Anduril employees are Slack messaging “all day, every day, all the time,” COO Matt Grimm said.
John Keeble/Getty Images
Anduril COO Matt Grimm said that he sorts for the most recent unread Slack messages.
The strategy isn’t foolproof, Grimm said, but “it works enough to get the pulse of what’s going on.”
He said he can’t read every Slack message, as Anduril has 7,000 employees across 14 time zones.
How to weed through Slack’s never-ending parade of pings? Anduril’s COO has some advice.
Matt Grimm has overseen the defense technology company since its starting days. He cofounded Anduril with Palmer Luckey, Brian Schimpf, Trae Stephens, and Joseph Chen. Before Anduril, Grimm worked at Palantir.
In a walkaround interview with Sourcery, Grimm said that he often popped into Slack channels where employees didn’t expect to see him.
“They will see me chirp in on some random thread in some random channel,” Grimm said. “People will be like, ‘How the hell did you see this?'”
Grimm said he sorts his Slack messages by both unread and most recent. When he’s between meetings, walking between buildings, or has five minutes to spare, he said he’ll read the messages in that order.
The strategy isn’t “foolproof,” he said, and with about 7,000 employees at Anduril, he said he can’t read every message. This method is for reading through channels. If something really needs his attention, Grimm said he trusts that he’ll receive a direct message.
“It works enough to get the pulse of what’s going on,” he said.
Other corporate leaders have their own Slack strategy. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei sends long-form Slack essays that fuel debate.
“You can go back and read all the past ones, and it tells the history of Anthropic,” said Sholto Douglas, a Member of the Technical Staff at the AI firm.
Others intentionally set a distance. Canva CEO Melanie Perkins doesn’t have Slack on her phone, so she can “actually tune out” when she shuts her laptop. If there’s an emergency, someone will call her, she said.
Slack cofounder Cal Henderson told Business Insider that his three biggest tips for using the workplace communications app are ranking channels, setting strict response hours, and experimenting with video clips to replace meetings.
As 2025 comes to a close, Slack users can also receive their own form of Wrapped by checking who sent the most messages in their workspace.
In the Sourcery interview, Grimm acknowledged that it was impossible to read every single Slack message sent across Anduril’s channels.
“We’re in like 14 time zones,” Grimm said. “They’re just all day, every day, all the time.”
Steve Carroll and his family are chasing Mosaic status and 350,000 points as part of JetBlue’s “25 for 25” flight challenge.
Courtesy of Steve Carroll
Steve Carroll and his son visited 25 unique JetBlue cities to lock Mosaic status for 25 years.
He spent about $7,000 on the adventure and finished it in Fort Myers on December 8.
He blazed creative routes, flying to Nantucket for breakfast, DC for lunch, and Orlando for dinner.
This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Steve Carroll, a New York-based nurse practitioner who chased JetBlue’s “25 for 25” challenge to earn 350,000 points and Mosaic status for 25 years by flying to 25 unique cities by December 31. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Breakfast in Massachusetts, lunch in DC, dinner in Orlando, and back home by midnight. That was one of the epic days that my 10-year-old son and I flew for JetBlue Airways’ “25 for 25” challenge.
It was thrilling to plan and execute these trips, with layovers so tight we sometimes barely had time for a bathroom break. Finding a flourishing community chasing this challenge was one of the best parts.
The promotion, created for JetBlue’s 25th anniversary, is simple: Fly to 25 unique cities in the airline’s network between June 25 and December 31, and you’ll earn Mosaic 1 status for 25 years plus a lump sum of 350,000 points.
There are some rules: You must connect your loyalty number to each flight; basic fares don’t qualify; flights must be operated by JetBlue (not its partners, such as Cape Air); and only arrival airports count.
Still, I realized it could be an unforgettable experience for my son Jackson and I. He already loves JetBlue (I think the TV screens do it for him), and his 100th and 200th flights ever were on JetBlue.
Plus, Mosaic status until age 35 means he and his friends could enjoy the perks — like free bags, complimentary drinks, dedicated security and check-in, early boarding, and seat upgrades — on future spring break or summer trips in college. (Editor’s note: You must be a Mosaic 3 member or higher to receive complimentary Mint upgrades and a Mosaic 4 for lounge access when JetBlue’s open in late 2025.)
The math also checked out. Completing the challenge earned each of us a reward of 350,000 points, at least $3,500 in travel apiece, plus the additional points earned from our flights.
Combining the cash I paid plus the 100,000 JetBlue points I already had, the whole challenge cost around $7,000, but I was essentially reimbursed in points.
Jackson and Steve will visit their 25th destination on Thanksgiving.
Courtesy of Steve Carroll
I started the challenge already holding Mosaic, but securing long-term status now gives me more freedom to put everyday spending on other cards and build points with brands like Hyatt via Chase.
JetBlue’s new partnership with United Airlines also means I can tap into reciprocal benefits on United — an attractive perk since we live close to the airline’s Newark, New Jersey, base.
To maximize our time, we mostly flew on weekends and sometimes took up to five flights across a Saturday or Sunday. We took closer to 35 flights overall because of the overlap at some departure and connecting airports.
Our flights stretched west to Los Angeles, north to Portland, Maine, and south to Fort Lauderdale. We’ve also checked off airports like Cleveland, Norfolk, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Manchester in New Hampshire, Raleigh in North Carolina, and Buffalo in New York.
Our most ambitious weekend was over Veterans Day in November, when we planned 18 flights and 11 new cities. The government shutdown, however, canceled five of them, but we managed to rebook and still add several new destinations.
Aside from those cancellations and a huge delay that forced us to postpone a trip, the challenge has been remarkably smooth. And we’ve met a great community of people also clamoring for 25 years of Mosaic status.
We recently flew in Mint business class to Los Angeles as our 23rd city and completed the challenge on December 8 in Fort Myers, with about three weeks to spare.
Piecing together itineraries is like a game of Tetris
I already had a few JetBlue trips on my calendar to start, but then I created a master list of airports in the Northeast along with their city pairs. I live just north of New York City.
The goal was to create snaking routes that efficiently hopscotch across the US; we’re trying to avoid international flying. I’d sit up in bed when I couldn’t sleep and just map out my options.
Over time, I’ve figured out a few tricks: book one-ways, sit near the front, and choose the first and last flights of the day. Most fares averaged about $100 per person.
The flight home to LaGuardia was Jackson’s 200th flight.
Courtesy of Steve Carroll
I have lounge access that made longer layovers easier, though I occasionally booked “illegal” itineraries with very tight connections. Connecting airports, regardless of the time spent there, count as unique destinations.
But before I risked it, I checked the historical arrival times. One trip I planned included a 12-minute layover at New York-JFK, but we still made it because our flight from Hyannis, Massachusetts, landed half an hour early, as expected.
Weather-tracking helped, too. I adjusted my flight if I anticipated a disruption, which my status allows me to do for free. An unofficial tool called “25for25.ai” was also helpful; you can plug in your starting point and block destinations you’ve already hit.
Living in the New York area made the challenge far more doable. Airports, like White Plains, LaGuardia, Newark, New York-JFK, and Islip on Long Island, are all considered separate, unique cities.
New York-JFK and Newark are especially useful since they offer so many connections. There’s also Hartford, Connecticut, and Philadelphia nearby. That’s seven of the 25 we just drove to.
Smaller airports like Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts require more creativity because they offer limited frequencies.
One of our biggest travel days began in White Plains, New York, where we flew to Nantucket and had breakfast in town. We then headed to DC for lunch at the airport, and finally to Orlando for dinner, also at the airport.
My partner joined us on that trip, making it a family day in the skies. We crossed paths with about 15 other challengers on our legs to DC.
There is camaraderie in the challenge
What was extremely helpful was the dedicated Mosaic Facebook group, where other participants in the challenge shared routes and road warrior stories. It’s not hosted by JetBlue.
The challenge fostered a vibrant and supportive community. (Editor’s note: JetBlue told Business Insider that over 500 people have completed the promotion so far.)
My son and I sometimes saw other challengers on our flights and ate lunch together in the airport between legs. We helped a family of four explore the town during our layover in Nantucket.
We exchanged numbers with almost every person we met so we can stay in touch. I didn’t expect to find such a large and enthusiastic community, but it was one of the best parts of the challenge.
I have a little tag on my bag that somebody made for me that says ‘JetBlue 25 for 25.’ When people saw it, they were like, ‘Oh, you’re doing the challenge.’
It was nice getting help along the way, and I appreciate being able to help others, too, as we cheered them on to finish by the holidays.
The first trailer for season four of “Bridgerton” dropped on Christmas.
The next season will focus on Benedict Bridgerton’s love story with Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha).
Returning cast members include Luke Newton, Nicola Coughlan, Jonathan Bailey, and Simone Ashley.
Get your masks ready: Season four of “Bridgerton” is coming to Netflix in 2026. Part one premieres on January 29, and part two will come a month later on February 26.
This season will follow the story of Benedict Bridgerton and Sophie Baek in a “Cinderella”-esque tale.
Season three of the Netflix series, which centered on Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington’s (Nicola Coughlan) relationship, concluded with the release of part two in June 2024.
In giving Polin a happy ending, “Bridgerton” also teased that Benedict (Luke Thompson), the second-eldest sibling, would get the main character treatment next season. His status as the lead has officially been confirmed, and new details are slowly being announced — and now, fans are able to watch the first trailer for season four as a Christmas present from the streamer.
Here’s everything we know about season four of “Bridgerton” so far.
Benedict’s love story will be the focus of season 4
Yerin Ha as Sophie Beckett and Luke Thompson as Benedict Bridgerton in season four of “Bridgerton,”
Liam Daniel/Netflix
An official announcement about Benedict being the season four lead was made in July 2024. In a video posted by Netflix, Thompson is handed a suit for the masquerade ball. But eagle-eyed fans weren’t surprised, because this was all teased in the season three finale that aired in June.
“Do you think Mama would ever let me miss her Masquerade Ball?” she said.
Benedict, still not ready to settle down, replied, “I will be there, hiding out behind a mask, avoiding eligible ladies like the plague.”
That not-so-subtle moment was a nod to Benedict’s novel “An Offer from a Gentleman,” which is part of Julia Quinn’s “Bridgerton” book series.
In the third “Cinderella”-inspired book, Benedict meets a woman named Sophie Beckett at a masquerade ball. Unbeknownst to him, Sophie is a servant to a rude stepmother named Araminta Gunningworth. By the end of the novel, they express their love for each other and get married.
The show has changed Sophie’s last name from Beckett to Baek to reflect actor Yerin Ha’s Korean heritage.
“A name is the first bit of identity that you share with the world, and that’s why changing a name can be so powerful,” Ha told Tudum. “To make Sophie’s name fit someone who looks like me is really empowering. All credit to Jess Brownell, our showrunner.”
Netflix’s official logline for next season reads: “The fourth season of ‘Bridgerton’ turns its focus to bohemian second son Benedict (Luke Thompson). Despite his elder and younger brothers both being happily married, Benedict is loath to settle down — until he meets a captivating Lady in Silver at his mother’s masquerade ball.”
Here’s the first full official trailer for the fourth season.
‘Dune: Prophecy’ actor Yerin Ha will play Sophie Baek, Benedict’s love interest
Ha was most recently seen on the Paramount+ TV series adaptation of the “Halo” video game franchise and HBO’s “Dune” spin-off series “Dune: Prophecy.”
Despite the character being based on Cinderella, Brownell assured fans that Sophie is “no damsel in distress.”
Yerin Ha as Sophie.
Liam Daniel/Netflix
“She is someone who has chess moves and is always thinking two, three steps ahead,” Brownell said at the “Bridgerton” virtual fan event called “Season of Love” in February 2025. “So she’s absolutely gonna throw Benedict for a loop.”
‘Harry Potter’ actor Katie Leung is among the new cast members
Katie Leung, who played Cho Chang in the “Harry Potter” film series, will portray Lady Araminta Gao.
Her character description reads: “Twice-married and twice-widowed, Araminta has two daughters debuting on the marriage mart this season and she’s feeling the pressure to get at least one of her girls married off. Fabulous, discerning, and blunt, Araminta does not respond well when anything — or anyone — threatens her standing in society.”
Isabella Wei, Katie Leung, and Michelle Mao in “Bridgerton.”
Liam Daniel/Netflix
Michelle Mao will play Rosamund Li, Araminta’s eldest daughter who’s “beautiful, vain, and eager to please her mother.” According to her official description, Rosamund will be vying for Benedict’s heart when she hits the marriage mart.
Isabella Wei will play Posy Li, Araminta’s youngest daughter, who’s described as kind and chatty.
Luke Newton and Nicola Coughlan are back as Colin and Penelope Bridgerton in season 4
Colin and Penelope in season four.
Liam Daniel/Netflix
At the “Season of Love” event, Brownell said that the new installment will show Colin as a “wife guy” and the couple raising their baby, whose name has yet to be revealed.
Brownell previously told TheWrap that she’d like the pair to continue on the show beyond season four because she thinks there are more stories to be told. Newton similarly told Teen Vogue that he’s committed to staying on the show indefinitely.
Brownell elaborated on Polin’s place in season four in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, saying that the couple will shift to being part of the larger ensemble.
“I do think that there is a bit more to tell story-wise with Whistledown,” she said. “Whistledown has been the narrative glue of every season. Now that Penelope’s out publicly as Whistledown, I want to see more of what that’s like. So, we will continue with them next season for sure.”
On December 21, the “Bridgerton” X account announced that Colin and Penelope’s newborn son, Elliot, would be part of the season’s story.
In addition to the confirmed returns of Coughlan and Newton, Julie Andrews will also be back as the voice of Lady Whistledown.
Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley will also appear as Anthony and Kate Bridgerton
Simone Ashley as Kate and Jonathan Bailey as Anthony on season three, episode seven of “Bridgerton.”
Netflix
Kanthony fans have been wondering how long Kate (Simone Ashley) and Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) will stay on the show after leading season two.
Previous season leads have largely stepped away after their story arcs concluded, but Anthony and Kate are the new heads of the Bridgerton household, which means they have to stick around.
In season three, Anthony and Kate show up in four episodes, often disappearing on trips around the world. The show writers likely did this to explain the characters’ disappearance so Ashley and Bailey could film other projects (Bailey, in particular, was pulling triple duty, also working on “Wicked” and “Fellow Travelers”).
In season three, episode seven, Anthony and Kate leave for a trip to India so Kate can visit her home and give birth to their first child. Though this looks like a convenient way to write the couple off the show entirely, that’s not the case.
Brownell told Entertainment Weekly in June that Anthony and Kate heading to India allows the two actors to work on other projects “while still leaving the door open for them to return when and if they’re able.”
“So the India send-off is a plot device in certain ways that allows us to leave the door open,” she said.
Fans will see “more of their marital bliss and seeing their baby as well,” Brownell said.
However, fans didn’t get a glimpse of them in the first trailer.
Hannah Dodd and Victor Alli will be back as Francesca and John, too
Francesca and John in season four.
Liam Daniel/Netflix
After tying the knot at the end of season three — and meeting her husband’s intriguing cousin, Michaela — Francesca and John will be back for at least the beginning of season four before heading back to Scotland.
Fans of the book series know that Francesca’s time as the series’ main character is coming. Her book, the sixth in the series, is called “When He Was Wicked.”
We won’t spoil the story for anyone who hasn’t read Julia Quinn’s books (though you can read about Francesca’s book here), but it’s safe to say that the show made one of its biggest departures from the book series when it introduced John’s cousin, Michaela. In the novel, John’s beloved cousin is named Michael.
Season 4 will expand the storylines of other ‘Bridgerton’ characters
Eloise in season four.
Liam Daniel/Netflix
At the virtual event, Brownell teased where fans will see the “Bridgerton” characters at the start of season four.
The showrunner alluded to Lady Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell) continuing her flirtations with Lord Marcus Anderson (Daniel Francis) and moving beyond the giggling that defined their season three interactions.
Lady Violet and Lord Anderson.
Liam Daniel/Netflix
Violet will also be busy trying to prepare her unmarried kids for the future. While Francesca got married last season, her siblings Eloise and Hyacinth (Florence Hunt) haven’t reached that milestone yet.
“Violet is once again trying to put Eloise on the marriage mart and she’s absolutely dreading it,” Brownell said.
On the flip side, Hyacinth “is desperate to pre-debut early. And the two of them get paired together this season for comedic results.”
Meanwhile, Gregory (Will Tilston), the youngest son, is “going to get sent off to Eton for a little while, but that gives him time to come back no longer a gangly teenager but a young man.”
As for the rest of the Ton, Brownell said that fans will see more of Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel), who has a new dynamic with Penelope now that she knows who Lady Whistledown is. Additionally, season four will expand on Queen Charlotte and Lady Agatha Danbury’s (Adjoa Andoh) relationship.
Brimsley, Queen Charlotte, and Lady Danbury in season four.
Liam Daniel/Netflix
Lady Danbury, who often vacillates between meddling and advising other characters, will help Will (Martins Imhangbe) and Alice Mondrich (Emma Naomi) navigate a new challenge as they settle into being members of society.
This isn’t the last we’ve seen of Cressida Cowper
Jessica Madsen as Cressida Cowper in season three, episode seven of “Bridgerton.”
Liam Daniel/Netflix
Season three of “Bridgerton” gives more insight into Cressida‘s (Jessica Madsen) difficult home life and the lengths she’ll go to in order to get out of her situation.
During the season, she attempts to take credit for Lady Whistledown so she can receive the reward money and avoid marrying an older man, but the plan backfires. Then, when she learns that Penelope is Lady Whistledown, she attempts to blackmail her with the intention of using the money to escape town and avoid being sent off to live with her aunt in Wales.
But Cressida is outsmarted and is last seen being sent away in a carriage to live with her relative after tarnishing the Cowper family’s reputation.
“It felt a little early in this season for her to get a happily ever after just because we’ve watched two seasons of her being a real bully to Penelope. She has a little bit more growth to do, but I do want to give her a happy ending eventually,” she told EW.
“We want to see more from Jessica Madsen,” Brownell told THR. “So we wanted to leave her story a little bit more open-ended so that we can craft an ending for her in future seasons.”
Showrunner Jess Brownell said the season 4 theme is ‘forbidden love’
Yerin Ha as Sophie Beckett in season four of “Bridgerton.”
Liam Daniel/Netflix
At the virtual event, Brownell said that every season follows a romantic trope, and season four is all about “forbidden love.”
“That class clash gives us a very serious obstacle and the stakes could not be higher this year, so it’s really a juicy one,” she said.
“The theme of the season is really about true love being somewhere in between fantasy and reality,” Brownell added.
The new season will delve into Benedict’s status as a member of high society and Sophie’s role as a maid. And after spending three seasons focusing on the happenings of the wealthy characters, season four will broaden the world to follow the working-class characters below them.
“Because you are now so familiar with the upstairs, I think viewers know just how difficult a pairing between a gentleman and a maid will be,” Brownell said.
Ha said that Sophie’s job as a maid at Penwood House, where she works for Lady Araminta, is high stakes.
“Living under that Penwood House is a mode of survival for her because if she doesn’t, then she has nowhere else to go,” Ha said. “I think it also highlights just how hard it was being a maid in that era. You mess up and your life can turn upside down in a second, and I think we’re trying really hard to portray those dynamics.”
Brownell said that the all-important masquerade ball where Benedict and Sophie meet will be “a very large chunk of the first episode.” She also said that the aesthetic of the ball was inspired by William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and the vibe is “dark and mysterious and fairytale-like.”
Fans can see a glimpse of Benedict looking enamored by Sophie at the masquerade ball in a sneak peek clip posted by Netflix in May.
Aside from the masquerade ball, season four will pull additional elements from the book, like My Cottage — which is Benedict’s countryside home — and a nearby lake that fans of the novel will be familiar with.
“I do think that this season is the most faithful to the book,” Brownell said. “It really lends itself to adaptation plot-wise. It’s very similar.”
Still, some aspects were changed for the Netflix adaptation, like character motivations.
“Benedict is quite different from the book just in that Luke Thompson brings this wonderful sensitivity and self-awareness to the character,” Brownell said. “So in Benedict’s story of trying to woo Sophie, I think the character is a bit more delicate and thoughtful, perhaps, about the way he goes about it.”
Season 4 of ‘Bridgerton’ premieres on January 29
Sophie and Benedict in season four.
Liam Daniel/Netflix
Brownell told the Los Angeles Times that they chose to film the season during the fall partly for storytelling purposes, but also out of practicality.
“It’s still going to be just as lush and colorful, but just more in those warm fall colors instead of the pastels,” she said. “There will still be some pastels, so it won’t look like a totally different show.”
Netflix confirmed that season four will consist of episodes, just like the past installments. The two parts will air on January 29 and February 26.
Recent surveys suggest older Americans plan to unretire in 2026 or fear they may have to down the line.
Kittipong Udomsom/Getty Images
More older Americans are returning to work due to financial insecurity and rising costs.
Surveys show many retirees fear their savings won’t last through retirement.
Experts have called for stronger support and flexible job opportunities for older workers.
It may be increasingly common next year to see an older worker staffing the cash register at your local grocery store.
Surveys released in recent months suggest that older Americans are more worried about having to unretire, fearing their savings won’t last them 20 to 30 years. US Bank’s 2025 Wealth Report, released in September, shows that nearly two-thirds of Americans worry they may have to reenter the workforce, while 58% of people believe their money will last them in their retirement years.
This is echoed by ResumeBuilder.com‘s survey of 3,574 Americans aged 65 and older, released last week. The survey reveals that nearly one in eight plan to rejoin the workforce in 2026 or already have. Over a third of older Americans still working don’t plan to retire until the next decade. About 4% of older Americans surveyed are applying for jobs, while 8% returned to work over the last few years. Slightly over 70% reported being retired. These findings are similar to the past two iterations of the survey.
And a third survey from AARP Research from October found that 6% of retirees went back to work in the past six months due to a negative economic outlook.
Over the past year, I’ve spoken to over 250 older Americans, most of whom still work. The majority said they never retired or unretired because of financial uncertainty. Some lived paycheck to paycheck with limited savings and no defined-benefit pension plan. Others had six figures in the bank but knew the money would run dry if they faced a sudden diagnosis or emergency. Many others worked because they wanted to feel fulfilled, have a purpose and a community, and stay active.
As Americans reflect on 2025 in its final week, many retirees are calculating and stress-testing if they have enough to endure various financial situations. For those falling short, unretiring may be the best option.
In 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics outlined that the labor force for Americans 75 and older is expected to grow by upwards of 96% through 2030. Census Bureau data shows that in 2024, nearly 20% of people 65 and older worked at least part-time.
To be sure, the unretirement rate from pre-COVID through mid-2024 has steadily declined from 3.2% in late 2018 to 1.9%, which suggests older workers are struggling to rejoin the labor market.
My 80 Over 80 series, which explored why people continue to work into their 80s and 90s, found that 4.2% of Americans 80 and older work, the highest it’s been in decades. Many unretired after months, years, or decades of not working.
These recent surveys, as well as some from earlier this year, show that retirement is elongating as life spans grow — and may be harder to achieve in the coming years.
“Because of the rise in costs, people’s fixed incomes, their Social Security benefits, aren’t enough to cover all their expenses,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, in an interview with Business Insider. “We know that 47% of workers lack access to employer-sponsored retirement plans, and 55% report no dedicated retirement savings. We know that many seniors won’t have enough money to retire comfortably.”
Americans want to retire, but actually doing so is a different story
Surveys published this year continue to show that Americans prioritize a healthy and stable retirement. However, many aren’t taking the necessary steps to get there, and many aren’t in financial or employment situations to do so.
The US Bank report found that 37% of working adults are actively preparing for retirement, while 48% of Americans contribute to their retirement savings. Nearly a quarter of Generation X respondents said they have abandoned their goal of retiring. Three-quarters of millennials and Generation Z worried about needing to come out of retirement, as many of the traditional milestones — buying a house or starting a family — feel harder to grasp.
This year hasn’t done many favors for older Americans, either. The Resume Builder survey found that 54% of older Americans who still work or are unretiring cited the high cost of living, while a similar amount said they enjoyed work. Inflation has remained stubbornly high this year, registering at 2.7% for the 12 months ending in November. Inflation has been higher than the overall average for housing and various medical expenses.
The survey further found that over a quarter of older workers were nervous about potential Social Security changes, while a fifth were concerned about Medicare changes.
“For many seniors, retirement has become more flexible than final,” said ResumeBuilder.com‘s chief career advisor Stacie Haller in the survey release. “At the same time, today’s workplace offers far more flexible opportunities for older professionals.”
Faced with a difficult job market, though, many older Americans said they won’t relinquish their job because they anticipate not being able to find another, citing factors such as ageism. The AARP Research survey found that nearly two-thirds of older workers believe it would be challenging for them to find another job, especially since older workers already experience longer stretches of unemployment on average than younger people.
Others who unretired said they’ve opted for part-time employment or gig work, which were easier to secure and maintain. A few returned to school or took online classes to improve their skills in hopes of finding more stable employment.
To be sure, many of those still working into their 70s, 80s, and 90s told Business Insider that they wouldn’t retire even if they had the means to. However, dozens said they wished they could work fewer hours, more flexible hours, or in a different profession that didn’t wear them down as much.
‘No shame’ in returning to work
Throughout the year, experts on retirement and aging stressed that returning to work was not something to view as shameful. Research papers overwhelmingly show the benefits of continuing to work in one’s later years, such as sustained cognitive function and improved mental health outcomes — provided the worker has flexibility and can handle the job.
These insights seemed to put some older readers at ease. In interviews, dozens of workers in their 80s said they felt like a failure for not being in a position to retire or pass down a significant inheritance to their children, though hearing that they weren’t alone made them feel more confident. In responses and emails to my articles, some older readers said they considered going back to work after reading about many people who successfully did so.
Dozens of politicians, researchers on aging, and anti-ageism advocates said more should be done in the short term to ensure older Americans have the employment opportunities they need to live comfortably and have more financial support to guide them through their later years. To be sure, some experts said that returning to work shouldn’t be the long-term solution, as the safety net should be more robust so people only need to return to work if they desire.
“A lot of our older adults need resources to survive, and so we want to make sure that the workforce is available to them, and they won’t be discriminated against from being hired and working if they need to,” Gillibrand said in reference to the Protecting Older Americans Act she co-introduced.
The author visits a once-abandoned theme park near Bethesda, Maryland.
Joey Hadden/Business Insider
I explored a Maryland amusement park that was abandoned over 50 years ago.
Nature has since taken over parts of Glen Echo Park — and so have artists.
Some eerie attraction structures from the park remain and have been revived by local artists.
A theme park on the banks of the Potomac River outside Washington, DC, was abandoned over 50 years ago. The grounds are quiet, the attractions are empty, and long vines cover portions of the art deco structures.
I’m talking about Glen Echo Park, in Glen Echo, Maryland.
I visited in 2022 and found remnants of the park that once was, as well as an artists’ hub that has developed since it closed.
The history of Glen Echo Park dates back to 1891, before the amusement park existed.
Joey Hadden/Business Insider
The land was originally developed for a National Chautauqua Assembly that taught arts, literature, language, and sciences, according to the park’s website.
The Glen Echo Company rented the land and transformed it into an amusement park in 1899. The park closed in 1968, but many structures remain.
Joey Hadden/Business Insider
The park housed several rides and attractions, including seven roller coasters, an arcade, and a pool, according to Atlas Obscura.
I spotted a carousel nearby, which has been standing since 1921 and still operates seasonally.
Joey Hadden/Business Insider
According to the park’s site, the carousel pieces were hand-carved by the Dentzel Carousel Company in the early 1900s.
Each animal was restored between 1983 and 2003, and the carousel is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Near the carousel, I saw an abandoned attraction called Cuddle Up, which was once a teacup ride.
Joey Hadden/Business Insider
While the teacups are gone, the space that covered them remains.
The ride is one of many remaining structures in the park that were built in an art deco style.
Joey Hadden/Business Insider
Today, the buildings house galleries and educational facilities. I spotted a music school and a glass art school.
The Crystal Pool attraction’s gateway is another art deco structure that remains on the property.
Joey Hadden/Business Insider
According to the National Park Service, the pool was constructed in 1931 and could accommodate up to 3,000 people, featuring diving boards, a water slide, and an artificial beach.
Natalie McCarter is a 43-year-old mom to two whose husband died in February 2019.
She is thankful to have so many photos and videos of her husband from their last Christmas together.
For months, it was only her kids who kept her going.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Natalie McCarter. It has been edited for length and clarity.
The Christmas of 2018 was blissfully normal with my husband, Ray, and our two kids, then 7 and 9.
On Christmas Eve, the kids had new pajamas, a family tradition, and as usual, I took plentiful pictures and videos of them enjoying the night. But unlike previous years, I told Ray to get in so I could capture him with the kids, and he did, singing and smiling.
That night, Ray and I stayed up late having a bit of wine and wrapping Christmas presents together. In the morning, we told the kids they could wake us when the sun came up, which they did; all of us then moved downstairs to open our gifts. Later in the day, we hosted our annual Christmas dinner at our house. Both of our families were there.
Natalie McCarter asked her husband to get in a photo with their kids on Christmas Day.
Courtesy of Natalie McCarter
We were in such a good place. Our relationship was strong, Ray had just taken a new job at the Pentagon, and we were in our dream house with our kids. I wasn’t expecting this to be our last holiday together.
He died 2 months later
Nearly two months later was Valentine’s Day, a day I had always considered a consumer marketing holiday, but we celebrated it with a takeout dinner and a movie on our projector. That night, Ray said we should renew our vows for our 12-year anniversary, which seemed a bit odd as it wasn’t a particularly special number of years. We started planning how we’d take a cruise to celebrate, inviting our closest friends to come along.
The day after, I took the kids to an evening event, and Ray went to a friend’s house to hang out. As the kids and I were about to head home, I called Ray to check in — it was a phone call that lasted eight minutes and 36 seconds, just catching each other up on the day.
He ended it with “Love you, baby.” That was the last time I would ever hear Ray’s voice.
Later that night, once the kids were in bed, I tried calling and texting Ray — he wasn’t answering, which was unlike him. I tried not to worry, tried not to think the worst. I’d already lost my mom, my dad, and my brother — surely, I wasn’t due any more loss.
I kept telling myself to just go to sleep — he’d be on his way home soon. I couldn’t sleep, just lay there texting and calling him, asking him to let me know he was OK.
A little after 4 am, I heard a knock on the door. It was the police, and I could tell, I could tell. The way they were looking at me, they didn’t even have to say anything to me. I told them to go away; I didn’t want to hear what they had to say.
Ray had been hit by a drunken driver and was killed coming home that night.
I’m an advocate for people not to drive under the influence
I now beg people to make safe choices on the road, and keep other people accountable when they have been drinking — call them a ride or drive them home. Any distraction or impairment — alcohol, but also phones — could easily cause death and destruction behind the wheel.
If speaking of my experience of loss spares another friend, partner, child, sibling, or parent, then Ray’s legacy becomes a light instead of just a loss.
Natalie McCarter with her family on their last Thanksgiving together.
Courtesy of Natalie McCarter
For six months, I kept convincing myself it was all a nightmare I’d wake up from. I just wanted to disappear, because I’d lost a limb I’d never get back. It was only my kids who kept me going.
As another Christmas without Ray comes around, I’m so thankful to have all the video footage and photos from our last Christmas with him. We’ll always remember Ray, but memories do fade. Seeing and hearing him keeps his memory fresh.
It doesn’t matter what people look like in photos; it just matters that they are in them to remember, no matter what happens. Because cliché as it sounds, tomorrow isn’t guaranteed.
