Unfortunately, my best friend, Lola, doesnt live close by me in Sweden, but in France. Its a pity. On top of that, when we were in the middle of the pandemic it was hard, well, almost impossible, to meet up. I missed her.

But then again, now that technology has given us wonders like FaceTime, Skype, Zoom, Teams, WhatsApp, and other fun things, unexpected possibilities have opened up. Its important that we who are past 80 keep up-to-date with technology; otherwise we risk missing out on so much that makes modern life both easier and more enjoyablenot to mention we dont want our children and grandchildren to think that were too old and square to participate.

All this new technology is also good for our friendships: now Lola and I can see and talk to each other as long as we want to on WhatsApp. And have a gin and tonicor a gluhweintogether while were chattering away. The warm and sweet gluhwein has kept people in the Alps alive for agesit should work for us.

Lola and I have known each other for almost eighty years. When she was eight years old, her entire family moved to Gothenburg, a town on the west coast of Sweden where my family also made its home. Lola started in second grade at the same school as me.

I remember her being tall and thin, and that she almost always wore a dark blue dress with little white dots. I myself almost always wore a sensible skirt and sweater, which probably is why I remember her much cuter, prettier dress. Not because I wanted one too; it would not have suited mebut it was perfect for Lola. I was sure I wanted to be her friend.

We went on to spend our entire school life together, even though we chose different academic focusesI explored art and design and Lola went to secretarial school. Lola had three great kids, and I had five. When I got married, I chose a man who would have to travel the world for his profession: we lived in the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Sweden of course. No matter where we ended up on the planet, Lola and I always stayed in touch.

Later she became godmother to my second son, Jan (pronounced yohn), something the other four kids were deeply envious of. Somehow, Lola was more of a movie star than my other friends who got to be godmothers for the rest of the brood. Lola always wore the latest fashions, had a loud voice with a special international accent, loved to dance, had amazing hair, and looked great in a party hat.

During the summers when Lola and I were growing up, many who lived in the city moved out to cottages in the countryside, where they led easier lives and inhaled fresh air into their lungs. The cottages were often off by themselves, near enough to go to the little village to buy your food and basic provisions but not very close to other people. Being so far away from the crowded city was delightful, even though you of course occasionally longed for your friends.

Our family had a house some thirty to forty kilometers outside Gothenburg. As kids, we loved being there during weekends and holidays, and so did our aunts and other relatives who often came to visit. Friends visited too, including Lola.

In the spring we usually picked flowers, especially wood anemones. Lola was a star when it came to gathering them. No one understood how she did it. She would appear with beautiful, perfect handfuls of the pretty white-and-yellow flowers. Did she grab a fistful of flowers at once, and then another? No, she picked them one by one, quickly, and with great concentration. Then, because she was a good guest with a generous heart, she gave them to my mom, who put them in vasesone large bouquet from Lola and a smaller one from me.

We still laugh at all the things we got up to back then. Up in the attic, there was a big trunk tucked away. It wasnt left alone for long once we found it. The trunk contained very old clotheslong, tattered evening gowns that no one would want to wear today, hats decorated with flowers and veils, and one of those fox skins that ladies used to carry over their shoulders, complete with tail, paws, and a flattened head. What people wont do to be fashionable. But of course we played dress-up! It was such fun and how we laughed at ourselves for the way we looked. Then we clomped downstairs in our finery and went to greet neighbors and any guests who could bear us. Mostly only my mom could.

Lola and her familys summer home was on an island in the southern archipelago of Gothenburg. You got there by one of the white steamboats that departed from the stone pier in Gothenburg. Today its the site of a fancy ferry terminal and the ferryboats are now much faster. You dont really have time to have lunch on board as we did back then. Just traveling on the steamboat for a while felt like an exciting beginning to your stay. As soon as the boat left the harbor, I could feel that salty, wonderful wind that only exists on the west coast. I was a very independent little person, or maybe the times were different. I remember taking the tram to the ferry stop and getting on the boat by myself before I was even twelve years old.

Lola and her little brother met me at the tiny island jetty and then we took our time going to their home as we wandered through the islands small village. On the way they showed me the dance hall, the tennis court, and the house where another classmate, Erik, lived.

Some days we climbed the rocks to get to Eriks, to go swimming with him and his sister in the cold North Sea or sail in their dinghy. At times, we would crush a clam with a stone and fasten it to a string. We would lower the bait into the water and lie belly down on the dock for hours waiting for the little crabs to arrive and start to feed. Then we yanked them out of the water. After, we cooked them with dill and had a crab feast.

We would catch masses of crabs each summer. To this day still, I find them delicious.

Like me, Lola also moved around to many places in the world with her husband and kids, but we always tried to keep in touch. We managed to visit each other in Mölnlycke and Nice, Brussels, and Minneapolis. Even once in Dubai!

In those days, calling someone outside Sweden or in another country than where you were was something you didnt do unless it was very important. It was simply too expensive. Sure, we could have written letters, but in between infants and moving vans it was hard to find the time to sit down, or the peace of mind to collect my thoughts. Many times, so much had happened that I didnt know at what end to begin.

But Lola and I made the effort to get together. When youve known somebody for so long, its very easy to pick up where you left off, even if you have not seen each other. You know each others backgrounds and families and how everything used to be. So, it is almost as if your conversation continues on like it was never interrupted at allyou talk again about events, both happy and tragic, travels, the children, schools, new acquaintances.

Wherever we lived we tried to come back to Sweden at least once a year. Coming back felt important to me. Not that I needed to feel like I was Swedish or belonged to the country but to meet up with family and friends and hear what they had been doing the past year.

Once in a while an elderly relative might have passed during my absence. It was sad and I tried to understand it was natures way, even though I never fully got used to the shock of coming home to find they were not around anymore.

Now that Im over eighty, its becoming more common for people I know to suddenly not be around anymore. And it still doesnt feel natural at all. Most of us understand that nobody lives forever, but its still a shock when the friend I recently spoke with is suddenly no longer available. Ever. The emptiness is at once so infinite.

Memory helps us retrieve events and people we want to remember. But my closest ones are always within and next to meI dont need to think about things we did or said. Some people just become part of you. That feels comforting.

Anyhow, now its gin and tonic time and Ive been looking forward to this moment for a whole week. Its going to be so much fun. I can hear Lolas voice, hear the ice cubes clinking in her glass:

Do you remember when we were twelve years old and

We were Scouts and learned how to tie knots and dress wounds.

And we went to camp with big backpacks, put up tents, and made big campfires. At night wed sit around the fire and roast bread-on-a-stick.

They were usually more burnt than tasty, but it was very cozy and we made a lot of good friends.

We toast, have a little sip, and laugh.

Do you remember that time we traveled to Aix-les-Bains to do a language course?

Almost everyone fell in love

We got to know a lot of boys, but not that much French.

And so on we went, picking up where we left off, recalling memories that only we remember. Soon our drinks are gone:

Take care of yourself. . . .

We ll talk again soon. . . .

Sometimes I wonder which one of us will be the first to not answer.

Excerpted from THE SWEDISH ART OF AGING EXUBERANTLY by Margareta Magnusson. Copyright 2022 by Margareta Magnusson. Reprinted with permission of Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

And now, a new class of artificial intelligence (A.I.) workout equipment ensures that those at-home exercises are smart enough to watch your form and help you meet your fitness goals. 

Generally speaking, artificial intelligence refers to robots taking on tasks that could previously only be performed by human beings. For example, your phone uses A.I. to recognize your face and ChatGPT, which made headlines in 2022, can generate human conversations. 

When it comes to fitness, A.I.s major advantage is personalization, according to Kerry Greer, lead of exercise science and training at Nautilus, Inc., a major manufacturer of fitness equipment. It can sense or watch the way you move, and give you helpful suggestions for making your workout more effective. A.I. now can be used to understand users, their movement patterns, and their progress better, providing a more tailored offering to each individual and adjusting to their needs, says Greer. 

Depending on what device youre using, A.I. may offer feedback based on your current fitness, count your reps, tell you how heavy your dumbbells should be, and even write a unique fitness plan for you.

All of these features can lead to safer at-home workoutsa big deal since one of the common criticisms of exercising outside the studio is lack of real-time feedback. Plus, Greer notes that having the A.I. watching your back means that you can spend less mental energy tracking, say, how much weight youre deadlifting or how many squat reps youve already completed. Because its an A.I.-based experience, its there whenever youre ready to use it, she adds. 

Below, are six of the newest and most innovative pieces of home gym equipment powered by A.I.

Fiture

This A.I.-powered smart fitness mirror offers a wide variety of exercise modalities, including strength, barre, and boxing. You can even design custom workouts using the brands Motion Engine technology, which offers form cues and trainer guidance to ensure youre performing movements in the safest manner possible. Fiture  co-founder Maggie Lu also notes that the mirror also wont be an eyesore in your home. This is the only fitness mirror on the market offered in five colorful shades, and turned off, its a beautiful piece of furniture. Turned on, it transforms any space into a fitness studio, she says. 

Price: The Fiture Core is $1,395, while the more compact version, the Fiture Mini, retails for $900. Note: Its $25 per month for the membership that offers you access to the classes. 

Tempo Move

If youve ever lamented that weight racks take up significant square footage in your home, Tempos sleek and small design will blow your mind. The Tempo Moves cabinet stores 90 pounds so you can equip each Tempo dumbbell with 42.5 pounds. While you have to slot the weights on yourself, Tempos A.I. technology will tell you how much youre about to row, squat, or deadlift to make the process a little more seamlessand count your reps once youre ready to go. From there, the Tempo app will guide you through strength training classes or even set you up with a personal trainer.

Price: The Tempo Move costs $495, while the Tempo Studiothe companys more deluxe at-home devicestarts at $2,495. The monthly membership, which offers you access to Tempos classes, costs $39 per month. 

OxeFit

At-home workout equipment that helps you become stronger in water and snow sports is hard to come by, but thats exactly what you get with OxeFit XS1. This smart device offers A.I.-based feedback on your strengh training form, and because OxeFit uses tension bands instead of physical weights, you can adjust the weight without having to move a single plate. If your favorite sport happens to be seasonal, you can also upgrade to add activities such as paddleboarding, kayaking, or skiing (skicross) to keep  your training up indoors. 

Price: The OxeFit XS1 starts at $3,999. The membership is $39.99 per month

YogiFi Smart Mat

If youve ever tried downward dog at home and wondered, Am I doing this right?, this intelligent mat may be the yoga buddy you need. This device contains sensors that tweak your form as you move from pose to pose, so you can watch your form away from the studio. Simply roll your current yoga mat over the YogiFi and download the YogaFi app, and youre ready to go. As a bonus, the mat is also well-cushioned, so you can look after your joints and bones as you learn the ins and outs of yoga alignment.

Price: The mat is $399.99; the app is free. 

JRNY 

So you already have a stocked at-home gym? JRNY will ensure youre making the most of itand preventing injuriesby counting your reps, personalizing your workouts, and correcting your form. You can even say, Hey JRNY and ask the A.I. to adjust your weight and reps if you feel too tired for the days workout. A.I. paired with our Motion Tracking gives you the benefit of having your movement quality analyzed, followed by corrective feedback cues to help you improve, says Greer. We know that movement quality is very important for not only improvement from a fitness perspective, but also in decreasing the risk of injury.

Price: A subscription to JRNY costs $19.99 per month or $149 per year. Note: Youll need to make sure you have compatible devices to take advantage of all the A.I. has to offer. 

Carol

At-home spin bikes aboundbut none are quite like Carol, an A.I.-powered exercise bike that personalizes your ride down to the last detail. The bikes software learns your fitness and performance to craft  an efficient HIIT workout every single time, with each session lasting only five minutes (seriously). According to the researchers behind Carol, this approach may improve your VO2 max, boost your cardio, and increase your metabolism. As you get fitter, Carol will noticeand adjust your workouts accordingly. 
Price: The bike is $2,595 and the subscription is $15 per month.

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The initial public offering (IPO) market is essentially shut; tech companies are laying off workers and pausing hiring; the housing market is experiencing a reset after years of booming growth; and the venture capital (VC) space has slowed dramatically, with private market valuations tumbling.

But despite the freeze in key sectorsand consistent doomsday predictions from Wall Streetthe economy as a whole has continued to grow alongside the resilient labor market. In the fourth quarter of last year, U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) rose at a 2.9% annualized rate, topping analysts forecasts. And the unemployment rate came in near pre-pandemic lows at 3.5% in December.

Many economists are predicting that will change this year, however. Morgan Stanleys chief U.S. economist Ellen Zentner said this week that annualized GDP growth will fall to just 0.2% in the first quarter, while Wells Fargo expects a drop to 0.4%. And some CEOs, billionaire investors, and investment banks believe an outright recession is on the way.

Its still unclear whether key frozen aspects of the economy will eventually crack under the weight of rising interest ratessparking a recessionor if the deep freeze will thawenabling slow, but positive growth. But credit markets could hold the answer.

When credit markets pull back, and youre unable to get financing for transactions or for investment, thats when things freeze, Jim Cahn, chief investments and business development officer at Wealth Enhancement Group, a wealth management firm, told Fortune. Credit is the secret. Its the fuel of growth. And its always been the fuel of growth, since the credit markets evolved 400 years ago at the beginning of the industrial revolution.

The freezing and frozen segments of the economy

A new era of higher interest rates, inflation, and recession fears have led various segments of the U.S. economy to slow dramatically over the past year.

The VC space, for example, was supercharged throughout the pandemic. In 2021, global VC funding volume reached a record $681 billion, more than double 2019s figures. 

[A] growth-at-all-cost mindset fueled by cheap capital in 2020 and 2021 and exploding investor interest caused by a fear of missing out (FOMO) led to large investments into startups across all stages, Alex Warfel, a PitchBook analyst, explained in a Friday note.

But in 2022, with interest rates rising, there was a 35% decline in VC investment to $445 billion, according to Crunchbase. Warfel said the days of sky-high valuations for startups and easy fundraising opportunities are gone, sentiment in the VC space has been crushed, and capital has dried up. To his point, the estimated amount of capital demanded by U.S. startups outpaced the amount supplied by $42.8 billion in the fourth quarter, according to PitchBook data. 

Logan Allin, founder of Fin Capital, a fintech-focused VC and private equity firm, told Fortune that he doesnt see the VC space recovering fully until 2024 due in part to the credit crunch, and he argued that for tech startups, 2023 could be a particularly challenging year. 

Our view is that 2023 is going to continue to be a year of extremely acute pain, and actually more painful than 2022 from both a private markets and public equity perspective in tech, he said.

Allin added the sharp downturn in the market should be a bit of a wake up call for VC investors who developed irresponsible habits during the pandemic, failing to do proper due diligence for their investments. He gave the example of the now-defunct crypto exchange, FTX, which he passed on because they didnt get past basic checklist items in the due diligence process, including not allowing an independent auditor to look at their financials. But other venture capitalists invested millions in the firm without even looking at their books.

They were asking for financials and the team at FTX was sending them excel spreadsheets, he said. It was just absurd.

Fatih AktasAnadolu Agency/Getty Images

But now, with interest rates rising and many lesser VCs going out of business, Allin believes the market will return to a more rigorous investing approach. 

I think it will be a much healthier, more sustainable venture capital environment now, because were investing in valuations and multiples that make sense and that allow the company to grow into them in a much better way, he said. Its a true return to fundamentals. It is a refocusing on real diligence.

When U.S. interest rates were near zero and consumers were flush with cash from stimulus checks during the pandemic, the IPO market experienced a similar surge to the VC space. 

In 2021 alone there were a record 1,033 new public listings in the U.S. But in 2022with interest rates rising and the S&P 500 sinking roughly 20%there was a 50% reduction in the number of IPOs compared, according to EYs 2022 Global IPO Trends Report. And in the Americas, the drop was even more pronounced, with the number of IPOs falling 86% last year versus 2021, while total proceeds sank 96% over the same period.

Deal activity and volume came down precipitously throughout 2022. IPOs were completely shuttered, Allin said. There was very little public market appetite for anything, even those companies that were potentially profitable.

This year, Allin said he sees just a sliver of an IPO window, and only for firms that can prove their ability to make money. 

Otherwise, theyre going to trade significantly down, as any of the companies that went public last year or in 2021 did, he said. We still have inflation, high interest rates, geopolitical uncertainty, and significant volatility, and that does not create a warm market for IPOs.

U.S. home prices soared over 45% between the second quarter of 2020 and the third quarter of last year, as low interest rates and work-from-home trends fueled a housing market boom. But rising interest rates have pushed the averaged 30-year fixed mortgage ratethe most common type in the U.S.from 3.45% in February of 2020 to just over 6.1% today.

The higher borrowing costs and high home prices have led to an affordability crunch and a major reset in the housing market. Mortgage purchase applications were down 39% from a year ago last week. 

Its not just prospective homeowners who are feeling shut outinstitutional real estate investors are feeling the pain from rising interest rates as well, according to Jay Hatfield, founder and CEO of the investment management firm Infrastructure Capital Advisors. Higher rates and recession fears have caused lending from banks to dry up, he told Fortune, making acquiring new propertiesand/or companies in the real estate sectora challenge.

Theres a little bit of private lending going on, but its at terms that are too onerous to do LBOs [leveraged buyouts] anymore, he said, referring to when one company tries to buy another company using borrowed money. And then also, the companies that were buyers like Blackstone. Theyre more likely to be sellers than buyers now. So M&A activity has dried up. 

Cahn of Wealth Enhancement Group says that lenders are not only offering much higher interest rates, but theyre also doing a lot more underwritingor research and risk assessmentbefore lending money to avoid default risk. He noted that its another example that the current freeze in some sectors of the economy is all a reflection of whats going on in the credit markets.

In 2021, and 18 months before, people were just throwing money at anything as fast as they could because there was so much cash, but in 2022, the credit markets basically froze up, he emphasized. And thats why youre seeing these industries freeze.

The frozen economy thats about to crack?

Will the economy slowly thaw out and avoid a recession, or are the cracks caused by rising interest rates and high inflation about to rupture? That depends on who you ask.

Cahn said his hunch is that well have a recession sometime in the back half of 2023. I think its really, you know, maybe 2024, before were back in business as usual, he said.

Hes not the only one with a pessimistic outlook. Many top investment banks are forecasting a mild recession this year, and some forecasters have argued that severe recession or even another variant of a Great Depression could be on the way.

Were definitely going to enter into a harder and harder period from an economic and macro standpoint, that may be a capital R recession or lowercase r recession, but its going to be bad, Allin said.

While many experts believe a recession is on the way, some argue it wont be as devastating as past downturns, and the frozen sectors of the economy will begin to unfreeze by the end of 2023 and into 2024. Infrastructure Capital Advisors Hatfield said that by the second half of this year well have a more normal IPO market and a recovery M&A and stock market. 

He argued that post pandemic tailwinds have kept the labor market healthyparticularly in the services sector where so many businesses struggled to find workers during the pandemicand without wide-spread layoffs that crush consumer spending, its unlikely there will be a serious downturn in the economy. He also noted that despite the rapid rise in interest rates last year, housing inventories are near an all-time low which he believes will allow that sector to unfreeze throughout the year.

We need the Fed to pause [interest rate hikes] though, he said. And we might get a negative quarter or two [of GDP], but we dont think were gonna have a significant recession.