Peter Muller is one of Wall Street's revered quant traders – but a work imbalance early in his career nearly derailed him.

Muller joined Morgan Stanley as a trader in 1992 and launched PDT, or Process Driven Trading, the seed of his current hedge fund firm. Muller and his team used high-powered computers and algorithms to beat markets.

PDT is known to have powered lofty returns. Building out PDT was no easy feat. Muller, a multi-talented math whiz, ended up giving up a childhood passion – music – as the business ramped up.

Before he joined Wall Street, Muller, a pianist, was in a jazz band, and even played for rhythmic gymnasts after college, according to a Forbes profile published in January. 

So giving that up threw everything out of balance, Muller said in an interview with Business Insider this week. He was speaking ahead of the Pete Muller Trio's next show, Thursday evening, at a charity event at New York's Metropolitan Room, supporting a group that builds clean water projects in the developing world. 

"I became enormously successful, but I wasn't as happy or fulfilled," Muller said. 

By 1999, he needed a break and went on sabbatical, traveling the world and playing music in the New York subway. When he came back to Morgan Stanley, he took on an advisory role for the next several years, and became less involved in the day-to-day operation of PDT. That gave him more time to play music and rebalance. He eventually met his wife, and had two kids.

"I took a big step back," he told Business Insider. "And I figured, I'm going to pursue music... I recorded a couple of albums, and I became executive chairman of the group that I built. And I realized that I needed both [music and work] – they both feed and influence the other."

He told Morgan Stanley that he was going to perform with his band at least once a month. He's done so for the past nine years. 

"The music opens me up emotionally," he said. "There's joy and passion in it. And the business gives me something competitive to do. And I am much better at both of those things because I do both... that was an insight that took me a long time to figure out."

His hedge fund firm spun out of Morgan Stanley in 2012, and he's been running it full time ever since. PDT managed $5 billion as of mid-year, according to Hedge Fund Intelligence's Billion Dollar Club ranking, up from about $4.5 billion last year.

The firm charges some of the highest fees in the industry, and its largest fund returned 21.5% net of fees in the first 11 months of last year, according to Forbes. Jonathan Gasthalter, a spokesman for Muller, declined to provide more recent performance figures.

Muller says he still has a "crazy, busy life" but he's able to balance it all, performing with his band at least once a month for charities.

His firm's set-up also helps. Trading based on models means he doesn't need to be in front of a computer all day, and operates like a research lab, he said.

You can watch a sample of Muller's music below: 

SEE ALSO: Quant investing – the biggest trend in the hedge fund world right now

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In its 31-year history, Emirates has become synonymous with luxury and established itself as a leader in air travel.

The airline was recently named the best in the world by the consumer aviation website Skytrax, and is perhaps best known for its opulent first-class accommodations.

Although flights don't come cheap — a return airfare from Gatwick to Dubai costs roughly £4,000 ($4,800) — Emirates provides its passengers with an unforgettable experience.

A couple of readers, Owen and Rory, documented their experience during a recent trip on board an Emirates A380 and shared some photographs with Business Insider.

See what it's like to travel first class on the best airline in the world:

If you're flying first class or business class, you can relax in one of the Emirates lounges before you board the plane. From here you can board directly, before anyone else, without having to queue.

When boarding as a first-class passenger, you're greeted and escorted to your seat by a flight attendant and offered complimentary Champagne. You're given your own spacious cabin with sliding privacy doors and the kind of amenities that you'd expect to find in a high-end hotel. The leather seat reclines and becomes a bed.

Upon arrival in the cabin, you'll find a wash bag filled with fragrances and toiletries from the luxury fashion house Bvlgari, Gillette shaving foam, a toothbrush, Colgate toothpaste, and Axe deodorant.

There's a "you're doing it wrong" meme that's showing some strong staying power these days: you don't need to warm up your car when it's cold — in fact, if you do, you could harm your engine.

The engineering behind this revision of what many folks have been told their whole lives is solid, and you can watch this Business Insider video to get the lowdown.

Modern cars don't use carburetors to blend the fuel-air mixture. They use electronic fuel injection, so a pre-drive warmup isn't mechanically necessary.

But here's the thing: If you can't run your modern car for ten minutes or so when it's cold, you should be asking some serious questions about the allegedly advanced state of automaking in the 21st century. It's possible that the old-school warmup would marginally degrade your engine oil, but in 35 years of driving, I've never heard of or experienced this.

Bottom line: Your car should be able to handle some serious extremes of temperature, as long as you aren't spending a lot of time in Death Valley or the Arctic Circle.

Here's why I often warm my car up when it's cold:

• I want a nice warm car to drive in.
• I want the seat heaters to be good and hot.
• I want the steering-wheel heater to be all fired up.
• I want any snow or ice that's accumulated on the windows to be easy to remove.

The first four are about comfort; the last one is about safety. Plus, I think a warm and comfortable driver is a much safer driver than one who's hunched and shivering and has to wear gloves.

Additionally, you won't waste all that much gas with a warm-up at idle. You'd have to run the engine for an hour to burn a gallon.

So go ahead, warm up your car! It should start to get colder in much of the US over the next few months. Warm away!

SEE ALSO: Stop wasting gas by 'warming up' your car when it's cold out

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Michael Mondavi comes from a long line of winemakers.

His grandfather, Cesare Mondavi, bought and restored Napa Valley's historic Charles Krug Winery when Michael was just a young boy. In 1966, Michael and his father, Robert Mondavi, founded the first winery in Napa Valley since the time of Prohibition, paving the way for the area to become the wine mecca it is today.

But even after 50 years of experience in the industry, Michael — who founded Folio Fine Wine Partners in 2004 and Michael Mondavi Family Estate in 2006 — is more excited than ever about the people who are choosing to drink wine.

"The average age of the consumer has dropped, and the millennials and Gen X'ers are the exciting part of the wine business," he told Business Insider. "The millennials were the first generation where men and women preferred wine or beer over spirits. The millennial generation was the first where women drank as much wine as men."

According to Wine Spectator, millennials consumed 159.6 million cases of wine in 2015, which is equal to about 42% of all wine drunk in the US last year. This has led to the rise of wine delivery and check-in apps, as well as products that promote convenience, like wine sold in a can. And in the age of social media, the urge to share your most recent finds and good taste has been a boost to winemakers. 

"Whether it's with food or wine, millennials are saying, 'I like this, and I'm going to share that with my friends,'" Mondavi said. "Young people today have the confidence to express their preferences. I think that communication is now more important than the ratings of wines by experts."

When Mondavi first started selling wine back in the '60s and '70s, the industry's focus was on appealing to an older generation. But now, Mondavi says, younger people are more interested than ever — and it reflects a major shift in how the modern American views food and drink.

"In the '60s, '70s, and even the '80s, we were drinking and eating solely for fuel. In the last 20 to 25 years, people have found that yes, we need fuel, but it can also taste good," he said. "Instead of just eating for survival, it's eating and drinking — hopefully in moderation — for pleasure."

He added: "The per capita consumption of wine in the '60s was under 1 gallon per person per year. Today it's over 3 gallons per person per year. The quality wines — over $10 a bottle — are growing dramatically, while wines under $5 a bottle are shrinking. People are not wanting the cheap wines. Now they need to taste good."

Wine Enthusiast Magazine named Mondavi its "Person of the Year" in 2015. These days, he runs Michael Mondavi Family Estate, which produces wines M by Michael Mondavi, Animo, Isabel Mondavi, and Emblem. He also works with Italian and Spanish winemakers through his importing and marketing agency, Folio.

As for his personal preferences, Mondavi doesn't believe in following the strict rules that sommeliers pushed on the American people when wine was first becoming popular 50 years ago. 

"If you want white wine with a steak, try it. If you want red wine with fish, try it," he said. "If it tastes good to you, that's good enough."

SEE ALSO: Millennials' new drinking habit is stealing customers from beer companies

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The sweet spot of the Hamptons housing market is cooling down.

Sales of homes in Wall Street's playground that cost between $1 million and $5 million fell 24% year-over-year in the third quarter, according to a report by Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

Jonathan Miller, CEO of the real-estate appraisal firm Miller Samuel, said this price range is the "sweet spot" of the market, according to The Real Deal. The cluster did not have the largest share of sales, however, with most buyers still choosing homes that cost $1 million or less.

Miller said this slowdown can probably be linked to the punishing year that hedge funds are having. The Hamptons, near the easternmost end of Long Island, is a popular vacation-home choice for finance professionals who work in New York City.

Hedge fund returns have been weak for some time, criticized for their relatively high fees and lackluster performance. Last quarter, investors pulled out the most cash from hedge funds since the first quarter of 2009, bringing total redemptions in the past year to $87 billion, according to an eVestment report released on Wednesday.

Because Douglas Elliman's report is one quarter's data, it's impossible to draw any definitive conclusions on a trend. But this could be an early effect of Wall Street's falling profits, bonuses, and headcounts this year.

The so-called Hamptons sweet spot was the only segment of the market where prices fell year-over-year in Q3. They jumped 29% on the luxury end — vacation homes costing more than $5 million.

That's in clear contrast to Manhattan, where the luxury end of the market has cooled. Across Manhattan, prospective homebuyers pushed back against expensive prices, prompting sellers to offer more concessions, like one month rent-free.

The median sales price of a luxury house in the Hamptons rose 17% from the same period last year, to $6.2 million, according to Douglas Elliman.

SEE ALSO: Everything on Wall Street is shrinking

DON'T MISS: The US economy can thank soybeans for a great third quarter

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NOW WATCH: What it's like to take the 'Uber of seaplanes' from NYC to the Hamptons

When Jason Pockett joined the TSA in 2010, he said his intentions weren't wholly altruistic.

"In all honesty, what brought me to the TSA was the health insurance and the pay," Pocket told Business Insider.

"I didn't know what TSA really was other than airport security. But once I got there I realized the importance of the job."

Before joining the US Transportation Safety Administration as a transportation security officer, or TSO, Pockett was a youth pastor at a church. He spent two years working as a TSO in California before joining the TSA Academy team at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia, as a training instructor.

"When I came to TSA, saw what they were about, and realized the importance of what they have to do with protecting the nation — making sure airplanes stay in the air — it clicked with me and it became that career," Pockett said. "It made it so I wanted to be here to ensure the safety of all the traveling public."

In July, Business Insider visited FLETC and spoke with academy instructors and recruits to learn more about what it's really like to join the TSA as an officer, and then we followed up with the agency's head recruiter for more details.

Here's what they told us.

SEE ALSO: 'You're at war': I went inside the new TSA Academy, where officers learn to detect bombs, spot weapons, and find out why failure isn't an option

DON'T MISS: Finally! Watch TSA agents line up and go through security as they role-play passengers in training

Who are the TSA?

Willie Gilbreath, a retired veteran from Grand Rapids, Michigan, and incoming TSO, told Business Insider that his perception of the TSA was pretty vague before joining. "I didn't know a lot about it. Going through the airport, I wasn't really paying attention to those people. I was like everyone else. I wanted to get through as fast as possible.

"But now that I'm into the process and I'm starting to learn some of the procedures and some of the things that we're looking for, I understand why it takes a little bit longer. Now, my perception is, I'd rather take a little bit longer and be safe than to rush through the process and have something go wrong or have something slip through."

Gilbreath said he found his TSO job through a veterans' website. "The job popped up and I said, 'Wow, an opportunity to get a job with the federal government. I better jump on this.'"

Diane Brundidge, the executive director of recruitment and hiring at the TSA, said it's helpful if applicants have done similar work, like security at a non-federalized airport or security work in the government. Many TSOs have law-enforcement, military, or security background, and 17% of TSOs are veterans.

Gilbreath said he's able to apply some of the skills he has as a veteran to the job of a TSO. In the military, he said you learn "the skills to assess a situation and to actually have the discernment to understand a threat. You learn how to actually guard and protect.

"The only thing about this job is you've got to learn how to serve the public, too," he added. "That's the aspect I'm going to have to work on, because in the military it's a little bit different. It's more protection than service. This is service and protection."

Finding the right people

All the incoming TSOs Business Insider spoke with said they had heard about the job through an online job site.

"I always wanted to do something important to me — I always wanted to help someone," said Carmen Guzman, and incoming TSO from Stockton, California. "When I was looking online, I came across TSA. I was pretty curious, so I started looking into more information about that and how they wanted to protect people when they flew."

Internet job listings aren't the only way the TSA recruits.

"We really satisfy ourselves at the length we go to advertise," Brundidge said.

Among other places, the TSA recruits at colleges, universities, military bases, and military-transition assistance programs. It advertises on college listserves and on the side of buses. "We target it to the area that we're in. If we're in Martha's Vineyard, we'll put it on the side of a boat ... We're very astute to what gets attention, and based on the number of applications we receive, we know it's working."

Brundidge said the TSA received more than 200,000 applications in 2015.

Getting the job

"We're hiring constantly," Brundidge said. "There are 100 or so job-opportunity announcements open at any given time, and we always have people in our 'ready pool' ready to hire."

The TSA ramps up its hiring efforts before anticipated surges and converts people from part-time to full-time during busy periods.

From its pool of applications, the TSA will first invite some people to take its computer-based test. Applicants are tested on things such as imaging, color-blindness, and English proficiency.

From there, applicants go through airport assessments, which is sort of like a job interview. That's followed by a medical exam and pre-hire background checks, where the TSA will take fingerprints, perform a criminal background check, and check to see if applicants are on the terrorist watch list, among other things.

If all goes well, applicants then go into the "ready pool," and, once there is a job vacancy, the TSA will present a tentative job offer, where they'll be invited to participate in job training.

The starting salary ranges from about $15 to $22 an hour, and both full-time and part-time employees get benefits.

"I would love to, personally, raise that salary, but that's legislature," Brundidge added.

A bubble might be forming in the bourbon industry.

RBC Capital Markets analysts shared a chart showing that an influx of new producers could be setting up a slump in bourbon prices and providing sometimes subpar versions of the American whiskey.

In a note on Thursday, Nik Modi and his team published the chart below to show that the number of craft distillers had been on the rise for the past few years.

A recent study that included the American Craft Spirits Association showed that the number of distillers had compounded at a 42% annual growth rate since 2010.

There were just 204 craft spirits distillers across America in 2010, while that number grew to 1,315 this year through August.

Modi and team said the industry's fast growth and the possibility of mergers and acquisitions were among the things that led to the boom in such a short time. In 2014, the Japanese liquor giant Suntory bought the maker of Jim Beam for $13.6 billion.

"However, it is important to keep in mind that to be classified as a straight bourbon, the product must be aged for a minimum of four years," the analysts wrote. "This has led new entrants looking to take advantage of the category's growth to take two approaches: 1) enter the market with an un-aged product; or 2) wait a few years and launch bourbon (once it hits the 4-year mark).

"The former approach is immediately price dilutive on the broader category, and the latter approach could lead to an influx of supply over the next few years, forcing overall category prices lower (the exact opposite of the scarcity value driving overall bourbon prices today)."

SEE ALSO: The 'sweet spot' of Wall Street's playground is shrinking

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The American middle class is shrinking, and consequently, the lower- and upper-income tiers are gaining share.

In a May 2016 report, the Pew Research Center found that between 2000 and 2014, the share of upper-income adults increased in 172 of the 229 US metro areas it analyzed.

The report also highlighted the 10 areas with the largest upper-income populations, which were mostly in the northeast region or on the California coast.

"Midland, Texas, the exception to this rule, leads the metropolitan ranking of upper-income areas," Pew reported. "Some 37% of the adult population in Midland was upper income in 2014, thanks to a prospering oil economy."

Pew defined upper-income households as those with an income that is more than double the US median household income. Incomes are adjusted for household size and for the cost of living in the area relative to the national average cost of living. "That means the incomes of households in relatively expensive areas, such as New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA, are adjusted downward," Pew explained in its methodology.

Note that New York City didn't crack the top 10. In addition to Pew adjusting incomes for the cost of living, it's important to recognize that New York City, with a population of about 8.5 million, makes up less than half of the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro area, which has a population of about 19.8 million.

Read on to see which other metro areas joined Midland in the top 10. We included the share of the population that qualifies as upper-income in each metro, along with the median household income of the upper class (also from Pew).

SEE ALSO: The 13 best big US cities to live in if you want to get rich

Trenton

Residents who are upper-income: 28%

Median household income of upper class: $180,110

San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward

Share of upper class: 28%

Median household income of upper class: $185,290

Norwich-New London

Share of upper class: 29%

Median household income of upper class: $164,030

Long before it was possible to use Amazon Prime for your mass-manufactured Halloween costume, people put serious effort into making them.

Without a fast-churning popular culture abetted by the internet, the costumes reflected much of the holiday's original intent: to disguise yourself from vengeful spirits, and in some cases, be scary enough to ward them off entirely.

In Haunted Air, English musician and artist Ossian Brown collects a series of anonymous photographs that show how Americans, circa 1875-1955, dressed up for Halloween. The book features a foreword by famous surrealist and horror veteran David Lynch — a sure sign you're in for a twisted read.

The photo collection features candid shots of Americans in old Halloween garb, in all their imperfections and unique grotesqueness. Read on to see how people dressed for the year's spookiest holiday, decades before it became commercialized. 

SEE ALSO: The most surprising in-demand Halloween costumes this year, according to the UK's biggest costume company

All the photos feature candid shots of family members, friends, and children in Halloween garb in the US. Here, a man with a handmade cowboy mask holds a young girl.

"These are pictures of the dead," author Geoff Cox wrote in Haunted Air. "Torn from album pages, sold piecemeal for pennies and scattered, abandoned to melancholy chance and the hands of strangers."

As you can see, masks were prevalent in earlier costumes.

From the moment two people meet, they're sizing each other up, looking for signs of qualities like honesty, intelligence, and altruism.

Whether it's a date or a job interview, the small stuff matters — from the firmness of your handshake to how often you check your phone.

We checked out the Quora thread "What are the really small things that tell a lot about a person's psychology and personality?" and the latest scientific research, and highlighted some of the most common behaviors people use to judge you.

SEE ALSO: 12 sneaky ways online retailers get you to spend more

1. Your handshake.

Several Quora users admitted that they judge people based on their handshake.

"Strong handshakes usually reflect a strong and confident character, whereas weak handshakes usually indicate a lack of confidence and are almost always a characteristic of people who would look for an easy way to do things," writes Julian Parge.

Research backs up the idea that your handshake can reveal certain aspects of your personality. One study found that people with firm handshakes were more likely to be extroverted and emotionally expressive and less likely to be shy and neurotic.

2. Your punctuality.

Late for a very important date? The person who's waiting may be forming a negative impression of your personality.

"A proactive person will be there on time, because he is self-motivated, mentally organized, and values time whereas a procrastinator will be running here and there at the last hour," says Humaira Siddiqui.

According to science, those who are chronically late aren't necessarily inconsiderate people — but they're probably more laid-back, "Type B" individuals.

3. Your handwriting.

Whether you're writing a to-do list or a love note, your handwriting can say a lot about you.

Ramesh Nagaraj believes that "people who put a lot of pressure on pen and paper to write something are usually stubborn in attitude. They have a lot of confidence."

Meanwhile, professional graphologist Kathi McKnight says that large letters indicate that you're people-oriented, while small letters suggest you're introverted. Letters that slant to the right can mean you're friendly and sentimental, those that don't slant at all might mean you're pragmatic, and letters that slant to the left suggest you're introspective.

Samhain, a Celtic pagan festival, marked the beginning of winter and was believed to be a night on which spirits could roam among the living. 

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Having kids is expensive.

The average American family pays over $11,000 just in the first year of a child's life, and nearly $250,000 by the time they're 18. The cost of childcare for young children has even eclipsed the cost of tuition at in-state colleges in 33 states.

With those numbers in mind, it's never too early for parents to start putting money away to cover the cost of having kids.

On a recent episode the "Listen Money Matters" podcast, Kim Palmer, author of "Smart Mom, Rich Mom: How to Build Wealth While Raising a Family" and mother of two, said that she and her husband started saving up to have kids as soon as they got married — even though their daughter wasn't born until five years later. Why so early?

"That was when it was easy, before we had kids," Palmer told Andrew Fiebert and Thomas Frank of Listen Money Matters. "That was the easy time to save."

Having kids brings a mountain of added expenses that don't exist when you're younger and newly married. Parents need to fork over cash for everything from a new car seat to months worth of diapers — not to mention the rising cost of childcare — making it much more difficult to save diligently for future outlay at the same time. So once you and your partner know kids are in your future, it's time to start saving for them. 

For Palmer, taking time off of work to have a baby also meant a dip in income.

"Like a lot of people in America, I didn't have fully funded maternity leave, so I had to have the savings for that because I took six months off with each baby," she says. "That's a big loss of income and it's hard to keep up with your other costs."

If you're planning on having kids someday, it doesn't hurt to start saving up right away. As a new parent, you'll thank yourself when money is one less stress to worry about.

SEE ALSO: I saved 50% of my income for a month and the hardest part wasn't cutting back my spending

DON'T MISS:  11 mistakes holding you back from becoming a millionaire

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Entrepreneurial power couple Michael and Caroline Ventura know better than almost anyone how to be a successful business partner with your significant other.

The two run multiple businesses from a 19th-century, three-story building in Manhattan's West Village, including their joint ventures: Calliope (a home goods store that also offers art classes) as well as And&And (a 2,500-square-foot event space). They also happen to live together in the building.

"It's easier to take stuff to heart when it's your partner that you're either rallying against or with, and that's equal for when something amazing happens, too," Caroline said. 

During a recent visit to Calliope, Business Insider heard what Michael and Caroline have learned during their eight years as a married couple and as business partners.

The two stressed, first and foremost, how important it is to practice empathy.

"Making sure we see something from all sides is something we practice as a family, and certainly something we practice as business owners also," Michael said.

Another simple yet powerful takeaway the two have learned is to take a moment to truly listen to your partner's concerns.

"If one of us is having a concern, it's easy to make snap decisions and snap reactions, and we've learned to slow down a minute and think about why a situation is bothering the other person," Caroline said.

And lastly, the old adage "don't go to bed angry" still holds true for these two. "Work it out before you go to bed," said Michael. 

SEE ALSO: 24 photos that show why Michelle Obama will be remembered as the most stylish first lady of all time

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There's a record amount of empty retail space along New York's Fifth Avenue because the rent is too high.

Availability is rising across the borough, according to Cushman & Wakefield's third-quarter report on Manhattan real estate released on Wednesday.

Vacancies rose year-on-year in every submarket that the company tracks, and climbed to 15.9% on Fifth Avenue between 49th and 60th streets. That's the highest availability ever for those streets, according to Bloomberg. The flagship Apple store and Saks Fifth Avenue are along that strip.

The availability rate in Q3 was highest a little farther south along Fifth Avenue, from 42nd to 49th streets, at 29.3%.

At the same time, the asking rents for direct and sublease space fell from a year ago in nine out of the 11 Manhattan retail spaces that Cushman & Wakefield tracks. The exceptions were on Fifth Avenue from 49th to 60th, and in Lower Manhattan.

Prospective renters for both residential and commercial spaces are pushing back on asking prices that exceed what they can afford.

Part of the problem in the commercial space is that there's too much supply and new stores are becoming available daily, according to the report. That's making rents cheaper in most places.

Also, many people are no longer walking into stores to shop — they're instead going to websites like Amazon.

Many traditional retailers are adapting to the shift toward e-commerce, but their margins have suffered in the interim, so the combination of less physical shopping and lower margins has meant that retailers' demand for physical space is less.

Cushman & Wakefield said its outlook for Manhattan's retail market remains strong and should be supported by consumer spending and tourism to New York City's most famous borough.

SEE ALSO: Renters in Manhattan are pushing back against exorbitant prices

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Since it was started by Tim and Karrie League in 1997 in Austin, Texas, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema has become an oasis for movie lovers while also revolutionizing the theater experience with the inclusion of food and drink service.

With 25 locations across the country, it's now widely regarded as the best theater in the world, and if you live in the New York City area, you can finally experience it in all its glory. 

Alamo Drafthouse Brooklyn will officially open its doors on Friday, and Business Insider got a glimpse inside what we can call without argument the most unique theatergoing experience in the city. 

Come take a tour with us inside the newest Alama Drafthouse Cinema in Brooklyn:

SEE ALSO: The 50 best movies of all time, according to critics on Metacritic

Walking in, Stanley Kubrick fans will feel instantly at home as the familiar carpet design from "The Shining" will lead you into the fun.

You can do your best King Kong impression atop the Empire State Building with this photo setup.

This Drafthouse also has a gender-neutral bathroom, a move Tim League made in many of his theaters in the wake of the bathroom controversy in North Carolina.

Reaching financial independence before typical retirement age is an increasinglypopular trend.

For Jason and Julie Buckley, retiring last year at age 43 meant relinquishing the stress of the corporate world and jumping into a life of full-time travel.

Shepherded by meticulous spreadsheet estimates and years of tracking their pennies, the British couple retired with about £30,000 (~ $36,800) in cash savings and set a modest retirement budget of £15,000 (~ $18,400) a year, Jason told Business Insider in an email.

The rest of their net worth is invested in rented-out residential property, private pensions, and investments including ETFs and bonds.

For the past 10 months, the Buckleys have been touring Europe and North Africa in their motor home, which enables them to visit expensive countries "for a fraction of the cost."

"We developed a strategy to avoid living off savings. In theory, and in practice so far, our savings will increase over time," Jason said. Currently, the couple lives off of cash flow from investments — rental income, dividends, and interest — as well as advertising and book sales on their travel blog, which they spend just two hours a day maintaining.

If you're aiming to achieve early retirement yourself, Jason says, "You’re most likely going to be swimming against a very strong tide of opinion! If you're infected with an insatiable desire to do it, then be confident you can do it."

They suggest starting with educating yourself financially and putting your plan on paper, tracking spending and cutting all unnecessary costs, and investing.

"As your costs come down, and income from your investments gets re-invested in more investments, at some point you will experience the bewildering and joyful moment when your wealth starts to spiral upwards," Jason said. "At that point your freedom is all but inevitable."

Access a test copy of the Buckleys' spreadsheet to track your own viability for early retirement. Check out their blog Our Tour for more advice, tips, and information on reaching financial independence.

DON'T MISS: This couple retired at 43 to travel Europe full time on $18,000 a year — here's the spreadsheet that helped them get there

SEE ALSO: How one 26-year-old banked nearly $150,000 in savings as part of a plan to retire by age 37

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Unfortunately, humans don't have tails like cats. So, an online merchandise store, ThinkGeek, created the Twitchy Kitty Electronic Tail. Just having a tail might not be enough for some. LICKI Brush created a tongue-like brush that could let cat owners get intimate than ever with their cat.

Produced by Gene Kim and Darren Weaver.

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There are so many diets out there, but which ones actually work?

Luckily, scientists have found that most reasonable diets can help you lose weight, compared to not following a diet at all. Overall, studies have shown that diets rich in plants and low in processed foods are the best for weight loss.

But many popular diets aren't based on sound scientific principles.

Here's what the science says about 15 popular diets, so you can decide which one — if any — might be right for you.

SEE ALSO: You lose a bunch of weight every day — here's where it all goes

DON'T MISS: 17 scientific facts to motivate you to eat healthy even when you really don't want to

What you do: The South Beach diet is a three-phase program designed by cardiologist Arthur Agatston in 2003. In the first phase, you cut out all carbs, fruits, and alcohol. In phases two and three, you gradually add some of those foods back in (as far as carbs go, you're only supposed to eat whole-grain ones). It's important to note that this is a commercial diet, so you may have to buy the official plan and materials.

What the science says: The diet focuses on whole foods, which is good since studies have shown this is the best approach for weight loss. Cutting out any of the food groups could leave you lacking nutrients, though. Some people on the diet have reported ketoacidosis, a condition with symptoms including bad breath, dry mouth, tiredness, dizziness, insomnia, nausea, and constipation. Studies have found South Beach diets (or those very similar to the name-brand version) could help people lose weight in the short-term, but researchers haven't followed people long-term to see if it helps them keep the weight off. The problem here is that while the second two phases of the diet are somewhat reasonable, the first phase is very restrictive, so some people might have trouble sticking to it.

What you do: On the new Weight Watchers (the one Oprah has advertised lets you eat bread), their SmartPoints program assigns foods points based on their nutritional values. You get a set number of points per day depending on your height, weight, activity level, and how many pounds you want to lose. The plan can cost between about $20 and $70 a month, depending on whether you pay for add-ons like coaching or meetings.

What the science says: Research has overwhelmingly positive conclusions about Weight Watchers' sensible rules, and the new program is even more in line with what nutritionists recommend. Participants in a clinical trial on the plan for a year lost nearly 7 pounds. And other studies have found Weight Watchers members also tend to lower their heart disease risk and blood pressure. An interesting analysis found that participants on Weight Watchers for a year typically paid $70 per pound lost, but gained $54,130 in quality of life improvement.

What you do: There are many different kinds of vegetarians, but generally, you don't eat meat or fish.

What the science says: In observational studies, vegetarians tend to weigh less than their carnivorous counterparts. Cutting meat from your diet could reduce your environmental impact as well, research has found. You have to make sure you get enough nutrients (especially protein) from other sources like nuts, grains, and dairy, though. But the benefits could be considerable: Studies have found that vegetarianism is linked with lower chances of heart disease and cancers, and higher chances of living longer.

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