Metas Threads app is leaning into impermanence.
Starting Monday, the platform is rolling out ghost posts, a new post format for sharing fleeting thoughts that automatically disappear after 24 hours. Think Snapchat or Instagram Storiesexcept, for text.
Unlike regular Threads posts, replies to ghost posts go straight to the users messaging inbox rather than inline, and only the author will be able to see who liked or responded to them. Its a subtle but significant shift toward private engagement within a public feed, providing a middle ground of sorts between Twitters public discourse model and Instagrams close-friends Stories.
Meta says the feature is aimed at reducing the pressure of permanence and sparking more spontaneous conversation.
Disappearing posts, reappearing trend
If this sounds familiar, its because social media has been flirting with ephemerality for years. Snapchat built an empire on vanishing messages, and Instagram Stories borrowed the format and made it mainstream. Even X (formerly Twitter) experimented with Fleets, its own 24-hour post format, before quietly shelving the feature in 2021 after low engagement.
Threads take, however, differs in intent. Rather than mimic Story-style content, ghost posts appear directly in the main feed where conversations actually happen and fade quietly after a day. Its a move that positions Threads as both reflective of older, text-driven social media, and responsive to users increasing desire for less performative spaces.
Building a more flexible feed
Ghost posts join a growing list of new Threads features designed to broaden the platforms creative range.
Over the past few months, Meta has added support for 10,000-character text attachments, and a Spoilers toggle that hides media or text until tapped. Together, the updates seem to position Threads as a kind of social sandbox, one where both the long-form essay and the fleeting thought can coexist.
Trust is the essence of collaboration: as Yuval Harari eloquently noted, we as a species would not exist if it werent for our superior ability to collaborate so effectivelyand its largely down to trust.
In the days of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, decisions on trust were relatively straightforward, even when it came to appointing leaders. Indeed, our ancestors lived in small groups of closely related individuals and spent all of their time together. Furthermore, the key attributes they were interested in evaluating or judging were easy to observe: courage, practical knowledge, hunting and fishing dexterity, and physical strength. There was no need then for psychometric assessments, AI, or scientific tools to assess either leadership potential or integrity, and mistakes were extremely costly because if they picked the wrong leader the whole group would just vanish at the expense of better led rival groups.
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But, fast-forward to our modern times, things are uncomfortably complex and hard for everyone. At work we must infer whether we can trust our colleagues, coworkers, and bosses, even when we never met them in personthey are, in physical terms, purely pixels on the screen of our Zoom calls. In politics voters are asked to pick between shrewd politicians who have mastered the art of deceit and manipulation and specialize in telling people what they want to hear, irrespective of their actual leadership capabilities. Unsurprisingly, the world is led by heads of states who enjoy dismal levels of popular approval, even when they rose to power with legitimate voter support. As I illustrate in my latest book, politicians are the ultimate example of the disconnect between our perceptions of leaders authenticity, and their actual honesty or genuineness.
And yet, there is still reason to be hopeful and no reason to give up. Fortunately, science provides serious lessons for improving our ability to trust the right person and minimize the risk that we end up trusting the wrong person. In fact, the science of trust includes hundreds of robust studies decoding the predictors or determinants of individual differences in trust, as well as practical learnings on how to infer them in the most objective, reliable, and risk-free way.
Here are five key lessons to consider:
1) Despite the complexity of trust inferences, people make trust evaluations and decisions in a fraction of a second: As Amos Trervsky and Daniel Kahneman put it, humans may be capable of thinking slow or rationally, yet most of the time we think fast, which is a euphemism for not thinking at all. Indeed, not only do we make rapid, careless, and furiously fast inferences of other peoples character traits, we are also overconfident about the accuracy of our inferences, and stubbornly wedded to them to the point that no amount of evidence will change our mind. This may be the best explanation for why no amount of facts or evidence may change voters preferences even after its blatantly obvious that they chose poorly (not least because they themselves are disadvantaged by their own choices). The solution? Well, we must learn to distrust our instincts and refrain from following our gut feeling. It is only through gathering reliable and predictive data, and following the facts, that we can hope to focus on substance rather than style. This is particularly important when we are assessing potential candidates for leadership roles, whether its the president of a country or a senior leader in a firm.
2) Leaders who are just being themselves ought not to be trusted: As I illustrate in my latest book, there is a paradoxical relationship between how authentic we feel and how authentic other people think we are. In particular, behaving without any pressures to conform and displaying your uninhibited and uncensored thoughts and feelings to others will feel authentic to you while polarizing, alienating, and annoying others (it is, alas, what powerful and entitled leaders do when they stop caring about how others see them). In contrast, the leaders who are seen as not just trustworthy, but also competent by others, know how to manage their reputation, engage in strategic impression management, and go to great lengths to show only the best version of themselvesthat is, the elements of their character and identity that align with the situational demands. In other words, they know where the right to be themselves ends and their obligation to others begins. This is why empathy, self-control, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and EQ are far better predictors of leadership integrity and performance than self-perceived authenticity is.
3) Charisma is a dangerous signal. Although charisma is a clear enabler of effective leadership, not least because it helps people to emerge as leaders, it can also help leaders to mask their incompetence or unethical motives. In that sense, you can think of charisma as an amplifier: when leaders are honest and competent, it will help them in their quest to turn a group of people into a high-performing team; but when they are dishonest or incompetent (or even worse, both), their charisma will turn them into pretty harmful, destructive, and toxic creatures. Since charisma is often conflated with trustworthinesswe like and admire people who seem charismatic and therefore gravitate towards them, including when it comes to trusting themit would be usefl to resist the allure of charisma when we infer integrity or competence in leaders. Quiet, low key, serious, and intelligent people make excellent leaders even if they dont seem entertaining. Charismatic, charming, entertaining, and attention-seeking leaders may use their social skills to manipulate, influence, and seduce, especially when they have psychopathic, narcissistic, or Machiavellian tendencies.
4) Our ability to trust is significantly reduced under stress, anxiety, or pressure. This is obviously a huge problem, since in these instances it is usually imperative to trust the right person. In other words, the more we need to trust people, the more vulnerable we are to trusting the wrong person. The lesson here is obvious: dont make trust-related decisions when your emotions are clouding your judgment; first relax, breathe, look for the right moment and the right mental zone, then try to think rationally.
5) Some people are naturally more trusting than others: this depends not just on their personality, but also the culture in which they grew up. Paradoxically, prosocial and healthy cultures are more likely to engender trust, since free riders and imposters are less likely to emergebut this also makes those cultures more vulnerable and susceptible to such toxic agents. In contrast, corrupt, antisocial, and failed cultures will have low levels of trust, since everybody is rightly paranoid of being cheated or deceived by others. However, this will make it impossible to cooperate and collaborate in such cultures, which further contributes to their downfall. At the individual level, it is helpful to understand whether your bias is too much trust or too much skepticism, so you can always recalibrate or adjust your impressions towards a more objective center point.
In the end, trust remains the ultimate leadership currency: hard to earn, easy to lose, and impossible to fake for long. Titles, charisma, or confidence may help leaders gain followers, but only integrity, a reputational accolade that must be gained through long-term actions rather than short-term impressions, keeps them there (unless they decide to keep themselves there through excessive force, power, or unlawful means). In an age where image routinely outpaces substance, the most trustworthy leaders will be those who act as if someone were always watching; not because they fear being caught, but because they dont need to hide.
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U.S. President Donald Trump received a royal welcome on Monday in Japan, the latest leg of a five-day Asia trip which he hopes to cap with an agreement on a trade war truce with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump, making his longest journey abroad since taking office in January, announced deals with four Southeast Asian countries during the first stop in Malaysia and is expected to meet Xi in South Korea on Thursday.
Negotiators from the world’s top two economies hashed out a framework on Sunday for a deal to pause steeper American tariffs and Chinese rare earths export controls, U.S. officials said. The news sent Asian stocks soaring to record peaks.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for President Xi and I think we’re going to come away with a deal,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One before landing in the Japanese capital Tokyo.
TRUMP MEETS JAPANESE EMPEROR
Wearing a gold tie and blue suit, Trump shook hands with officials on the tarmac and gave a few fist pumps, before his helicopter whisked him off for a scenic night tour of Tokyo. His motorcade was later seen entering the Imperial Palace grounds, where he met Japanese Emperor Naruhito.
Trump has already won a $550-billion investment pledge from Tokyo in exchange for respite from punishing import tariffs.
Japan’s newly elected prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, is hoping to further impress Trump with promises to purchase U.S. pickup trucks, soybeans and gas, and announce an agreement on shipbuilding, sources with knowledge of the plans told Reuters.
Takaichi, who became Japan’s first female premier last week, told Trump that strengthening their countries’ alliance was her “top priority” in a telephone call on Saturday.
Trump said he was looking forward to meeting Takaichi, a close ally of his late friend and golfing partner, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, adding: “I think she’s going to be great.”
Thousands of police are guarding Tokyo. A knife-wielding man was arrested on Friday outside the U.S. embassy and an anti-Trump protest is planned in downtown Shinjuku.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Japanese counterpart Ryosei Akazawa, architects of the tariff deal agreed in July, are set to hold a working lunch on Monday.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, travelling with Trump alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is also expected to meet his new counterpart, Satsuki Katayama, for the first time.
IMPERIAL WELCOME FOR TRUMP’S RETURN
Trump was the first foreign leader to meet Naruhito after he came to the throne in 2019, continuing an imperial line that some say is the world’s oldest hereditary monarchy.
Naruhito’s role, however, is purely symbolic, and the key diplomacy will take place with Takaichi on Tuesday.
Trump and Takaichi are set to meet at the nearby Akasaka Palace, where he met Abe six years ago, and will be welcomed by a military honour guard. Among the investment pledges, the two countries will sign a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday on investment in shipbuilding, a source with knowledge of the plans said.
Takaichi is also expected to reassure Trump that Tokyo is willing to do more on security after telling lawmakers on Friday she plans to accelerate Japan’s biggest defence build-up since World War Two.
Japan hosts the largest concentration of U.S. military power abroad. Trump has said previously Tokyo is not spending enough to defend its islands from an increasingly assertive China.
While Takaichi has said she will speed plans to boost defence spending to 2% of GDP, she may struggle to commit Japan to any further increases that Trump seeks, as her ruling coalition does not have a majority in parliament.
Trump is due to leave on Wednesday for Gyeongju in South Korea, where he will hold talks with President Lee Jae Myung. Bessent told reporters the overall framework of a deal with South Korea was also done but would not be finalised this week.
Thursday’s expected meeting with Xi will come after Washington and Beijing have raised tariffs on each other’s exports and threatened to halt trade involving critical minerals and technologies.
Neither side expects a breakthrough that would restore the terms of trade that existed before Trump’s return to power.
Talks to prepare for the meeting have focused on managing disagreements and modest improvements, before a visit by Trump to China expected early next year.
Additional reporting by Antoni Slodkowski, Laurie Chen, Jihoon Lee and Ju-min Park
Trevor Hunnicutt, John Geddie and Tim Kelly, Reuters
Gen Xers, born between 1965 and 1980, grew up with MTV and empty houses, earning them the name “latchkey kids.”
The first generation who logged onto AOL Instant Messenger and played video games while still enjoying the freedom that came before helicopter parents took over is fascinating. But as a small generation that falls between baby boomers and millennials, they’re often overlooked.
When it comes to their spending power, however, Gen X is small but mighty. According to a new report from ICSC, a trade association for retail real estate, Gen X may have more spending power than brands realize.
While Gen X only makes up around 19% of the U.S. population, the demographic is responsible for 31% of online and in-person spending, the report finds.
Not only do Gen Xers buy more in stores than baby boomers, millennials, and Gen Z across categories (luxury, fitness, and total retail costs), they’re also driving spending on dining out.
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Per the report, Gen X is responsible for nearly one-third of all restaurant spending.
Tom McGee, president and CEO of ICSC, said in a press release that Gen X is “the powerhouse driving todays retail economy, spending more per shopper than all other generations.”
Outsized spending impact in five states
According to the report, Gen Xers are such powerful spenders that their mere presence in locations across the United States actually has a major impact on the market in that area.
More than one-third of the generation’s population lives in just five states: California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania, and their spending is impactful.
It’s especially evident in Florida cities like Miami, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, as well as Houston, Texas, and more.
We know that younger shoppers tend to be deeply loyal to the brands they love. But Gen X is exceptionally set in their ways, too. No big surprise. I mean, have you ever met a Gen Xer? You can’t convince them to love something they hate and vice-versa.
That’s likely why 81% of latchkey kids say they are loyal to the brands they trustand they probably always will be.
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“Gen X is pragmatic, loyal to brands they trust, and influential decision-makers for themselves, their children, and their parents, McGee says. For retailers, there is no bigger near-term growth opportunity than winning the loyalty and the dollars of Gen X.
Gen X isn’t just spending more than other generations. They’re also plugged in online, as they are massively tech-savvy, using online tools like social media regularly. According to the report, 92% of the generation is on social media daily.
Still, brands aren’t marketing to them. Only 5% of brand influencing spending targets Gen X, which experts say is a huge mistake.
“Theyve got wealth . . . They may be looking to start to make that semi-retirement-type transition,” Ryan Marshall, president and CEO of PulteGroup, a homebuilder, says in the report, “but they still consider themselves to be very young and active.”
Those factors definitely seem to promote spending. But soon, that may be especially true of Gen X, as a major transfer of wealth is about to take place. Around one in three Gen Xers expect to receive an inheritance, which could come out to around $308 billion annually in spending.
While Gen X’s lingo may be lowkey dated, their currency still works. Brands may be focused on appealing to on-trend millennials and Gen Zers, but they’d be wise not to write off the MTV kids just yet.
I have never had any interest in getting a hardware wallet like the new Ledger Nano Gen 5. But talking with Susan Karethe designer of the original Apple Macintosh icons and an endless torrent wonderful pixel artmade me realize I need one. “The idea that an individual can really control their own assets without a government or anything political coming between you and your assets. I like that,” she tells me.
The Ledger Nano is a 0.3-inch-thick credit card-sized block that keeps your digital assets secure by storing them offline. It has a frontal e-ink display that displays a grid of pixel art icons that look very much like the original Mac. For the Nano Gent 5, Kare worked with the French company to design a set of nine pixel-art icons that are laser-engraved onto small aluminum tags. These tags physically snap into a dedicated slot on the Nano Gen 5, allowing owners to customize their device with a satisfying click.
Kare got involved thanks to Tony Fadell”the Father of the Apple iPod” and board member of Ledgerwho called her to see if she’d like to work on the project. It was a call between old friends; the two had worked together at General Magic, the secretive Silicon Valley startup founded in 1990 by Apple veterans Bill Atkinson, Andy Hertzfeld, and Marc Porat that tried to build the first smartphone decades too early.
Fadell knows her taste, Kare says, and pitched the project as a high-concept design challenge she would enjoy, similar to the work she did for Asprey Studio. He kept the details intentionally mysterious, not even mentioning Ledger by name at first. The only hook was the promise of a fun, creative puzzle. For Kare, that was more than enough.
Of course, I wrote back immediately, like, tell me more, she recalls. A meeting in San Francisco with Ariel Wengroff, Ledgers EVP of Communications and Marketing, sealed the deal, and soon Kare was back at her digital drawing board.
Ledger Nano Gen 5 [Photo: Ledger]
Power and fun
Kares collaboration comes as Ledger reinvents its flagship product. The new Ledger Nano Gen 5 is a significant evolution of the device used by eight million people in 165 countries. More than 20% of the world’s crypto assets are secured by its hardware wallets, the company tells me.
Physically, Ledge Nano Gen 5 is larger and more refined, with a 2.76-inch E Ink touchscreen that now dominates its face. The new energy-efficient display enables advanced security features like clear signing, which gives you an unambiguous on-screen verification of any transaction or approval, and a Transaction Check function, a security feature that simulates a transaction to identify potential threats before you give final approval.
The device, now officially called a signer to reflect its expanded role beyond just financial transactions, is built to be your key to a broader digital life. With Bluetooth 5.2 and NFC capabilities, its designed for on-the-go use, allowing you to securely manage your assets or verify your identity from anywhere.
It connects to the revamped Ledger Wallet app, which acts as a secure control center for buying, swapping, and earning assets, and can now connect directly to popular decentralized apps, like 1inch, a service that searches across multiple cryptocurrency exchanges to find the best possible price for a token swap. The company claims that its devices have never been hacked, but every Nano Gen 5 includes a Ledger Recovery Key as a physical backup, just in case.
While the technology is serious, the company claims it wanted to inject a dose of personality into the experience. Thats where Kare came in. Wengroff tells me that as our digital and physical lives blur, the team wanted to offer a form of personal expression. The idea was to create a series of collectible badges that would physically snap into the new Nanos chassis.
We really thought, actually, the perfect person would be Susan Kare, Wengroff says. She believes that Kares has a legendary ability to create an emotional connection for new technology using her pixel art.
The badges themselves are small, laser-engraved aluminum tags, each featuring a new pixel-art icon from Kare, manufactured in Ledgers own facility in Vierzon, France. They click into place with a satisfying snap, a small sensory experience.
For Kare, the project was a perfect fit. I usually jokingly say, you know, give me 16 by 16 and a concept and I will make it happen, she says. The first step was deciding on the actual grid resolution. To ensure the designs were bold and clear on the small tags, she and the Ledger team opted for fewer, but larger, pixels, with each icon fitting within roughly an 18 by 20 pixel grid.
Rather than being handed a specific list, the company just told Kare to do her thing. Any other thing would have been like asking David Bowie to write something retro like Life on Mars for you. She ultimately developed around 30 concepts for the team to choose from. Her goal was to create an assortment that felt fresh and spirited, steering clear of anything that felt like a standard emoji.
Through weekly Zoom calls with Ledgers creative director, they whittled the collection down to the final nine, which include a mischievous cherry, a magic 8-ball, a horseshoe, and a chihuahua the team has fittingly named Nano.
[Image: Ledger]
But the bestand apparently everyones favoriteis the crowned frog. Wengroff believed it was a frog princess bt Kare was thinking about the frog prince. Its funny because I thought it was a frog prince, Kare says, referencing the fairy tale and the dating adage about having to kiss a lot of frogs. But, she adds, it can totally be either. And I realized that thats good.
Wengroff notes that everyone in the office has interpreted the icons differently and picked their own favorites, proving the designs power to evoke a personal response. In fact, everyone in Wengroff’s team was so focused on the badges that she says she constantly had to remind everyone that the launch was for a new device, not for the badges. Which I guess is exactly the whole point of this article and also the device itself.
For Kare, this is the joy of her work. While the device itself is the point, it is that little dab of something with a little feel of art or personality, as Kare describes it, what makes it (clickity clack) click. Its the same philosophy that has made her work timeless. And what makes the new Ledger Nano not just a powerful tool for securing your digital life, but a small canvas for expressing it.
Want more housing market stories from Lance Lamberts ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter.
According to ResiClubs analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s new annual data, 40.3% of U.S. owner-occupied housing units are now mortgage-free, marking a new high for this data series. Thats up from 39.8% in 2023.
The portion of homeowners with no mortgage has ticked up almost every year since 2010when it was 32.8%.
A key factor driving the rise in mortgage-free homeownership is demographics. Older homeowners are more likely to be mortgage-free, and as Americans live longer and the massive baby boomer generation ages into their senior years, the U.S. population has skewed olderpushing up the share of homeowners without mortgages.
According to ResiClubs analysis, 54% of the 35 million U.S. homeowners who are mortgage-free are 65 years old or older.
People aged 65 and older make up more than a third (34.1%) of current U.S. homeowners. Among those 65 and older, 64% own their primary homes free and clear.
Across the country, mortgage-free status varies A LOT.
Regions with lower home values and areas with a higher proportion of older populations tend to have a slightly higher percentage of homeowners without mortgages.
Among the 200 largest U.S. metros by population, these 5 have the HIGHEST percentage of mortgage-free homeowners:
61.8% > McAllen, TX
57.8% > Brownsville, TX
57.1% > Beaumont, TX
56.2% > Kingsport, TN
55.8% > Longview, TX
Among the 200 largest U.S. metros by population, these 5 have the LOWEST percentage of mortgage-free homeowners:
26.4% > Washington, DC
27.0% > Provo, UT
27.1% > Denver, CO
27.2% > Greeley, CO
28.8% > Ogden, UT
Click here to view an interactive version of the map below
Mortgage-free homeownership has reached a new high. Demographicsparticularly the aging of baby boomersis a key force behind this trend.
In the years ahead, ResiClub expects more equity products (such as reverse mortgages) to emerge and expand, as some older mortgage-free homeowners look to tap into the equity theyve built without selling their homes.
Like clockwork, every few years viral relationship tests or theories will resurface online, prompting renewed discourse about the state of romantic unions. The latest test doing the rounds: the bird theory.”
The idea first went viral two years ago but has recently resurfaced on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. The concept is simple: Point out something mundane to your partner, like spotting a bird, then watch how they react.
If your partner matches your enthusiasm or reacts with curiosity, then congratulationstheyre a keeper. The thinking goes that if they respond with interest to your attempts at connection, they’re emotionally invested in the relationship. If they ignore you, react with indifferenceor worse, get frustratedwell, your relationship might be in trouble.
The theory resurfaced after a video by @keketherealmrsjones went viral this month. The day I realize Husband doesnt want me the caption read, as the clip shows her trying, and failing, to engage her husbands attention. The video currently has over 56 million views. Before anyone gets married please test the bird theory, one commenter wrote. I keep telling people about the bird theory and they just wont listen, another added. Many have also jumped on the trend to test their unwitting partners, mostly to positive results.
Turns out, the bird theory is not just TikTok pseudoscience: It’s grounded in real research by psychologist John Gottman.
Gottman refers to bids (not birds) as the fundamental unit of emotional communication. His research suggests that the way in which partners respond to these bidsby “turning towards” and engaging with the bid or “turning away” and ignoring itis a strong predictor of a relationship’s long-term success.
A bid for attention, affirmation, affection, or any other positive connection, could be as simple as smiling, reaching for a hand, requesting help, or, yes, pointing out a bird.
Gottman published a paper in the Journal of Marriage and the Family in 1998 sharing the results of a study based on 130 newlyweds. Six years later, the couples that were going from strength to strength were the ones who, 86% of the time, turned toward each other’s bids for connection. The couples who didn’t? Only 33% were still together.
According to Gottmans findings, couples who ignore each others bids about 5080% of the time are far more likely to divorce.
While microtesting your relationship isnt always advised, use at your own risk.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned Sunday that he is about make good on a threat to revoke millions in federal funds for California because he says the state is illegally issuing commercial driver’s licenses to noncitizens.In an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” Duffy said Gov. Gavin Newsom has refused to comply with Department of Transportation rules that require the state to stop issuing such licenses and review those already issued.“So, one, I’m about to pull $160 million from California,” Duffy said. “And, as we pull more money, we also have the option of pulling California’s ability to issue commercial driver’s licenses.”Eva Spiegel, a spokesperson for the California Department of Motor Vehicles, said the Trump administration “has no legitimate basis” to withhold federal highway transportation funds.“The federal government previously allowed commercial driver’s licenses for asylum seekers and refugees and on September 26 announced emergency regulations to cease this practice that went into effect on September 29. California is in compliance with these regulations and will remain in compliance with federal law,” Spiegel said via email.When Duffy threatened to revoke funds last month, a spokesperson for Newsom dismissed the attack and noted that CDL holders from California have a significantly lower rate of crashes than both the national average and that of Texas, which is the only state with more licensed commercial drivers.Last month the Transportation Department tightened commercial driver’s license requirements for noncitizens after three fatal crashes that officials said were caused by immigrant truck drivers. Only three specific classes of visa holders will be eligible for CDLs under the new rules and states must verify an applicant’s immigration status in a federal database. The licenses will be valid for up to one year unless the applicant’s visa expires sooner.Duffy said last month that California should never have issued 25% of 145 licenses investigators reviewed. He cited four California licenses that remained valid after the driver’s work permit expired sometimes years after. The state had 30 days to come up with a plan to comply or lose funding.A nationwide commercial driver’s license audit began after officials say a driver in the country illegally made a U-turn and caused a crash in Florida that killed three people. It found licenses that were issued improperly in California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas and Washington.Duffy said Sunday that California has unlawfully issued tens of thousands of these licenses to noncitizens.“So you have 60,000 people on the roads who shouldn’t have licenses,” Duffy said. “They’re driving fuel tankers, they’re driving school buses, and we have seen some of the crashes on American roadways that come from these people who shouldn’t have these licenses.”Duffy said earlier this month that he would withhold $40 million from California because it is the only state that is failing to enforce English language requirements for truckers. California defended its practices in a formal response to the Transportation Department, but federal officials were not satisfied.The investigation launched after the Florida crash found what Duffy called significant failures in the way California is enforcing rules that took effect in June after one of President Donald Trump’s executive orders. California had issued the driver a commercial license, but these English rules predate the crash.
Associated Press
Well, friends. I did it. Ive now had my highest-income month of my life again.
So begins a TikTok video by content creator Chelsea Langenstam detailing her $56,244 income month breakdown, along with deductibles, as a solopreneur.
Langenstam then outlines her various income streams: budget templates, brand deals, referral fees. I dont share to brag, she says in the video, currently sitting at over 100,000 views. I share because I want to show you whats possible in real time.
Her videos are among hundreds on TikTok and Instagram, lifting the curtain on how much solopreneurs of all kinds actually earn month to monthand exactly where each dollar comes from.
These income breakdowns sit within a wider trend toward financial transparency online. From loud budgeting to no-spend challenges, talking about money is no longer taboo for the online generation. They are bucking the decades-old trend of silence: 53% of Gen Zers and 58% of millennials say they would post how much money they make online.
Show me the money
Solopreneursor businesses with no paid employeescontribute $1.7 trillion to the U.S. economy, representing 6.8% of total economic activity, according to recently published U.S. Census Bureau data.
But when striking out on ones own, the honest truth is that few have any idea what theyre doing at first, let alone where the next paycheck is coming from. Now, social media is democratizing the process, with a number of content creators breaking down the financials of running a business solo.
Not every month is a five-figure month for Langenstam. She has also divulged what a lower-income month looks like, for the sake of transparency. Others reveal their financial particulars to advocate for the solopreneur life, breaking free from the corporate grind and embracing the freelance economy.
Freelance social media manager Mila Holmes has been sharing her project rates since 2020, but only recently started opening up about income breakdowns. The whole reason I make content on TikTok is to advocate for freelancing, she says, explaining which streams of income made her $14,616.99 over the past three weeks. These include consulting calls, freelance influencer marketing, and hosting classes on brand partnerships.
I want people to know financial security and prosperity are possible through nontraditional means, Holmes tells Fast Company. I think a lot of people view freelancing and/or content creation as a temporary thing between real jobs. I believe it can be more than that. It’s one thing to tell them that’s possible, and another to actually show earnings.
A new model of transparency
Income breakdowns push the needle further by modeling how the money is made, as well as how much. But, as with anything you see online, influencers announcing regular five-figure months should be taken with a grain of salt. In particular, you should be wary of any income breakdowns by those who try to sell you quick fixes, with a promise of achieving similar results. Still, thats not to say solopreneurship cant be lucrative.
According to MBO Partners 2025 “State of Independence” report, 5.6 million independent workers reported earning more than $100,000 annually. This was up 19% from 2024, and nearly double the number of six-figure earners in 2020. The average U.S. worker salary, by comparison, is $66,000.
When I started freelancing, the idea of a $10,000 month felt like it was a world away, and a $20,000 month felt even further, solopreneur Grace Lemire says in a TikTok video, reporting an income of $10,700 for the month. But when I started to see other entrepreneurs break down their revenue streams, it started to feel within reach.
Lemire doesnt reveal her top-line revenue, but she did start sharing what she charges clients, as well as certain monthly earnings, a few years ago. I share because I want people to see what’s possible, Lemire tells Fast Company. I want to show people that there is more out there for them than they might be able to conceptualize with the information they have available to them.
For a younger generation already seeking a fast track to success, the allure of solopreneurship is clear. A 2023 study found that Gen Z places greater importance on being rich than any other age demographic. And with the traditional career ladder shakier than ever, young and ambitious workers are forging their own paths and not risking their future in anyone elses hands.
Thanks to social media, its never been easier to go it alone. Instagram, YouTube, Patreon, and TikTok give solopreneurs a number of platforms to establish their brands and get their products or services in front of millions of people worldwide. Thats something these young female solopreneurs understand better than most.
Finance is a big player, and content earnings are high, Holmes explains. Creating under #financialtransparency, #income, #money, and #budgeting opens up a whole new world of opportunity for me. Not only on the brand partnership side, but also on the digital product side.
For young solo business owners online, sharing income breakdowns not only promotes financial transparency, but its also a smart business strategy.
In 2018, Joy DasGupta walked away from a steady job in marketing at Starbucks after 13 years to work for herself as a rewards program consultant.
As a caregiver with a young child, DasGupta says the corporate life proved too inflexible, and the logistics of balancing her personal life and career were becoming overwhelming. Starbucks was also undergoing restructuring, and DasGuptas once-secure corporate job was starting to feel a little shaky.
She explains that for most working mothers, if you get the opportunity to make as much moneymaybe even a little lessand get flexibility, many will take that option. She adds that there aren’t enough companies that are innovating around ways to compensate people with time, as opposed to just money.
Instead, shes earning what she calls a good income as a solopreneur, while enjoying the flexibility to structure her own schedule in a way that allows her to show up for her daughter and her clients.
The hourly [rate] is great in terms of the return on my time.
Between return to office mandates, AI-driven job insecurity, and a struggling labor market, American employees are feeling disengaged at work, inspiring many to seek an alternative. At the same time, solopreneursor those with full-time independent businesses and no desire to hire staffare thriving.
It pays to be a solopreneur
According to a recent study conducted by online payroll and HR provider Gusto, solopreneurs typically earn about one-third less than similarly skilled employees in year one, but catch up quickly.
By year two, the average solopreneur is making about 15% more than a similarly-skilled employee, and that goes up to about 25% by year five, says Gusto economist Nich Tremper.
According to the study, the average solopreneur earns about $41,000 in year oneand over $83,000 by year three.
The most popular industry for solopreneurs, according to the study, is professional, scientific, and technical services, followed closely by transportation and warehousing, each accounting for about 13%. Those in the information sector typically see the sharpest annual revenue growth at over 51% per year, followed by arts, entertainment, and recreation at about 30%. Real estate, rental, and leasing professionals placed third with nearly 12%.
When people think about small businesses, they tend to imagine folks that are on Main Street, with stafflittle shops, little restaurants, says Tremper. In reality, 80% of small businesses dont have any W2 employees, so solopreneurs are really foundational to the economy in a lot of ways.
Since the pandemic the United States has seen a significant spike in new businesses, and that entrepreneurial boom includes both traditional business owners and solopreneurs.
Why more workers are going solo
Not long ago, starting a business required a formal business plan, a loan, a lease, and a staff. Then the internet and mobile technology allowed individuals to open a digital storefront at almost no cost and connect with customers around the world.
Now, AI is enabling solopreneurs to create professional quality marketing materials, websites, apps, presentations, proposals, and more without hiring help.
Its become a solopreneurs silent business partner, says Caroline Castrillon, a Forbes senior contributor and founder of Corporate Escape Artist, which helps individuals transition into entrepreneurship. What once required teams is now available to one person, so AI is really an equalizer.
But its not just tech thats made the solopreneur lifestyle more appealing.
It really took off around the pandemic as people’s priorities and values changed, Castrillon says. Millennials and Gen Z in particular want autonomy, meaning and control. Work used to define our identities, now people are designing work around their identity.
An entrepreneurial pull, a corporate disengagement push
As solopreneurship becomes more appealingand more attainable, thanks to technologyperceptions of the corporate lifestyle have simultaneously moved in a more negative direction.
We have all these RTO mandates, there’s layoffs left and right, people don’t feel secure in their jobs, salaries aren’t keeping up with inflation, so what incentive is there to stay in the corporate world? Castrillon says, adding thats especially true for caregivers.
Companies often claim to support families, but they rarely back that up with meaningful programs, and for women especially, solopreneurship is one way to find the flexibility that they need.
That is ultimately what drove DasGupta from Starbucks to solopreneurship. Seven years later, she says she has no regrets.
Corporations are really meeting-centric, and there was this really amazing transition to actually being able to dedicate myself to producing work for people, she says. I wouldn’t trade it. It’s been a great experience.
