Years ago a co-worker casually mentioned to me the only reason she showed up for work was that all her friends were there. I asked, “So what happens when you retire?” It caused some nervous laughter and then we went about our day.

Just a few weeks later the company let her go. Don’t think after putting in 20-plus years you’re not disposable. She emailed me a month later asking if I knew of any open positions in our field. You could sense...

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By Chris Reining / 8 Comments

Apollo 13 was going to be the third time Americans had landed on the moon. But there they were, 205,000 miles from Earth, when they heard a loud bang.

“I knew right away it was not a normal circumstance,” said one astronaut.

An oxygen tank had exploded, crippling the spacecraft. Operating on limited power the crew had little heat or water and were forced to rig the carbon dioxide removal system in order to survive.

After a nail-biting six days the crew safely returned to...

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By Chris Reining / 10 Comments

How much money buys happiness? The research suggests a family needs about $75,000, so technically some of you reading this should be happy.

Daniel Gilbert agrees. The author of Stumbling on Happiness says once you have enough money for basic needs like food and shelter “incremental increases have little effect on your happiness.”

What he’s saying is that the more money you have, the less happiness it buys.

I remember making $36,000 at my first job out of college....

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By Chris Reining / 14 Comments

A former coworker asked me, “Why did you decide to stick your neck out there?”

I think he was asking why someone would work eight hours a day, and then drive home to spend the night learning, studying, and writing publicly.

Most people go home and spend five hours in front of the TV.

The reality is we all have 16 hours in a day. You can spend eight hours at your job to pay the...

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By Chris Reining / 1 Comment

The early retirement movement continues to gain traction, mostly because there’s an increasing amount of media coverage.

When I agree to stories they go viral. There was this popular one on CNN, maybe more popular than those on CNBC and MarketWatch.

I guess retiring before 40 is pretty intriguing.

But here’s a little secret. I never liked sharing my story, because it always felt braggy to me.

When my picture was splashed across the front page of...

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By Chris Reining / 10 Comments