There’s this really cheesy R&B song from the early ’90s that goes “I wanna be rich, ba ba ba-ba-ba-da-ba.” It was a pretty big hit at the time. The melody and hook runs through my head every time I daydream about untold riches.
Tonight, I started reading Ramit Sethi’s book “I Will Teach You To Be Rich,” of which there is a highly successful blog that is its namesake. In the very first chapter, “Would You Rather Be Sexy or Rich,” he references the average college student’s dreams of being a millionaire by 40 years old. He doesn’t mention it explicitly but I imagine that for many of these college students, their imagined path to wealth involves a trek through grad school, which begs the question:
Will Going To Grad School Ultimately Make You Rich?
Several months ago, I spent several hours of a Saturday in June hunting down trustworthy figures on lifetime earning potential based on education level. According to the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, a grad school education does pay off in several ways – lower unemployment rates and higher lifetime earnings, on average.
I’m not talking about chump change when I’m talking higher lifetime earnings. The current figures predict anywhere from earning $400,000 more with a masters degree to over $2 million more with a professional degree, such as an MBA or J.D. Even in fields like psychology (I’m not just a grad school coach, I’m also a psychologist!), which is by no stretch of the imagination a “highly paid field,” earning a graduate degree can most certainly mean a significant boost in salary.
Higher education still typically means higher lifetime earnings, even after factoring in the early years of your career. If you’re smart, you will dedicate those years to paying back educational debt, starting over with a clean financial slate, and stacking aside cash in interest-bearing accounts to fund your future.
Money is definitely a major motivator. No one is going to turn down more money in exchange for the work that you do (at least, most of us won’t). But stop for a minute to consider whether your original expectations of rolling in dough are realistic.
So Will It Make Me Rich or What?
I’m sorry to burst bubbles all across the ‘net but if you have Bill Gates dreams of untold riches, you better have the blueprint for the next Microsoft in your back pocket. And frankly, if “getting money” is your sole motivation for continuing with your education, then you ought NOT to go. Simple as that. There are, like, a billion ways out here to augment your salary, so go the route where you have the passion to truly create your own success story.
The real honest truth is that going to grad school will NOT automatically catapult you into the top 1% of earners in America. Making the decision to go into grad school with dollar signs in your eyes is a losing strategy. Going into grad school with the realistic expectation of doing work that you care about and have a passion for will make you “rich” by another currency – self-fulfillment and not spending the next 30 years counting down the days until Friday.
