Kevin O’Leary recently raised a stink when he suggested that young people save money rather than spend it on dining out. More specifically, he said, “Can’t stand it when I see kids who are making 70 grand a year spending $28 for lunch. I mean, that’s just stupid. Think about that in the context of that being put into an index and making 8-10% a year for the next 50 years.” Predictably, the internet was not pleased. Replies variously blamed boomers for making things up, boomers for driving up the cost of lunch, and boomers for destroying the economy through inflation. Which, okay, whatever. The cause isn’t really germane to his point, which is that reality exists, and the reality of spending a bunch of money on slop bowls makes it hard to save and build wealth. It also overlooks the fact that it’s really easy to cook simple meals and pack them in a lunchbox. Failing that, a used Walmart bag or even just a Tupperware dish will suffice. Seriously, you don’t need to eat a mediocre $15 burrito bowl every day to survive, particularly when you could, you know, make your own burrito bowl for much cheaper. People eating out every day are not living it up, ordering a steak and a few martinis. They’re grabbing good enough food and eating at their desks, depositing a disgusting amount of crumbs in their keyboards as they pretend to pay attention to meetings. Mr. Wonderful is right to call them out. He’s trying to help. He’s making a very valid point about spending. Let’s round down and extrapolate some numbers to prove his point. Perhaps $28 is a little high. One can eat inside Cava and tip for around $20. Let’s go on the low end and assume that someone works 47 weeks per year after vacation and holidays. That’s 235 days per year, which means spending would be $4,700 annually. With just one year of brown bagging it, that would produce a return of $376. As such, bring on the avocado toast! But, actually, the thing about investing is that it isn’t gambling. You have to set it and forget it. By the end of year 50, that $4,700 would be around $221,000, and that’s only investing once. If you invested that $100 a week for 47 weeks per year for 50 years into an index earning 8%, by the end of year 50, you’d have something in the neighborhood of $2.8 million. You know what you can afford a lot of with $2.8 million? Granted, you would still have to spend on food, so let’s look at how much it would cost per week to make your own slop bowls. You’ll want some protein. As of this exact moment, boneless, skinless chicken thighs in my area are going for $3.72/pound. Three pounds will cover five days, so we’re sitting at roughly $12 after tax. Throw in a 32-ounce bag of rice, and you’re up to $14. Add a few avocados at $0.60 each, and you’re up to $16. A few cans of black beans will add around $4. So, for roughly the price of one meal in Cava, you’ve got a week’s worth of bowls. It’s pretty Spartan, though, bordering on subsistence living. So, let’s kick it up a notch, because this isn’t hard. Ovens exist. Skillets exist. Air fryers and Instant Pots exist. The internet exists. AI can be used for more than ridiculous memes and videos designed to fool boomers. I asked ChatGPT, for example, to put together a monthly meal prep plan based on Cava, Chipotle, and Sweet Green, including all ingredients and recipes. The costs jump up to $50 a week, but look at how easily this can be done and how much you can save to put in that index fund. Of course, there are also peanut butter sandwiches and Ruffles, a meal I often took to my first corporate job. Tuna fish with fresh lemon, an avocado with salt, lemon, and hot sauce, and fresh cucumber slices with salt and lemon juice is another meal I’ve eaten many times while sitting at a desk. A grilled chicken breast can be substituted for the tuna. Crackers are optional for both. Nice meals out are nice. They’re a treat for times when you’re craving something that doesn’t make sense to make because there are too many inputs, like an Italian sub. Or they’re for a celebration. Or because first dates usually don’t want to come to your house. Eating out isn’t a requirement for living; eating is. So, instead of getting mad at O’Leary for reminding you that you’re not an oligarch, stack that paper and work on becoming one. Did Bernie Sanders stop at complaining about millionaires and billionaires? No, he kept working until he was a millionaire so he could save words and focus on billionaires. If Bernie can do it, including bragging that he’s “pretty good on the grill,” so can you. Now get out there and start shopping, just make sure you pay for everything. *** Rich Cromwell is a writer living in Northwest Arkansas. He produces the Cookin’ Up a Story podcast, which you can listen to here. You can also follow him on X: @rcromwell4.

“Top Gun: Maverick” star Miles Teller explained this week why he avoided profile interviews for more than a decade. The 39-year-old star said it all traces back to writer Anna Peele from Esquire calling him a “d*ck” in her piece. “That was so mishandled,” Teller told IndieWire in Cannes as he promoted his upcoming film, “Paper Tiger.” “The reason why I have not done profiles is because I said, ‘Wow, if I’m not doing this interview on camera, this person can misquote things or put things out of order or say things that didn’t happen.’ It felt like such a violation of what actually transpired.” The 2015 Esquire profile in question opened with the line, “You’re sitting across from Miles Teller at the Luminary restaurant in Atlanta and trying to figure out if he’s a d*ck.” Later, Peele concludes, “yeah, he is kind of a d*ck,” claiming Teller compared a highball glass to his genitals and generally acted arrogant during their conversation.  Teller said the whole experience was enough to turn him off to profile interviews completely.  “I told my team, ‘Guys, I don’t think I’m doing this again, because I’m reading this and this doesn’t sound like me to me. This is not life, so why would I ever want to be a part of something where they can just put that in?’” he continued. “So it’s unfortunate that being a good person, that doesn’t sell. People want to click on the negativity. If you go to bed and put your head on your pillow and how you treat people truly, that’s what matters. That [2015] interview was like 12 years ago.” Teller said that in the end, “the actors, the directors, the crew and the producers” know the real him because, “you can’t hide who you are when you’re on set.” The “Whiplash” star also reacted to the Esquire piece right after it came out, posting on social media, “Esquire couldn’t be more wrong. I don’t think there’s anything cool or entertaining about being a d*ck or an a**hole. Very misrepresenting.” One year later, he addressed the incident during a conversation with The Guardian in 2016. “Oh, I felt frickin’ helpless, I felt extremely misrepresented, I felt a little angry,” he told the outlet. “For the average person, they are reading this article, they haven’t met you, they’re like, ‘Oh Miles is an a**hole. You didn’t hear it? You didn’t read that Esquire? Yeah, she said he was an a**hole – he must be!’ “I’d say that you get a little more guarded but I’m actually not,” Teller added. “Certain times I’ll choose my words very carefully and maybe come off a little more boring. But I also think that’s why people – certain people – do relate to me: because there is no agenda, honestly. I was raised middle-class in a small town. I have all my same friends from high school. I’m close with my family. I’m dating a normal girl. So I want to feel people think I’m a man of the people. Because I feel that way.”

This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you. *** RSVP like you mean it, y’all, because it’s wedding season. But this year, standing by your bestie as she says “I do” comes with a soul-crushing price tag. Grab a bottle of Veuve and get ready for a shocking lesson in “girl math.”  Just like Kristen Wiig’s character in “Bridesmaids,” “I’m excited, and I feel relaxed, and I’m ready to parrrrrr-tayyyyyy!” The economy’s sluggish, and people are less likely to get married, but the $100 billion wedding industry in the U.S. continues to thrive.  Roughly 2 million couples tied the knot in 2025, with 77% of those who said the economy affected their plans claiming they spent more, not less. Apparently, “something borrowed” refers to all the cash in the wedding party’s savings accounts.  These days, the average wedding costs $36,000, but it’s not surprising to see couples shell out $100,000 or more for the party of the year. Allison Cullman, vice president of marketing for wedding planning site Zola, blames extravagant spending on the limitless inspiration of social media. Decades before, brides were stuck with “wedding magazines and binders.”  With high-profile nuptials from stars like Lainey Wilson already on the books for #WeddingSzn26, and Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s semi-secret ceremony likely to flood social media in July, there’s a cultural script to go big or go home when it comes to the big bash.  As Kansas City Chiefs co-owner Clark Hunt’s daughter Gracie Hunt recently revealed via Instagram, every detail matters. The billionaire heiress invited 14 bridesmaids to participate in her upcoming wedding. We can assume Hunt and Co. covered the fresh flowers, catering, personalized bubbly, and Sugarfina champagne gummy bears. But the rest of the #BrideTribe probably spent significant dough on floral tea dresses, matching clutches, hair, makeup, and party heels.     View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Gracie Hunt (@graciehunt) “There is something so special about being surrounded by women who make you feel stronger, wiser, softer, and closer to Jesus just by knowing them,” Gracie posted. “My heart is overwhelmingly grateful for each of these friendships and the gift of getting to do life together.” It’s a blindingly beautiful message. But logistically, these warm fuzzies come at a price. For those who might not be funded by an heiress bride, the cost of entry into this bridal supporting cast is astronomical compared to the estimated $610 to be a regular wedding guest.  This is the reality. Bridesmaids throw down on dresses, shoes, shapewear, jewelry, alterations, bachelorette blowouts, travel, lodging, spray tans, and Instagrammable looks for the wedding weekend. All-in, the bridesmaid life can cost anywhere from $1,500 to $5,000 per wedding. The tally only rises from there for destination ceremonies, bachelorette vacations, plus-ones, and babysitters. And don’t forget to peep those bridal shower and wedding registries. Waterford crystal flutes don’t buy themselves. Add to that the potential emotional cost of a viral wardrobe malfunction during the reception entrance, like the bridesmaid who did “The Worm” in a dress she may never want to show her face in again. This is your gift for agreeing to give 100% support with zero decision-making ability regarding the festivities. “I cannot believe I have to walk down the aisle in front of 200 people looking like something you drink when you’re nauseous,” Rachel said on “Friends” while dressed in a Pepto-colored tulle disaster of a bridesmaid’s dress. Pay up, girl. You wouldn’t want your BFF4EVR to catch wind that you aren’t in it to win it. Even when your eyes are wide open, surprise expenditures add up fast. “My total costs ended up being $3,500 at the end of the year after a bunch of events (that I didn’t know I had to pay for) and keeping up with the bougie tastes of the other bridesmaids,” noted one reluctant wedding attendant. “I sincerely regret saying yes because I ended up being extremely stressed over money all the time (I was not making much then).” Someone else spelled out the truth for everyone but the newlyweds when they wrote, “While your wedding might be the most important day of your life, it’s not the most important day for everyone else.”  There’s an emotional cost as well since you weren’t invited to be a bridesmaid for nothing. Maybe you were best friends as kids, you held each other’s hair after college parties, or you cried with each other through heartbreak. Can you put a price on hurt feelings or strained friendships after declining a bridesmaid proposal? And there’s the inevitable knife to the gut when you see the #LoveAtFirstSwipe and #BrideOrDie carousels on Instagram, minus you. It’s even worse if several different friends are getting hitched in the same year. Still, despite the social pressure to say yes to the financial mess, some would-be bridesmaids are unapologetically saying “no thanks” to the gig.  “We need to normalize saying no to being people’s bridesmaids,” one maid of honor posted to TikTok. “This is hard work … it’s okay to assess whether you can do it.” One Redditor wished they had spoken up before being subjected to an over-the-top bridesmaid proposal. “I really felt forced to say yes because I was handed a box of goodies including a personalized wine glass, and asked at the same time as others, in front of a room full of people,” they said. “It [was] so not me, I was really bummed that my friend didn’t know me well enough not to ask me like that.” “Being in someone’s wedding is much more expensive than simply attending,” Chicago-based wedding planner, Kia Marie, says. “It can cost $4,000 or $5,000 or more, between the dress, the makeup, the bachelorette party, travel expenses, staying in a hotel for multiple days — that’s not money that anyone should take lightly.” Hey … [Repeatedly taps a fork on a wine glass] … before this all ends in shredded peonies and a shattered champagne tower at some Airbnb villa in the South of France, can we agree to bring normal weddings back? We’re trying to get good people hitched, not gatekeep marriage for the .01%.  Here comes everyone to tell us they got married in a trash bag in the alleyway behind the courthouse for $18 and they’ve been happily married for 90 years. (Okay, maybe that’s not for everyone.) But a 70% increase in elopements shows more couples are going for intentional, personal, and often more affordable weddings.  Others are skipping the formal ceremony in favor of relaxed parties (and exchanging rings privately). Potluck buffets, dual-purpose engagement-to-wedding bands, and bespoke cakes all signal smaller wedding day budgets — and savings that get passed down to bridesmaids-turned-guests of honor.  If all goes well, the whole crew gets to spend a day celebrating the ultimate commitment between two of their favorite people. And pretend like they’re hearing “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri at a wedding for the very first time, till death do us part.

This Saturday, AB Hernandez will compete at the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) state preliminaries, one more win away from the state finals. The girls lining up beside him have trained for years for this moment. Some of them have been training their whole lives. And the thing that strikes me is that I know exactly what it feels like to watch that work become irrelevant because an institution decided it did not matter. Hernandez is fresh from a clean sweep in all three jumping events at the CIF Southern Section finals, winning the high jump, long jump, and triple jump against the top girls in Southern California. Photos of the medal ceremony went viral, and you can see why. The CIF implemented a “pilot program” that awarded any female athlete who finished behind Hernandez a one-spot promotion, meaning some girls shared the podium’s top spot with him; two first-place plaques were awarded for one first-place finish. California’s solution to the male athletic advantage is not to address the advantage. It is to redefine the word “winner.” Here is what that pilot program cannot fix. It cannot give back to the girls who finished 2nd through 4th their actual placement. It cannot give the girl who would have placed first a solo podium moment she earned. It cannot undo the fact that Hernandez, a high school student competing in a California sectional meet, posted results that would have medaled in two events at the 1960 OLYMPICS. His long jump of 20’4.75″ converts to 6.22 meters. The bronze medal at Rome that year went to a woman who jumped 6.21. His high jump of 1.78 meters places him above the mark that earned a silver medal among the best female athletes on the planet. A kid competing at a California high school track meet is clearing marks that would have put him on an Olympic podium against some of the greatest women in the history of the sport. These are not girls’ high school results. They are elite women’s Olympic results, being posted against teenagers in a sectional final. No participation trophy reshuffles that math. It is time to be honest about what happened to my teammates and me on the University of Pennsylvania swim team, and what is happening now to girls in California who have no more power to change it than we did. We were told that men in women’s sports was non-negotiable. These girls are being told the same thing, just with nicer packaging. A co-championship ribbon is still a consolation prize. Calling it “equity” does not change what it is. Governor Gavin Newsom’s office put out a statement last week calling the outcry from distressed parents a “cynical attempt to weaponize this debate as an excuse to vilify individual kids.” The people holding “Save Girls’ Sports” signs at that meet are not there because they want to vilify anyone. They are there because their daughters trained through 5 a.m. practices, sacrificed weekends, and poured years into a shot at a podium that is now being handed to someone with a Y chromosome. That is not vilification. That is a mother at a track meet, watching her daughter lose something real, and being told by the governor of California that the problem is her attitude. California passed Assembly Bill 1266 in 2013 and has had over a decade to watch exactly what happens when male athletes compete in female divisions. The results are not ambiguous. The CIF preliminaries are this Saturday. If Hernandez advances, the state finals begin May 29 in Clovis. Every girl in those jumping events has a name, a personal record, and a coach who believed in her. None of them chose to compete in this situation. None of them has a governor going to bat for them. What they have is a “pilot program” and a shared podium, and the quiet, maddening knowledge that the institution responsible for protecting their competitive opportunities decided that was good enough. It is not good enough. It was not good enough for my competitors and me when we were forced to compete alongside an elite biological male, and it is not good enough in California. They just keep finding new girls to lie to. *** Paula Scanlan is a senior fellow at American Principles Project and a former member of the UPenn women’s swim team.

Billy Joel is not happy about the upcoming biopic “Billy and Me” and says it’s being made without his permission. “Billy and Me” is told from the perspective of Joel’s first manager, Irwin Mazur, and details the time before he became famous with the release of the 1973 iconic single “Piano Man.” Per Variety, casting is currently underway, and the film is scheduled to start shooting later this year. The moviemakers procured rights to Mazur’s life story and to that of drummer Jon Small, who played with Joel in the bands The Hassles and Attila. But they do not have the rights to Joel’s music or life.  A statement from Joel’s rep said, “Since 2021, the parties involved have been officially notified that they do not possess Billy Joel’s life rights and will not be able to secure the music rights required for this project. Billy Joel has not authorized or supported this project in any capacity, and any attempt to move forward without it would be both legally and professionally misguided.”  Film producer Adam Ripp told Variety in reply to the statement, “The story of ‘Billy and Me’ is told from the perspective of Billy’s manager at the time, Irwin Mazur, and features Billy’s lifelong friend and former drummer Jon Small. The project has acquired the exclusive life story rights of Irwin Mazur, as well as the life story rights of Jon Small.” “‘Billy and Me’ focuses on the period surrounding Billy Joel and The Hassles, and features the cover songs performed by them during that era,” he added. “As such, characterizing ‘Billy and Me’ as ‘legally and professionally misguided’ does not accurately reflect the nature of the project nor the legally obtained rights underlying the production. The film is based on Irwin Mazur and Jon Small’s firsthand experiences and Irwin’s legitimate right to tell his own life story and perspective regarding the events depicted in the film.” The film will likely delve into the story of Joel’s first wife, Elizabeth Weber, the inspiration for his hit singles, “She’s Always a Woman” and “Just the Way You Are.”  Weber was married to Small and had an affair with Joel. During a career decline, Joel became depressed and attempted suicide, as he discussed in the HBO documentary, “And So It Goes.” Small found Joel after one of the attempts and brought him to the hospital.  Joel and Small became friends again, and he and Weber also repaired their relationship. They married in 1973, and she became his manager, then divorced in 1982. The Grammy Award-winning singer has been married to his fourth wife, Alexis Roderick, since 2015.