There’s a really cheesy song from the early ’90s with the repeated refrain “I wanna be rich.” 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, 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, the imagined path to wealth involves a trek through grad school, which begs the question:
Lifetime Earnings
Several months ago, I spent several hours of a Saturday 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 it comes to higher lifetime earnings. Current figures predict anywhere from $400,000 more with a masters degree to $2+ million more with a professional degree, such as an MBA or J.D. Even in fields like psychology, which is by no stretch of the imagination a “highly paid field,” holding a graduate degree most certainly means a boost in salary.
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