📚 The CIA's Reading Course, Alex Hormozi's Free Books, and more.

A&B #306

August 02, 2026

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📚 Book Summary:

This week’s book is “Young Money” by Jack Raines.

Jack Raines followed the traditional life path. He graduated high school as valedictorian, went to a good college, and got a job in finance. He chased status and salary, but wasn’t fulfilled or happy with his life.

So, after a quarter-life crisis, he quit his job and spent the next year traveling to 25 countries and writing about his experiences. He then attended Columbia Business School, joined a venture capital firm, and went on many more adventures.

In this book, he reflects on his 20s and writes a guide to wealth, happiness, and purpose that he wishes he had when he was younger.

If you’re in your 20s and feeling lost in life, you’ll enjoy this book.

📖

1) It’s Normal To Be Uncertain In Your 20s

You don’t need to have life figured out in your 20s.

In fact, it’s completely normal to be uncertain about what you want to do.

  • Where should I live?

  • What should I do for work?

  • Should I marry or break up with my partner?

You don’t have to have an answer to all of those questions. The purpose of your 20s is to explore different options so that you can find the answers.

For example, after college, Jack Raines got a job in finance at a big corporation because that was his 'plan.’

But after working there for a year and a half, he realized moving numbers in a spreadsheet wasn’t what he wanted to do for the rest of his life and quit.

He then spent the next two years traveling the world while working as a freelance writer. He was broke, but freer and happier.

He also made other major changes, such as breaking up with his girlfriend and moving to New York City.

Each experience taught him more about himself, what he enjoyed, what he wanted to do for work, and most importantly, what he wanted out of life.

So stop worrying about not having life ‘figured out.’ That’s the whole point of your youth.

📖

2) Memories Compound Faster Than Money

Every personal finance book will tell you to save as much money as possible when you’re young so that you can start investing it as early as possible.

And that is good advice. The earlier you invest your money, the more time you give it to compound and grow.

However, when you don’t have much money, there’s barely any compounding.

If you’re a typical college student and you decide to live off of ramen and never go out to save an extra $3,000 a year. You’ll make, at best, likely $300 from investing that money over a year.

Or, you can spend that $3,000 to travel abroad, visit the cool cities, meet new people, and go on experiences together that you’ll remember for years or decades from now.

It sounds financially irresponsible, but the truth is that when you get your first job or your first raise, you’ll likely be able to save $3,000 much more easily.

And the best part is that when you’re young, everyone else is basically broke and you don’t need a lot of money to have fun. You can stay in hostels, cook your own meals or eat street food, book basic economy flights, and drink cheap beers in the park.

Yes, save enough so that you have an emergency fund. But don’t stress about saving every single dime and dollar you can.

📖

3) Use Your Two Superpowers

As a young person, you face a ton of uncertainty. But you face little risk.

The superpower you have when you’re young is time and options.

You can quit your job, travel for a couple of years, and then get a new job when you come back.

You can leave your company to start your own business, and if it fails, get a new job.

You can break up with your partner to date new people.

You can move to a completely new city.

You have time to make new friends, explore different careers, and live in different places.

You have your whole life ahead of you. You have time to figure things out.

If something doesn’t work out, you just try something else. You can easily reset your life, over and over again.

You can’t do that (or it’s much harder) when you’re in your 30s or 40s, married, and have multiple kids.

Time and options have an expiration date. Use it before you lose it.

✅ Actionable Advice:

1) It’s normal to be uncertain in your 20s. The purpose of your youth isn’t to plan your life, but to explore it.

2) Money compounds, but so do memories. Save some money, but also invest some into new memories.

3) When you’re young, you have time and options. Try new things (different cities, careers, etc) while you can; it’ll get much harder to do so later in life.

💎 Weekly Gem:

Free Audiobooks:

Entrepreneur Alex Hormozi reached a net worth of $100M+ by his 30s. He's also published multiple books which have sold 5M+ copies.

But the best part? You can read all of his books for free (legally).

He uploaded his audiobooks to his podcast; you can listen to them here:

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