I’ve been living in Finland, the world’s happiest country, for five years now. I think one of the secrets to the happiness of the Finnish people is the country’s work culture. 

Getting work here as a foreigner can be tough, but I’ve been fortunate to have two different corporate jobs in Finland. One job was at a start-up software company with under 50 employees, and the other was at a manufacturing company with over 500 employees. 

I quickly found that their approach to things like vacation time, parental leave and benefits differed from the US. There are a lot of aspects of work life here that I appreciate, but there was a lot that surprised me and took some time to adjust to. 

In the last year, I took what I learned, launched my own marketing firm and started working for myself. These are a few things that stand out to me about corporate life in Finland:

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Many workplaces are flexible and allow employees to choose a schedule that fits their lifestyle.

In Finland, typical office hours go from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. One small culture shock I experienced early on is that when workdays often start so early, some people start going to lunch around 11 a.m. Another surprise was how dark it is during the winter when you arrive and when you leave the office.

For many corporate jobs, the work week is 37.5 hours. Overtime hours are not paid in salary, but in corresponding time off. So, if you work a lot one week, it’s normal to do less the next week or take more vacation days. 

If you have an appointment or some obligations for your children during the work day, that can be considered paid time off. In Finland, you’ll often get paid double if you work on Sundays.

It feels like, in Finland, managers and bosses respect employees’ time off. If it’s after 4 p.m., people do not expect their colleagues to respond to an email or answer their work phone. The flexible hours are meant to allow people to have more time in the evenings for hobbies, activities and picking up kids from school.

The amount of paid vacation time you accumulate working in Finland feels like a treasure, coming from the U.S. 

Some people, depending on the industry and their tenure at their job, can have up to 38 paid vacation days a year. For every month you work, you accumulate two and half paid vacation days.

There’s a law in Finland that you have to take two consecutive weeks of vacation in the summer and then you can use the rest of your vacation as you please. I love how it feels like they essentially force you to take a vacation in Finland. During the summer, you actually receive a 50% bonus for the vacation days you do take off.

The whole month of July is basically a ghost town in Finnish corporate offices. You’ll receive many out of office automatic email responses. Generally, important matters are postponed until August at the earliest. 

I don’t have children yet, but seeing how the parental leave worked in practice for my colleagues in several different Finnish offices has made me look forward to being a working parent here.

For example, both parents are offered paid leave and they can decide when to use them in different amounts. Some companies pay full salaries for the first few months of parental leave, some pay half; it depends on the company. But it is typically clearly stated in the contract.

If your kid is sick and you need to leave work to care for them, that is not just accepted but encouraged. In many cases, this can be considered a sick day for the parent as well and can be paid leave.

At both of my previous corporate jobs, we had great health and leisure benefits. One of my favorite things was an app called Epassi where we had a yearly allowance to embrace different sports, culture, or wellness activities that were covered by work. 

With my benefits, I’ve bought a gym membership, passes to our local ski resort, movie tickets and massages. These types of benefits are really nice because you may not think of doing these things for yourself as often as you should.

With access to Finland’s healthcare system, I was able to visit a therapist, dentist and physical therapist for free when needed.

At one of my work places, we had a “recovery room” where an employee could book a session once a month as part of their working time to relax and unwind, with different wellness tools, like a therapeutic sonic bed or lymphatic boots.

This was one thing that was hard for me to get used to at first. Many people are happy with their positions and easily stay in the same role for years. 

I think this goes back to the Finnish philosophy of being satisfied with what you have, because it is enough. However, to be completely frank, I do crave growth and achievements. In Finnish corporate settings, there have been times when I felt like I had to reframe or tamp down my ambition. 

When I spoke with Finnish friends and family for advice about asking for a promotion, many of them were actually a bit shocked. They told me that people don’t typically ask for a promotion. Instead, they will wait until there’s a new opening at their company and apply then. 

One of the reasons why I work for myself now is because I wanted to explore what was possible for my ambition without any limitations or judgment. 

In Finland, the lack of hierarchy in corporate settings is an extension of the overall approach people take to it throughout the country. 

There’s a national joke that you could be casually sitting next to the President of Finland at a hockey game. The same is true in the workplace. No one is really all that special.

In some companies, you can have a coffee chat with the CEO of the company quite informally, just like you would with any team member. Whether you’re an intern or manager, everyone is respected and addressed by their first name. It’s rare to put much emphasis on job titles here.

Overall, I love the corporate culture in Finland. I feel like I’m not just defined by what I do at work, and like I have figured out a true sense of balance.

Jade Ventoniemi is an American who has called Finland home for the last five years. She is a former NCAA basketball player, a content creator and the founder of a marketing firm called Bright Soul Oy. Jade lives in Lahti, Finland, with her husband and their mini poodle. In her free time, she loves to be outdoors, and jumps at the chance to swim in a frozen lake or explore a local forest. You can follow her journey and life in Finland on Instagram or TikTok.

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Meredith Swanson has been nannying in New York City for more than a decade — but it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that the job helped her go viral on TikTok. 

On July 1, the 33-year-old posted a 90-second clip on her account @meredithgswanson walking people through a day in her life as a nanny in the Hamptons. 

Swanson, who is an actress, singer and dancer by trade, calls nannying her “survival job” — the one that covers her bills and living expenses as she pursues a career in entertainment. 

In the video, Swanson drives from her apartment in Manhattan to the Hamptons — a commute that takes about two hours — and settles into her nannying routine, which includes picking up the children she watches from tennis camp, taking them to the beach and grabbing donuts at a bakery downtown.

Within days, the TikTok racked up nearly 1.5 million views.

“I was stunned,” says Swanson, who started vlogging about nannying in the Hamptons over a year ago. 

Soon, her comments were flooded with questions about the gig: How did she become a nanny? Where are the parents? What’s the pay like? Is working in the Hamptons all it’s cracked up to be? 

Working in child care “is not for the faint of heart,” says Swanson. “But it’s the best job I’ve ever had.” 

Swanson moved to Manhattan shortly after graduating college in 2013 to pursue her dream of performing on Broadway. 

She took a part-time job as a hostess at a steakhouse in the city and nannied for families in her neighborhood in the mornings and afternoons to earn money between auditions. 

“It paid the bills, but I wasn’t happy,” Swanson says. Working late shifts and weekends at the restaurant was burning her out, too.

In 2018, Swanson says she realized that she felt “more energized and fulfilled” working with children than she ever did in a restaurant — so she quit her hostess gig to work part-time at My Gym, a children’s gym in Manhattan. 

That job introduced Swanson to the families she would work with for the next six years, including the one she works for now. 

“It’s all just been through word of mouth and networking,” Swanson says of her child-care career. ” I’ve been very, very fortunate with how nannying just fell into my lap.” 

She didn’t start working in the Hamptons until June 2020, when the family she worked for invited her to be a live-in nanny at their beach house four days a week through the end of the summer.

Swanson follows a similar schedule for the family she’s with this summer. She started watching the children earlier this year, and plans to continue working with them part-time for at least the next two years. 

Between June and August, Swanson works from the Hamptons as a live-in nanny Mondays through Thursdays, from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m., watching two boys under 7 (Swanson declined to share the exact location in the Hamptons to protect her employers’ privacy). 

On Fridays and weekends, she’s back in Manhattan. Every family she’s worked with in the Hamptons has loaned her a car for the summer, which is how she commutes.

“Summers are slow for auditioning, so I essentially have a 3-day weekend,” she adds. “That kind of flexibility has been amazing.” 

Swanson says the average rate for nannying in the Hamptons, based on her experience, is anywhere between $25 and $60 an hour. Care.com puts the average rate for a live-in nanny in East Hampton at $26.33 an hour. 

“It wasn’t until I started nannying that I became financially secure,” she says. “There are some years where I’ve made close to six figures from working in child care alone, which is really cool. People underestimate how viable this career path is.”

Nannying can be “exhausting, but so much fun,” Swanson shares. 

She gets several breaks throughout the day as both parents work from home, and take turns getting the boys ready in the morning, feeding them dinner and putting them to bed. 

That gives Swanson time to exercise, read, grab a coffee or go window shopping in Southampton. 

Burnout is high in the child-care profession because of the long hours and staffing shortages, among other challenges — but that hasn’t been the case for Swanson.

The most difficult part of nannying, she says, is adapting to how parents prefer to discipline or communicate with their children.

“You might have a certain way of how you want to handle a meltdown or temper tantrum, but that might not be the same way that the parents would handle it,” she says. “I don’t want to confuse the kids, so I always try to communicate upfront with the parents and get on the same page off the bat.”

Once the summer ends, Swanson will cut back her schedule to 20 hours per week so she has more time for auditions, which pick up in the fall. 

Though she doesn’t plan to continue nannying long-term, she’s enjoying it for now.

“I’m hoping that within the next couple of years, I’ll have kids of my own, and I’d like to save my energy for them,” she says. “But it’s been an incredibly rewarding career. I love helping people, it’s a privilege to be trusted to take care of someone else’s child and bring joy into their life.” 

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Twice a week, Elizabeth Morosani gets up before 7 a.m., puts on her sun sleeves and spends the next three hours atop a John Deere lawn mower.

Her side hustle requires it: She’s converted 11 acres of her land, split between three properties around Asheville, North Carolina, into private dog parks. She rents out the spaces to local pet owners on an Airbnb-style platform called Sniffspot.

Many Sniffspot hosts rent out their backyards. Morosani rents out parts of her 108-acre farm, where she lives and makes a majority of her personal income boarding horses. She has four dogs, and initially launched her side hustle just to connect with other nearby pet owners in November 2020, she says.

Then, the side hustle started bringing in money: a monthly average of $7,100 in revenue for the first half of 2024, including $8,400 in May alone. Roughly half of those earnings are profit, Morosani says. Sniffspot takes nearly a quarter in commissions and fees, and the remainder goes toward maintaining her dog parks.

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Morosani, who dedicates six to eight hours per week to the platform, has used her profits to hire an assistant, buy her $6,500 lawn mower and pay for supplies for additional dogs she fosters — up to 14 at a time, she says.

“I didn’t think it’d be this popular, this successful,” Morosani, 50, tells CNBC Make It. “It’s allowed me to bank some money, [and to] be more aggressive with helping my local humane societies … If you have space and the ability to give a private experience to individual dog owners, there’s definitely room for everyone to do this.”

Here’s how she built and maintains her side hustle, and how she wants to grow it next.

Morosani’s professional life largely revolves around her farm, where she boards horses and occasionally sells goats. She’s also a dressage technical delegate — essentially a horse show referee, she says — for the United States Equestrian Federation.

She and her husband, a dentist, bought 40 acres of the farm in 2014, and the remaining 68 in 2019. They didn’t use most of their land, and Morosani wanted to change that. An Asheville native, she knew the city’s growing number of apartment complexes was outpacing its dog parks.

She learned about Sniffspot from a segment on ABC News’ “Good Morning America” in 2020, she says. Today, her most popular rental location is a four-acre plot in Fletcher, North Carolina, that her father leased to her in late 2022. It’s an old airstrip that Morosani and her husband built a fence around, and it had its first reservation within 30 minutes of opening, she says.

The plot is near a highway, which makes it accessible to people visiting Asheville from out of town, says Morosani. It’s private, flat and has a small creek running through it.

The asphalt, formerly a landing pad for farming and model planes, is now almost entirely covered with grass. You won’t find any umbrellas or mini pools there, but you’ll probably see a doggy teeter-totter and some weave poles, Morosani says.

Morosani has two rules for anyone looking to rent out their own backyards as private dog parks.

First: Skip the expensive dog toys and amenities. “I put [out] Adirondack chairs from Lowe’s, thinking people could use them to sit in the shade,” she says. Many of them ended up in ditches and a nearby creek, she says.

Second: Don’t greet the guests. “Most clients are grateful their dogs can be dogs without pressure from people or other dogs … This allows them to get out and be in nature,” she says.

Instead, Morosani checks in with her guests by messaging them on Sniffspot. She inspects her dog parks with Ring cameras after every visit, making sure guests don’t leave behind too much debris.

More dog parks mean more revenue, so Morosani is leasing three more acres of land from her father in nearby Hendersonville for a fourth space, she says. It’s funded largely by her past Sniffspot earnings, costing $18,000 and taking nearly three months to level the ground, build a fence hydroseed it, she says.

The costs and extra labor are part of her goal to help local dogs and their owners, she adds.

“When I read [positive] reviews, I almost cry,” says Morosani. “Not long ago, someone told me that [their visit would be on] their dog’s last day on Earth. [Owners] have held birthday parties and invited all their friends. Things like that just make you go, ‘Oh my god, I’m helping. I’m doing it.’”

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Growing up in Nara, Japan, I was surrounded by natural beauty, historic sites, long-held traditions and authentic, delicious food.

When I moved to the U.S. as an adult, I struggled a lot with the culture of fast and processed food. I was a busy, working parent and constantly felt ill or out of sorts because of my diet. So when I became a nutritionist, I decided to focus my work on sharing Japanese eating habits.

Anytime I return home, I am struck by the vibrancy of the elders in my community. Their secrets to longevity are eating with intention, and keeping Ikigai, a Japanese concept which translates to finding one’s purpose.

Here are the eight foods I always keep in my kitchen and eat every day to live a longer and happier life. 

My 99-year-old aunt starts every day with matcha, and so do I. I make sure to serve it in some of the special bowls she gifted me.

Green tea has many health benefits. It contains vitamin C, vitamin B, fiber and protein, as well as anti-inflammatory and illness-fighting polyphenols. Those naturally occurring compounds are high in antioxidants, the nutrients that protect against cell damage.

Since I was in high school, I have practiced Chado, the traditional Japanese tea ceremony for preparing green tea. Every morning, I sit meditatively with my matcha, chasen (bamboo whisk), hot water and bowl. 

Some of the most popular foods in Japan are miso (fermented soy paste, often used in soup), natto (fermented soybeans) and nukazuke (fermented veggies pickled in rice bran). 

Growing up, my father would always bring back a pile of daikon (radishes) and seasonal vegetables from his local farmer friends. I would sort the veggies, help pickle them and serve them with ginger.

Fermented foods are also packed with probiotics which help with digestion and absorption and can reduce the risk of disease.

Every region of Japan has unique types of miso and pickles, depending on the weather, crops, culture and lifestyle. It can sometimes be hard to get high–quality miso here in New York, so I make my own with three ingredients: soybeans, koji rice and sea salt.

In Japan, you can find seaweed — known as kaiso — in so many dishes and snacks. I think it is safe to say that I have consumed at least one bite of seaweed with each meal for as long as I can remember. 

This flavorful and sustainable staple has many health benefits. It’s low in calories and high in fiber. It also contains a variety of essential minerals and vitamins including iodine, iron, potassium, magnesium, vitamin B12 and omega-3 fatty acids.  

At any given time, there are probably anywhere from five to 10 types of seaweed in my kitchen. They all have different flavors and culinary uses.

For example, I’ll throw kombu seaweed into miso soup with some dried mushrooms, or make a salad with seaweeds like wakame and hijiki. Or I’ll use kanten seaweed and red bean paste to make yummy vegan sweets. 

Soybeans are a delicious and affordable daily staple, and I’m always careful to make sure that I’m choosing minimally processed soy products.

My kitchen is not complete without edamame, kinako (soy powder), unsweetened soy milk and, of course, homemade natto and miso. Soybeans are high in fiber, B-vitamins, potassium and polyphenols like isoflavone.

I love red beans, or azuki, too. They are rich in polyphenols, fiber, potassium, protein, B-vitamins — all of which can help prevent inflammation. Red beans are often found in soups and desserts, like wagashi, which are often served with green tea.

The ingredients for wagashi are very simple: red bean paste, sweet mochi rice and fruit. I make it at home without any additional sugar, swapping in dried fruit and cinnamon as natural sweeteners. 

I’m a big fan of tofu because it provides protein, like you would get from meat and dairy, but without any of the cholesterol. It’s also quite versatile. It is always on my shopping list because it can be used in so many different types of dishes.

During the course of the week, I might prepare it as a burger, in dumplings, with veggies in fried rice, in soup, in a vegan curry, in hummus, as a side dish, in salad dressing and sauces and even as dessert.

Sesame seeds are my culinary superhero! Roasted brown or black sesame seeds are a kitchen staple for me, as is tahini. I’ll typically stir fry vegetables and fried rice with ground sesame seeds or paste instead of the oil, to get the whole benefits.

Sesame seeds are high in vitamin B and E, protein, fiber, and minerals like magnesium, calcium and phytosterols, which can help manage cholesterol.

Shiitake is a foundational ingredient for many Japanese dishes. The mushroom is packed with protein and vitamins D and B. It also contains lentinan, a polysaccharide which can help fight inflammation. 

I use dried shiitake for overnight dashi (soup stock) with kombu seaweed, miso soup, dressings, vinegar, curry — basically everything.

I will typically buy organic mushrooms from the local farmers market, put them on a bamboo plate, and place them at the window. I’m not the only one who enjoys them. I found out the hard way that my neighborhood squirrels love them too. 

Not just in Japan, but around the world, ginger is known as a healing food. It helps boost immunity and metabolism. It is often my go-to for settling upset stomachs and relieving colds. 

Ginger enhances the flavor of dishes and protects food from spoiling.

I add a generous amount of ginger into miso soup and use it in dressings, sauces, marinades and sweets. It’s the perfect topping for nukazuke, natto, fish and noodles.

Growing up, one of my favorite things to eat was my mother’s umeboshi (pickled plums) with ginger and red shiso pickles. And all year round, to fight illness, I love a cup of ginger tea with dried goji berries, cinnamon, matcha and kudzu. 

I hope that some of my longevity favorites will find their way into your kitchens as well!

Michiko Tomioka, MBA, RDN is a certified nutritionist and longevity expert. Born and raised in Nara, Japan, her approach focuses on a plant-based diet. She has worked in nutritional roles at substance recovery centers, charter schools and food banks. Follow her on Instagram @michian_rd. 

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The best state to retire in 2024 is also one of the smallest in the U.S.

At around 96 miles long and 35 miles wide, Delaware ranks as the No. 1 state to retire this year, according to Bankrate’s list of the best states to retire for 2024. Last year, it placed second behind Iowa on Bankrate’s list.

To compile the ranking, Bankrate analyzed data from several sources, including the Tax Foundation, the Council for Community and Economic Research, the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Bankrate evaluated all 50 states across five weighted categories:

• Affordability (40%): Includes factors such as cost of living and state and local sales tax rates
• Overall well-being (25%): Looks at factors such as the number of arts and entertainment centers and the number of adults over 62
• Quality and cost of health care (20%): Considers factors such as the number of health-care establishments and the cost of health care
• Weather (10%): Evaluates the average annual temperature and average number of tornado strikes, earthquakes and hurricane landfalls
• Crime (5%): Includes factors such as the number of violent crimes and property crimes

Here are the 10 best states to retire in 2024, according to Bankrate.

Iowa, last year’s No.1 state to retire, was knocked down to ninth place this year, mainly due to the rising cost of living in the state. Florida, often considered a retirement hotspot, placed eighth on Bankrate’s list for the second time in a row.

One of Delaware’s biggest potential perks for retirees is its tax benefits. The state does not tax benefits from Social Security and does not have an inheritance or estate tax. Delaware is also one of the few states with no local or state sales taxes.

However, Delaware ranked 20th for affordability, which may be a consideration for retirees who live on a fixed income.

The cost of living in Delaware is about 1% higher than the national average, but that can vary depending on which city you live in, according to RentCafe. The cost of living in Wilmington is about 4% higher than the national average, while Dover’s cost of living is about 2% lower, per RentCafe.

Remember, although a location’s affordability can be a significant factor when choosing where you want to retire, it is important to take numerous other personal factors into consideration as well. Ask yourself what kinds of activities you will want access to during retirement, the type of climate you most enjoy and whether you want to live close to your family.

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