Hey 👋🏼 I’m Jack.

I’ll tell you a bit about who I am, then I’ll tell you about what I write, then I’ll provide a FAQ section.

Ready? Cool.

Who is “Jack Raines?”

I’m a 25-year-old South Georgia native currently living in the heart of New York City while attending Columbia Business School. I’m a writer by trade (and also largely by accident, though I imagine that’s how a lot of writers get started), and my greatest career aspiration is to not have a job.

I played football and studied finance and Spanish at Mercer University, and in my senior year of college, I was accepted to Columbia Business School’s MBA program through a deferred enrollment cohort. Basically, I would work 2-5 years before moving to NYC for business school. Not a bad deal.

After graduating from Mercer, I entered the big, wide world of corporate finance. And one week after entering the big, wide world of corporate finance, Covid-19 introduced me to the small, enclosed world of working from my apartment in sweatpants for 18 months.

Working from home gave me a lot of free time, which was initially used to play an unhealthy amount of CoD Warzone. However, after a few months, I turned my attention to a more fun game: the stock market.

I turned $6,000 into approximately $400,000 by flipping SPACs in my Roth IRA, then I lost $150k in a day by flipping stocks that used to be SPACs, then I stopped trading, quit my job, and embarked on an existential crisis-fueled trip around the world from August 2021 to July 2022, and I moved to New York for business school in August 2022, which is where I live now. And I have to say, New York City is the best place in the world to live in your mid-20s.

Now to what I write.

What do I write? What do I do?

I write a finance blog, Young Money, which is really like 30% finance blog, and 70% me musing on topics like why you should travel more, how a satirical Linkedin post broke the internet, and how I blew $150k in 37 seconds.

Here are four of my favorite pieces:

I also write a travel blog, Backpackin’, detailing all of the stuff that I’ve been doing abroad. I decided to record every little thing that I was doing in that previously mentioned trip around the world, and I’ve kept it going on my subsequent international adventures. It’s been fun reading back over the old stuff.

My thoughts from August 2021 on why I decided to do this:

I also mentioned that I’m a Columbia Business School student enrolled in their full-time MBA program. Business school might seem like a weird pivot after spending a year hostel-hopping abroad, but it has so far been the most fun year of my life.

Having a friend group of fun, driven folks from all over the world is an underrated way to spend two years, imo. Some more thoughts on why I went to business school:

I also edit Exec Sum, the daily financial newsletter started by popular meme page “Litquidity.” This gig, which I landed by sending Mr. Meme page a DM when I was drunk in Colorado a couple of years ago, was what showed me that you can actually make a living writing online.

I also run a course on building and monetizing newsletters with my friend Nathan Baugh. If you’re interested, you can learn more about that here and sign up below:

So what’s my master plan with this whole online writing thing?

Right now, continue to write interesting content that people enjoy, and sell advertisement packages to ensure that I can continue to 1) keep my content accessible to all and 2) keep from having to get a “real job.”

I also want to help other people launch/scale their newsletters and blogs, because I think the world is a better place with more original content.

Of course, I’m doing my part to make Exec Sum the go-to resource for financial news.

I leverage my blog and social media platforms to make friends with super interesting folks like some of you.

And finally, once Young Money reaches a critical size, I’ll write a book or two or three, because “author” just sounds so much cooler than “blogger,” doesn’t it?

Frequently Asked Questions

1) Can I book a call with you to discuss newsletters, building online, or something similar?

Yes, set an appointment on my calendar here:

2) What platform do you write on?

Beehiiv, I think it’s the best writing solution for anyone with a newsletter/blog that wants both email delivery and a solid web page. It also took me a max of 5 minutes to import my content and subscribers from Substack.

If you want to set up an account or transfer over to beehiiv, click here.

1) How do you write?

Read this:

3) How did you build Young Money to 30,000+ readers?

The simple answer is that I have published approximately 450,000 words of content in an 18-month period. If you get enough reps, it’s pretty hard not to make some progress.

The longer answer is that I have been constantly iterating and testing things along the way, and I’ve become friends with folks with large followings who enjoy my work. I’ve never used any paid advertisements (maybe I should, idk), just word of mouth and recommendations from other writers.

4) How did you get the job working for Litquidity?

I sent him a direct message when I was drunk in Denver, Colorado in July 2021.

5) Is business school worth it?

Short answer, 100%.

Slightly longer answer, yes, if you are going to a top ~10 program.

Full answer:

6) How did you get deported from Norway?

7) What is up with your Linkedin account?

I like shitposting on that site to make fun of the hustle culture bros that have been running wild. Pretty fun, no?

That’s all for now! Catch me on Twitter, Linkedin, or email me at [email protected] 🤝