Compare the Cost of Education to the Cost of Ignorance…

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Written by Jimmie Burroughs Email this article to a friend

The advantages are startling for what a college education offers you. The right degrees can bring you about $1.6 million more over a lifetime than families who have no degrees. A male age 25 or over with a bachelor’s degree earns on the average about $61000 which is about $29000 more annually than the high-school grad’s. When you compare the cost of education to the cost of ignorance, the difference is in the terms of thousands more per year earning power for those with education.

Successful people are educated people as a general rule. It may not be a formal education which includes a college degree but it is nevertheless learning which enables them to perform a skill that is marketable and usually they perform it better than most others. Today I received the following email from a friend whose mailing list I’m on and I thought it was interesting and it stresses the importance of investing in your own education and personal development. So I want to share it with you:

Jimmie,
“This summer, Trisha came to my 4-Man Intensive from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Long ago she rented a house for $350 per month.

In Chicago that would fetch you a tin shack under a bridge – but up there in the frozen tundra it grants you 3 bedrooms. Gotta love small town America!

Not fancy, but the place keeps ‘em warm when it’s 40 degrees below zero. She still lives in that house now.

She explained how a few years ago she was sorely tempted to buy a fabulous house, which would cost $1200 a month. (In northern Michigan, $1200 a month buys you a LOT of house.) She changed her mind at the last minute.

Instead, Trish started her business, which is now a thriving mail-order company.

She said if she’d bought the bigger house, she wouldn’t have been able to fund her new company.
I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather own a cash-generating asset than a money-sucking liability. Homes don’t make you money while you sleep. They generate repair bills while you sleep.

A few weeks ago I blogged on  ‘What kind of car should I buy?’ I spoke of my deteriorating 10 year old Toyota Avalon. I asked everybody what they thought I should get.

Tons of opinions. Everything from ‘Hey dude, drive it into the ground if it turns your crank, to  treat yourself to a Ferrari.’

Last week I bought a 2007 Avalon. Premium sound system, 42,000 miles.

Nothing to brag about by any means; just a perfect respectable, comfortable car that’ll do its job for the next 5 years. It plays nice tunes.

Compared to that I spend extravagant sums of money on education. Last year alone I spent 50% more than the price of that car, just sharpening my mental saw.

In the Dilbert Cube I drove a 1984 Toyota Tercel station wagon that cost $1300 and had a leaky radiator. I told my boss I didn’t think I should spend more than a month’s income on a car. Meanwhile I was always buying newsletters and business books.

I have *always* done that. What I invest in education exceeds the cost of both our cars combined, at least by a factor of 2.

I still don’t think you should spend more than a month’s income on a car.

Age old financial wisdom says:
-Save 10%
-give 10%

To that, I add: Invest 10% in your education, personal growth and development.
Most people think doing any of those things is impossible, let alone all three.

Let me remind you that millions of people go into debt to the tune of $100,000 + for a college education. Some acquire no marketable skills and spend decades paying it off.

Six months volunteering for a Greenpeace? Impossible, gotta pay those student loans. Start a business and eat baloney sandwiches for 2 years? Impossible, gotta get a J-O-B and make payments.

That’s slavery.

Nothing in business is more bankable than the ability to get and keep customers. Invest in that.

There’s no liberation like knowledge, wisdom and marketable skills. The compound interest you earn over five or ten years of aggressively investing in yourself is INCALCULABLE.”

“Take my instruction and not silver,
And knowledge rather than choicest gold.
For wisdom is better than jewels;
And all desirable things cannot compare with her.”
-Solomon, 1000 BC

Perry Marshall

The truth is that a lot of people spend all their money on large monthly payments on a house and new car. Why not live in an affordable house and drive an older car and invest in yourself and in a business that will generate income rather than being a liability.

Gaining the right education and the right skills will pay off for you for the rest of your life it terms of earning power. I say the right education and not just your presence in a university for 4 years.

Self education is the greatest kind; it is needed even after the college years. Self education is you pursuing knowledge through training courses, books and life experiences that teaches you the needed skills to be a player in the market place and gives you the slight edge over competition that will take you to the top both financially and personally. Education does cost but those costs are offset by lifetime earning power. It costs far more to be ignorant than to be educated when you consider the difference in earning power over your lifetime.

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With patience and ease, in an unselfish and purposeful way, over a time period undetermined, and for a good that includes others, I intend for $1,000,000 to come to me and to others who join me in holding to this objective.

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Jimmie Burroughs is the author of JimmieBurroughs.com ; get more tips on personal development: www.JimmieBurroughs.com

JimmieBurroughs.com is founded and maintained by Jimmie Burroughs Nashville, Tennessee. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ © 2011 Jimmie Burroughs. All rights reserved

Who Is Jimmie Burroughs? Jimmie Burroughs has been involved in teaching Personal Development off and on for more than 30 years. He is a dedicated believer in Jesus Christ and considers helping others his calling in life.