday that reaffirmed the app was coming back to a majority of US users and ad campaigns would resume over the course of the day. The email, a copy of which was reviewed by BI, also noted there may be some "temporary service instability" as things came back online.

Hours later, TikTok was sponsoring the glitzy MAGA crowd in the nation's capital.

"President Trump saved TikTok," CJ Pearson, a cochair of the Republican National Committee Youth Advisory Council, who helped organize the party, told CNN. "We have a lot to celebrate tonight."

Monday and beyond: What's next?

On Monday morning, Chew attended the inaugural festivities along with fellow tech executives including Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg. He sat on the dais next to Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's nominee to be the next director of national intelligence.

That night, around 8 p.m. ET, Trump dropped a new executive order instructing his future attorney general to delay enforcing the TikTok ban for 75 days. It was a sharp departure from his first term, when he signed an August 2020 executive order attempting to force TikTok out of app stores.

At the time, Trump said he was concerned that TikTok could become a disinformation tool for the Chinese Communist Party. He also feared that US user data could end up in the hands of the Chinese government. Members of Congress raised similar concerns when they passed the 2024 divest-or-ban law. (TikTok has previously said that it does not share information with the Chinese government and that a US-based team operates its content-moderation work "independently from China.")

The next few weeks will be critical for TikTok and ByteDance as they fight for a deal that keeps the US and China happy — without destroying their business.

Trump has proposed a joint venture that would give a US entity 50% ownership in the company. Various potential bidders have also emerged, including the AI startup Perplexity, the former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, and the YouTube creator MrBeast.

Bill Ford, the CEO of General Atlantic, a ByteDance investor, told Axios a deal would get done that's "in everybody's interest" but that may be "short of divestiture." But if the whirlwind weekend is any indication, the final resolution is still up in the air.

While TikTok's app is back online, new users still can't download it from Apple or Google's app stores. Legal analysts say it may not return to stores anytime soon as the companies weigh the risks of working with ByteDance.

After a weekend of chaos, TikTok has once again gone back to "business as usual," one of the TikTok staffers told BI.

Even if Trump does manage to broker a deal with the blessings of ByteDance and the Chinese government, the chaos of the weekend has given many of TikTok's creators and partners pause.

They're back, but some say they have one foot out the door.

One TikTok Shop seller said on Sunday they were focused on diversifying their business to other platforms, as TikTok temporarily coming back online was just "kicking the can down the road again."

"This is definitely a changing moment," Paris said.

Will TikTok ever have the same juice? Will it be a zombie of its former self?

"I know it's going to be different somehow," Battle said. "This is a new chapter."

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