Books Authored by Russell Kyncl
Thrive in Your 3rd Third: Stories of Those Who’ve Led the Way (2022)
This book tells the stories of thirty people who chose to work past 67, not because they needed to financially, but because they had a sense of mission and engagement. Many worked for pay, others on a volunteer basis. Some worked full-time, others cut back to part-time as their energy decreased or family needs shifted their priorities.
Each story concludes with questions to help you consider how to best navigate your 3rd Third.
Visions to Do Good: The Personal Philanthropy of Benjamin Franklin (2013)
When he was a boy, Ben Franklin read the book Essays to Do Good by Puritan leader Cotton Mather. It changed the trajectory of Ben’s life. Decades later, while Franklin was representing the Colonies in France during the Revolutionary War, he wrote to Cotton Mather’s son, Samuel, “When I was a boy I met with a book entitled ‘Essays to Do Good,’ which I think was written by you father…if I have been, as you seem to think, a useful citizen, the public owes the advantage of it to that book.”
I begin many chapters with quotes from Mather’s book and conclude each chapter with questions to encourage you to think of how you can be a useful person for others. The stories cover all of Ben Franklin’s life and conclude with the charitable plan he incorporated into his last will and testament, a few months before his death, which has educated thousands of people who are alive today to the blue-collar trades.
Launching Towards Independence: A handbook for young adults (2016)
This book is designed to help young adults (16-30) learn from the mistakes and successes of others as they work out their independence. It shares engaging stories and anecdotes at the intersection where money meets life, whether career choice, choosing a life partner, or learning the critical life skills of avoiding debt and consistently saving to accumulate towards long-term goals. Most chapters end with questions to help the reader brainstorm, plan their life, and establish the practical habits of success.