What if you could retire at 37? That's exactly what Chris Reining did.

Chris Reining retired at the age of 37 after working in cyber security for over 10 years. He slowly increased his savings rate, made sure to keep his expenses low and invest in index funds and a few stocks. Classic FI strategy, and now he gets to do pretty much what he wants.

You'll love his story.

We also chat about...

The difficulties of quitting your job
The importance of focusing on your income increase
Deciding what's best for health insurance
The misconceptions about FIRE
Chris' last two years as financially independent

Enjoy this chat with Chris, and please subscribe to us in iTunes if you enjoyed it!

Show notes and links from today's episode

Blog: Chris Reining
Suze Orman on Paula Pant's podcast
Becoming a millionaire is a letdown

Key takeaways from our chat with Chris
1 - Quitting your job isn't always easy
Chris tells us it took him 2 years to pull the plug because he didn't feel ready. He wanted to make sure he had enough money to retire and that all his investments were in place. He wanted it to be all planned and disciplined in order to reach his goal - and the good news is that it has and everything has been going pretty smoothly!

But he does admit it takes courage and a certain kind of personality to quit your job.
2 - Focus on the bigger wins
Chris explains the importance of focusing on increasing your income instead of just being as frugal as possible. As he says, there's a maximum at which you can decrease your expenses (diminishing gains), however your income can always increase. For this reason he encourages others in the FI community to focus on the income increase, on side hustles and bonuses, as well as removing the consumerism.
3 - People FIRE for different reasons
There is a misconception that being financially independent means sitting on a beach lathering yourself with coconut oil all day. But this is completely wrong; being FI means finally being able to work on the things you enjoy and value. This could be a job, it could be a side-hustle, it could be travelling around the world - it really is up to you. For Chris, it wasn't his job, so he decided to quit and now focuses on enjoying the present.
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