Rich & Free by Rami Abou Jaoude

Escape The Rat Race

You work hard, pay your bills… and still feel like something’s off.
One morning you wake up, check your bank account, look at your crowded calendar and your overloaded inbox, and wonder: Is this really what life is supposed to be?

I’ve been there. With a degree, a solid job, and a schedule so tight I barely had time to breathe. Until I realized the truth: the system isn’t broken — it was built this way. Built to keep you busy, in debt, and distracted while your best years quietly slip away through screens, subscriptions, and silent stress.
This isn’t your typical finance book filled with boring formulas and “cut your latte” advice.
Rich & Free is a brutally honest guide to escape the rat race, reclaim your time, and build real financial freedom — without needing to become a spreadsheet wizard or wait 40 years for early retirement.

Inside, you’ll uncover:

• Why school never taught you the basics of money — and who profits from that
• How to break free from the job–consume–repeat cycle
• How to stop saving blindly and actually build wealth faster than inflation
• Why financial independence isn’t just for tech bros and early retirees
• A step-by-step plan to design a life you don’t need to escape from

This isn’t about deprivation — it’s about freedom.
The kind where you work because you want to, not because you have to.
The kind where money becomes a tool, not a trap.
Where you know exactly how to save money without obsessing over every dollar.
Whether you’re trying to get out of debt, stuck in a job you hate, or just tired of feeling behind…
Rich & Free will show you how to take control — and never look back.

You’ll learn how to:

• Spot the lies that keep you broke (and exhausted)
• Rewire your money mindset and stop living paycheck to paycheck
• Calculate your real Freedom Number — without the jargon
• Build a spending plan that lets you live well now and retire early
• Stop surviving… and start designing your life

Written in a blunt, funny, and wildly relatable voice, this book gives you real tools — including downloadable spreadsheets, mindset shifts, and stories (like Alex, who ditched status symbols to chase sunsets).
No fluff. No guilt. Just clarity, strategy, and the confidence to break the cycle.
If you're ready to escape the rat race and build a rich life on your own terms,
Rich & Free is your roadmap

Amazon

Excerpt from Rich & Free © Copyright 2025 Rami Abou Jaoude

PART I: THE HIDDEN PRISON

Chapter 1: The Modern Trap – How We Lose Our Best Years

1.1. PRISONER’S DILEMMA

Let me introduce you to a concept I call the Prisoner’s Dilemma — not the one from game theory, but the real-life one you’re probably living.

I’m good at math. Not because I love it, but because numbers don’t lie — people do. So let’s run some numbers and see how much of your life you’re quietly handing over without noticing.

Say you work from age 20 to 60. That’s 40 years. Let’s assume 200 workdays a year (we’re being generous — this gives you weekends and holidays), and a standard 9-hour workday.

Now pause.

That “9-hour” workday? It’s a myth. A fairy tale sold to you with a desk and a login screen.

Here’s what it really looks like:

• Commute time: No one lives next door to their job. You’re either sprinting for the metro, stuck in traffic, or circling the block looking for parking while your coffee goes cold.
• Prep time: It takes a lot longer to suit up than to throw on the first T-shirt in your drawer. Grooming, ironing, dressing — it all adds up.
• Shutdown time: You don’t just stop at 5:00. You’re doing overtime, closing tabs, clearing out emails, or waiting for one last file to upload.
• Phone time: Don’t forget the hours you “technically” aren’t working — but still answering emails, replying on WhatsApp, or stressing about that project due Monday.

Add it all up and your 9-hour day quietly becomes 12 to 14 hours.

Let’s do the math:

40 years × 200 days/year × 12–14 hours/day = 96,000 to 112,000 hours.

That’s how much of your life is drained away.

Now picture jail.

What do you do in jail? You eat. You sleep. You waste time. That’s it.

Assume you sleep 8 hours and waste the remaining 16. Now divide those 96,000–112,000 hours by 16 waking hours per day, and then by 365 days in a year.

You get this:

96,000 ÷ 16 ÷ 365 = ~16.5 years
112,000 ÷ 16 ÷ 365 = ~19 years

Sixteen to nineteen full years of your life — gone. That’s like serving a prison sentence for a crime you never committed.

And it gets worse.

Those lost years?
They don’t come at the end of your life — when your knees hurt and you’ve seen it all.
They happen between 20 and 60 — your golden years.
Your best years. The years when you could’ve been living.

But instead, you signed the dotted line.

Again and again.