Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

India's services sector showed robust expansion in October, per the <keyword id="22267674" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="HSBC-India-Services-PMI" source="keywords">HSBC India Services PMI</keyword> (Purchasing Managers' Index), which rose to 58.5 last month, up from September's ten-month low of 57.7. October's figures managed to exceed even the long-run PMI average of 54.1, largely on the back of a strong sales pipeline and elevated demand. Employment, or job creation in this sector accelerated to its fastest growth rate in 26 months. Anticipating solid, sustained demand in the near term, firms added new employees at the most rapid pace in over 2 years. October also saw <keyword id="23834175" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="input-costs-rise" source="keywords">input costs rise</keyword> at their fastest pace in 3 months, indicating renewed demand and economic activity in the country. The ISM Services PMI, an indicator of the economic health of the US, also exceeded expectations, reaching 56.0 compared to the forecasted 53.8, suggesting strong growth within the services sector. "During October, the Indian services sector experienced strong expansions in output and consumer demand, as well as job creation, which achieved a 26-month high," said Pranjul Bhandari, Chief India Economist at HSBC. The sector saw increased business activity across multiple fronts, with export sales showing significant growth and companies reporting stronger demand from international markets including Africa, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and the UK. However, industry experts remain cautiously optimistic about the sector's prospects. Suman Chowdhury, Chief Economist at Acuité Ratings &amp; Research, noted that while the October recovery is promising, several factors warrant careful monitoring. “The recovery in the PMI indices in October 2024 is promising for the second half of the fiscal after the dip in several high-frequency indicators in September 2024. Industrial and service activity has expectedly received a boost from the anticipated spike in consumption demand in Q3 FY25, driven by the festivities and the marriage season," she said. Chowdhury added that it will be crucial to monitor the sustainability of these PMI indices at these elevated levels, given the reported weakness in urban demand in Q2 as flagged by FMCG companies. She also noted that potential increases in wholesale and core retail inflation, combined with higher input costs and wage pressures, could delay expected interest rate cuts. RBI governor Shaktikanta Das also noted that inflation and CPI figures for October might be elevated, pushing ahead any chances of interest rate cuts in the near future. Acuité Ratings &amp; Research maintains its GDP growth forecast at 7.0% for FY25 while acknowledging the multiple downside risks that will require close observation in the coming months.

India's Services Index jumps to 58.5 in October as employment grows the fastest in 26 months

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Half of <keyword id="23335388" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="US-renters" source="keywords">US renters</keyword> spend over 30% of their income on housing, <keyword id="21621325" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Census-data" source="keywords">Census data</keyword> shows.</li><li>Skyrocketing home prices and rents, driven by supply shortages and high interest rates, are to blame.</li></ul>For decades, financial advisors and the federal government have recommended that Americans spend no more than 30% of their gross income on housing. But as home prices and rents have skyrocketed in recent years, that so-called <keyword id="23335390" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="30-rule" source="keywords">30% rule</keyword> is increasingly challenging to follow. And for a whopping half of US renters, it's become impossible. Almost half — 49.7% — of American renter households spent more than 30% of their income on <keyword id="21020775" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="housing-costs" source="keywords">housing costs</keyword>, according to data released by the <keyword id="19899587" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="US-Census-Bureau" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="US Census Bureau" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="US Census Bureau">US Census Bureau</keyword> from its <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024/renter-households-cost-burdened-race.html">2023 American Community Survey</a>. That's unchanged from 2022, when the median ratio of income-to-housing costs for renters was also 31%. Among racial and ethnic groups, Black renters were the most frequently <keyword id="23335389" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="cost-burdened" source="keywords">cost-burdened</keyword>, with 56% spending more than 30% of their income on rent, according to the census data. Hispanic renters were the second-most affected, with 53% cost-burdened, while 47% of white renters were cost-burdened. Renters are currently struggling more than homeowners. Rents rose <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2024/09/acs-rent-burden.html">faster than home prices</a> for the first time in a decade, the Census found. Rents rose by 3.8% between 2022 and 2023, while home prices rose by 1.8%. And a greater share of tenants are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://nlihc.org/gap/about">low-income or very low-income</a> and have significantly less wealth than homeowners. But <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-crisis-homeowners-struggling-mortgage-interest-rates-insurance-home-equity-2024-6" target="_blank">homeowners are also struggling</a>. Mortgage interest rates recently hit a two-decade high, and rising insurance premiums, growing home-repair costs, and property taxes add to the burden. Last year, first-time <a href="https://www.jpmorgan.com/insights/real-estate/housing-market/the-american-homeowners-dream-vs-recent-reality#:~:text=become%20a%20reality.-,In%20the%20third%20quarter%20of%202023%2C%20the%20first%2Dtime%20homebuyer,the%20problem%20has%20become%20exacerbated." target="_blank">homeownership affordability</a> hit its lowest level since the 1980s. The number of cost-burdened homeowners — those who spent more than 30% of their income on housing and utilities — rose by about three million people between 2019 and 2022, according to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/reports/files/Harvard_JCHS_The_State_of_the_Nations_Housing_2024.pdf">a recent report</a> from the <keyword id="19898366" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="harvard" source="keywords">Harvard</keyword> Joint Center for Housing Studies on the state of US housing. Most of this increase was among those who make less than $30,000 a year. A full 30% of Black and 28% of Hispanic homeowners are cost-burdened, compared to 21% of white homeowners, the Harvard report found. While the Federal Reserve finally announced its first <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/federal-reserve-interest-rate-cuts-mortgage-investment-credit-savings-2024-9" target="_blank">interest-rate cut</a> in four years, the move probably <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/buying-home-not-easier-interest-rate-cuts-prices-rent-crisis-2024-8" target="_blank">won't bring housing costs down</a> by much. The US is suffering from a severe shortage of homes — the only way to solve it is to build many more units of housing. And that takes time. Are you spending more than 30% of your income on housing costs? Reach out to this reporter to share your story at erelman@businessinsider.com. Correction: September 25, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated a recent move by the Federal Reserve. It announced an interest-rate cut, not a hike.

Half of renters live somewhere they can't afford

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Electricity and labor headwinds slow Amazon's data center buildout.</li><li>The company's predicament highlights challenges faced by the broader cloud industry.</li></ul><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-big-tech-cash-king-wall-street-wants-a-piece-2024-10">Amazon</a> is spending heavily on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-data-energy-centers-water-energy-land-2023-10">data centers</a> to support booming <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ai-sales-machine-aws-google-microsoft-pressure-pay-speed-2024-9">AI</a> workloads, putting it on pace to build 240 new facilities by 2040, according to one estimate.These plans are increasingly running into physical constraints that are slowing the buildout, according to an internal document, people familiar with the matter, and emails obtained through a public-records request."Across the AMER region, we are experiencing headwinds in power, zoning and permitting, water, and workforce/labor that are providing challenges to our long-term capacity growth," the internal document stated, referring to the Americas market, Amazon's largest.As the biggest cloud provider, Amazon's predicament highlights broader <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-data-energy-centers-water-energy-land-2023-10">problems</a> facing the tech industry as generative <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ai-sales-machine-aws-google-microsoft-pressure-pay-speed-2024-9">AI</a> upends the status quo. While more companies want access to cloud computing for AI initiatives, there's only so much power, water, and labor available to support these services.It's not just an Amazon problem. Sequoia Capital general partner David Cahn recently predicted data center delays across the sector."The need for more power and a better functioning grid was clear before AI," he wrote in a blog post. "Now, it is becoming urgent."<h2 id="4e19455f-0a20-458d-a775-e305cc9aed23">Energy demand is growing</h2>It may be natural for a company like Amazon, one of the largest and fastest-growing data center operators, to face these challenges when it is expanding at breakneck speed.Marc Wulfraat, president of consulting firm MWPVL, told BI that Amazon is probably rolling out even more than 240 data centers in coming years. That's because the cloud giant also leases space in buildings shared with other companies. Collectively, this building spree amounts to almost 75 million gross square feet of space, according to his estimates. That's the equivalent of roughly 27 Empire State Buildings.In an email to BI, Amazon's spokesperson said customers' energy demand "continues to grow," and the company is continuously working on ways to "efficiently build and operate data centers" to meet their needs."Nobody knows better than we do that building data centers is exceptionally complex, and by embracing that challenge, we've become really good at it over the years," the spokesperson added. "We're confident we can continue to build at a rapid pace to provide the cloud capacity our customers will need."<h2 id="3ffef594-735b-4945-a7b0-176832400209">Doubts about electricity supply</h2>Power might be the most scarce resource. US data center electricity consumption is forecast to triple by 2030, according to <a target="_blank" rel=" nofollow" href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bcg-on-energy_the-impact-of-genai-in-electricity-activity-7112787574032674816-uDEX/">Boston Consulting Group</a>, much of it to power generative AI. Bernstein Research recently <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-data-centers-us-power-grid-gpu-nvidia-cerebras-amazon-2024-7">estimated</a> that electricity demand for AI data centers could exceed supply in just two years without action.At Amazon, electricity shortages have been a major concern and a topic of almost every leadership meeting in recent years, according to the people familiar with the matter.Amazon is experiencing power-supply issues in Oregon, Ohio, and Northern Virginia, according to the internal document from May. For example, it noted that PacifiCorp, Amazon's Portland-based utility partner, has electricity shortfalls and generation constraints forecasted until 2030.This is leaving Amazon with unpredictable energy supply in some markets and a possible loss of "bridging" solutions that help maintain power during the early stages of construction."With the utility power headwind, we are seeing continued risk driven by transmission constraints as well as unexpected changes to committed/available generation, gaps in promised vs delivered incremental power, and potential loss of bridging power as utility infrastructure projects are delayed," the document explained.<h2 id="e085ef5b-5190-4456-935c-6cab05b23795">'Zombie' data centers</h2>In some markets, so-called "zombie" data centers exist. That's a term used by some Amazon employees who spoke with Business Insider about the electricity-supply problems.These facilities are also described internally as "operationally blocked" because the data centers can sometimes sit idle as they don't have access to enough power to run them, according to the people familiar with the matter.Amazon's spokesperson told BI the company is not familiar with these terms, but said there are a "very small number of cases" where the company decides to complete data center construction before building power is available. "These situations are all managed as part of the standard course of business," the spokesperson added.<div type="image" title="AWS CEO Matt Garman" height="4320" width="6751" msid="114502575" hostid="261" sizebytes="742626"></div>Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman recently spoke publicly about challenges related to AI data center buildouts, including accessing enough GPUs and power.During a podcast interview in August, he said customer demand is "mind boggling," which is requiring "a lot of investment.""We're probably going to be tight for the next little bit of time," Garman added.<h2 id="d47a3f17-b6c1-4c0c-91d9-5918b3a4761f">'Mosquitoes to light'</h2>The company is on the hunt for more energy. It's conducting "power studies" with utility partners to evaluate additional transmission capacity, which could result in more power allocation, according to the internal document.The company is also working on ways to reclaim stranded and retired power, the document said, likely in reference to the practice of redeveloping old power plants that have become inactive for economic or sustainability reasons.Amazon has been more actively seeking partnership opportunities with third-party colocation data center providers, one of the people said. At these facilities, Amazon would simply lease space, transferring the need to secure power to the data centers' owners.Additionally, Amazon has started looking beyond well-established data center markets, such as Northern Virginia and Arizona, and is expanding into newer regions like Indiana. Crowded data center regions are running out of power and other resources, making newer locations <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-data-centers-energy-cloud-microsoft-chatpgt-amazon-google-2023-7">more appealing</a>.The company is also more aggressively pursuing alternative energy sources. Last week, Amazon <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-invests-in-nuclear-for-aws-following-google-and-microsoft-2024-10">unveiled</a> a plan to lead a $500 million funding round to develop small modular nuclear reactors, following an earlier announcement to purchase a nuclear power plant in rural Pennsylvania."It's almost like mosquitoes to light — we are attracted to power," one of the people familiar told BI.Amazon's spokesperson said the company's data center expansion strategy considers several factors, including system resiliency and latency, the availability of renewable energy, and the local government's long-term commitment. Amazon is also constantly seeking ways to make its data centers more energy efficient by using carbon-free resources, in-house processors, and natural air cooling systems, the spokesperson said.<h2 id="82c2fbef-48d1-4af8-8635-cf74ee12697d">Higher costs in Silicon Valley</h2>In some cases, Amazon is paying higher prices to get its new data centers up and running.One example is an Amazon facility in Santa Clara, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. For the last 2 years, Amazon has held talks with the city of Santa Clara to secure power for a new data center located near Levi's Stadium, the home of the San Francisco 49ers, according to a <a target="_blank" href="https://santaclara.granicus.com/player/clip/2140?view_id=1&amp;meta_id=190407&amp;redirect=true">city council meeting</a> held in July.Amazon is in talks for a 15-year, 20-megawatt proposal for this facility under the condition that the company pays the full cost of the energy, whether it uses the power or not, Manuel Pineda, the chief electric utility officer of the City of Santa Clara, said during the meeting. Amazon will have to pay up to 50% higher rates than normal and will be entitled to additional "financial assurances" to cover any contractual risks, Pineda added.As part of the deal, Amazon also plans to use the 20-megawatt power agreement for a second building on-site, which currently has no electric capacity, according to Pineda.Amazon's spokesperson told BI that this arrangement has not been finalized, and the project is progressing as expected.<div type="image" title="AWS Santa Clara data center planning slide" height="586" width="1056" msid="114502585" hostid="261" sizebytes="101810"></div><h2 id="5e7acce5-2a9c-4e0c-873a-74b683e1b0a3">Amazon escalates Santa Clara delays</h2>Amazon appears to be dealing with further delays in Santa Clara. On August 28, an AWS employee wrote to a city official about another facility, a former Owens Corning factory the company purchased in 2023. The email discussed delays at the site and noted that the problems are raising concerns internally at Amazon."Delays as significant as this unfortunately impact our ability to serve our customers which has resulted in escalation," said the email, which was obtained by BI through a public-records request.The next day, another Amazon employee wrote to a Santa Clara city official. "This is time sensitive," the staffer said. "AWS executives are highly concerned about the constant push in the results."<h2 id="a5ae3cc3-4484-42c7-a232-b1135b2bd3e0">'Straining' water infrastructure</h2>Another problem is water supply. A growing number of data centers rely on water instead of air to cool the servers and other equipment inside the facilities. This liquid-cooling technology <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/arizona-running-out-of-water-data-centers-blame-microsoft-google-2023-6">requires a lot of water</a>.Amazon is "straining local jurisdictions' existing infrastructure" for water in some regions and is "dependent on long-term infrastructure upgrades or building our own solutions" to mitigate the issue, the internal document stated.There are zoning and permitting problems, too. Some local jurisdictions are not supporting the re-zoning of industrial property for data center use and have stricter environmental regulations, the document explained. Amazon is "working proactively" with local municipalities to solve these challenges, as they can impact its "future capacity options," the document added.Amazon is "one of the world's most water efficient operators" and its data centers are much more water efficient than the industry average, the company's spokesperson told BI.<h2 id="74b62895-25bd-411f-8890-035613989c55">'Lack of available skilled labor'</h2>An even bigger problem may be a lack of skilled electricians to build and run these data centers, according to the internal document and people directly involved in these Amazon projects.Electrical work is a major part of data center construction. But Amazon has struggled to find enough people to do the jobs, especially in rural areas, these people said. Amazon has talked to local colleges, general contractors, and labor unions in certain markets to increase the supply of electricians, one of the people said.<div type="image" title="amazon data center oregon" height="3072" width="4608" msid="114502582" hostid="261" sizebytes="883326"></div>A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/27/americas-demand-skilled-electricians-boom.html">shortage of skilled electricians</a> is a growing industry problem. According to last year's <a target="_blank" href="https://datacenter.uptimeinstitute.com/rs/711-RIA-145/images/2023StaffingSurvey.Report.12152023.pdf">Uptime Institute Data Center Staffing Survey</a>, more than half of respondents said they struggled to fill open positions due to demand outstripping supply."For workforce/labor, we are seeing a lack of available skilled labor," Amazon's internal document stated. "Which requires us to prioritize where we allocate these resources, and we are becoming increasingly reliant on more expensive travelling [primarily] electricians."Amazon's spokesperson shared <a target="_blank" href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/workplace/our-upskilling-2025-programs">blog posts</a> detailing its <a target="_blank" href="https://aws.amazon.com/government-education/workforce-development/aws-fiber-optic-fusion-splicing/">training programs</a> in this space, adding, "AWS has established a number of workforce development programs and collaborations with education institutions to help ensure a strong pipeline of talent."Do you work at Amazon? Got a tip?Contact the reporter, Eugene Kim, via the encrypted-messaging apps Signal or Telegram (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="c-link">+1-650-942-3061</a>) or email (<a target="_blank" href="mailto:ekim@businessinsider.com">ekim@businessinsider.com</a>). Reach out using a nonwork device. Check out Business Insider's <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/insider-guide-to-securely-sharing-whistleblower-information-about-powerful-institutions-2021-10">source guide</a> for other tips on sharing information securely.

Amazon's AI data center dream runs into the reality of 'zombie' facilities, higher costs, and labor shortages 

Did you know that your high-speed <keyword id="6357247" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Internet" source="Orion">internet</keyword> might be making you a bit, well… sluggish? According to new research, faster internet connections could actually be helping to drive up <keyword id="6364492" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Obesity" source="Orion">obesity</keyword> rates in Australia. The study examined years of data from the Household, Income, and Labor Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, tracking the expansion of high-speed internet across the country from 2006 to 2019. The result? The faster the internet, the more likely people are to gain weight. <h3 style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:14.0pt;margin-bottom:4.0pt;">Fast internet changing daily habits</h3>According to Dr. Klaus Ackermann from Monash Business School, the connection between fast internet and weight gain has to do with “sedentary behavior.” He explains, “Access to high-speed internet connection decreases the likelihood of individuals meeting the minimum physical activity recommendation proposed by the WHO. That is, individuals become more inactive and exhibit more sedentary behaviour.” Basically, with high-speed internet, we’re more likely to spend hours watching streaming shows or playing online games. And, as Dr. Ackermann says, “Sedentary behavior is induced by the need to stay connected online for longer hours, which leads to lower metabolic rates and contributes to obesity.” And that’s not all — the more we’re sitting around, the more we’re likely to snack. “This problem is elevated by the need to frequently consume snacks during computer usage, which increases the daily intake of calories that contribute to obesity,” Ackermann points out. <h3 style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:14.0pt;margin-bottom:4.0pt;">A growing (and costly) problem</h3>Beyond individual health, Australia’s obesity crisis is also creating a big economic issue. Obesity cost the country $11.8 billion in 2018, and that number is projected to reach an astonishing $87.7 billion by 2032. According to the study, a mere 1% increase in National Broadband Network adoption is linked with a jump in <keyword id="20107050" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Body-Mass-Index" source="keywords">Body Mass Index</keyword> (BMI) of 1.57 kg/m² and a 6.6% increase in the prevalence of obesity. In simple terms, fast internet is allowing people to live slower lives—lives that involve a lot more sitting and a lot less moving. <h3 style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:14.0pt;margin-bottom:4.0pt;">Breaking the cycle</h3>So, what’s the solution? Dr. Ackermann suggests that we might need <keyword id="21876118" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="public-health-campaigns" source="keywords">public health campaigns</keyword> to remind people of the risks that come with endless screen time. “One avenue of suggestion could be creating awareness of the potential increase in <keyword id="23729054" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sedentary-behavior" source="keywords">sedentary behavior</keyword> with internet access; this could motivate people to take breaks between screen time to reduce sedentary behavior and engage in physical activity to promote a healthier lifestyle,” he says. He adds that encouraging people to take breaks and do more physical activities might be key. “Such public health campaigns could encourage the need to physically engage in errands, if possible, as opposed to strictly accessing goods and services online,” Ackermann advises. High-speed internet may be part of modern life, but maybe it’s worth taking a step back now and then to get off the couch. As Dr. Ackermann puts it, “Public health campaigns that encourage short but vigorous physical activity… could be useful for individuals with busy lifestyles who may only have limited time.” The findings of this research have been published in Economics &amp; Human Biology.

The faster your internet, the more likely you are to be obese, a study has found

On September 18, 2024, the US <keyword id="19900043" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="fed" source="keywords">Fed</keyword> delivered a jumbo-sized surprise to the global economy. Not only did they trim their interest rates by a massive 50 basis points to bring their yields down to 5%, but also hinted at further rate cuts in the upcoming months. This move from the fed and several other central banks globally had pushed expectations high for a similar rate slash closer home, from the <keyword id="19899808" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="rbi" source="keywords">RBI</keyword> this month. But governor <keyword id="19913110" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="shaktikanta-das" source="keywords">Shaktikanta Das</keyword>, in a “picture abhi baaki hai” moment, decided to hold the repo rates here steady, leaving them unchanged at 6.5% for the record 10th straight time. Although, he did tinker with the policy stand, changing it from “rate cuts are absolutely off the table” to a more accommodating “we’re okay with bringing down the rates, if needed”. This, rather neutral, stance from India’s financial custodian sparked hopes for a rate cut in December this year. However, the stubborn inflation levels in September have again dented such hopes. As consumers, you may be wondering what all the hullabaloo this is about, since it hardly makes a difference to your regular financial routine. Well, the majority of both economic growth and inflation is closely connected to this policy stance from the central bank and it does have a rather indirect effect on both our earnings and spending. But more directly, it would have clear implications for those looking to own a house. Even the slightest modification of interest rates, or the lack of it, influences the <keyword id="19916018" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="emi" source="keywords">EMI</keyword> you pay significantly. So, all aspiring homebuyers, is this the right time to take out a loan and buy a house? Can you expect a rate cut anytime soon, and what will that mean for your home-owning dreams? We lay it out. <h2>What’s the connection?</h2>You see, buying a house is no small feat, at least financially. The task becomes even more herculean if you are scouting for your own roof in cities like Delhi, Noida, Bangalore or Mumbai where, as Circuit from Munnabhai says, “room shuru hote hi khatam ho jata hai”. Naturally, you’ll have to take a <keyword id="6354730" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="home-loan" source="Orion">home loan</keyword> from the bank. Don’t be mistaken, the bank won't give you a loan that covers 100% of the value of the property you want to own. Rather, your loan amount will be equivalent to a certain percentage of the property’s total value. RBI’s guidelines on this are pretty clear: <ul><li>If your loan amount is up to Rs 30 lakh, you can get a loan worth 90% of the property’s value.</li></ul><ul><li>If the loan amount is between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 75 lakh, you are eligible for a loan worth 80% of the property’s value.</li><li>If you are taking a loan of more than Rs 75 lakh, your loan amount will be equivalent to 70% of the property’s value.</li></ul>Now assuming that you have the money, it's all about paying back the principal amount, but not without a little (read hefty) interest added on top. See, when you’re taking a home loan, you are actually signing up for a long-term, even multi-decadal financial commitment, which will unfailingly present itself to your bank accounts and finances every single month, in the form of EMIs, or equated monthly instalments). When you take a home loan, you can choose to pay the interest in two ways (talk about choices!). One is that you decide to keep a fixed rate of interest throughout the tenure of your home loan. So, if you opt for a 25-year fixed-rate home loan at the rate of 8.8% p.a., you’ll have to pay interest at this rate for the next 25 years, till your entire loan is paid off. Yes, you can go backsies and switch to a floating-rate home loan by paying a fee. Floating, as the name suggests, means that your interest rate is not set in stone. But starting October 2019, when it comes to a floating interest rate home loan, your payable interest and EMIs are directly impacted by any changes in <keyword id="20094323" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="repo-rate" source="keywords">repo rate</keyword>, which were left unchanged by RBI this time around. Why are these two so chummy, you might ask. Well, home loan interest rates are a sum of two things: <ol><li>Repo Rate (the rate at which RBI lends money to banks)</li><li>Operational cost + margins</li></ol>Any plus or minus in this equation would send your home loan interests tanking, or skyrocketing. Vivek Iyer, Partner, Grant Thornton Bharat explains that any change in the repo rates impacts the cost of funds and thereby the home loan interest rates. “When the interest rates are expected to reduce, the corresponding impact will be in the form of a reduced EMI. Home loan borrowers should always try to borrow at a floating rate when interest rates are expected to reduce and at a fixed rate when the interest rates are expected to increase. This minimizes the outflow in the form of EMIs that the home loan borrowers will experience”, he continues. So, no change in repo rates means no change in your home loan interest payout and no financial relief whatsoever. A rate cut, which most experts are anticipating will start this December, would mean your EMI payments come down, and your wallet might save a little more. But there’s also a chance of an UNO reverse happening. In case RBI is in the mood to hike the interest, your home loan EMIs might end up taking more from your pockets. Consider this. You took a floating interest rate home loan worth Rs 50 lakh in January 2022 at 8% p.a., for a period of 20 years. This brings your total monthly EMI to Rs Rs 41,822. But, as luck would (or won't) have it, RBI raised the interest rate by 250 basis points between May 2022 and February 2023, bringing it to its current status of 6.5%. Some back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that now, your home loan interest payout will also rise by a hefty 2.5%, taking the total to 10.5%. In other words, you’ll have to dish out Rs 49,919 per month as EMI. Now, won't you heave a sigh of relief if the RBI were to bring down the interest rate by say, even 50 basis points, or 0.5%? Agreed, your EMI will come down just marginally, to Rs 48,251. But look at this over a 20-year period, and you’ll see how big the difference is. <h2>Are rates set to change anytime soon?</h2>Generally, RBI hikes the repo rates if it sees inflation spiralling out of control. Then, in a bid to reduce consumer spending, it raises interest rates to make borrowing expensive. But when the apex bank sees sluggish consumption in the economy, inflation in control and wants to boost spending, it slashes down on interest rates, making it more lucrative for people to borrow. As of now, most experts are not anticipating any changes in the interest rates anytime soon. This means home loans are not getting cheaper anytime soon. The CPI data, which came out yesterday, saw inflation rise to 5.49% in September, compared to 3.65% last month. Food and beverage prices jumped to a four-month high of 8.36% in September, as opposed to a 5.3% rise in August. So a rate cut seems a no-go at the moment! Apurva Sheth, Head of Market Perspectives and Research, SAMCO Securities explains that the RBI had probably expected a hardening of inflation and that's why it chose to hold on to the rates in the monetary policy announcement last week. “Now, it seems that RBI will take a cautious stance going ahead and will not be in a hurry into rate cuts like its global peers”, he added. In all this, one thing is clear, in the grand movie of the Indian economy, the RBI has chosen stability over drama. And just like in every good Bollywood film, we're left wondering what twist the sequel will bring. Until then, it might be “The End" for rate cuts, but the show must go on for the Indian economy!

Boom or bust — how RBI’s decision to leave rates unchanged affects homebuyers

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Temu was the most downloaded app by Gen Z in the US in the first 10 months of 2024.</li><li>Users aged 18 to 24 downloaded the app nearly 42 million times from January to October.</li></ul>America's Gen Z is really here for Temu.The Chinese online marketplace was the most downloaded app by Gen Zers in the first 10 months of the year. It was downloaded nearly 42 million times by this group.That's according to the app analytics firm Appfigures, which pulled data from iOS and Android users between the ages of 18 and 24. Some Gen Zers are under 18, but Appfigures excluded them from their findings, citing privacy concerns for juvenile users.The data represented in Appfigures' findings shows the number of downloads made by this demographic between January 1 and October 31 and represents US data only.The report found that TikTok came in second place for total downloads in this time period, with 33 million downloads. Meta's Threads app was downloaded 32 million times.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/temu-is-on-a-quest-to-take-over-america-2024-2">Temu</a>, which is owned by the Chinese company PDD Holdings, sells everything from home goods to motorcycle accessories, all at low costs. The app is characterized by massive discounts, with vouchers popping up while browsing.Sory Park, a project manager at Daxue Consulting, a China-focused market research firm, said Temu has effectively gamified countdowns and rewards."It has also added gamified elements including countdowns and rewards to its shopping experience, which increases user engagement and drives users to 'buy now or never,'" Park told Business Insider.<h2 id="72a51851-fc58-417c-8349-04becd1fb6b3">Affordable, accessible, personalized</h2>Temu is growing rapidly, and its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boomers-gen-x-love-temu-chinese-shopping-app-2024-1">popularity extends well beyond Gen Z</a>.PDD Holdings reported revenue of $13.4 billion for the three months ending June 30. That's an increase of 86% from the same period the year before. In February, it <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/temu-spends-millions-super-bowl-ads-effort-win-us-users-2024-2">spent millions of dollars on Super Bowl advertisements</a> to win over the US market.However, Amazon — which was downloaded 15 million times this year by Gen Zers in the US, per Appfigures — still has a hold on the online shopping market.Amazon made $61.4 billion from online sales in the three months ending September 30, a 7% increase from the same period last year.On November 13, Amazon launched its Temu-rival discount store, Amazon Haul, in which all products are priced at $20 or less.Jim Whaley, the CEO of the New York-based market research firm OvationMR, said Temu is popular with Gen Z because it provides a shopping experience that's affordable, accessible, and personalized."Gen Z values a highly curated shopping experience that delivers both variety and convenience at accessible price points," Whaley said.Gloria Gan, a lifestyle analyst at the UK-based market research firm Mintel, said Temu is making inroads with Gen Z because of the generation's "tech-savviness and frequent online shopping habits."Gan said that while Amazon has a dominant market position, Temu is also a force to be reckoned with, thanks to its efficient online service and value-for-money offers.In response to BI's query, a Temu spokesperson told BI the company has "strived to make a positive impact on people's daily lives by offering a broad selection of quality products at affordable prices."Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.

The app data has spoken, and Gen Z's love for Temu is real

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A growing number of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, per a BofA study.</li><li>Around 25% of households spend more than 95% of their monthly income on necessities, the bank said.</li></ul>More Americans are living paycheck to paycheck than they were five years ago, with around a quarter of all households saving next to nothing from their pay each month, according to a study from Bank of America.In <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://institute.bankofamerica.com/economic-insights/paycheck-to-paycheck-lower-income-households.html?utm_source=Email_Institute&amp;utm_medium=Email&amp;utm_campaign=Flag_Email_Payment_October_24&amp;utm_content=102224_n_02_economic-insights/paycheck-to-paycheck-lower-income-households.html">a report this month</a>, the bank analyzed internal data to estimate the percentage of households that spent most of their income on necessities, which include expenses like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/12-million-americans-spend-over-half-paycheck-rent-harvard-study-2024-1">housing</a> and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-youre-still-spending-much-of-your-budget-on-food-2024-2">food</a>.While 50% of respondents to a BofA survey said they felt themselves to be living paycheck to paycheck, the bank's report found that around 30% of households were spending more than 90% of their income on necessary expenses, while around 25% were spending more than 95% of their income on necessary expenses, the bank said.<div type="image" title="Graph showing households who describe themselves as living paycheck to paycheck" height="861" width="1461" msid="114511155" hostid="261" sizebytes="34174"></div><div type="image" title="Graph showing share of households spending more than 90% or 95% of income on necessities" height="744" width="1452" msid="114511150" hostid="261" sizebytes="31344"></div>The share of people living paycheck to paycheck was up from the share recorded five years ago, the report said, though it didn't specify the size of the increase.The five-year increase was evident across all income groups. Though lower-income households were most likely to struggle to save, even some high-income earners fell into the paycheck-to-paycheck category, the bank said.35% of households living paycheck to paycheck made less than $50,000 a year, though 20% of households living paycheck to paycheck made more than $150,000, the study said.<div type="image" title="Graph showing households living paycheck to paycheck by income group" height="751" width="1453" msid="114511148" hostid="261" sizebytes="29376"></div>Five out of six main demographic groups saw an increase in households living paycheck to paycheck since 2019.Older generations, though, were more likely to struggle to save at the end of the month, pointing to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-x-baby-boomers-savings-cant-afford-retirement-2024-4">the retirement crisis</a> unfolding in the US. 30% of boomers said they were spending more than 95% of their paycheck on necessities, compared to less than 20% of Gen Zers who met that criteria.<div type="image" title="Graph showing households living paycheck to paycheck by generation" height="741" width="1431" msid="114511161" hostid="261" sizebytes="30756"></div>More households could be living paycheck to paycheck due to higher necessary expenses, the bank said, noting that the share of households that struggled to save differed across various regions of the US."In our view, the drivers could relate to households' life cycle positions, such as having younger or larger families, as well as potentially geographic factors, including housing costs," the bank wrote. "Many of these costs are unavoidable (they are by definition necessary) and it is unlikely these households would be able to reduce their spending without some major changes to, for example, where they live."Though the pace of inflation has cooled, the accumulated increase in prices has raised costs overall, with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPIAUCSL">urban consumer prices up 23%</a> over the last five years, according to Federal Reserve data.Housing costs, another major necessary expense, have also climbed, with the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MSPUS">median home sales price up 28%</a> over the last five years, Census data shows. With rising prices comes larger mortgages and higher mortgage payments as borrowing costs remain elevated after years of tightening Fed policy. Other studies have pointed to increasing feelings of financial insecurity among Americans. More than a third of US workers were estimated to be living paycheck to paycheck, according to a survey conducted by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bankrate.com/credit-cards/news/living-paycheck-to-paycheck-statistics/?tpt=b#key-insights">Bankrate in August</a>. Meanwhile, 30% of respondents in a separate Bankrate survey said they expected to never be financially secure.

An increasing number of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, BofA says

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Rolls-Royce is in talks with potential customers for its nuclear reactors, per the Financial Times.</li><li>Rolls-Royce has been working on so-called micronuclear reactors for over three years.</li></ul>Rolls-Royce is in early-stage talks with potential customers for its compact nuclear reactors, which are designed to power data centers on Earth and one day to be sent into space, the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.ft.com/content/50ccf53b-132e-46d3-86eb-83abd33264b0">Financial Times reported</a>. The so-called microreactors have a much smaller power output than traditional small modular reactors but are more transportable due to their smaller size. Jake Thompson, the company's director of novel nuclear and special projects, told the FT the reactor could provide energy solutions for data centers, mining, and remote communities. A spokesperson for Rolls-Royce confirmed to Business Insider that it is in early-stage talks with potential customers. Big Tech companies — including Google, Amazon, and Microsoft — have expressed interest in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-nuclear-power-ai-data-centers-2024-10">nuclear power to meet</a> AI's high energy demands. Rolls-Royce believes the growing international interest in nuclear power will increase the demand for microreactors for both Earthbound and space applications, the FT reported. Thompson told the FT that Rolls-Royce's focus has been on building a reactor that is "really small, small enough so you could load it onto a rocket and send it into space."The company has been working on the technology for over three years, first collaborating with the UK Space Agency in 2021 to study how nuclear power could support space exploration.In July 2024, Rolls-Royce was awarded funding from the agency's National Space Innovation Programme, or NSIP, for space nuclear power. The company<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.rolls-royce.com/media/press-releases/2024/22-07-2024-rolls-royce-awarded-national-space-innovation-programme-funding-for-space-nuclear-power.aspx"> said in a statement at the time </a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.rolls-royce.com/media/press-releases/2024/22-07-2024-rolls-royce-awarded-national-space-innovation-programme-funding-for-space-nuclear-power.aspx">that the £4.8m</a> award from NSIP would help to advance the development and demonstration of key technologies in the space nuclear microreactor market.The company said the NSIP's project had a total cost of £9.1 million ($11.5 million) and aimed to progress the microreactor's "overall technology readiness level."

Rolls-Royce is in talks to use its compact nuclear reactors to power data centers and space missions

<ul class="summary-list"><li>All kinds of startups are rushing into the AI inference market.</li><li>Inference market competition may lower the price of AI, benefiting builders but challenging clouds.</li></ul>Jared Quincy Davis and his AI computing startup Foundry sell <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-competition-sambanova-groq-cerebras-show-faster-inference-speed-2024-9">inference.</a> They don't make chips or build <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-anthropic-ai-bots-havoc-raise-cloud-costs-websites-2024-9">large language models</a>. Foundry has a unique method of making cloud computing more efficient. Instead of selling its technology to cloud providers, the Foundry team decided to become one and use its tech to operate a more efficient cloud.Once companies looking to leverage and sell an AI product have trained their models and know that they perform, they're looking for ease, speed, and value whenever generating outputs. Inference-as-a-service providers like Foundry, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/foundry-ceo-hack-improving-ai-models-gpt-5-2024-8">aim to simplify</a> the process of generating those outputs.Foundry offers training and fine-tuning, too, as many cloud providers do, but these days, it seems like anyone with an AI compute-boosting technology is attempting to monetize by selling inference — or more specifically, tokens, the base unit of data in AI.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cerebras-nvidia-challenger-ai-chip-battle-2024-7">Cerebras</a> sells inference too. The company's core expertise is designing chips for training and inference, but it recently started selling the latter as a service. So does Groq, a chip company formed by two former Googlers, who recognized early that inference was going to get the bigger share of computing. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-competition-sambanova-groq-cerebras-show-faster-inference-speed-2024-9">SambaNova Systems</a>, another hardware platform, also sells inference as a service.Companies like Lambda, CoreWeave, Together AI, and Crusoe, all close partners of Nvidia, run data centers suited specifically to AI workloads and offer inference services. And then there are the hyperscalers like AWS and Microsoft Azure.With so many companies specializing in inference, suspicion is rising that the cost of inference is about to drop off a cliff."Part of the reason inference is a little commoditizable is customers are kind of paying for tokens at the end of the day," Davis told Business Insider.The current market for inference is kind of like the electricity market, Davis said. There are a ton of niche sources you can access if you actually shop around, but not everyone does. Most people just want to flip the light switch and have it work.But there is a lot of nuance to sift through for those willing. For some customers, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-competition-sambanova-groq-cerebras-show-faster-inference-speed-2024-9">speed is of the utmost importance</a>. Speed has distinctions too, like time to the first token and tokens per second. There's total job completion time and there are different kinds of inference workloads that lend themselves to different computing setups.Energy efficiency of the underlying hardware and networking is a big determinant of cost. And cost in inference computing is even more important than in training, Groq cofounder Jonathan Ross recently told BI. Training is an overhead cost, while inference is an operating cost.Zoom out from all of the intricacies, and inference is becoming the commodity of the AI age."Some companies just want output and they don't care about infrastructure," Mitesh Agrawal, head of cloud for Lambda, told BI.<h2 id="dff58147-0a83-484f-8489-a31c08d0a473">Commoditizing AI</h2>Lambda is in the early stages of an inference-as-a-service offering, but Agrawal said the company is going about it carefully, focusing on providing holistic computing services, and not just tokens.Inference profit margins can vary widely, Agrawal said. With general compute — where the customer rents fixed capacity — the margins are easier to manage. When you're charging for usage or input and output of a model, the return is less predictable.Organizing multiple users across a finite number of servers takes finesse. Whether or not the cost of operating the hardware is actually covered with room for profit comes down to how well that organization is done, Agrawal explained.So why would neoclouds offer the riskier service?Agrawal said it's about getting potential customers in the door. Inference-as-a-service customers can turn into more traditional compute customers, and as the slate of competitors grows, relationships, and history grow in importance.Lambda's financial models assume that price cuts are coming soon as more players enter the inference space and chips become more efficient.<h2 id="59b576b3-4703-4b08-b315-2c7f48e230fb">A race to the bottom?</h2>How fast the demand for inference is growing is up for debate, but in recent public statements, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has said on multiple occasions that new models, like OpenAI's o1, require more compute to generate the same number of responses because they run multiple models to check their own work or "reason." Accuracy, it turns out, requires more compute.Inference loads are poised to grow, but service providers still anticipate a drop in price from the influx of new players. Davis isn't worried though.He recalled Jevon's paradox — an economic principle in which a drop in price or an increase in efficiency leads to more total consumption — like when you widen a highway and traffic gets worse."If I make something 10 times cheaper, people won't spend 10 times less, nor will they even hold their budgets the same. They'll spend more," Davis said. "That makes sense because what are you doing when you make something 10 times cheaper, you're making the ROI better."In other words, "it turns out, when you make inference cheaper, people decide to do a lot more inference," Davis said.The ride ahead could be "bumpy" though, and not all players are likely to survive the moments of mismatch between supply and demand."As my old boss at Intel Andy Grove used to say, 'Let chaos reign, and then reign in the chaos'," said Sriram Viswanathan, founding managing partner at Celesta Capital and investor in SambaNova Systems.He agrees the next few years will be wildly competitive for inference providers, but he believes the winners will be decided on merit."The core innovation can't be in the go-to-market, but in the performance and power of the underlying architecture," Viswanathan said.Many of the companies selling tokens to break into the AI market aspire to more. The chip designers eventually want to sell chips to hyperscalers rather than inference to AI startups. The ultimate version of Foundry's tech is bigger too."If we do our job, right, you know, we will be a core part of how every GPU runs," Davis said. All roads, it seems, run through inference.Hugh Langley contributed reporting.Got a tip or an insight to share? Contact Senior Reporter Emma Cosgrove at <a target="_blank" href="mailto:ecosgrove@businessinsider.com">ecosgrove@businessinsider.com</a> or use the secure messaging app Signal: 443-333-9088

'Let chaos reign': AI inference costs are about to plummet  

Ben Keenan estimates that over the past year, he's spent somewhere between $1,500 and $2,000 on dating. Despite spending a hefty sum on everything from drinks and food to tickets and Ubers, the 31-year-old Seattle communications consultant and content creator said the payout had yielded no real results: His relationship status is "nonexistent.""A lot of times I'm spending money just to get to know somebody out from behind a screen," he saidLike many younger Americans, Keenan is encountering a harsh reality: Not only is the modern <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-dating-declines-all-time-low-inflation-loneliness-friendship-2023-10">dating scene really tough</a>, but putting yourself out there adds up. To be smarter about his romantic spending, Keenan has become more selective with whom he meets — and instead of immediately suggesting pricey drinks, he's proposing lower-cost options like grabbing a coffee or going for a walk.As someone who's also been dating through whatever it is we've been doing romantically since 2020, I've noticed that my dating costs are going through the roof. There are, of course, the basic increases in just about everything, as anyone who's bought groceries or gas knows. In addition, new costs are getting layered on every day as the dating pool becomes tougher to navigate — relationship apps are barren unless you pay for access, and the new crop of exciting <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/speed-dating-better-than-online-dating-apps-2024-3">speed-dating events</a> will cost you (if they don't sell out first).In an age of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/loneliness-epidemic-decline-in-third-places-friends-parks-community-2023-9">increasing isolation</a>, an intimate relationship can be especially valuable. And, pragmatically, finding a partner can have some economic advantages — after all, things are cheaper when they're divided by two. But the price tag to find the right person is getting higher. Love, in this economy, is increasingly reserved only for those who can afford it.<h2>Bring in the dating coaches!</h2>There's no magical financial formula for a relationship (sadly), but to sketch out the new cost of love, I decided to ask several dating coaches a few questions that could help me develop a relationship road map: How long does it usually take to find out whether you're compatible? How much should a date cost? Who is expected to pick up the tab?The coaches said it usually takes about three months of seeing someone once or twice a week for most people to consider it a relationship. So that's at least 12 dates before getting into a relationship. Not every date is the same — costs and activities will vary by person, location, and what you're drawn to. Amy Nobile Messing, a New York City <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/love-amy-nyc-matchmaker-perfect-dating-profile-2020-2">dating coach</a> with a holistic and technology-based approach and clients aged 25 to 81, recommended a "mini screener date" for a first meetup before escalating to anything more."First dates should not be the traditional go out to dinner for four hours and spend a ton of money," she said. "They really shouldn't."Damona Hoffman, a Los Angeles dating coach, similarly recommended doing drinks because clients could otherwise end up overstaying their welcome and shelling out a whole lot of money."First dates should be something short and sweet," she said.After the first date is when the tabs get more substantial — a longer meal where you can sit across from one another and delve deeper. Daphney Poyser, whose <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fernconnections.com/press">Fern Connections</a> specializes in queer dating, recommended dinner and an activity like mini golf, ax throwing, or cooking classes.As things progress, another big question is who's picking up the bill — a decision that comes with a host of gendered assumptions and changing norms. Messing said that among her heterosexual clients, there's still an expectation that the man is paying for all the dates."If you're in a heterosexual relationship and you believe in chivalry, which, again, 95% of my clients do, then the man is paying, period, end of story," Messing said.But the answer is not as clear-cut for same-sex couples, couples who don't skew toward traditional heterosexual norms, or younger generations."My younger daters, they're like, 'Of course, we're going to split the cost of the date,'" Hoffman said. "That's a huge shift."Poyser tells her clients that everybody should expect to split the cost."If you like someone and they like you, then you should be willing to split the cost," Poyser said. Among Messing's queer clients, the rule of thumb has been that whoever asked the other person out or planned the date should pay — and they naturally trade-off as things progress.So for simplicity's sake, in our road map, let's assume that you're always splitting costs, with the expectation that straight men will pick up the bill more often.<h2>The nitty-gritty</h2>Now that we have a sense of the time, shape of the activities, and share of the bill, we can get a sense of what dating costs look like for a 12-date plan. Of course, these numbers are all approximations — your favorite restaurant or activity might cost more or less. But to get to rough estimates, I tried to stick close to real menu prices and approximate how much costs have risen.Since the coaches' first-date suggestions generally boiled down to drinks, I started the tabulation by looking at the average cost of a cocktail, which was <a target="_blank" href="https://conormclaughlin.net/2019/06/a-semi-scientific-study-of-american-cocktail-prices/">about $12 in 2019 across major US markets</a>. Adjust that for inflation, and it's about $14.50 in 2024 dollars. For alcohol-free drinkers, the average price of a coffee <a target="_blank" href="https://ny.eater.com/2024/5/9/24151420/price-of-coffee-nyc-latte-cold-brew">is about $6</a> in New York City, which is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/03/people-in-this-city-spend-the-most-on-coffeeits-not-new-york-or-la.html">comparable</a> with other markets."The cost of everything is more expensive," Hoffman said.For movies, prices vary across the country. The average ticket cost $11.75 in 2022, the research firm EntTelligence estimated; round up for recent inflation, and the average movie ticket costs about $12, plus $27 for a large popcorn, a drink, and candy. The same logic can be applied to museums: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/01/arts/design/museums-raise-admission-fees-guggenheim.html">Ticket prices across the country</a> have ticked up to the $30 range. I chose the American Museum of Natural History as our museum date spot because it is, inarguably, a great place to go on a date. The cost of an adult ticket: $28 for non-NYC residents. I also chose a premium concert experience for our daters since those <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jennifer-lopez-cancels-tour-slow-ticket-sales-concerts-prices-ticketmaster-2024-6">are less likely to get canceled than smaller shows right now</a>. Pollstar, a live-music industry publication, found that the average ticket price for a tour of the top 100 performing artists was $123.25 in the first quarter of 2024, up from $95.63 in 2020.Numbers got a little fuzzier when I looked at how much it cost to go out to dinner or order in. I chose my favorite date spot — Thai72 — as a menu example, and it tracked fairly closely with MoneyGeek's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.moneygeek.com/living/analysis/cost-of-a-date-in-major-cities/">estimate</a> that a romantic dinner out costs $96. Similarly, I used my favorite pizza spot — Mama's Too — to gauge the cost of a nicer takeout pizza and then added a Trader Joe's Caesar salad and a bottle of Josh rosé.After they have a few dates under their belt, I figured that many daters clustered in too-small urban apartments would want to get some breathing room. After all, there's nothing like a day trip to figure out what longer-term travel with your partner might look like. I looked at the cost of driving from New York City to Hudson, New York, a popular mini-road-trip destination (and, conveniently, a great way to visit Business Insider's economic-data editor, Andy Kiersz, who helped oversee these calculations). For our later dates, I also included a few spicier ideas, like a visit to the board-game café Hex&amp;Co., a pasta-making class, and a cheese tasting at Murray's Cheese, as fancier date activities.With these estimates, it's easy to see how dating adds up: Our hypothetical dater is spending $650 to make it to the 12-date mark.The estimates also don't take into account the subtler costs of dating. That could be as simple as the price of the commute to and from your meetup — which would cost you $5.80 if you took New York City's subway — or having to fill up your gas tank. The dating experts I spoke with also listed services their clients may want to invest in for dating, from hair and makeup to Botox and dating-app subscriptions.Hoffman, for instance, said that beauty norms had shifted: Skincare and different types of fillerl, along with Botox, are increasingly seen as necessary parts of a beauty regimen."All of these beauty enhancements, people aren't really thinking about the cost of them, but many times the reason that they're doing it is for attraction," she said. "I consider that a cost."Given these costs, I decided to incorporate a few of the major categories into the road map. An <a target="_blank" href="https://youprobablyneedahaircut.com/how-much-does-a-haircut-cost/">informal survey</a> of salons across the country pegged the average haircut at $56, so add one of those to the tab for the three-month getting-you-know-you period. In a 2023 survey by the data-analytics firm Inmar Intelligence, one-third of surveyed consumers said they <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/beauty-shoppers-still-spending-big-as-us-consumers-cut-elsewhere-2023-3">spent over $500 on beauty products in the past year</a> — that works out to $125 in beauty-product spending, if we're accounting for around a three-month period. Meanwhile, an informal 2022 report <a target="_blank" href="https://www.styleseat.com/blog/waxing-cost/">found</a> that the average cost of a full body wax was $152, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/beauty/a36462846/botox-cost-guide/">Cosmopolitan reported</a> in January that low-end forehead Botox would cost you $300. Taken together, that could mean up to $500 more in beauty spending alone.Modern dating also comes with a new cost: forking over money for dating apps. In a 2022 Pew <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2023/02/02/the-who-where-and-why-of-online-dating-in-the-u-s/?utm_source=npr_newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=20240202&amp;utm_term=9250242&amp;utm_campaign=money&amp;utm_id=8562679&amp;orgid=128&amp;utm_att1=#paid-to-use-a-dating-site-or-app">poll</a> of adults who were online dating, 35% said that they'd paid to use one. Messing recommended paying for HingeX — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90849674/hinge-is-rolling-out-its-50-per-month-subscription-on-thursday">$50 a month</a> — and <a target="_blank" href="https://bumble.com/en-us/the-buzz/bumble-premium">Bumble Premium</a>, which runs about <a target="_blank" href="https://mashable.com/review/bumble-premium-review">$40 a month</a>. Hoffman doesn't have a uniform recommendation for dating apps but said people should pay for what's important to them. Similarly, Poyser recommended paying for Hinge preferences."The average dater that only started using dating apps in the last five or 10 years has what I feel like is an unrealistic expectation of what they should get from a free dating-app experience," Hoffman said. She added: "A lot of the apps are breaking out the different levels of service, different features that you can pay for, and it's kind of like streaming television. You just pay for the ones that you are going to use."You could also choose to employ a dating coach. Messing's services run $25,000 for a four-month program. Hoffman's costs range from $9 into the five figures; she said her most popular program was group coaching, which costs $2,500. Poyser said that she charged $200 for her initial one-hour session and then $150 for bundled sessions afterward.After adding up all the direct and implicit costs of dating, the price of finding that special someone rang in at about $1,000 for around 12 dates. Adjusting for inflation, that would've come out to about $800 in 2019 — without accounting for the loneliness and geographical shifts the pandemic caused, where people are willing to spend more to find friends. Notably, the $50 paid version of Hinge that our coaches recommended rolled <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90849674/hinge-is-rolling-out-its-50-per-month-subscription-on-thursday">out in 2023</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://fortune.com/2023/09/22/tinder-500-a-month-subscription/">pricier app</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.platformer.news/grindr-ai-boyfriend-wingman-monetization-paid-taps/">offerings</a> are a more recent invention all around.And that's just the cost to get into a relationship. Even deeper down the romantic path, couples face <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/average-wedding-cost-in-biggest-metro-areas-of-us-2023-2">the soaring cost of weddings</a> — not to mention the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-gen-z-parents-struggle-lonely-childcare-costs-money-friends-2023-11">rising price of being a parent</a>.<h2>What does that mean for all of us?</h2>The daters out there might not be too surprised to learn that getting into a relationship is expensive — though even I was taken aback by just how much I'd been sinking into finding a partner.But the rising costs of dating aren't just an issue for the lonely hearts of America, they also point to a growing problem for everyone in the US: The things that bring us joy, happiness, or meaning are all getting more expensive. Dinner out with friends is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/food-prices-cheapest-option-groceries-restaurants-fast-food-2023-12">more expensive</a>. Going on vacation is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/young-people-booking-vacations-despite-finances-debt-summer-economy-travel-2024-6">getting pricier</a>. Owning a pet <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/protect-finances-pets-likely-recession-2022-11">will cost you more</a>.Even those who have moved beyond the cycle of dating and into building a family are facing these price pressures. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/middle-class-marriage-is-declining-and-likely-deepening-inequality/">Research</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.30.2.79">has found</a> that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/american-marriage-family-structure-kids-over-2023-9">marriage is becoming increasingly reserved</a> for the wealthy and more educated. Some people are happily opting not to have children, while others are finding themselves pushed into a child-free existence because they can't afford to have kids. But even with the high up-front cost of dating, getting into a long-term relationship might pay off in the long run. Solo Americans often come up against what's known as the "singles tax": They're <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rent-higher-singles-tax-living-alone-new-york-san-francisco-2024-2">paying thousands more than couples to live alone</a> and need to make nearly (if not more than) six figures to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/single-family-city-living-costs-income-nyc-la-inflation-rates-2024-3">live comfortably</a>.Keenan, the Seattle dater still looking for love, is keenly aware of the singles tax."Bills are made for a household," he told me. "I'm paying the same amount on my sewer and my garbage and my gas as I would if I had four people living in my apartment as I do with one person living in my apartment. There's nothing that is intended to be comfortable for one person."As things get more expensive, the singles tax gets worse — creating an ever-increasing price for singledom."Just because I haven't found my person, suddenly society's expecting me to pay more because I'm living alone," Keenan said.But Keenan's still out there. For about six to eight months, he tried to just meet people in person — which, as he noted, is often cheaper. Bumping into somebody at a bar means they probably already have a drink, and it's less formal than a sit-down dinner.Keenan's status, though, might be familiar to fellow beleaguered daters out there: He's back on the apps. It's a fate we all may have to resign ourselves to in the era of modern dating. It looks like those $12 first-date cocktails aren't going anywhere anytime soon (and they soon may be $20 cocktails). The only question is what new paywall might emerge in pursuit of a partner.<a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/juliana-kaplan">Juliana Kaplan</a> is a senior labor and inequality reporter on Insider's economy team.

The heartbreaking cost of modern dating

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Americans' favorite tech gadgets could surge in price under Donald Trump's proposed tariffs, per a new report.</li><li>The president-elect vowed to install tariffs of 10% on US imports and 60% on Chinese goods.</li></ul>Buying a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/best-tv">new television</a> now instead of next year could save you hundreds of dollars.Under President-elect Donald Trump's proposed tariff plans, consumers will likely see <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-cuban-donald-trump-tariffs-raise-prices-inflation-economists-agree-2024-11">prices surge</a> on big-ticket purchases, including several popular tech items and gadgets, according to a Consumer Technology Association <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://shop.cta.tech/products/how-the-proposed-trump-tariffs-increase-prices-for-consumer-technology-products">October report.</a>Trump has vowed to install a blanket tariff of 10% to 20% on all imports and a flat, additional tariff of at least 60% on Chinese goods — a move many economists have warned will <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-election-win-high-inflation-risk-tariffs-deportations-taxes-2024-11">raise prices for American consumers</a> and lead to inflation.During his first term, Trump made good on many of his campaign economic promises, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-china-trade-war-list-of-goods-tariffs-2018-9">imposing a wave of tariffs</a> in 2018 and 2019 on certain US imports from China, including steel, semiconductors, and EVs.Economists <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.cato.org/blog/americans-paid-trump-tariffs-would-do-so-again">cited</a> in a Cato Institute report from earlier this year estimated that Trump's first-term tariffs cost the average American household about $830 a year.Trump has said his proposed tariffs would not increase prices for US consumers. But the former president's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-tariffs-hit-company-stock-profits-hardest-china-investing-manufacturing-2024-11">tariff plans</a> would impact more than just a few key items this time: The consumer technology sector would be hit especially hard, and prices would rise on some of the most common tech items bought by US shoppers, the CTA report found.The pre-election report used Trade Partnership Worldwide, LLC research to examine how Trump's tariffs would affect 10 consumer technology products found in nearly every American home, including non-automobile lithium-ion batteries commonly used in portable electronics, TVs, computer accessories, connected devices, headphones, monitors, PCs, laptops and tablets, video games, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/xiaomi-laptop-apple-inventec-china-2015-9">smartphones.</a>The report found that tariff effects on those products alone would shrink US consumers' <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/investing/purchase-power">spending power</a> in the sector by $90 billion, assuming no countries or products are excluded from the blanket tariff ring.Products for which <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-brands-crept-into-life-tiktok-lenovo-tencent-xiaomi-dji-2023-8">China is the major supplier</a> would see the most dramatic price increases. China's economy is a more vulnerable state than it was when Trump previously implemented tariffs. The country is combating low wages and high unemployment among young people, leaving China's household spending far below the global average, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/why-chinas-economy-is-more-vulnerable-trump-tariffs-this-time-2024-11-06/">Reuters</a> reported earlier this year.In 2023, China accounted for 87% of US video game console imports, 78% of smartphone imports, and 79% of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-smart-devices-market-2013-2">laptop and tablet imports</a>, the Consumer Technology Association reported.Under Trump's tariffs, the average price of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/best-budget-gaming-laptops">laptops and tablets</a> could skyrocket 45%, jumping an additional $200-$350 from their current prices, the CTA report found.Similarly, smartphones would see a more than 25% increase in consumer price, surging more than $200 from their average October price, the report said, which also drew on trade and tariff data from the World Integrated Trade Solution, the US Census Bureau, and the Global Trade Analysis Project.Under Trump's tariffs, video game consoles, meanwhile, could cost nearly $250 more than they currently do, and monitors could increase by more than $100, the report found. Televisions will see a 9% increase in consumer price, costing an additional $48 on average, according to the CTA report.To combat rising prices, US consumers would likely <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/retirement-saving-inflation-cost-of-living-crisis-investing-401k-pensions-2024-11">slow their spending</a> on such items, decreasing laptop purchases and tablets by 54% and smartphones by 44%, the report found.Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, and Vice President of International Trade Ed Brzytwa warned in the organization's October report that the tariff's impacts on consumer technology could extend beyond the sector."The proposed tariffs will not create more employment or manufacturing in the US," the CTA executives wrote. "In fact, the opposite may happen where our productivity decreases and jobs may be lost over time when workers and businesses have less affordable access to technology."

Here's how much more laptops, TVs, and smartphones could cost under Trump's proposed tariffs, consumer group says

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Hurricane Milton is battering Florida days after Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc on several states.</li><li>Tropical storms are becoming more frequent, powerful, and costly.</li></ul>Hurricane Milton is <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-milton-landfall-florida-housing-market-insurance-fema-2024-10">pummeling</a> Florida days after Hurricane Helene <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/before-after-satellite-photos-hurricane-helene-destruction-florida-2024-10">battered several states</a> including North Carolina, causing widespread destruction and more than 220 deaths.The two events are the latest sign that hurricanes are becoming more frequent, more ferocious, and more costly. They're also hitting employment and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dockworker-strike-hurricane-helene-israel-palestine-iran-supply-chains-inflation-2024-10">economic growth</a>, at least in the short term."Hurricanes are the most costly weather and climate extreme event to impact the US historically, in terms of total dollars and average cost per event," Adam Smith, a climate scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), told Business Insider.The US has experienced 363 billion-dollar weather disasters costing a total of $2.6 trillion between 1980 and August 2023, NOAA data shows. Hurricanes accounted for $1.3 trillion or about half the total cost, an average of $22.8 billion per storm.The number of hurricanes striking the mainland US has also jumped from 12 between 1961 and 1970 and between 1971 and 1980, to 18 between 2001 and 2010, and 19 between 2011 and 2020, per NOAA data.Helene has caused an <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/analysts-estimate-up-to-34-billion-damage-from-hurricane-helene-2024-10">estimated $34 billion</a> worth of destruction, and Milton threatens to deal tens of billions of dollars in damage too, Jefferies analysts said in a note this week.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-harvey-katrina-comparison-2017-8">Hurricane Harvey</a> in 2017 and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-ian-estimated-cost-compare-most-expensive-us-storms-ever-2022-10">Hurricane Ian</a> in 2022 cost an estimated $159 billion and $119 billion each, ranking behind only Hurricane Katrina's $200 billion toll in 2005.Hurricanes are becoming more costly because the amount and value of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-milton-category-four-storm-real-estate-market-insurance-damages-2024-10">assets exposed and vulnerable</a> to storm damage has increased, Smith said.He also said that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-hurricanes-why-storms-are-wetter-stronger-slower-2019-7">climate change</a> — higher ocean surface temperatures fuel stronger hurricanes, and warmer air carries more rain — has led to more rainfall, a greater risk of storm surges, and a higher chance of rapid intensification.The most severe storms have become more intense with about a 10% rise in maximum sustained winds on average, leading to a "roughly 33% increase in destructive potential," Michael Mann, a climate expert at the University of Pennsylvania, told BI.<h2 id="77eeb913-dcd7-49c3-a311-7df4b503d8e4">Economic impacts</h2>Before Milton made landfall, analysts at Oxford Economics said in a note that about 2.8% of US GDP was in its direct path. They estimated that a Category 5 storm could lower fourth-quarter annualized GDP growth by 0.14 percentage points, from a forecasted 2.3% to below 2.2%. Milton was downgraded to Category 3 before striking Florida."For Milton, tourism, trade and transportation will be hit," Ryan Sweet, Oxford's chief US economist, told BI.Helene is already poised to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/global-economy-israel-iran-war-oil-growth-inflation-hurricane-china-2024-10">reduce nonfarm payrolls</a> for October by 40,000 to 50,000 jobs, and Milton could deal a further blow to employment, he said. Job growth was trending at 167,000 a month, but that number could end up being under 100,000 this month in light of the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-strike-costing-50m-per-day-as-negotiations-restart-2024-10">Boeing strikes</a> and Helene, even before accounting for Milton, Sweet said.The most economically impactful hurricanes disrupt energy infrastructure like offshore rigs and refineries, driving up national gas prices. They can also hit home sales and housing starts, and extensive flooding can delay the return of people who evacuated affected areas, and hamper rebuilding efforts, Sweet said.New research finds that hurricanes harm human health more than previously thought, exacerbated by climate change fueling more damaging storms. The upshot is "far more death and destruction," Mann told BI.He said hurricanes are causing "more death and disease, which definitely propagates through the economy."<h2 id="0c1a0582-4066-4b34-9f76-0a4a07c6172a">After the storm</h2>Some research suggests the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricanes-today-more-damaging-costlier-than-they-were-in-1900-2019-11">economic costs of hurricanes</a> are largely offset by the rebuilding efforts that follow. Repairs following a single hurricane can indirectly support nearly 248,000 jobs, generate over $17 billion of labor income, and contribute more than $30 billion to GDP, according to Implan, an economic data provider.In effect, every dollar spent on hurricane repairs generates another $1.72 in the economy, benefiting sectors ranging from retail and housing to banking and oil refining, Implan said."Rebuilding should provide a boost to economic activity in those affected regions in subsequent months, and potentially years," Sweet told BI, quoting from his recent note. "A <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-milton-category-five-threatens-florida-fema-funding-2024-10">ton of federal and insurance money</a> will flow into the impacted areas, which will boost economic activity."The damage might be offset for now, but whether that will continue with rising temperatures and soaring costs remains uncertain.Eventually, "increasing hurricane damages will exceed the coping capacities" of the US economy, according to a 2022 paper published by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

You Searched For "data cost increase" and got 12 results

India's Services Index jumps to 58.5 in October as employment grows the fastest in 26 months

BI India Bureau

Half of renters live somewhere they can't afford

Eliza Relman,Noah Sheidlower

Amazon's AI data center dream runs into the reality of 'zombie' facilities, higher costs, and labor shortages

Eugene Kim

The faster your internet, the more likely you are to be obese, a study has found

BI India Bureau

Boom or bust — how RBI’s decision to leave rates unchanged affects homebuyers

Ira Alok Puranik

The app data has spoken, and Gen Z's love for Temu is real

Aditi Bharade

An increasing number of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, BofA says

Jennifer Sor

Rolls-Royce is in talks to use its compact nuclear reactors to power data centers and space missions

Beatrice Nolan

'Let chaos reign': AI inference costs are about to plummet

Emma Cosgrove

The heartbreaking cost of modern dating

Juliana Kaplan

Here's how much more laptops, TVs, and smartphones could cost under Trump's proposed tariffs, consumer group says

Erin Snodgrass

Hurricanes are becoming more frequent, violent, and costly — plus they're hitting jobs and economic growth

Theron Mohamed

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides