• At Business Insider Intelligence, our mission is to bring you the most important insights, data and analysis from the digital world. So when we come across outstanding research from our partners that we think our audience can benefit from, we like to make sure you hear about it. 
• That's why we're giving you a preview of one of eMarketer's most popular reports: Digital Display Advertising 2019: Nine Trends to Know for This Year's Media Plan.
• You can download the full report here.

Major changes are afoot for the digital marketing industry. Trends and influences prevalent in 2019 will continue to affect marketers in 2020 and beyond, leaving many with questions.

Will the duopoly's hold finally start to dwindle?

No. In spite of mounting frustration and distrust from consumers and marketers, the latter will not turn away from the biggest players in the digital ad space.

What will consumer demands for privacy and data control mean for marketers in 2019 and beyond?

Marketers are going to have to prepare for impending regulation and heightened privacy concerns, whether they want to or not. This will mean scrutinizing their data collection practices and making sure they are meeting regulatory requirements and consumer expectations.

Will the rollout of app-ads.txt happen in 2019?

It will, but adoption of the in-app version of ads.txt—a text file on publishers' sites that lists vendors with permission to sell inventory—won't flow to every corner, nor will it solve all the ad fraud woes that currently plague mobile app advertising.

Is the identity graph in trouble?

In some ways, yes. Apple's ITP 2.2, continued ad avoidance, rises in falsified audience data sets and the California Consumer Privacy Act are all pulling at the strings of this fragile web.

Will it be harder for advertisers to move dollars from TV to digital?

Actually, it will become easier, thanks to mergers and acquisitions over the past year and the growing efforts of big networks and broadcasters to iron out measurement inconsistencies between TV and digital. However, don't expect frequency capping issues to go away any time soon.

These are just a few of the questions, answers, and insights you'll get from Digital Display Advertising 2019: Nine Trends to Know for This Year's Media Plan. 

Click here to download your FREE copy of this report!

Join the conversation about this story »

• TikTok is growing faster than Facebook and Instagram.
• Connie Chan, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, says TikTok has one key advantage over other social media apps: its content.
• A recommendation engine fills the app's front page with videos it thinks the user will like, rather than only videos made by people and pages that the user already follows.
• "It curates things in such a way that everything you see generally makes you happy," Chan told Business Insider.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

It seems there's no stopping TikTok.

TikTok has been downloaded 1.5 billion times, putting it ahead of Facebook and Instagram's downloads this year, according to data from analytics site Sensor Tower. The short-form video app has exploded in popularity with the younger Generation Z, a demographic that Facebook is eager to capture. Connie Chan, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, believes TikTok has one key advantage over its competition: an ever-growing library of delightful content.

"It curates things in such a way that everything you see generally makes you happy," Chan told Business Insider. As a partner at Andreessen Horowitz for eight years, Chan has had a front-row seat for the rise of social media giants like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest, which all raised funding from the Menlo Park, California, firm.

Chan, who's focused on investing in startups building products for mobile, real estate, and e-commerce, suggests that part of the reason for TikTok's success is that the app is designed to inspire happiness. It's set apart from other social media apps because it relies on algorithms to choose videos for the app's front page — which greets the user as soon as they open the app — instead of showing content only from friends, celebrities, and pages that the user follows. The app pulls from a wider variety of videos to hold a user's attention, Chan said.

She named three reasons for what she calls TikTok's "content advantage" over its competitors: a lack of a language barrier, a drove of evergreen videos, and the relative ease of creating viral videos.

Feeding the algorithms

The contents of TikTok's front page, known as the "For You" page, are spit out by a recommendation engine that fills the user's feed with videos based on what they like and whom they follow. A lot of the videos are made by people the user doesn't already follow. They might be from another country or speak a different language. (Users in India account for about a third of the app's downloads.) It doesn't matter, according to Chan, because the creator will often mouth the words over a recorded track. She said there is no language barrier.

Popular videos on TikTok tend to be less timely than the engagement news, gender reveals, and job changes that circulate Facebook on an endless loop. They may appear on the front page — which doesn't show time stamps for videos — months or even years after publishing, because the content is still relevant to the user's interests, according to Chan. By comparison, an Instagram post disappears from the feed in a few days.

"They can show you something from two years ago, and you wouldn't know and you wouldn't care," Chan said.

The app also makes it easy to produce viral videos, one of the reasons for its so-called content advantage. TikTok has a culture of memes and challenges. One user posts a video that has a funny voiceover. It goes viral and inspires thousands of other users to make their own videos using the same voiceover. Replicating a video doesn't require "as much creativity or brainpower" as coming up with a new idea, Chan said.

"You're going to see a hundred variations of the same exact dance or the same exact hand gesture," Chan said. "That really lowers the bar for people to create something that's going to get a lot of views."

SEE ALSO: TikTok hit 1.5 billion downloads, and is still outperforming Instagram

SEE ALSO: These are 2019's biggest breakout creators on TikTok

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 6 reasons Snapchat is losing its popularity

• There are only two regular season games left in the NFL.
• With the playoffs approaching, we took a look at who is in the playoffs and who is still competing for a spot in both conferences.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

There are just two regular season games left before the NFL playoffs begin.

Heading into Week 16, the playoff picture is clearing up, but there is still a lot at stake. In the AFC, there are four teams locked in, but two division titles up for grabs, and one Wild Card spot. 

In the NFC, four teams have locked up playoff spots, but three divisions are still up for grabs, with the losers of those races affecting the Wild Card seeding in a tight conference.

With two games remaining, we took a look at the playoff picture in both conferences, with the remaining scenarios in play, and playoff odds from 538. See where the remaining teams in the playoff race stand today.

AFC: Four teams have clinched, five are still fighting for spots.

1. Baltimore Ravens: The Ravens have clinched the AFC North. 

• Remaining opponents: @Cleveland, vs. Pittsburgh
• 538 playoff odds: 100%

2. New England Patriots: The Patriots have clinched a playoff berth. They can win the AFC East by beating the Bills in Week 15.

• Remaining opponents: vs. Buffalo, vs. Miami
• 538 playoff odds: 100%

3. Kansas City Chiefs: The Chiefs have clinched the AFC West. They could earn a first-round bye if they win their last two games and the Patriots and Bills both lose one game.

• Remaining opponents: @Chicago, vs. Los Angeles Chargers
• 538 playoff odds: 100%

4. Houston Texans: The Texans lead the AFC South, but have not clinched the division or a playoff berth. They can secure the division and a playoff spot with one more win and a Titans loss. If they finish with the same record and split their season series, the tie will be broken by division record.

• Remaining opponents: @Tampa Bay, vs. Tennessee
• 538 playoff odds: >99%

5. Buffalo Bills: The Bills have clinched a playoff spot, but not a first-round bye or the AFC East. They could clinch the division by winning their final two games, which would include a Patriots loss.

• Remaining opponents: @New England, vs. New York Jets
• 538 playoff odds: 100%

6. Pittsburgh Steelers: The Steelers have not clinched a playoff spot. They are currently ahead of the Titans because of conference record. The Steelers cannot clinch in Week 16.

• Remaining opponents: @New York Jets, @Baltimore
• 538 playoff odds: 42%

7. Tennessee Titans: The Titans are on the outside looking in. The Titans cannot clinch a playoff seed in Week 16.

• Remaining schedule: vs. New Orleans, @Houston
• 538 playoff odds: 58%

8. Cleveland Browns: The Browns would have to win out and hope the Titans and Steelers lose out to make the playoffs.

• Remaining schedule: vs. Baltimore, @Cincinnati
• 538 playoff odds: <1%

9. Oakland Raiders: The Raiders would have to win out and hope the Browns, Titans, and Steelers all lose out to make the playoffs.

• Remaining schedule: @Los Angeles Chargers, @Denver
• 538 playoff odds: <1%

NFC: Four teams have clinched, four are still fighting for spots.

1. Seattle Seahawks: The Seahawks have clinched a playoff berth. They are ahead of the Packers based on common games record and ahead of the Saints based on conference record. They are ahead of the 49ers based on head-to-head record.

• Remaining opponents: vs. Arizona, vs. San Francisco
• 538 playoff odds: 100%

2. Green Bay Packers: The Packers have clinched a playoff berth. They are ahead of the Saints based on conference record. They can clinch the NFC North with a win over the Vikings in Week 15.

• Remaining opponents: @Minnesota, @Detroit
• 538 playoff odds: 100%

3. New Orleans Saints: The Saints have clinched the NFC South. Their seed will come down to conference record and what happens around them.

• Remaining opponents: @Tennessee, @Carolina
• 538 playoff odds: 100%

4. Dallas Cowboys: The Cowboys lead the NFC East, but have not clinched the division or a playoff spot. Dallas could clinch the division and a playoff spot with a win over the Eagles in Week 16.

• Remaining opponents: @Philadelphia, vs. Washington
• 538 playoff odds: 57%

5. San Francisco 49ers: The 49ers have clinched a playoff spot. They are behind Seattle because of head-to-head record. The Niners could clinch the NFC West by winning out, including beating Seattle in Week 17.

• Remaining opponents: vs. Los Angeles Rams, @Seattle
• 538 playoff odds: 100%

6. Minnesota Vikings: The Vikings have not yet clinched a playoff seed. They can clinch a playoff spot with a win in Week 16 and a Rams loss.

• Remaining opponents: vs. Green Bay, vs. Chicago
• 538 playoff odds: 97%

7. Los Angeles Rams: The Rams are on the outside looking in. The Rams must win out while hoping the Vikings lose out.

• Remaining opponents: @San Francisco, vs. Arizona
• 538 playoff odds: 3%

8. Philadelphia Eagles: The Eagles trail the Cowboys in the NFC East because of head-to-head record. The Eagles must win-out to win the division and make the playoffs.

• Remaining opponents: vs. Dallas, @New York Giants
• 538 playoff odds: 43%

• If you want to make seven figures by age 30, what you do in your 20s matters. 
• Business Insider compiled 11 pieces of advice, from researchers and self-made millionaires, on how to earn seven figures by the age of 30.
• From having multiple streams of income to investing your savings, there are many ways you can increase your wealth in a free-market economy. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

"In a free-market economy, anyone can make as much money as they want,"emphasizes self-made millionaire Steve Siebold, who has also studied over 1,200 of the world's wealthiest people. That applies to 20-somethings.

To help you reach the seven-figure mark by 30, we rounded up 11 pieces of advice from people who became millionaires at a young age and people who have studied hundreds of self-made millionaires.

We can't guarantee millionaire status, but following this advice won't hurt your odds.

SEE ALSO: A Michigan couple paid off their $200,000 mortgage in less than 4 years on a combined salary of $150,000. Here's how they did it — and their tips for anyone trying to do the same.

DON'T MISS: 20 rags to riches stories that will blow your mind

1. Focus on earning

"You cannot save your way to millionaire status,"writes Grant Cardone, who went from broke and in debt at 21 to self-made millionaire by 30. "The first step is to focus on increasing your income in increments and repeating that."

"My income was $3,000 a month and nine years later it was $20,000 a month. Start following the money, and it will force you to control revenue and see opportunities."

Earning more money is often easier said than done, but most people have options. Read about how to bring in additional income, some high-paying jobs you can do on the side, how you can earn passive income, and the first step to take before starting any business, from an entrepreneur who earns up to $170,000 a month.

2. Develop multiple streams of income

One way to earn more is to increase your streams of income.

In author Thomas C. Corley's five-year study of self-made millionaires, he found that many of them develop multiple streams of income: 65% had three streams, 45% had four streams, and 29% had five or more streams.

These additional streams include real-estate rentals, stock market investments, and part-ownership in a side business.

"Three streams of income seems to be the magic number for the self-made millionaires in my Rich Habits study, but the more income streams you can create in life, the more secure will your financial house be,"he writes.

3. Save to invest, don't save to save

Writes Cardone:

"The only reason to save money is to invest it. Put your saved money into secured, sacred (untouchable) accounts. Never use these accounts for anything, not even an emergency. This will force you to continue to follow step one (increase income). To this day, at least twice a year, I am broke because I always invest my surpluses into ventures I cannot access."

Investing is not as complicated or daunting as we make it out to be. The simplest starting point is to contribute to your 401(k) if your employer offers one, and take full advantage of your company's 401(k) match program — which is essentially free money — if it has one.

Next, consider contributing money toward a Roth IRA or traditional IRA, individual retirement accounts with different contribution limits and tax structures — which one you can use depends on your income. If you still have money left over, you can research low-cost index funds, which Warren Buffett recommends, and look into the online-investment platforms known as "robo-advisers."

The key to consistently setting aside money is to make it automatic. That way, you'll never even see the money you're contributing and you'll learn to live without it.

4. Be disciplined and decisive

Rafael Badziag, an expert in the psychology of entrepreneurship, discusses the long-term habits of billionaires his book "The Billion Dollar Secret: 20 Principles of Billionaire Wealth and Success."

He spent five years interviewing 21 self-made billionaires and found that along with other things, they are all disciplined, Business Insider previously reported.

"The billionaires I interviewed are the most disciplined people I have ever met," Badziag wrote. "They put a high standard on themselves and on the people around them."

After studying over 500 millionaires, journalist and author Napoleon Hill found that they all shared one quality: decisiveness.

"Analysis of several hundred people who had accumulated fortunes well beyond the million dollar mark disclosed the fact that every one of them had the habit of reaching decisions promptly," Hill wrote in his 1937 personal-finance classic "Think and Grow Rich."

5. Don't show off — show up

"I didn't buy my first luxury watch or car until my businesses and investments were producing multiple secure flows of income,"writes Cardone. "I was still driving a Toyota Camry when I had become a millionaire. Be known for your work ethic, not the trinkets that you buy."

Need inspiration to save more and spend less? Read up on tips and strategies from people who saved enough of their incomes to retire before 45.

6. Change your mindset about money

"Getting rich begins with the way you think and what you believe about making money," self-made millionaire Steve Siebold explains.

At the end of the day, "The secret has always been the same: thinking," he emphasizes. While the masses believe becoming wealthy is out of their control, rich people know that making money is really an inside job."

7. Invest in yourself

Many modern-day successful and wealthy people are voracious readers. Take Warren Buffett, for example, who estimates that 80% of his working day is dedicated to reading.

They also focus on healthy. Every billionaire Badziag interviewed had a strict exercise routine. 

8. Ditch the steady paycheck

Rich people are typically self-employed and determine the size of their own paycheck, Siebold writes: "It's not that there aren't world-class performers who punch a time clock for a paycheck, but for most this is the slowest path to prosperity, promoted as the safest. The great ones know self-employment is the fastest road to wealth."

While the world-class continue starting businesses and building fortunes, average people settle for steady paychecks and miss out on the opportunity to accumulate great wealth.

"The masses almost guarantee themselves a life of financial mediocrity by staying in a job with a modest salary and yearly pay raises," Siebold says.

9. Set goals and visualize achieving them

If you want to make more money, you have to have a clear goal and then a specific plan for how to achieve that goal. Money won't just appear — you have to work at it.

Rich people choose to commit to attaining wealth. It takes focus, courage, knowledge, and a lot of effort, self-made millionaire T. Harv Eker emphasizes, and it's possible if you have precise goals and a clear vision: "The number one reason most people don't get what they want is that they don't know what they want. Rich people are totally clear that they want wealth."

10. Start hanging out with people you admire

Andrew Carnegie, who started with nothing before becoming the richest man in the US, credits all of his riches to one principle: the Master Mind.

The idea is to surround yourself with talented people who share your vision, because the alignment of several smart and creative minds is exponentially more powerful than just one.

Plus, we become like the people we associate with, which is why the rich tend to associate with others who are rich.

"In most cases, your net worth mirrors the level of your closest friends,"explains Siebold. "Exposure to people who are more successful than you are has the potential to expand your thinking and catapult your income. The reality is, millionaires think differently from the middle class about money, and there's much to be gained by being in their presence."

11. Shoot for $10 million, not $1 million

"The single biggest financial mistake I've made was not thinking big enough,"writes Cardone. "I encourage you to go for more than a million. There is no shortage of money on this planet, only a shortage of people thinking big enough."

• Fund manager Chip Reed had an extremely strong year without including any of the market-favorite FAANG stocks in his Eaton Vance Capital Select Equity fund.
• Reed says that by betting on companies with strong long-term earnings and good financial standing, he's created a portfolio that is defensive but still brought in powerful returns.
• While some investors succeeded by playing defense this year, Reed succeeded in limiting downside without buying traditionally safe stocks like utilities. 
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

At the end of a dramatic but very strong year for the market, it's fairly clear what worked best: playing extreme offense with high-growth stocks, and playing extreme defense with high-yield stocks.

But Chip Reed — lead manager of the Eaton Vance Atlanta Capital Select Equity Fund— has pulled off the feat of beating the market this year without making some of its most popular bets.

The fund is up 37.4% in 2019, putting it in the 97th percentile versus peers, and well ahead of the S&P 500. And it's done that without including the so-called FAANG cohort consisting of Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google.

That might seem like a big obstacle considering how well some of those companies have done. Google's parent company Alphabet is up 30% this year, Facebook has climbed more than 50%, and Apple has surged almost 80%. But Reed has no second thoughts about the strategy.

"Our portfolio does not look like any of the other large-cap growth managers out there," Reed told Business Insider in an exclusive interview. "I think over over a cycle we're going to be able to outperform things like the S&P or the Russell 1000."

The FAANG stocks and a few other companies like Apple and Microsoft are so dominant in the US stock market that they inevitably make up big chunks of a lot of mutual funds. That's been good news for investors in those companies, but Reed says it's created a herd effect where a lot of funds look the same and basically mirror the S&P 500 itself.

And because the FAANG stocks have won for so long and become famous high-flyers, they were hammered when the market suffered its big downturns in late 2018.

"We're willing to look different than the benchmark," he said. "I think if there's something contrarian that we do, it's that. If I like Apple, I'm going to own Apple. If I don't like Apple, I'm not going to own it."

What Reed did instead

For Reed and his co-managers, the most important attribute for any company is quality earnings. They want to find companies with strong cash flows that aren't taking on debt. Reed says a company like that is likely to thrive no matter how the economy is doing, which means his portfolio will do the same.

"For us is, it's consistency in earnings reported earnings over 40 quarters, 10 years of history is, I think, a pretty good proxy for that," he said.

That means Reed's investments are much less cyclical than a those of many growth stock fund managers. And in a world with an uncertain economic trajectory, unprecedented negative interest rates, and high trade and political tensions, he's built a low-risk portfolio.

His fund has as strong defensive tilt, with substantial bets on payments companies, insurance conglomerate White Mountains, discount retailers, healthcare companies, and glass jar maker Ball Corp.— the best performer on the S&P 500 over the first three quarters of 2019.

To underscore the "odd" makeup of the portfolio, Reed adds that he adopted a defensive stance without investing in any utilities or REITs, as utilities don't deliver enough returns and real estate companies don't have enough free cash.

While low risk can mean low reward, he's been rewarded for his steady approach. And even in a more difficult market, that odd way of playing offense and defense paid off: The Select Equity fund substantially beat the market in 2018 as well. 

"We're very conscious of downside protection," Reed said

SEE ALSO: We interviewed Wall Street's 7 top-performing investors to get their secrets for success — and their best ideas for 2020

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A big-money investor in juggernauts like Facebook and Netflix breaks down the '3rd wave' firms that are leading the next round of tech disruption

• Forbes releases worldwide critic-curated travel recommendations every year, from best destinations to restaurants and even hotel bars.
• This year, of the 44 hotel bars Forbes Travel Guide included in its worldwide roundup, only 10 were in the United States.
• Those 10 bars were all located inside luxury hotels and most were noted for having a classic, cozy feel.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Many hotels boast receiving stars from Forbes. Sea Island, a private luxury resort on the coast of Georgia, even has the designation featured front and center on its homepage: "The only resort in the world to achieve four Forbes Five-Stars 11 years in a row."

Sea Island is regularly celebrated by Forbes for its hotel and spa, but this year it was celebrated for something else — its bar.

Forbes Travel Guide released a list of 44 noteworthy hotel bars worldwide — and Sea Island's bar, The Oak Room, was one of only 10 picks located in the United States.

Winners are decided by Forbes Travel Guide critics who stayed at over 1,000 hotels anonymously, the publication notes. The properties are evaluated based on 900 different criteria delineated by an entire standards advisory committee of hospitality and luxury industry leaders.

As far as hotel bars were concerned, the specific, extremely granular criteria for ranking (beyond facilities and service) included whether cocktails were served at the right temperature and if the napkins were linen or cotton.

Keep reading for a look at the swanky bars that made the cut. The bars are listed in ascending order of price, based on the hotel's nightly starting rate sourced from luxury travel website Skylark or the hotel's individual website.

SEE ALSO: The 17 best hotels in the world, according to travelers

DON'T MISS: The best cruises to take in 2020, according to Condé Nast Traveler

Park Lounge at Park Hyatt Aviara Resort

Location: Carlsbad, California

Starting rate per night: $237

The Park Hyatt Aviara is located right outside San Diego. The property is surrounded by a wildlife preserve and hiking trails. It also boasts an Arnold Palmer-designed golf course, an expansive spa, and the Park Lounge bar, which has sunset views and housemade simple syrup.

Z Bar at The Peninsula Chicago

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Starting rate per night: $333

Z Bar is a rooftop terrace bar in The Peninsula on Chicago's famed Magnificent Mile. It is one of two Peninsula hotel bars on this list. The new bar was named for the hotel's first female general manager, Maria Zec, and has been touted by Chicago Magazine for its "pitch-perfect old fashioned."

Garden Room at Weekapaug Inn

Location: Westerly, Rhode Island

Starting rate per night: $410

The Weekapaug Inn is situated on the Rhode Island shoreline and aims to be "quintessentially New England." Its bar is no exception – the Garden Room is outfitted with antique chairs and cozy sofas and serves cocktails along with clam chowder. Forbes Travel Guide recommends the maple bourbon old fashioned, which has a simple recipe of maple bourbon from Vermont, water, and bitters.

Rowes Wharf Bar at Boston Harbor Hotel

Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Starting rate per night: $420

Forbes Travel Guide referred to Rowes Wharf Bar as "dark and seductive" and noted that it's home to "Boston's largest scotch collection." The Boston Harbor Hotel in which it is situated is also known for its stellar service — it was named the best hotel in the US by the Preferred Hotels & Resorts Awards of Excellence.

The Oak Room at Sea Island Golf Club

Location: Sea Island, Georgia

Starting rate per night: $426

Sea Island is a private resort on the Georgia coast. Its main bar at The Lodge has a view of the golf course and serves southern favorites like shrimp and grits. Forbes Travel Guide said it has "the look and feel of a high-class pub," except it's only open to golf club members and resort guests. 

33°North at Monarch Beach Resort

Location: Dana Point, California

Starting rate per night: $504

A Southern California resort stay wouldn't be complete without a tropical cocktail — Forbes Travel Guide recommends the Beached Quail, which includes rum, whiskey, orange curaçao, pineapple, cinnamon syrup, and lime juice. The bar is separated into a salon and an ocean-view patio.

Thirsty Camel at The Phoenician

Location: Scottsdale, Arizona

Starting rate per night: $529

The Thirsty Camel at The Phoenician, A Luxury Collection Resort is an outdoor bar complete with fire pits, live music, and panoramic views of Scottsdale. Forbes Travel Guide recommends drinking a Cloud Nine, which is made with Belvedere, St-Germain, lime juice, mint, cucumber, simple syrup, and egg white.

The St. Regis Bar & Wine Vault at The St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort

Location: Bal Harbour, Florida

Starting rate per night: $598

The only bar on the list that focuses solely on wine, the bar at The St. Regis just outside of Miami has over 2,500 bottles from 450 vineyards. The bar, in addition to the hotel, has a luxurious feel with black marble tiling and mirrored walls.

MO Bar + Lounge at Mandarin Oriental Miami

Location: Miami, Florida

Starting rate per night: $599

The bar at the Mandarin Oriental has citrus-y cocktails, live Cuban jazz, and is situated right on the water, providing views of the bay and of the Miami skyline. Condé Nast Traveler also named the Mandarin one of Miami's best hotels.

The Club Bar at The Peninsula Beverly Hills

Location: Beverly Hills, California

Starting rate per night:$680

The Club Bar's old school ambience landed it on Forbes' list. Rebecca Goldberg, the hotel's director of food and beverage, told Forbes that while the bar is "incredibly comfortable," it's the team that sets it apart: "The team in [the bar] is probably the strongest in the hotel. They know who's going to like each other. They know who they should introduce. They really know how to create an evening for people."

• Ellen DeGeneres made $20 million to $25 million for her Netflix comedy special last year, Variety reported on Tuesday.
• She's the latest comedian to strike a deal worth millions with Netflix, and others include Ricky Gervais, Amy Schumer, and Jerry Seinfeld.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Netflix has established itself as the premier home for stand-up comedy over the past few years, and it has accomplished this by shelling out millions to some of the top names in the industry.

Ellen DeGeneres made $20 million to $25 million from her Netflix comedy special "Relatable," which debuted last December, Variety reported on Tuesday.

Eddie Murphy is returning to stand-up with a new Netflix special next year, he confirmed to The New York Times in September. TMZ first reported in July that he was in talks with the streamer for a $70 million deal. Murphy starred in the Netflix movie "Dolemite Is My Name" this year and recently earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance.

"I didn't want to just pop back up," he told the Times. "I wanted a funny movie to remind them that they liked me. This movie turned out so strong that I figured this is a great way to come back."

Murphy and DeGeneres follow stand-ups like Amy Schumer, Dave Chappelle, and Chris Rock in netting multimillion-dollar deals from the streaming service.

It should be noted that Netflix has also drawn criticism for under-paying some comics. Comedian Mo'Nique came into a pay dispute with the company in 2017 when they reportedly offered her $500,000 for a special. She sued Netflix last month alleging race and sex discrimination regarding the special.

John Lynch contributed to a previous version of this post.

Here are the six comedians Netflix has paid huge amounts of money:

SEE ALSO: All 103 of Netflix's notable original shows, ranked from worst to best

Amy Schumer — $13 million

Netflix initially offered Amy Schumer $11 million in 2017 for her hourlong "The Leather Special," but Schumer was reportedly able to use Netflix's more lucrative deals with Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle as a bargaining chip to receive $13 million for the hour, according to Variety.

Ellen DeGeneres — $20 million to $25 million

DeGeneres made $20 million to $25 million for "Relatable," which debuted last December, according to Variety. She's the first female comedian to earn that much for a stand-up special, according to Forbes.

Ricky Gervais — $40 million

Ricky Gervais reportedly told Chortle that he had gotten the highest payday ever for a UK stand-up special for his most recent Netflix special, "Humanity." Gervais told the outlet that his second special in the deal, which was extended in January, would be worth the same.

Gervais then retweeted a Twitter user who wrote that Gervais had made $40 million from Netflix for the two specials, and referenced being paid $40 million by Netflix in a tweet of his own.

Gervais has also profited from previously released shows that Netflix acquired of his, including "Derek" and "An Idiot Abroad."

Chris Rock — $40 million

Chris Rock signed a two-special deal with Netflix in 2016 that was worth $40 million in total, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The first of his two specials, "Tamborine," debuted in February.

Dave Chappelle — $60 million

Netflix paid Dave Chappelle $60 million in 2016 for a three-special deal, according to The New York Post. His first two Netflix specials were released in March 2017. He then surprise released two new specials, "Equanimity" and "The Bird Revelation," last December. It is unclear if he was paid more for the fourth special.

Jerry Seinfeld — $100 million

Jerry Seinfeld signed an estimated $100 million deal with Netflix in January 2017, The Hollywood Reporter said. The deal included the rights to his interview series "Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee," as well as two new stand-up specials. The first special, "Jerry Before Seinfeld," debuted in September 2017.

• Many of America's longtime top CEOs have held their positions for years.
• They've weathered their companies going public, internal turmoil, and public scandals.
• Tech execs like Facebook'sMark Zuckerberg and Amazon'sJeff Bezos were once fresh faces on the scene.
• Now, they've crafted themselves into multibillionaires while growing their businesses into worldwide success stories. 
• Take a look at how dramatically these longtime top execs have changed since they've started the job.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Any time Mark Zuckerberg mentions Facebook, he often brings up how he started it in his dorm room at Harvard when he was just 20 years old.

Early photos of Zuckerberg show him in a plain T-shirt, sweats, and Adidas sandals lounging on the steps of his would-be alma mater. Although Zuckerberg's wardrobe hasn't changed much (albeit the slides and sweats), the company he founded has.

Today, Facebook has more than 2.4 billion users and has fought to keep its reputability as privacy scandals continue to plague the social network and Zuckerberg himself. 

Take a look at how dramatically Zuckerberg and 13 other world-famous CEOs have changed over the course of their job.

Marissa Perino contributed to an earlier version of this article.

SEE ALSO: 11 mind-blowing facts that show just how wealthy Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos really is

DON'T MISS: The 31 best tech companies to work for in 2020, according to employees

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon when he was 30 in 1994. Like other famed tech execs, he started the company in his garage in Seattle.

Before Amazon, Bezos was a senior vice president at D. E. Shaw, a hedge fund, until 1993 when he decided to begin selling books on the internet.  

In the first month of its launch, Amazon sold books to people in all 50 states and in 45 different countries. And it continued to grow. Amazon went public on May 15, 1997.

Fast forward to the end of 2019, and Bezos, 55, is the second-richest person on the planet, with a net worth of $110 billion.

In September 2018, Amazon briefly became the second US company to achieve a valuation of more than $1 trillion.

Much of Bezos' wealth comes not from his salary but from the Amazon shares he owns. Bezos currently holds more than 57 million shares in Amazon, accounting for a roughly 12% ownership stake.

Mark Zuckerberg founded "The Facebook" when he was 20 years old in 2004 while studying at Harvard University.

He then dropped out of school after his sophomore year to focus on the social network full-time. Facebook raised its $12.7 million Series A round of funding while he was barely of legal drinking age.

Time magazine named him "Person of the Year" just six years later, while Facebook's initial public offering in 2012 was the biggest-ever technology IPO at the time.

Zuckerberg, now 35, has a net worth of $75.6 billion.

Today, Facebook has more monthly active users than any single country in the world has people — 2.4 billion.

However, for the last few years, Facebook has faced scandal after scandal. It's been called out on multiple occasions for the way it handles user data. Zuckerberg testified for 10 hours in front of Congress last April over the Cambridge Analytica data-harvesting scandal.

Facebook has also been the center of debates regarding how to regulate when tech companies that have too much power. 

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started Apple Computer Company in 1976 in Jobs' garage. Jobs was just 21.

Jobs was historically the brains behind Apple, while Wozniak was the engineer. In 1984, Apple released its first personal computer, the Macintosh.

Jobs famously left (or was ousted, depending on who you believe) in 1985, after clashing with CEO John Sculley. Twelve years later, Apple bought Jobs' startup NeXT Computer, bringing him back into the fold.

Jobs ushered in a new era at Apple, introducing the iPhone and iPad. In 2003, he was diagnosed with a unique form of pancreatic cancer.

In August of 2011, Jobs handed the CEO reins to Tim Cook and went on medical leave. In October 2011, he died at 56. 

According to Forbes, in 2007, Jobs' net worth was about $7 billion at the time of his death. 

Today, Apple is one of the most valuable companies in the world, with a market valuation at roughly $1.2 trillion.

Jobs named Tim Cook, then 51, the COO of Apple in 2007, the same year the iPhone was released. Jobs noticed Cook's leadership quickly, and handed off the CEO title to Cook in 2011.

Jobs is held up as one of the greatest CEOs in history. There was a lot of uncertainty over whether or not Apple could keep the momentum going under Cook.

In 2015, Cook pioneered and released the Apple Watch, the company's first entirely new product in the post-Jobs era.

Today, Apple is worth $1.2 trillion under Cook, now 59.

The company was worth about $330 billion at the time that Jobs died.

In January 2019, after Apple missed its holiday sales targets, Cook said the company's biggest long-term project is to break into consumer health, signaling the CEO's plans to make Apple irreplaceable in the lives of its costumers.

Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft in 1975. Gates was just 20 years old, and like Zuckerberg, he dropped out of Harvard to spend more time with his technology startup.

Gates and Allen met in high school, when both were obsessed with computers and software. They built Microsoft from a company that just designed and sold software, into one that sells its own consumer electronics, operating suites, and personal computers. 

Allen died in 2018 at the age of 65 after a battle with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Today, Gates, 64, is the richest man in the world, with a net worth of $112 billion.

Gates had lost the title of world's richest person to Jeff Bezos in 2017, but in November 2019 he regained that status.

Gates gives a large chunk of his fortune away to charity alongside his wife, Melinda, with their foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — the largest private foundation in the world. Gates has not worked at Microsoft since 2008.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in 1998 when they were both 25 years old.

The two founded Google in a garage in Menlo Park, California. They met when Page was touring Stanford University in 1995. Both soon thereafter dropped out of Stanford.

Google, the catalog of "every link on the internet," is now the world's most-used search engine. The company has also branched out significantly: It spans video content, mobile technology, education, digital libraries, and even self-driving cars.

Page, now 46, is the seventh-richest person in the world with a net worth of $65.4 billion. In December 2019, he stepped down as CEO of Alphabet, Google's parent company.

Both Page and Brin announced they were stepping down from their leadership roles at the company in a letter that announced Google CEO Sundar Pichai will be CEO of both Google and Alphabet moving forward.

Brin, now 46, is just behind Page in terms of net worth, at $63.4 billion.

Brin was the president of Google parent company Alphabet until stepping down in December 2019.

He's been known to live luxuriously— he owns the world's fastest yacht — and is reportedly a fan of Tesla. 

Jack Dorsey founded Twitter with Ev Williams in 2006 when he was 30.

Dorsey was later ousted from Twitter, the micro-blogging site he thought up, going on to start Square, the mobile payments platform, in 2009.

Dorsey, now 43, was renamed the CEO of Twitter in 2015.

Today, the company has more than 321 million monthly users and took in $909 million last year. Dorsey himself has a net worth of about $5 billion.

His startup Square, on the other hand, was valued at $3 billion at its IPO in 2015 and today has a valuation of $29.6 billion.

Dorsey announced in November 2019 that he would be moving to Africa for at least three months in 2020.

Evan Spiegel founded Snapchat with Reggie Brown and Bobby Murphy in 2011 when he was 21 years old.

Soon after, Spiegel dropped out of Stanford University to work on Snapchat full time. 

Tim Cook ended up becoming an early Snapchat investor because he was so impressed with Spiegel. Spiegel also famously rebuffed a $3 billion offer from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in 2013.

Today, Spiegel is 29 and one of the youngest billionaires in the world. His net worth is about $3.3 billion.

In 2017, he was given an $800 million bonus for taking his company, Snap Inc., public at a $33 billion valuation.

Spiegel is married to model and entrepreneur Miranda Kerr, and the couple welcomed their first child — a baby boy named Hart — in 2018. 

In 2004, Elon Musk, then 33, made the first of what would be $70 million of total investments in Tesla, an electric car company cofounded by veteran startup exec Martin Eberhard.

By then, Musk, already a multimillionaire, had a long history of founding and funding various tech startups like SpaceX and PayPal.

Musk took an active product role at Tesla, helping develop its first car, the Roadster. The all-electric Roadster launched in 2006, when Musk was serving as Tesla's chairman.

He was named the CEO of Tesla in 2008 after investing in the company with his own money.

When Tesla went public in 2010, it raised $226 million in the IPO, becoming the first car company to go public since Ford in 1956.

Musk, now 48, is worth $26.3 billion — even though he doesn't take a salary from Tesla.

In January 2019, Tesla announced it would pay Musk nothing for the next 10 years — no salary, bonuses, or stock — until the company reaches a $100 billion market cap.

In the more than 11 years since Musk was named CEO of Tesla, he's since made hefty investments in autopilot, the company's self-driving car technology. 

Tesla's "autopilot" system is available on all three of its models, including the new Model 3 — a lower-cost car launched in early 2017 that brings the company closer to its goal of making electric vehicles that are affordable for the masses.

One Wall Street firm thinks Tesla stock will surge 25% in 2020.

Larry Ellison co-founded Oracle, the software firm, in 1977 when he was 33 years old. He said he started the company because he saw a gap in management databases.

As one of the key drivers of the growing computer industry, Oracle grew fast. In 1986, Oracle had its initial public offering, reporting revenue of $55 million.

Ellison, now 75, gave up the CEO role at Oracle in 2014. Bloomberg pegs his net worth at about $59.5 billion.

And although he no longer heads the company he founded, Ellison still sits as Oracle's chairman of the board and chief technology officer.

Satya Nadella joined Microsoft in 1992 at age 25, when founder Bill Gates was still the reigning CEO.

After several vice president positions, Nadella was named president of the Server and Tools Division before he finally ascended to the CEO role in 2014.

Nadella is only the company's third CEO, following Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates.

Under his leadership, Microsoft has acquired big-name companies such as LinkedIn and GitHub, enjoyed rising stock, and is once again considered a major threat to Apple.

Hailed as one of the world's most powerful women, Meg Whitman first worked for companies P&G and Hasbro before she became CEO of eBay in 1998.

Whitman stayed at eBay for 10 years and left the company in 2008 as a billionaire.

After joining Hewlett Packard's board in 2011, Whitman was offered the CEO position.

Whitman, now 63, announced in 2018 she would leave HP after seven years and take up her third CEO position in 2018 at Quibi, Jeffrey Katzenberg's (DreamWorks co-founder) mobile-video startup.

Now 63, she's worth $3.7 billion, according to Forbes.

Michael S. Dell officially founded his company under the name PC's Limited in 1984.

Under its new name, Dell Computer Corp., the company went public in 1988 and a few years later, at age 27, Dell became the youngest CEO ever to lead a Fortune 500 company.

After several years in a chairman position, Dell returned to his CEO role in 2007 and has continued to head the company ever since.

Dell now has a net worth of $30.1 billion, making him the 29th-richest person in the world.

• Taylor Swift attended the New York City premiere of "Cats" on Monday in a floor-length Oscar de la Renta gown. 
• The $17,990 ruby satin dress is part of the fashion house's pre-spring 2020 collection. 
• Swift accessorized her look with a $13,500 sapphire ring and red satin Chloe Gosselin heels.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. 

Taylor Swift turned heads in a floor-length gown at the "Cats" premiere in New York City on Monday. 

The 30-year-old singer, who plays Bombalurina in the upcoming film, wore a stunning Oscar de la Renta dress from the fashion house's pre-spring 2020 collection. The floral ruby gown costs $17,990 but is currently sold out on the brand's website. 

Swift accessorized her dramatic look with simple red satin Chloe Gosselin heels, Maxior drop earrings, and a Borgioni double ring.

The "Lover" singer also added a Beladora Oscar Heyman sapphire ring, which retails for $13,500.

As an added bonus, Swift's strapless gown featured pockets, which she took advantage of while posing in front of photographers.

She completed the look by wearing her hair up and donning a classic red lip. 

The "Cats" premiere is not the first time Swift has worn Oscar de la Renta. On Thursday, Swift wore a navy jumpsuit by the designer to accept the Billboard Women in Music Award. The look featured chains that wrapped around her neck and across her back. 

• Read more:
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• Taylor Swift opened her AMAs performance in a prison-like shirt emblazoned with the names of her albums
• Taylor Swift is the artist of the decade
• All of Taylor Swift's albums, ranked from least to most iconic

Join the conversation about this story »

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• SoftBank-backed real estate brokerage Compass is developing what it calls the first end-to-end software platform for real estate agents.
• Compass's New York Regional Manager, Rory Golod, walked Business Insider through Compass's real estate agent tools, and explained the short-term roadmap for the company's tech vision.
• Founded in 2012, Compass was valued at $6.4 billion in its most recent funding round and has grown rapidly through buying up other brokerages.
• Read more BI Prime stories here.

SoftBank-backed real estate brokerage Compass is developing what it calls the first end-to-end software platform for real estate agents.

The company's New York regional manager, Rory Golod, walked Business Insider through the real estate agent tools, and explained the short-term tech roadmap for Compass.

Founded in 2012, Compass was valued at $6.4 billion in its most recent funding round and has grown rapidly through buying up other brokerages.

Golod, who was previously Compass CEO Robert Reffkin's chief of staff (Reffkin himself was Gary Cohn's chief of staff at Goldman Sachs), explained that a lot of the tools are simply aimed at saving agents' time. 

"The innovation is integration," Golod said. Compass' technology suite is interconnected, hoping to replace the collection of software tools that agents use regularly. This end-to-end program also provides the data that Compass's AI and machine learning teams need in order to develop and train algorithms, he said. 

Compass hired its CTO, Joseph Sirosh, in 2018, and he has helped launch a Seattle engineering office, with plans to build another in India soon. Sirosh was formerly CTO of artificial intelligence at Microsoft. 

Compass said in November it had bought New York-based artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) company Detectica. Over the past year,  Compass has also bought a real estate customer relationship management (CRM) tool called Contactually.

The failed IPO of WeWork, another SoftBank-backed company, has prompted some to look more closely at the valuations of fast-growing venture-backed startups that put a tech-heavy spin on disrupting existing industries. 

The Real Deal reported in October that Compass CFO Kristen Ankerbrandt sent around talking points to staff to distance the company from WeWork. 

A number of top execs left Compass in September, including head of communications Jason Post and chief operating officer Maelle Gavet. 

A summary of Golod's walkthrough is below.

If you work in real estate and would like to share your experiences or comments about tech tools in the space, please send me an email at anicoll@businessinsider.com.

Compass Search and Compass Collections

Golod began the demonstration by walking through Compass's Concierge and Search tools to help a buy-side agent and a potential buyer find a home to purchase.

The Compass Search tool contains both the MLS listings they have access to and Compass's Coming Soon listings, which are so-called "pocket listings" that the company has on its own internal listing service. 

The service would be pretty familiar to anyone who has used a listing site, and basically looks like the company's consumer-facing listing site. The difference? More search functionality and smaller photos.

The company recently updated its search software, which now allows Compass agents to find properties that are within a self-defined distance of a landmark (like a potential buyer's workplace) or within multiple, agent-drawn locales (imagine a potential buyer who would want to buy in the 70's on either the Upper East Side or the Upper West Side.)

The agent's workflow then turns to Compass Collections, the product that connects Compass agents with their clients. The idea, according to Golod, is to keep all information about potential purchases and all communication in one place, instead of across "12 different tabs."

The .gif above demonstrates what the client-side interface looks like when accessed through the Compass app. The agent-side doesn't look much different, though Compass's recent investments and acquisitions in AI, like AI-consultancy Detectica, are woking on more functionality. 

In six months, Golod says, the app will prompt agents with helpful hints before they send a property to a client. Golod gave the example of a property that attracts a lot of dog owners, the plan is for the AI to tell an agent that "70 percent of the time when potential clients looked at this listing, they asked if the building allowed dogs."

This software, according to Golod, will allow agents to both provide better service and to save time on answering client's questions. 

After a client has narrowed down the listings they're interested in, the app will create a tour schedule and route, optimized for travel time, and then allows the buying agent to connect with the selling agents who are showing the property. 

Compass CRM

The next product, Compass' CRM, is where agents will track their old clients and social connections in search of new business. The company bought Contactually, a CRM provider that Compass was already using for its internal CRM, this February. 

The technology allows a Compass agent to set up a contact plan for any future clients, both with individual tasks and more comprehensive action plans. The .gif above shows an entire action plan for an agent to keep in touch with a client who just purchased a home. 

In the relationship-heavy life of a real estate agent, the ability to keep in touch with clients without overwhelming them is key to bringing in more business. 

Golod said that Compass's AI team is working on new ways to do this by plugging in Compass's market data to create prompts.

If a former client's home has drastically appreciated in value since they purchased it, Compass is developing the ability for the CRM to auto-suggest a reach out to see if they're ready to purchase. These sorts of features, Golod hopes, will make the work-intensive art of finding clients much simpler. 

Marketing Center

Golod said that Compass's Marketing Center was created to solve agents' top request: an easy way to create print and online marketing material.

Previously, these agents were either paying graphic designers every time they needed something done, or they figured out how to do it themselves, spending time that could have been spent on finding new business. 

Marketing Center auto-generates a wide range of marketing material, from paper brochures to Instagram posts, importing property photos and descriptions from Compass's listings. It also allows agents to resize and swap out any photos or rewrite any of the text. 

The Marketing Center also includes an insights center with details about the success of marketing campaigns. For the more tech-savvy agents, this allows them to target and understand their potential buyers.

For the less tech-savvy agents, Golod said, it gives them something to point to when their clients ask what they've been doing to sell their house. 

Compass also has a Network tool that provides details about what agents perform best in a submarket, and then auto-generates marketing emails to be sent to them. In the past, agents would have to blast emails to everyone in the submarket. Now, with Compass's market data integrated with their email, they can specialize their emails for the agents that are most likely to have clients that are willing to buy. 

Compass Hot Sheets and Future Development

Compass also gave a sneak peak of the beta version of a new product, the Hot Sheet. The Hot Sheet is a dynamic reference sheet for agents to track markets inventory changes in markets that are important for them.

This could help agents better price their clients' homes, and indicate what markets may give them the most potential business or where their clients may want to purchase. 

Another feature, Compass's feedback site, drives the company's technical decision making. It's technologically simple, but Golod says it helps the company to "learn from reality." 

Agents can submit any changes they would like to see made to existing tools, or new potential tools to a public forum. Other agents can then like or comment on the idea, providing more detail for Compass's product and tech team. 

The product and tech teams then update the post periodically, explaining either their progress on the idea, or the reason why they're not working on it. 

Golod said that including agents in the process makes sure that Compass is creating tools that agents, who can be tech-averse, will actually use. 

"If we build the tools that they ask for, we will deliver what they actually want," Golod said.

• It can be impossible to book saver-level award travel over the holidays, but certain points are better than others for doing so.
• Transferable credit card points lend travelers an extra layer of flexibility when it comes to redeeming for award flights and nights.
• Chase Ultimate Rewards points are some of the most useful rewards points available, and you can earn them with cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Sapphire Preferred Card.
• By transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points to British Airways Avios, I was able to book an award on American Airlines for far fewer miles than American would have required.
• See Business Insider's list of the best rewards credit cards you can get »

When it comes to booking airline award travel, the one attribute that will help you more than any other is flexibility. Being able to travel at off-peak times and on routes that might not have as much business or leisure traffic as others makes it much easier to book some airline award seats.

Holiday travel travails

Imagine my chagrin when my partner informed me that the only time he could take vacation was the week between Christmas and New Year's – one of the busiest travel times of the year.

After deciding that we would both like a beach vacation, I set about looking for inexpensive fares to Hawaii, Mexico, and the Caribbean. One after another, I crossed each possible destination off our list because of the exorbitant fares I was finding.

Even the short-haul flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to Cabo San Lucas (SJD) — just 900 miles and flown by over a half-dozen airlines — was showing round-trip fares of over $800 during the weeks surrounding Christmas.

Figuring it might not hurt to look for award availability, I searched on American Airlines' website and Alaska Airlines' site, since I have miles with both programs. They both have access to their own awards as well as to some awards on the other carrier (for now). For most of the days around Christmas, both sites were showing high-level awards of 25,000 to 50,000 miles. Each way. In economy!

An award appears

I was about to give up when I noticed that Alaska Airlines was showing a saver-level award on American Airlines. The outbound was on Christmas Eve, returning on New Year's Eve for a total of 70,000 miles and $248 in taxes for both tickets.

I resisted pulling the trigger, figuring it couldn't hurt to look at AA.com and compare. Sure enough, I could pull up the same award seats for a total of 60,000 miles and $198 in taxes and fees.

Thinking that might be my best option, I was about to book it when I had one more thought. American Airlines is a Oneworld alliance partner with British Airways. The fact that I could find these award seats using Alaska miles meant that British Airways should also have access to the same ones.

I logged into my British Airways Executive account and performed a quick search on the same dates. Sure enough, the award seats appeared.

Now for the interesting part. Unlike Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and American Airlines AAdvantage, British Airways Executive Club has a distance-based redemption chart for award seats. The longer the flight, the more Avios (miles) you will need. Conversely, because this route was so short, I knew I would need fewer miles to book it than if I went through American AAdvantage or Alaska Mileage Plan.

Because the route is under 1,151 miles, which is the higher limit of one of British Airways' chart's bands, my seats would cost only 9,000 Avios per ticket each way.

Grand total: 38,000 Avios, plus the same $198 in taxes and fees American Airlines would have charged me for its own award.

Chase points to the rescue

Now there was one problem: I didn't actually have any Avios in my account. Here's where my transferable credit card points came in handy. British Airways is a transfer partner of several other points programs. If you have a card like the Platinum Card® from American Express or the American Express® Gold Card, you can transfer your Amex Membership Rewards points to British Airways at a 1:1 ratio.

The same is true if you earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points with a card like Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Sapphire Preferred, or Ink Business Preferred Credit Card. You can also transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to British Airways at a rate of 3:1, and for every 60,000 points you transfer, you get a 5,000-mile bonus, meaning you'd end up with 25,000 Avios instead of 20,000 Avios.

Amex and Chase points transfer instantly, while Marriott transfers can take a few days. I knew these seats would disappear fast, though, so I didn't want to take any chances. I have more Chase points than Amex ones at the moment, so I decided to use them. My only other consideration would have been if either program was offering a transfer bonus to British Airways — Amex periodically offers 25-40% ones, and Chase has offered a single 30% bonus — but neither was at the moment.

Within a minute, I had logged into my Ultimate Rewards account, transferred the points, and they were in my BA account. I refreshed the search page, pulled up the awards and booked them.

Curious, I decided to look at how much paid fares would have been on the flights, and to my shock, they would have been $4,025! By using points, I'd saved nearly $4,000, or between 22,000 and 32,000 miles.

Now, I never would have booked tickets at that price, but it was fun for comparison's sake (they went down to $900 each the next day).

Rewards reflections

Here are the things I keep in mind when thinking about my transferable points and the kinds of awards they open up to me so I make sure I get the best value each time.

First, try to consider all your options. In this case, it would have been quite simple just to book my award through Alaska or American. But taking a moment to think about which partners they had who might have access to the same awards at better prices ended up saving me not only money, but tens of thousands of miles.

Second, don't forget about transfer times and convert the points that will appear in your frequent flyer account fastest, since you don't want to transfer only to find out that the award you hoped to book has disappeared.

Third, remember to check if there are any transfer bonuses since they can save you even more points or miles when it comes time to book.

Finally, though it wasn't a factor in this scenario, don't forget that you can redeem Ultimate Rewards points directly for travel at fixed rates through the Ultimate Rewards portal. You get 1.5 cents per point in value with the Chase Sapphire Reserve, and 1.25 cents per point in value with the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred. You have to do the math to make sure you are getting a better value than booking a traditional award ticket, but a quick calculation might save you thousands of miles.

Bottom line

I was quite lucky to come across not one, but two saver-level award tickets on the flights that I wanted at a very busy time of year. But luck only gets you so far. By stockpiling transferable points, knowing my options, being decisive about a transfer, and booking quickly, I ended up saving huge on my holiday travel plans… and now I have a Mexican vacation to look forward to.

Click here to learn more about the Chase Sapphire Preferred card »

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Devoted Health wants to change the way the U.S. takes care of its senior citizens, and it has big plans in its first five years to do just that.

The startup, which has been gathering lots of buzz in the last year, was founded to sell private health insurance plans to U.S. seniors, a market that is growing rapidly as Baby Boomers age.

Using one pitch deck, Devoted Health managed to secure $300 million from investors in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz late last year, with a valuation of $1.8 billion – all before it signed up a single customer.

But the deck also outlined the company's aggressive plans for its first five years. Devoted Health planned to sign up 5,000 members for 2019 and grow that to 103,722 by 2023. It expects to make about $1.2 billion in revenue in 2023 while generating a small net loss.

Here's what else Devoted Health laid out in the pitch deck:

• How the company, in part, plans to make money by owning its own medical group in addition to the insurance operation
• Its plan to take on the healthcare giants in Medicare Advantage
• Why it thinks it can generate better margins than other Medicare Advantage health insurers
• How the company can eclipse 100,000 members
• And more about the company's aggressive five-year plan

BI Prime is publishing dozens of stories like this each and every day. Want to get started by reading the full pitch deck?

>> Download it now FREE

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• Amazon sellers have been offering items sourced from the trash, according to the new report from The Wall Street Journal. 
• The Journal found sellers who admitted to dumpster diving, and also ran a successful experiment where it set up its own Amazon store offering items its reporters found in the trash.
• In response, Amazon has updated its policy to forbid selling items that came from the garbage.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

It turns out you really can buy just about anything on Amazon — even garbage.

That's according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal's Khadeeja Safdar, Shane Shifflett, and Denise Blostein, who not only found sellers offering items sourced from the trash, but were able to set up their own Amazon store with products they found in dumpsters. 

Amazon sellers the Journal spoke with described finding discarded items, cleaning them and sometimes shrink-wrapping them to look new, and putting them up for sale on Amazon's website. One seller told the Journal he sold products like humidifiers and keyboards that were salvaged from dumpsters for over a year through Amazon Prime. 

To test the rigors of Amazon's screening process for itself, the Journal sent reporters dumpster diving behind stores like Michaels and Trader Joe's, finding new or unopened items they could resell on Amazon — and it worked. The Journal was able to sell multiple items through Amazon, including a jar of Trader Joe's lemon curd. 

In response to the Journal's reporting, Amazon updated its policy to specifically forbid sellers from offering items that came from the trash, which it said "has always been inconsistent with Amazon's high expectations of its sellers and prohibited by the Seller Code of Conduct on Amazon, which requires that sellers act fairly and honestly to ensure a safe buying and selling experience."

"Sellers are responsible for meeting Amazon's high bar for product quality," an Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider. "These are isolated incidents that do not reflect the high quality customer experience provided by the millions of small businesses selling in our store every day. Any negligent and potentially illegal activity by a few bad actors is unfair to the vast majority of exceptional sellers. We have expanded the scope of our existing supply chain verification efforts including increased spot checks of source documentation to ensure seller compliance with our policies. We will take appropriate action against the bad actors involved, including possible legal action."

This isn't the first time Amazon's moderation process has been called into question. Earlier this year, another Journal investigation found more than 4,000 items for sale on the platform that had been "declared unsafe by federal agencies." Of those products, about half of them were toys and medications that were missing labels warning of health risks. 

Part of the reason why these issues run rampant is the sheer scale of Amazon's seller platform: the company says more than 50% of its total unit sales come from independent sellers. While Amazon polices items for sale using "a combination of artificial intelligence and manual systems," it told the Journal, the sheer volume of items means some products — even those from a dumpster — are bound to slip through the cracks. 

Read the full report over at The Wall Street Journal.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Apple just released iOS 13.2 with 60 new emoji and emoji variations. Here's how everyday people submit their own emoji.

• A smart display is an affordable way to add a visual element to any smart home.
• The Amazon Echo Show 5 is one of the best smart displays you can buy, with an attractive 5-inch touchscreen and the company's Alexa voice assistant built in. 
• For a limited time, you can buy two for the price of one ($89.99) on Amazon. 

A smart display makes for an excellent gift — especially one this affordable. At just $89.99 list price (but often discounted to $59.99), Amazon's Echo Show 5 combines an Alexa-enabled speaker with a screen that you can use to watch videos, control smart-home devices, follow recipes, and more. Now, you can get two Echo Show 5 speakers for just $89.99 with the code SHOW52PK at checkout.

At just 5.8 x 3.4 x 2.9 inches, the Show 5 will fit on any nightstand, kitchen counter, or end table. 

You can ask Alexa to do any number of things, from playing Spotify to checking your calendar and sending text messages. You can also use the Show 5's touchscreen to watch videos through Amazon Prime Video, view and control all your smart-home devices in one place, display song lyrics and photos, or even just show the time. 

There's even a camera, so you can make video calls to anyone else who has an Alexa-powered smart display (or the Alexa app on their phone). Don't worry; there's a built- in shutter to cover it up when it's not in use, and you can turn the microphone off easily as well. 

The audio, while not exceptional, isn't terrible either.The 4-watt speaker delivers clear bass and decent vocals. It even displays song lyrics alongside each song. 

To take advantage of this huge deal, make sure to enter the code SHOW52PK at checkout. 

Get two Amazon Echo Show 5 speakers from Amazon, $89.99 (originally $179.98) [You save $89.99]

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NOW WATCH: Behind the scenes with Shepard Smith — the Fox News star who just announced his resignation from the network

• You can search all YouTube comments on a specific video or an entire channel using a Google Chrome browser extension.
• The "Comments Search for YouTube" extension lets you quickly trawl through all of the comments on a given video or even an entire YouTube channel by searching for key terms. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Combing through YouTube comments can be as harrowing as it is hilarious, with people spewing as much ugliness and hate as they do posting pithy comedy gold. 

Whether you are looking for a specific comment or are searching with certain key terms, there's an easy way to navigate through the comments of YouTube videos or even entire channels.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

MacBook Pro (From $1,299.99 at Best Buy)

Lenovo IdeaPad 130 (From $299.99 at Best Buy)

How to search YouTube comments using a Google Chrome extension

Open a Google Chrome browser, head to the Chrome Web Store, and search for "Comments Search for YouTube" (you can also just paste that term into the search bar). 

Add the extension to your Chrome account, then head to YouTube.

Navigate to the video with comments you want to search through, and then hit CTRL + S on your PC (or command + S on a Mac) and type your search term into the gray bar of the window that pops up.

To search through the comment history for an entire channel, add the word "global:" before the search terms, but without quotation marks, so like: global: search term

Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:

• How to get a custom YouTube URL for your channel, if your account meets the requirements

• How to create a personal YouTube channel, or a Brand Account for your business

• How to verify your YouTube account, so you can upload videos longer than 15 minutes and customize thumbnails

• How to see a list of your YouTube subscribers on a computer or mobile device

• How long a YouTube video on your channel can be, depending on if your account is verified

SEE ALSO: The best Macbooks you can buy

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NOW WATCH: Watch Elon Musk unveil his latest plan for conquering Mars

• Boeingannounced on Monday that it will temporarily suspend production of the 737 Max, as the plane remains grounded into 2020.
• The company said the 12,000 employees at its Renton, WA factory, where the Max is built, would not face layoffs or furloughs "at this time," and would be reassigned to other tasks.
• However, almost 600 suppliers manufacture components for the plane. Those companies, some of which have tens of thousands of employees, and have less diverse revenue streams than Boeing, face potential ripple effects and impact from the production halt.
• Sign up for Business Insider's transportation newsletter, Shifting Gears, to get more stories like this in your inbox.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

When Boeing announced that it would temporarily halt production of the 737 Max, it said that it had no plans for layoffs or furloughs "at this time." Employees would be redirected onto other projects, or would focus on maintaining stored, undelivered aircraft, and getting them ready to fly to customers.

But Boeing's 12,000 Renton, Washington, employees are not the only workers whose livelihood depends on the 737 Max.

A network of about 600 suppliers and hundreds more subcontractors create components for the 737 Max, ranging from materials like metal and composites, pieces like engines, smoke detectors, and ventilation systems, and even entire components, such as wings or fuselages.

The impact of the production slowdown on those companies is more difficult to predict. Many of them also make components for other Boeing plane types and other aircraft manufacturers, like Airbus. But the 737, Boeing's best-selling plane, makes up a significant portion of their workload.

Brett Ryan, an economist at Deutsche Bank, estimated that the shutdown could knock 0.4 percentage points from real GDP growth in the US this quarter and into next year, according to The Guardian, factoring in the ripple effects of strain on suppliers.

The question will be whether the companies have enough cash on hand to keep up manufacturing during Boeing's shutdown, space to store completed but undeliverable components, and bandwidth to deliver the backlog of stored components once Boeing's assembly line resumes.

Boeing reduced 737 Max production from 52 planes a month in April to 42, which it has maintained until announcing the suspension. However, it continued to purchase components from suppliers at the original rate, in order to maintain its supply chain and avoid disruptions once the plane returns to service.

It is not clear whether Boeing will continue to purchase from suppliers at this rate. 

In a statement, Boeing said that it would keep the supply chain, along with customers and employees, "top of mind" as it continues to assess the situation and make decisions.

"This will include efforts to sustain the gains in production system and supply chain quality and health made over the last many months."

However, the real world impact to workers at the companies remained less clear.

Wichita-based Spirit AeroSystems, which produces the fuselage, pylons, thrust reverser, wing leading edges, and engine nacelles for the Max, earns 80 percent of its revenue from Boeing, according to Reuters. An extended production slowdown could have significant impacts on its bottom line. Stock prices were down more than one percent Tuesday morning.

While Spirit is one of the bigger suppliers, plenty of others rely on Boeing for revenue.

CFM International, a joint venture between General Electric and Safran SA, of France, makes engines for the Max. UK-based Senior PLC creates airframes. United Technologies Corp, which makes landing systems and avionics, warned of a 10 cent per share loss in its 2019 earnings due to the Max grounding.

Other manufacturers, like Honeywell, Hexcel, Woodward, and Meggitt, make a variety of components. Honeywell told Business Insider that it did not expect a significant financial impact. Other suppliers did not return Business Insider's request for comment.

Boeing has not said when it might resume production of the plane.

Do you work for Boeing or one of its suppliers? Contact this reporter at dslotnick@businessinsider.com.

SEE ALSO: The 737 Max will not be cleared to fly again in 2019. Here's the complete history of the plane that's been grounded since 2 crashes killed 346 people 5 months apart.

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NOW WATCH: Here's why in-flight WiFi is so slow and expensive

• First lady Melania Trump is notoriously private about her time as first lady.
• But her public appearances never fail to spark headlines, and sometimes, conspiracy theories that dive into her wardrobe choices.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Anytime first lady Melania Trump says, does, or wears anything, it seems to spark countless headlines.

CNN reporter and Melania expert Kate Bennett wrote about the notoriously private first lady's fashion choices extensively in her book, "Free, Melania: The Unauthorized Biography." In it, Bennett floated her own educated guesses as to the choices that led to certain show-stopping looks.

But the first lady has rarely vocalized the reasoning behind her fashion choices. Her own stylist for the 2019 State of the Union said he focused on the look rather than sending a political message.

Overall, Bennett wrote that she believes there are no coincidences when it comes to the first lady's fashion choices.

"Having covered her for as long as I have, each thing she does has meaning to it, even the clothing she wears," Bennett wrote.

Based on Bennett's book and countless news stories focused on the first lady's sartorial choices, here are 13 times Trump appeared to put a deliberate foot forward in specific colors, designers, and price tags.

SEE ALSO: 10 of the biggest takeaways from a new book on Melania Trump that reveal her fashion, strategy, and life inside the White House

DON'T MISS: Little-known facts about every American first lady

The "pussy-bow" blouse offered an uncanny connection to one of then-candidate Trump's biggest scandals.

The October 2016 presidential debate came two days after the "Access Hollywood" tape leaked showing Donald Trump saying in 2005 he could "grab" women "by the p---y" because "when you're a star they let you do it." To the event, Melania wore a $1,100 pink pussy-bow Gucci shirt, smiling beside her husband.

Bennett wrote that the blouse was a peak example of no coincidences in Melania's wardrobe choices.

She made an elegant and monochromatic entrance to her life in the White House.

Melania's powder blue Ralph Lauren ensemble immediately drew comparisons to former first lady and American fashion icon Jackie Kennedy.

Bennett wrote that this was one of the outfits the first lady worked on the most, and that it came straight from her own vision of how she would like to be officially introduced to the world.

She flipped the script for the 2018 and 2019 State of the Union speeches.

The first lady raised eyebrows with outfits that were stark opposites of purpose-driven color schemes.

In 2018, she wore a white pantsuit that stood out in a sea of Democrats who were clad in black in honor of the Time's Up and #MeToo movements.

In 2019, Melania wore a black Burberry coatdress, the opposite of the white outfits worn on the other side of the aisle to celebrate women's suffrage.

Though her exact intention in selecting the outfits is still unclear, the pictures show a first lady who is unafraid to stand out.

When playing host, some of the first lady's dresses contain possible nods to her guests.

One such possible hint lied in the Hervé Pierre green dress that Bennett wrote could have been in honor of the Jordanian flag while she greeted Queen Raina in Washington.

Despite an apparently obvious connection, Bennett wrote that, per usual, "everyone would have to settle with the gray area because Melania stayed typically mum on her outfit choices."

Bennett theorized that the massive gold belt and necklace she wore in Saudi Arabia was a nod to the Kingdom.

The Saint Laurent python belt later sold out on Net-a-Porter.com after enjoying the spotlight on the Trumps' May 2017 trip.

Bennett wrote that the statement touches were "as if to say, 'Hey, Saudi Arabia, friend. We like gold, you like gold, we get you. Everything is cool.'"

Anytime she wears a coat that's propped up on her shoulders, Bennett writes, it can be seen as a "rich person move."

Not only has Trump "pretty much single-handedly brought back the coat as a principal player," Bennett wrote that she ups the ante on styling by just perching the coat on her shoulders, which limits her range of motion, but also highlights that she is able to get doors opened and things carried for her.

In addition to many of her coats costing in the thousands of dollars, the styling move certainly gives a VIP vibe.

Melania combines being first lady with a travel wardrobe in a unique way that counts on several factors.

Unlike her im meditate predecessor Michelle Obama, Bennett wrote that Melania hasn't gone to lengths to highlight regionally specific designers based on the first couple's destination, but rather picks an outfit based on the nature of the appearance.

One of the first lady's favorite location-specific choices is wearing Dior in its native Paris. She made a splash on her first trip to France as first lady, where she wore a suit jacket and skirt in the luxury house's signature silhouette and a head-to-toe red that could be taken as a nod to her husband's Republican allies or to one-third of the French flag.

Dressing down, despite the price tag, for her first appearance alongside children in the White House garden made waves.

Trump took up Michelle Obama's track record of hosting events emphasizing healthy food and active childhoods by sporting Converse sneakers and a casual plaid shirt.

However, the first lady became a target for critics who tracked down the shirt, which was made by French fashion house Balmain for $1,380.

The casual-but-luxe shirt appeared to be in keeping with the high-end wardrobe she was used to, but with the new consciousness of being officially on display.

In general, her forays into menswear have earned her fashion cred and sparked a theory with Bennett.

Bennett wrote that she suspects there are some patterns to Melania's choices, as with her "theory that when the Trumps are unhappy with each other, Melania wears menswear — because Trump notoriously likes to see women in tight, short, ubersexy and feminine dresses."

The first lady's menswear tendencies didn't go unnoticed throughout her first year in the White House, especially after she chose a suit for her official portrait outfit.

When she wore an actual message, she later denied that a surface-level reading carries any meaning.

The jacket sparked fierce backlash when it was spotted on the first lady's trip to the border amid controversy over the administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy.

Months after the jacket's debut, the first lady said in a candid interview with ABC News that she thought it was "obvious" the jacket's message was not "for the children," but just a jacket "to go on the plane and off the plane."

"I believed, and still do, that the jacket was a facetious jab at Ivanka and her near-constant attempts to attach herself for positive administration talking points,"Bennett wrote.

Bennett also described the first lady's relationship with Ivanka as "cordial, not close," and that her stepdaughter's formal role as a senior adviser "intimidated" Melania.

After nearly two years in the first-lady spotlight, she notably nailed a practical look down to the footwear.

While many critics focused on the stiletto heels she wore to board Marine One at the White House (sparking countless headlines in the process), fewer noticed the first lady changed into a pair of Timberland boots for a visit to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico in October 2017.

More than a year later, Melania sported what appear to be the same pair of boots for a military appearance.

Though the choice seemed like a walk on the practical side for the usually heeled first lady, she yet again sparked criticism for seeming "out of touch," as they were not combat boots.

Insider lifestyle editor Chloe Pantazi wrote that "the backlash over her boots is not warranted."

Melania raised some eyebrows when she took an "almost costume-like" approach to dressing for a safari in Kenya.

Bennett wrote that Melania's October 2018 look, which included jodhpur pants, brown boots, and a pith helmet, seemed straight out of a movie. The outfit also caught the eye of critics, who connected the hat to its roots in colonialism that had invaded the continent, making the outfit a massive miss despite the intention.

A menswear-inspired look ended her tour of Africa with a dramatic flourish.

In a fashion-forward look that prompted comparisons to everything from Michael Jackson to Carmen Sandiego, the first lady made a bold appearance on her own in front of the press to tie up her time in Africa. The outfit could have been an effort to not be outdone by the ancient wonders around her, or a definitively bold image to underline her first solo trip abroad.

But since the first lady and her staff are notoriously mum on any hidden messages behind Melania's clothing choices, we may never really know for sure.

• House Democrats are poised to reintroduce a bill updating economic growth is measured.
• The "Measuring Real Income Growth Act" calls for "broadening the focus beyond GDP" when assessing economic growth.
• Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer plans to reintroduce the bill soon, the New York Times reported Sunday. The senator likened the current economic measurement tools to "still using a black-and-white television."
• The legislation calls for the release of distributional data alongside GDP updates, allowing Americans to see which income groups reap the greatest rewards from economic expansion.
• Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.

House Democrats are set to reintroduce a bill updating how the US economy is measured — one intended to give Americans a look at who wins most when the economy grows.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York's 12th District, calls for "broadening the focus beyond [gross domestic product]" when describing economic growth. Real GDP grew more than 3% annually from 2003 to 2005, yet the average income for half of individuals in the US fell over the same period, the bill said.

"In a country of 325,000,000 individuals, top-line GDP numbers do not capture the full range of household economic experiences and may be misleading," the bill's author wrote.

Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer plans to reintroduce the bill soon, the New York Times reported Sunday. The legislation calls for the release of distributional data alongside GDP updates, giving economists greater clarity around who reaps the greatest share of economic expansion. The new report would reveal the dollar amount of economic expansion in each of the 10 deciles of income and the highest 1% of income.

"The government is still using a black-and-white television," Schumer told The Times. "We gotta catch up, so we get a more accurate picture."

Economists at the Commerce Department have been looking into ways to measure the distribution of total personal income by different income groups. The Bureau of Economic Analysis plans to release prototypes of the new metrics by the end of 2020, according to an online statement.

Gross domestic product has long been criticized for its simplicity and inability to measure key factors like sustainability concerns or a rapidly expanding service sector. The statistic also glosses over quality-of-life shifts, obscuring the US's significant wealth gap, the bill notes.

"Efforts to address slow wage growth, stagnant incomes, and growing economic inequality require broadening the focus beyond GDP and obtaining metrics that better correspond to the experiences of all families in the United States," the bill says.

The bill's short title is the "Measuring Real Income Growth Act" and is cosponsored by 22 other Democratic representatives.

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NOW WATCH: A big-money investor in juggernauts like Facebook and Netflix breaks down the '3rd wave' firms that are leading the next round of tech disruption

• The evolution of red and green as Christmas colors is a convoluted story.
• According to Arielle Eckstut, the coauthor of "The Secret Language of Color," both nature and Coca-Cola had a hand in shaping that history.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Following is a transcript of the video.

Arielle Eckstut: So there is no definitive history of the colors of Christmas. It's not like one day red and green were declared the colors. There's a long history, and a kind of convoluted one, behind it.

I'm Arielle Eckstut, and I am the co-author of "The Secret Language of Color."

What's most interesting about the red and green color combination of Christmas is that it's a combination of the beauty of nature and the crassness of commerce that come together to solidify the image of these two colors in our collective mind.

So first, let's talk about nature. And when we think about Christmas and colder climates, we think about holly trees and those beautiful bright-red berries against the green foliage of the tree. And there's a long history of holly and its associations with humans, including it being the crown of thorns for Jesus. So around the holiday time, because holly is the one bright thing in the environment in colder climates, nature has given us it as a symbol, and pagans used it, and to this day we still think of holly as associated with Christmas.

The Victorians are often associated with the red and green of Christmas. But if you go back and look, for example, at Victorian Christmas cards, you're not just going to see red and green — you're gonna see red and blue, blue and green, blue and white, all different palettes. Yes, some red and green, but not dominating the landscape.

If you look at Santa Claus during Victorian times, you're also not going to see him depicted in red robes that we associate now.  Then Santa sort of takes a leap in the early part of the 20th century, and we see lots of different artists depicting him in red robes. And he becomes a jollier, fatter figure than he ever was before. Then we get to about 1931, I believe, and Coca-Cola hires an artist named Haddon Sundblom to depict Santa Claus. And we see this incredibly fat, jolly, red-cheeked fellow with these big red-and-white robes. Again, he's not the first person to do it, but Coca-Cola uses this ad as its big Christmas campaign, and it's seen all around the United States. And this is when we really start to see the colors of red and green defined as the colors of Christmas.

So it's kind of a combination of nature, with those red berries and green foliage, and commerce, Coca-Cola with the bright red robes and the green foliage in the background of the ads, that solidifies in our imagination these colors.

This video was originally published on December 20, 2017.

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• I tested a 2020 Kia Telluride, a three-row SUV that in top-spec SX trim came out to $47,310.
• The Kia Telluride had a fantastic naturally aspirated V6 under the hood.
• The Telluride was also crammed with tech, including an extremely capable adaptive-cruise-control option with steering assist.
• The Kia Telluride impressed me at all levels and represents a fantastic value for the SUV segment.
• Sign up for Business Insider's transportation newsletter, Shifting Gears, to get more stories like this in your inbox.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

It was déjà vu all over again — in a Kia!

About two years ago, I buckled into a Kia Stinger, and when I unbuckled, I told my colleagues I'd just driven Business Insider's 2018 Car of the Year. Eleven months later, the Stinger did indeed take the prize. (Hey, I love a bold prediction!)

Lightning strikes twice. I just unbuckled from a 2020 Kia Telluride and I'm here to tell you: It's a contender.

We have a year to go before we name the 2020 Car of the Year, but I'm pretty sure the Telluride will be near the top of my list.

For now, I'll simply say that this is the best three-row SUV that not a lot of money can buy.

Here are the details.

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The Kia Telluride I tested was the 2020 model year of the new three-row SUV, outfitted in "everlasting silver."

The Telluride, Kia's largest vehicle, is a necessary addition to the lineup in the SUV-mad USA.

My tester was crammed with technology and, in the SX trim, was the most premium offering, interior-wise, that Kia sells. But the platform is pretty straightforward: three rows, a naturally aspirated V6 making 291 ponies, and a smooth, brisk eight-speed transmission.

By the way, get a load of those groovy orange fog lamps in the headlight clusters!

The Telluride is a handsome SUV that wears its size well. I also rather liked the 20-inch alloy wheels, in black, which filled the wheel arches and gave the impression of larger spinners.

With few exceptions, nobody buys an SUV for looks. Even if one does, it's because that person wants a rugged Jeep or Land Rover Defender or Mercedes G-Wagon or some such.

Otherwise, SUVs are big boxes with four wheels, four doors, and giant hatchbacks.

The Kia Telluride handles the constraints of this limited form as well as it can. The vehicle is sharp, but it isn't flamboyant or weird. It fits right into the suburban fleet.

The weakest part of any SUV design is the rear end. But that's not the designer's fault. There's only so much one can do with an upswinging barn door.

Telluride is, of course, an upscale ski town in Colorado. It was a bold decision for Kia to co-opt the implicit branding — but the vehicle comes through!

The Telluride's interior isn't luxurious, but it isn't mass-market. For most consumers, it's pure Goldilocks: Just right.

The multifunction steering wheel provides access to Kia's semi-self-driving system, which adds autosteer to adaptive cruise control and a suite of driver-assist features.

I sampled the "smart" cruise control and found it to be just as good as everything else on the market, including 90% of Tesla Autopilot. The Telluride smoothly steered itself into freeways curves, and while it's certainly not a hands-free technology, it relieved some stress on my 200-mile round-trip journey.

The black interior featured brushed metal details and expanses of beautiful wood-grain trim.

Three-row SUVs are, on one level, an alternative to minivans. As a former minivan owner, I get it and I don't. Minivans do everything better. But the Telluride does three rows as well as I've seen in an SUV.

With the third row deployed, the Telluride has 21 cubic feet of cargo space. That's OK, but, as with most three-row SUVs, a bit meager given the passenger-to-luggage-to-cargo-space ratio that this type of vehicle usually confronts.

The maximum cargo capacity, however, is almost 90 cubic feet.

The dual moonroof is becoming a standard thing on the higher trim levels of SUVs. For a vehicle as big as the Telluride, it prevents the cabin from taking on a cave-like gloom.

The all-motor (no turbos!) V6 communicated blissfully with the eight-speed automatic and the all-wheel-drive system.

The drive modes are comfort, eco, sport, and smart. I used smart the most, but also sport, which extracts more instantaneous pep from the V6.

A word about that V6. Naturally aspirated motors are vanishing, as manufacturers look to combine performance and fuel economy with punchy turbo fours. But I love me a V6! The power delivery is direct and always engaging, and combined with the Telluride's compliant ride (for an SUV), noise isolation, and overall comfort, it makes for a delightful freeway experience.

Fuel economy was also pretty decent, if not remarkable: 19 mpg city/24 highway/21 combined.

Kia is selling what I consider one of the top infotainment systems on the market. The 10-inch central touchscreen is nearly perfect, and the use of old-school buttons, knobs, and switches is welcome.

The system integrates device-pairing, Bluetooth, and navigation. It also offers a dedicated charging port (distinct from the USB data interface), as well as wireless inductive charging.

The verdict is that I can't think of a single good reason to tell you NOT to run right out and buy a Kia Telluride if you need three rows and don't want a minivan.

If you want to go bare-bones, the Kia Telluride can be had for about $32,000.

That still gets you AWD and the V6, so, therefore, is a monumental bargain.

My test vehicle was the top SX trim level and consequently optioned within an inch of its automotive life. The uptick in price was $15,000, much of which was worth it, though the only extras offered for this trim were stuff like Nappa leather seat trim and a head-up display, as well as second-row seats that were heated and cooled. The damage: $2,000.

This SUV was as close to perfect at its price point as possible, if you ask me. I noticed but one "problem": a bit of buzz from the 291-horsepower engine under hard acceleration in sport mode. But just a bit. And it went away once the Telluride's transmission automatically snicked into the overdrive gears.

I'll just say it: When Hyundai and Kia arrived in the US market, they didn't make a Japanese impression. The Japanese brands gained instant cred decades ago when their well-built and fuel-efficient cars put Detroit on notice. The South Koreans entered the fray after the Japanese impact had been felt, leaving price as the only real avenue to competition.

So first impressions were that the cars were cheap, sticker-wise and quality-wise. Heavy-duty 10-year/100,000-mile warranties took the fear away from buyers.

But now Kia (and Hyundai and the premium Genesis brand) has shown it can offer great value alongside wonderful quality. The Telluride, along with the Stinger sports sedan, is the pinnacle of this. The Kia SUV is every bit as good and in some ways superior to the Honda Pilot.

The real test of such vehicles is the road trip, with family and gear and perhaps a pet or two. I didn't have any of those things handy, but I did undertake a nearly 200-mile round-trip jaunt in the Telluride from suburban New Jersey to a small town in Pennsylvania to visit the C. F. Martin & Co. guitar factory. And while I didn't load up the cargo area with guitars, I did get to spend quality time with the Telluride on a variety of roadways, with a nasty storm coming in from the west.

By the end of it, I was ready to march over to a Kia dealership and buy one of these things.

OK, I don't HAVE to do that. But the Telluride put me in that mindset, just as the Stinger did a while back.

Kia, I gotta hand it to ya: You're killing it, and the Telluride is the latest victory.