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My 17-year-old has her first job. She’s learning how to save, and I charge her for rides to work.

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I was absolutely thrilled when my oldest child got her first retail job. Within a few weeks of starting, she was sometimes working 20 or more hours a week, bringing home a solid paycheck at just 17.

However, I quickly realized how little I’d taught her about money management. Judging by the number of Amazon packages arriving on our porch, addressed to my daughter, I knew we still have a lot of work to do, but I wanted to be careful in the way I guided her.

We tried to talk about money early

When our four kids were young, we used a jar system for their allowances. They would divide their singles and fives among the jars, which included one for savings. Then, they would place their spending money in their wallets. This system was simple and it worked for a time. When they received money for their birthdays or Christmas, we would deposit those funds into their savings accounts to instill the idea of saving for future expenses or for a rainy day.

I guess time got away from me. In the blink of an eye, my sweet elementary school girl who spent her days creating art and dancing is now approaching high school graduation. With her sudden and bountiful-for-her-age income, it was time for a crash course in budgeting.


The author poses with her four children.

The author said she and her husband tried to teach their four children about money early, but realizes there’s more to share now that their eldest child has a job. 

Courtesy of Rachel Garlinghouse.



We had to decide how we would handle her new income

My husband and I suddenly had so many decisions to make. What should our daughter’s financial responsibilities be at this age? Which essentials and wants should we continue to pay for? How much should she place in her savings account versus how much of her check should she be able to freely spend?

I decided that I wanted my daughter to learn through trial and error, with support.

There were times I cringed when I saw another Amazon order arrive on our doorstep, the package addressed to my daughter, or I knew she’d decided to get Starbucks for herself and treat her friend who wasn’t working. But, isn’t it ok to enjoy the fruits of her labor? I felt as if I were in one of those old school cartoons, an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. As a parent, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be teaching her.

She’s learning that money flow is dynamic

She’s been at her job for almost six months now. Her hours wane and increase based on the store’s busy and slow seasons. She’s had large paychecks, as well as paychecks for only a few hours of work. Learning to adjust with every pay cycle has been challenging. As a parent, I know my job isn’t to fix my child’s feelings that naturally come with every challenge. Rather, my job is to hold space for frustration and encourage her to process and problem-solve.

What I’ve found is that there is no end-all, be-all guidebook to teaching our kids about money. Every family dynamic and financial situation is different and ever-changing. I personally value having healthy food at home over eating out, I like buying quality clothing at a deep discount, and I am not one to do much extra for myself, like get my nails done. My values, however, don’t have to be my child’s — not now or even in the future.

Instead, I want her to have basic financial competency and confidence. I also want her to understand the value of a dollar, which is why she now has to pay some of her own expenses, such as any eating out at coffee shop, as well as her favorite press-on nails, or (yet another) stainless steel water bottle that she just has to have. We also charge her $10 (much less than an Uber would cost) for a roundtrip ride to and from work, preparing her for putting gas in her own vehicle in the near future.

She has opted to save around 75% of each paycheck, no matter how many hours she worked that week. That was her choice, and her father and I are pleased with it. She is slowly learning to spend wisely, to pause and ask herself, “Do I really want this beyond just this moment?“ She is truly living and learning — and so are we.




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A Google engineer whose job is changing due to AI explains how she’s learning without burning out

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This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Pratiksha Patnaik, a 30-year-old cloud infrastructure engineer at Google Cloud Consulting, based in Seattle. Her identity and employment have been verified by Business Insider. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I’ve been with Google for around three years and I started as an infrastructure engineer. I’m still an infrastructure engineer and on a day-to-day basis, I work with customers to build different solutions, depending on the needs of the customer.

At first, I was mostly involved with networking security and infrastructure customers. But as we saw the AI wave come in, we started focusing more on customers that want to adopt gen AI products and solutions.

I didn’t transition into an AI role, but I’m working with a lot of AI services, and AI engineers who are working on features for those services. My job is a combination of working with customers and the product team, to provide technical solutions for customers. It’s a constant feedback loop to figure out if the solution we’re building is right for the customer we’re working for.

Our job is to know how these products work. Sometimes when we work on the products, we identify feature gaps or bugs, so we need to work with the product team or engineering team.

I’ve been in the same role the whole time, but the nature of my job is changing because of everything going on in the AI space. We get a lot of demand in AI products and we have to do a lot of trainings on it to deliver.

I spend an hour or two weekly on trainings

The more AI progresses, the more difficult it’s become to keep up. As the rate of AI innovation gets quicker, the role of engineers has transitioned from mastery to continuous adaptation at scale.

Just being aware of everything that’s happening in the tech industry, along with what we have to do with the customer, has changed dramatically from what it was like a year ago. Back then, we had to execute within known constraints. But as time passes and AI evolves rapidly, those perimeters have dissolved and we have to invest much more time to learning about changes in this space. We now have to navigate an ever-expanding problem space alongside our customers.

I spend around one to two hours a week up-skilling on new concepts. We have a lot of internal trainings that we can utilize. So I see if there is something new that I’m interested in learning about and that can help me do my job.

I am gaining a deeper level of understanding in high-performance computing, AI observability, model performance benchmarking, and the underlying architecture of GPUs and TPUs.

It can get overwhelming

The culture at Google is very much about constantly learning. Every day we learn about a new tool or model version. That motivates me to keep learning. We also have to skill up in order to put our best foot forward in front of the customers.

But with the pace of technology nowadays, I feel like I need to know everything — and if I don’t learn, I might be left behind.

The reality is that it’s not practically possible to know everything with the changes that are coming out at an exponential rate. To remain effective without burning out, I prioritize intentional depth over exhaustive consumption. By focusing on what really interests me, I can make sure that my learning is not just a chore of “keeping up,” but an investment in expertise.

When I read too much, I get overwhelmed and it’s not possible to retain all of the information I’m consuming. We’re at a point where the amount of information we have is huge and we have to figure out where to spend our time and what’s the most beneficial for us.

Are you an engineer experiencing changes in your job? We’d love to hear from you. Email the reporter from a non-work device via email at aaltchek@insider.com or secure-messaging platform Signal at aalt.19.




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Lauren Crosby

My 12-year-old has made over $5,000 selling stickers she designed. She’s donated part of her earnings to local charities.

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This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Tom Landry. It has been edited for length and clarity.

It was during the pandemic that my daughter Maddie’s creativity really started to blossom. She loved doodling in particular, giving each of the characters she created back stories.

When she was 7, she asked me if she could create stickers featuring her characters, for herself and to give to her friends.

My wife and I could have just done this for her, but we decided to involve Maddie in the process. We all researched sticker companies to find the ones that could help us get the job done. Once we decided on a company to use, we filled out the interest forms and learned to scan the characters together to send to the company.


Girl posing with sticker

Maddie Landry’s friends loved her designs.

Courtesy of Tom Landry



At the beginning, it was purely about having fun. None of us were thinking about this as a business opportunity.

Her friends loved her designs

When Maddie took the stickers into school, her friends loved them, asked her how she had done it, and gravitated toward the characters on the stickers and their corresponding stories.

When she was 8, Maddie said she wanted to have a lemonade stand and sell some of her stickers at the same time. People bought them, which launched Maddie’s business selling her sticker creations.


Girl and dad on lemonade stand

Maddie Landry started selling her stickers at her lemonade stand when she was 8.

Courtesy of Tom Landry



From the lemonade stand, she donated a portion of her profits to a local charity, setting a precedent for her future business growth.

Giving back to the community has always been a priority in our family, something Maddie has grown up with, so it was no surprise that she wanted to do the same with her own business.

We often say, “Do well, but do good.” Maddie clearly took this on board. She had internalized behaviors she’s seen at home for years.

We started a business with her

The initial interest sparked by her stickers led Maddie to work with her mom and me to learn how to set up a business.

How do you set up a website? How do people order online? Where can you sell your products? What do you do with the profit?

We answered all of these questions, and more, together.

Even though I’m an entrepreneur, it was fun to just play again and be creative with my daughter. It’s been incredibly energizing for me.

I think that as adults who are often busy, our innate artist can disappear, and that attitude of “anything is possible” dissipates. It’s kind of sad.


Girl on her sticker stand

Tom Landry’s daughter has donated 10% of her earnings to local charities.

Courtesy of Tom Landry



I’ve been working for 35 years, and it’s easy — almost subconscious — to assume that because something has been done a certain way for a long time, that’s the way it must continue to be done. Watching Maddie approach her work with curiosity, optimism, and a willingness to try things without overthinking them pushed me to look at my own business through a much fresher lens.

Even more importantly, I’ve had the chance to nurture Maddie’s creativity, empower her to take control of what she wants, and help her learn about her agency. These are such great life skills.

She has donated 10% of her earnings to local charities

Her business, Maddie Moo Designs. has continued to grow. She has sold stickers online, in local souvenir shops, and at events. She’s learned so much about business along the way.

Since starting, Maddie has generated more than $5,000 in sales and has already donated over $500 of her earnings to Maine charities.

We’ve encouraged her to think about how she’ll use the money she’s made, suggesting four “buckets” — the fun bucket, the giving back bucket, the investing in the business bucket, and the savings bucket.

One of Maddie’s favorite purchases with the money she has made is a black North Face coat that is fluffy and warm on the inside. She’s also bought squishies and books.

Maddie didn’t need pressure from me or perfectionism to succeed; she just needed exposure, possibly, and look where that has taken her. Kids are capable of so much more than we assume.




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The woman who says she’s the real-life version of Martha on ‘Baby Reindeer’ just sued Netflix for $170 million

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Fiona Harvey, the woman who says she’s the real version of the semi-fictionalized stalker on Netflix hit “Baby Reindeer,” is suing the streaming giant.

Harvey, a 58-year-old Scot, filed a lawsuit on Thursday in California, seeking more than $170 million and a jury trial. She’s suing over defamation and intentional affliction of emotional distress, among other points.

She did not sue creator and star Richard Gadd, who plays a fictional version of himself called Donny Dunn. “Baby Reindeer” is based on his experiences with being stalked by a woman earlier in his career, when he was trying to make it as a comedian.

In the complaint, Harvey’s lawyers said the show was a “brutal lie” that brought her unwanted attention, including death threats.

“Netflix and Gadd destroyed her reputation, her character and her life,” the attorneys wrote.

On- and off-screen, Netflix has repeatedly said “Baby Reindeer” is a true story.

“We intend to defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd’s right to tell his story,” a Netflix spokesperson told Business Insider.

The company has not yet filed a response to the lawsuit.

The real Martha Scott

As the show picked up viewers, armchair sleuths raced to find the “real” stalker, named Martha Scott in the show, and the man who Gadd said abused him.

In late April, Gadd asked fans not to speculate about who the real people were behind the show’s characters. He told GQ he disguised the stalker’s identity in the show.

“What’s been borrowed is an emotional truth, not a fact-by-fact profile of someone,” Gadd said.

In the lawsuit, Harvey said she was identified days after the show’s April debut. Her attorneys said people found a public 2014 tweet she sent to Gadd that used a phrase repeated in the show.

Harvey’s court filing outlined similarities between the stalker character and herself: a Scottish woman about 20 years older than Gadd living in London, with similar appearance and speaking patterns. Both the character and Harvey were accused of stalking a lawyer. It’s unclear if that reference is to an old colleague of Harvey’s, who told BI on Thursday that Harvey harassed her from 1997 to 2002.

But unlike the fictional Martha Scott, Harvey said she is not a convicted stalker, nor has she pled guilty to any crime. Her complaint said Netflix did not check any facts central to the show, including that the stalker sexually assaulted Gadd. She said she did not have any sexual encounters with the comedian.

In an interview with Piers Morgan in early May, Harvey said that while she may have emailed Gadd, it was nowhere near the 40,000 messages he said the stalker sent him. She denied harassing Gadd and said she knew him from when she was bartending in London.


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