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College, Financial Independence, Investing

What Is Your Degree Worth

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College is a reward for surviving high school. – Judd Apatow

Let’s face the facts. A college degree is not as valuable as it used to be.

Many folks are landing starting salaries well below what it cost them to get that required degree before starting that job that pays less than what it cost to go to school to qualify for the job in the first place.  

According to PayScale, the typical college graduate with zero to five years of experience is raking in $48,400.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) states that average starting salary for graduates is about $50,004. So what does that say about paying $100,000 for that creative writing degree? That it is overpriced.

Let’s get down to brace tacks.

HOW MUCH MORE IS COLLEGE TODAY?

The price of college has now outpaced inflation.

college-education.procon.org

The average yearly cost of 4-year public college cost from 1971-2016:

2016: $20,967

1971: 8,734

140.1% increase in college costs

During that same period of time wages decreased by 5.4% over those 45 years.

You read that right. Wages actually went DOWN instead of UP with a college degree in your hand.

See my post College Alternatives that could save you $100,000

WHAT IS THE PRICE OF COLLEGE VS THE VALUE OF YOUR EDUCATION?

After you get that degree, then you have go out and get that coveted job. You want a great starting salary, but most employers will tell you they cannot quantify your knowledge but so much.

Really?

Cause college are sure about to slap a price tag on getting that knowledge.

Why not offer the same salary as the cost of the degree?

For instance, if you pay $45,000 for your sociology degree, then that would be your starting salary.

Let’s think about that for a second.

What if colleges and employers printed the cost of degree and payment for that degree? Then you would see something like this:

Petroleum/Mechanical Engineering: Degree cost and starting salary $90,000.

Psychology: Degree cost and starting salary $47,000.

That would alleviate a lot of stress and salary negotiations right there.

THE MOST EXPENSIVE DEGREES ON THE PLANET

“A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library.” ― Shelby Foote

Education is an asset. And investing a great deal of money in a degree doesn’t necessarily guarantee a first-class education. However, it can alter the trajectory of your life if you are able to parlay all those late nights writing papers into some serious coin.

As of 2019, Harvey Mudd College has taken the crown for the most expensive college in the world costing students approximately $57,401 for the upcoming 2019/2020 academic school year.

If we time that by four, which is being nice considering the average college kid is graduation in 5-6 years, then we get a mind-blowing $229,604!

For some perspective, if we invest that money instead over four years and let it ride, then after 30 years with an 8% return you would have $2,310,426.27! Yes, those four years cost you over $2 MILLION!

You literally could have used your college savings and invested every penny in the stock market and gotten a higher return than what many will get after 10 years of drudgery repaying that $200,000.

It gets even more expensive if your kid starts in at the top and goes to a private school from K-12. This could cost you even more and the losses start to really pile up!

Say those adolescent years are spent in some swanky private school at $50,000 a year. Over the course of 13 years, you would have paid $650,000! Add that $229,604 and you are staring at education bills of almost $900,000!

I would take a check for $900,000 at the age of 22 any day of the week over going to fancy private schools for 17 years!

And just in case you were wondering.

If you invest that $50,000 private school money over 13 years in the stock market, you would have $1,160,746.02 with an 8% return. And add in four years of college, that would net you $1,822,512.19.

Going to public school isn’t looking so bad now is it?

Here are some of the most expensive colleges in the United States and the world.

These 12 colleges are currently the most expensive in the United States:

12. Duke University (18)
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $55,960

11. Bucknell University
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $56,092

10. University of Southern California
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $56,225

9. Tufts University
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $56,382

8. Amherst College
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $56,426

7. Franklin and Marshall College
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $56,550

6. Landmark College
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $56,800

5. Harvey Mudd College
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $56,876

4. Trinity College
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $56,910

3. Vassar College
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $56,960

2. University of Chicago
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $57,006

1. Columbia University
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $59, 430

These 11 colleges are currently the most expensive in the world:

11. Yale University
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $49,480

10. UCL (University College London)
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: £9,250 or $12,080 USD

9. ETH Zurich (Switzerland)
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: CHF 1,298 (~US$1,310)

8. University of Chicago
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $57,006

7. Princeton University
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $43,450

6. California Institute of Technology
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $45,390

5. University of Oxford
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: £9,250 or $12,080 USD

4. Harvard University
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $46,340

3. University of Cambridge UK (United Kingdom)
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: £9,250 or $12,080 USD

2. Stanford University
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $46,320

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $47,704

Those are expensive colleges.

Did you know you could go to university cheaper abroad?

Image result for university of st andrews tuition

For some perspective on exactly how expensive colleges are in the United States, as an international student you could go to the same college as Prince William and Duchess Kate Middleton for less than it costs to go to Harvard, Yale, or Princeton! The cost is £20,770 or $27,125 USD. That is what it would cost annually to attend the University of St Andrews.

NOT ALL DEGREES ARE CREATED EQUAL

Education is not an equalizer. If you go to the same college as a science nerd majoring in Math, while you are majoring in philosophy, you both are not on equal footing by a long shot.

Image result for college majors with lowest starting salaries

In light of the recent college bribery scandal, let’s talk top-tier universities.

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If you were to get an acceptance into Yale or Duke University, congrats to you, as you are among the college elite. However, don’t break out the celebratory champagne just yet.

Although you and another student may be paying the same amount to go Duke, if you major in a different field, then that degree can easily eclipse yours.

Image result for top paying college majors
Image result for lowest paying college majors

Put it this way. You and another student both pay $48,000 a year over four years. That is $192,000. You become an engineer raking in big bucks right after grad by getting a starting salary of $95,000. Your friend on the other hand, let’s call him Joe, majored in piano or violin and is only able to get a starting salary as a backing musician for $38,000.  

That is a difference of $57,000 a year.

You ask how is that so? We went to the same university. We paid the same amount.

Yes, but your degree is in higher demand than Joe’s.

Then you may ask yourself: Well why didn’t Joe pick a more in demand degree? And therein lies the rub.

Joe is a skilled musician. That is where his passion and interest lie. Even if he would have seen a brochure, which there aren’t any in wide circulation on any college campuses that I have ever been to, showing the starting salaries of majors he still would have chosen music.

The playing field of majors is not level. Therefore, you need to decide before you even step foot on a college campus what you want to be.

This is a small list of what employers are paying for college majors.

My suggestion is that you do a search on what it costs and what it pays to be a lawyer, accountant, doctor, or violinist. When you know what your options are, then you can at least make an informed decision.

Celebrities and Money, Entrepreneurship, Financial Freedom, Financial Independence, Self-Made Millionaires, Wealth

How being an outlier can make you rich

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“Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness.” – Malcolm Gladwell

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” – Bruce Lee

No one can arrive from being talented alone, work transforms talent into genius. – Anna Pavlova

If you’re a fan of Enter the Dragon, like me, then you know that talent and practiced skill are the difference between winning and defeat.

Bruce Lee also said Knowledge will give you power, but character respect. 

That reminds me of this saying from The Rock.

I also notice that mavericks tend to get rich.

Those willing to do more than the bare minimum. We are talking captains or titans of industry and business mavericks, that buck the trend, throw caution to the wind, and are all in.

Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, LeBron James, Phil Knight, and Walt Disney, to name a few, embody the characteristics of what it takes to dominate in one’s field.  They are outliers. If you dare to dream and be an outlier yourself, then you are in great company.

WHAT IS AN OUTLIER?

A person or thing that is atypical within a particular group, class, or category. – Merriam Webster Dictionary

Simply put, you are different than the rest. You stand out. An outlier is the proverbial diamond in the rough or needle in the haystack. The 1 out of a million.

We all know how it worked out for Aladdin in the end.

When everyone else goes right, you go left and turn down the street.

You have tunnel vision. All energy is focused on a single task until it is completed or you are an expert. The rejection of noise and naysayers are a must.

A great definition of focus is this: To follow, without halt, one aim: There’s the secret of success. – Anna Pavlova (Prima Ballerina)

WHO ARE OUTLIERS?

The more you like yourself, the less you are like anyone else, which makes you unique. – Walt Disney

We will take the examples above and expand on those individuals that have either been born great, achieved greatness, or had greatness thrust upon them. (To revise Humphrey Bogart’s famous words: Here’s looking at you, William. Shakespeare that is.)

So, who are these mavericks you say? Just keep reading.

Steve Jobs

Photo: Forbes.com

Steve Jobs was the CEO and co-founder of the most valuable brand in the world: Apple. The first ever trillion-dollar company in the entire world.  He pioneered revolutionary technologies. Thanks to his genius and willingness to dare to be different, we now have a computer in our pockets.

He decided to buck the trend and paid no dividends for Apple shareholders (this changed in 2012), as he thought that money could be better spent to expand the company.

Forbes, in 2011, estimated Jobs’ net worth to be around $6 billion to $ 7 billion dollars prior to his passing.

Bill Gates

Photo: Forbes.com

Bill Gates is a business magnate who is the founder of Microsoft. He took the road less traveled by famously dropping out of one of the most elite and prestigious universities in the world: Harvard.

Mr. Gates devoted every minute of his time to computer technology. He would read trade magazines and stay informed on the latest in tech. Becoming an expert in the field and later launching Windows in 1985. It became the top operating system for PC’s.

Forbes lists Gates’ net worth at $96B.

LeBron James

Photo: Forbes.com

LeBron James started playing basketball at a very young age. He loved the game so much that he played and practiced non-stop. By the time LeBron was 14, he had ESPN covering his high school basketball games because he was just that good.

He was drafted in 2003, to play professional basketball with the NBA. It is estimated that he spends $1.5 million dollars a year just on his health care and personal training to keep his body in the best athletic shape possible. He would go on to win the first ever championship for Cleveland. Ever. He recently built a school and is offering college scholarships to those students.

Forbes estimates James’ net worth at $440 million. That’s a lot of M’s just for going hard in the paint. It pays well to be the best.

Phil Knight

Photo: Forbes.com

Phil Knight is a business magnate and the co-founder of Nike. He ran track for the University of Oregon under the infamous track coach Bill Bowerman, with whom he co-founded Nike.  Bowerman is famous for coaching 31 Olympic athletes including the legendary Steve Prefontaine.

After attending Stanford Graduate School of Business, Knight decided to become an entrepreneur. His business plan paper became the catalyst for his company. He traveled to Japan to see about good running shoes, which would go on to become Nike.

Forbes estimates Knight’s net worth at $31B.

Walt Disney

Photo: Forbes.com

Walt Disney was a pioneer in the American animation industry. He always loved to draw. He had a paper route with a grueling and exhausting schedule as a kid, which contributed to his poor grades at school.

None the less, he continued to draw. He had $40 dollars in his pocket when he moved to CA to start his career. After, getting fired from a job in animation at one company, he decided to start his own.

People laughed at him for wanting to draw a talking mouse. An old legend states he was rejected 302 times to get financing to start Disney World. He ended getting the last laugh as Disney is the biggest and most diversified mass media and entertainment conglomerate in the world.

At the time of his death in 1966, he was estimated to have a net worth equal to $1 billion in today’s dollars (adjusting for inflation).

HOW CAN BEING AN OUTLIER MAKE YOU RICH?

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. – Henry David Thoreau

People are willing to pay for unique. Something that is one of a kind. The rarer the better.

Do something so good that people can’t wait to see you.

“Make sure it’s mean so them fiends keep on coming back” –  Who Dat (Song by J. Cole)

Keep them wanting for more.

They say the riches are in niches.

Mae West wrote on taboo subjects in the 1920’s. She made a mint in real estate and oil. This is what she thought of all that hoopla she made way back when.

I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it. – Mae West

Figure out what you are good at and make it happen.

When you start out you have to take what you can get, but when you blow up, you can name your price.

Remember that song Back Then by Mike Jones. Yeah, it can be something like that.

GO AHEAD AND TAKE THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. – Robert Frost

Many people have made a fortune off being different.

Success depends in a very large measure upon individual initiative and exertion, and cannot be achieved except by a dint of hard work.  – Anna Pavlova

Let’s see some numbers for clarity and perspective.

Only the best can become NFL players. Here is what the best can make.

Rookie Salaries in the NFL

Source: FootballNextLevel.com

Highest Paid Players in NFL

Source: Spotrac.com

These are just salaries for one profession. There are many others.

CEOs are making bank. In addition, so can authors, producers, actors, musicians, professors, doctors, and more can as you can garner success in many other fields.

How hard are you willing to work to make success happen?

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson says success takes no less than everything you’ve got. You don’t need directions on the road to success, just point to the top and go! Here are a few more of his words of wisdom for motivation.