Day: October 22, 2025

• A mother an daughter chose to stay in California rather than Texas after discovering Silverwood.
• Silverwood offers affordable, multigenerational living with amenities like parks and trails.
• The community promotes neighborly interaction and requires a kindness pledge from residents.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Tracy Smith, 67, and Clair Mattig-Smith, 42, a mother and daughter who had plans to move from California to Texas for a more affordable and intentional lifestyle. However, they decided to stay in the Golden State after visiting Silverwood, a new affordable living, multigenerational community in Hesperia, where they bought a home earlier this year.

Clair: We’re mother and daughter, and we’re both widows. We’re from California originally, but my mom had been living in Arizona for the last couple of years.

I didn’t want my mom to be alone there, so a few years ago, I said to her: Why don’t you sell your house, come live with me and my kids (24, 21, 18, and 13) for a bit, and then we’ll just move to Texas together.

Tracy: I didn’t really care where we lived; I’m not picky. But the idea of having a multigenerational homefront where we’re all together was so nice. It’s amazing to watch my grandkids grow from babies into adulthood.

Clair: I always liked to vacation in Texas. I feel like life in general is a little slower there than it is here in California.

It feels like there’s more of a sense of community in Texas. People know their neighbors, whereas in California, I feel really disconnected. I only know one of my neighbors, and I’ve lived in my current house for the last six years.

Affordability was another factor. We really were planning to move to Texas, but that obviously didn’t happen.

We fell in love with Silverwood right away

Clair: I had heard rumblings that a new development was coming to the high desert area about 15 minutes from where we currently live in Apple Valley.

I was scrolling on social media earlier this year, and I saw a local news story about Silverwood’s grand opening. We decided to go take a look.

Tracy: As soon as we drove up the road to the property, we could see that they were paying great attention to details and aesthetics. The neighborhood looked open and clean with beautiful pools and hiking trails. We knew right away that Silverwood would be a really nice place to live.

Clair: During our visit in April, we toured 21 available home models. But the minute we walked into the model we ended up buying, we just knew. We fell in love with our home, and that was it.

The downstairs has a great open floor plan. There’s also a bedroom downstairs with a bathroom, so my mom doesn’t have to go up and down stairs.

When we saw the kitchen, we looked at each other and just fell in love. I’m a big cook and I love to entertain, especially during football season. The kitchen is fabulous with a giant island and a butler’s pantry. There’s bar seating at the center island that can easily fit 14 people.

The base price with no upgrades was $575,000, but we upgraded just about everything we could, so our final price was $642,000 for a 6-bedroom, 3-bathroom house at 2,800 square feet.

That’s a pretty incredible price for California, but to be quite honest, we could have gotten the same house in Texas on a couple acres of land for close to half the price.

But we like California. We’ve been here all our lives. Silverwood is 100% the only reason we decided to stay in the state.

We started paperwork that same day. Silverwood did have some stipulations — they wouldn’t even talk to anyone who wasn’t pre-approved with a lender or realtor. But Silverwood’s sales agent was fantastic. They pre-qualified us that day.

Our final walk through is this week. We sign final papers on October 27, and then we’ll move in the next day.

The intentional community aspect of Silverwood is great

Tracy: They’re doing so many things to enhance residents’ lifestyles. There are outdoor activities like parks and hiking trails, entertainment options, and best of all, camaraderie with your neighbors.

Clair: Even though we haven’t moved in yet — nobody has — they’re already getting us all together to promote a sense of community.

Tracy: The neighborhood welcome center has already been developed. There are green spaces and parks and hiking trails and sidewalks for us.

They have a 15-year map of future development, and down the line, we’ll have our own schools and a shopping center.

They even held a neighbor get-together a few weeks ago. I went and introduced myself to several people who have already bought or are on the waiting list to buy. Kids were running around playing with their parents, there were families, and older couples. I got smiles all around. It was so lovely.

The community aspect gives me a reason to get out of the house and mingle as a retired person.

Clair: In order to become a Silverwood resident, you have to sign a kindness pledge. I think that sort of thing is much needed in today’s society.

Growing up, I knew every neighbor on the street. That’s just not the case anymore.

I think Silverwood’s intentional sense of community will eliminate a lot of the negativity we see in other areas of life and encourage people to get out and actually interact with one another.

Multigenerational living has its pros and cons

Clair: Mom and I have been living together for the last two-and-a-half years. There are so many benefits: I have someone to come home to when I get off work, plus extra assistance around the house. I work all week about an hour away, and I’m lucky that she picks up my slack and helps with the kids. If there are dishes in the sink or laundry in the basket, she takes care of it.

Tracy: At my age, I want to be useful and help whoever needs my help in any way I can.

I’m lucky too. When she comes home from work every night, she cooks for us all. I love that about her.

Clair: It’s a delicate balance! My kids and I are loud, and we’re constantly on the go. My mom, on the other hand, is quiet and likes her peace.

Tracy: There are always dynamics to deal with, but at the end of the day, love wins. Both sides have to make compromises, but we’re willing to do that.

We’re just so excited to start this next chapter. I feel so lucky to get to enjoy the last quarter of my life with my family.

• Egan-Jones partly backed Elon Musk’s $1 trillion Tesla pay plan, breaking with other proxy firms.
• The advisor said Musk’s payout aligns with performance but warned of governance and equity risks.
• Tesla’s chair urged investors to “vote yes to robots” and reject “robotic” advice from proxy firms.

A third major proxy advisor has weighed in on Elon Musk‘s proposed $1 trillion Tesla pay package, giving it a partial thumbs up, but with some serious caveats.

Egan-Jones Proxy Services said it would recommend shareholders vote for the 2025 CEO Performance Award, but only under its “Wealth-Focus Policy,” which prioritizes shareholder returns and pay-for-performance alignment.

Under all its other policy frameworks, including ones focused on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles and broader corporate accountability, the firm urged investors to vote against the deal.

The split stance makes Egan-Jones the first major proxy firm to partly back Musk’s record-breaking compensation plan, setting it apart from Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, which both told Tesla shareholders to reject it outright.

A plan entirely built on performance

Under the wealth-focused framework, Egan-Jones argued Musk’s massive potential payout is justified because it’s fully tied to performance.

To unlock the full $1 trillion, Tesla would have to hit 12 operational milestones, including reaching an $8.5 trillion market capitalization, generating $400 billion in adjusted earnings, delivering 20 million vehicles, and reaching 10 million active Full Self-Driving subscriptions.

“If Mr. Musk fails to meet the specified milestones, he will receive nothing,” Egan-Jones wrote in its analysis.

“If he succeeds, both Mr. Musk and shareholders stand to benefit significantly,” it said.

The firm estimated that, if all targets are met, Tesla shareholders‘ stock value could rise by about 800% over 10 years.

Governance and fairness concerns

But under its other policies — the Blended, ESG, Catholic, and Taft-Hartley policies — Egan-Jones flagged major governance and fairness risks.

These policies are designed for investors who value strong corporate oversight, equitable pay, and social responsibility alongside profits.

The firm cautioned that if Musk hits every target, his total ownership could climb to 28.8%, potentially giving him greater control over Tesla and reducing other shareholders’ influence on company decisions.

It also pointed to the massive gap between Musk’s potential earnings and employee pay, saying that if his proposed equity stake were shared evenly among Tesla’s 125,000 workers, each would receive about $8 million in stock.

Egan-Jones said that such a vast disparity could eventually hurt morale and pose long-term risks to Tesla’s workforce and reputation.

Those concerns echoed warnings from the other proxy firms.

ISS said Musk’s plan could undermine shareholder rights and governance standards, while Glass Lewis called it “excessively dilutive,” arguing Musk could earn billions in stock awards even if he hits just one of the 12 performance tranches.

Tesla fired back — and its chair stepped in

Tesla has fiercely disputed the proxy firms’ criticism, calling their analyses “misguided” and “robotic.”

In a series of posts on X this week, the company accused ISS and Glass Lewis of relying on “one-size-fits-all checklists” that ignore Tesla’s unique business model and history of defying industry norms.

Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm doubled down in an open letter to shareholders, which Tesla shared on X on Tuesday, urging them to “vote yes to robots, and reject robotic voting.”

She said ISS and Glass Lewis use a “simplistic, one-size-fits-all framework” that can’t assess a company as unconventional as Tesla, and argued that Musk’s 2025 play plan is meant to “supercharge Tesla’s next phase of exceptional growth and value creation.”

“Elon gets nothing unless shareholders enjoy exceptional investment returns,” Denholm wrote.

She dismissed concerns that the plan would shrink existing investors’ stakes, saying the package should be seen as “an investment, not dilution,” since shareholders would only give up value if Tesla’s market capitalization grows more than sevenfold.

Denholm closed by challenging investors to make a choice: “If you prefer that Tesla turn into just another car company mired in the ways of the past, then you should follow ISS and Glass Lewis.”

But if you believe in Tesla, “under the visionary leadership of Elon,” she added, “then you should vote with Tesla.”

• Gen Z buyers are driving a surge in Cartier watch sales on the secondary market, a new report said.
• Cartier’s share of Gen Z purchases on watch marketplace Chrono24 rose over the last seven years.
• Some young investors look at luxury watches as assets.

Gen Z watch lovers are all about Cartier right now.

The luxury brand’s Swiss-made watches are hot commodities among Gen Z buyers on the secondary market, according to a new report by watch marketplace Chrono24 and publication Fratello that was shared with Business Insider.

Cartier’s share of the total purchases by Gen Z on Chrono24 rose from 1.7% to 6.8% over a seven-year period as of the first half of 2025, according to the report.

That share outpaces the brand’s overall growth on the site during the same period.

Three models are driving the interest from Gen Z: the entry-level Tank, the sportier Santos, and the dressy Panthère.

The Tank is often considered an entry point to Cartier’s luxurious offerings, with a starting retail price of around $3,500. New Santos and Panthère lines, depending on the material, can easily go for well over $10,000.

Cartier didn’t respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Dress watches overall are having a moment among young adults. The report describes them as smaller in size, often in gold, and paired with a leather strap — more elegant than the rugged look of stainless steel sports watches. Cartier’s Tank model, for example, often comes with a leather band in an array of sizes.

Gen Z’s interest in secondhand dress watches is stronger than any other demographic, the report said, with 12% of all watch purchases during the first half of 2025 being dress watches.

These days, luxury watches are more than fashion statements. One recent study found that high-end watches can appeal to investors seeking to diversify their portfolios with potentially lower-risk investments.

Pop icon Taylor Swift also appears to be a fan of Cartier. The singer was spotted wearing a Cartier Santos Demoiselle in her engagement announcement photos in August.

Chrono24 said in August that searches for the Cartier Santos Demoiselle surged 2000% in the two days after Swift’s engagement compared with the days before.

The report’s findings show it’s more than Swift’s star power driving the interest in Cartier.

• Shield AI unveiled what it called a fully autonomous multirole fighter jet.
• It uses Hivemind, the AI pilot it previously used to pilot an F-16 through a dogfight.
• The company says the jet can take off without a runway, from container ships and remote islands.

The AI that powered an F-16 in a dogfight against a manned aircraft is powering a new, fully autonomous fighter jet, its maker said as it unveiled the new aircraft design.

US defense tech unicorn Shield AI unveiled its new X-BAT fighter aircraft on Wednesday. The company says that it can operate without human pilots and without runways. It said it can take off from islands and ships — not just warships, but also container ships.

Armor Harris, Shield AI’s senior vice president of aircraft engineering, told Business Insider that the brain for the new aircraft is the company’s Hivemind, “the same combat-proven AI pilot we used to fly a modified F-16 through a dogfight,” a reference to a landmark 2024 test.

Last year, during a testing exercise, the AI-driven X-62A Variable In-flight Simulation Test Aircraft (VISTA), a modified F-16, went head-to-head with a crewed fighter aircraft in aerial combat. The military never said which aircraft emerged victorious.

In other simulations, the AI beat the human pilot, but this was a different kind of test involving aircraft in the real world. The then Air Force secretary, Frank Kendall, was riding in the back of the pilotless fighter aircraft.

Powered by Hivemind, the new X-BAT can complete missions without human pilot involvement and can advance without GPS or reliable communications, Shield AI told Business Insider. Artificial intelligence-enabled systems are considered necessary developments to break through contested areas that traditional crewed aircraft may be unable to navigate safely, or at all.

Pilotless fighters are also not bound by the same design limitations meant to protect a human pilot.

Shield AI said that “unlike legacy crewed aircraft, X-BAT frees human aviators for missions that demand critical human judgment — an essential advantage in today’s fast-moving and unpredictable conflict zones.”

A pilotless fighter aircraft

Harris said that the X-BAT can also act as a drone wingman, working closely with crewed fighter jets to protect them and expand their overall combat power.

Very interested in what autonomous uncrewed assets can bring to the force, the US Air Force has been investing in Collaborative Combat Aircraft, or CCAs, that can fly alongside crewed aircraft.

For Increment 1, the Air Force selected General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and Anduril Industries to develop two prototypes, both of which have received unique “fighter drone” designations. Additional CCA designs are being presented.

Harris said that the X-BAT was built for “what comes after” the Increment 1 development phase.

He said that this phase of the program has “played a foundational role, and now X-BAT is pushing the envelope with advanced electronic warfare capabilities, greater payload capacity, and extended range that gives combatant commanders geographically distributed long-range fires and effects.” This is an area that the military recognizes it needs to catch up on.

Part of the desire for CCAs is affordability. These are attritable warfighting platforms that can support and, if needed, be sacrificed for crewed fighters, which are more expensive and will ultimately be far fewer in number.

Shield AI said that the new X-BAT design “delivers high-end capability for a fraction of the cost of traditional fighter jets.”

Filling the fleet with this kind of aircraft makes for a larger, more resilient fleet that can take hits without suffering severe pilot losses or budget-breaking plane losses, a necessity for high-intensity peer-level combat. Shield AI said uncrewed aircraft like these are “reshaping how future conflicts are fought and sustained.”

Kendall said last year that “the AI competition is essentially going to determine who’s the winner in the next battlefield.” And he told BI that the F-16 dogfight was “a transformational moment” that marked the transition from when autonomous air-to-air combat was only “a distant dream” to its emergence as reality.

The company said the X-BAT was developed “to ensure the US and its allies keep pace on the battlefield amid rapid technological change.”

Deploying from anywhere

Key to the X-BAT design is its flexibility. Shield AI said it has vertical takeoff and landing with a 2,000-nautical-mile range, “letting it launch from ships, islands, or austere forward sites without carriers, runways, or tankers.” That kind of range could prove valuable at overcoming the “tyranny of distance” in the vast Indo-Pacific amid a growing concern about conflict with China.

Shield AI said it was the “only platform in its class” to combine those features.

Big-deck amphibious warships could host up to 60 X-BATs, Harris said, but these aircraft, which have a small footprint and don’t require a runway, could also be launched from atypical vessels, like a container ship, he added, “giving commanders the power to project combat airpower from almost anywhere.”

It can be used by the US Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Army, or allied forces, Harris said.

The X-Bat was unveiled in front of military leaders and politicians in Washington, DC, on Tuesday

It’s unclear if the X-BAT will be the future for US or allied militaries, but forces are increasingly interested in autonomy. European aerospace and defense giant Airbus has also tested its H145 helicopter with Shield AI’s Hivemind, which has also been used on a number of other aircraft.