Hourly Pay

Is going to school just to get a crappy job really, really worth it? Most middle-income people think so, while lower-income people want to but can’t necessarily, and upper-income having mixed views. What is the right answer, anyway? Well, the answer is that there is no right answer and that one must consider him or herself as an individual; what are your goals, ambitions and aspirations? Do you know what you want to be doing everyday Monday through Friday for the rest of your life? Would you enjoy doing that day-in, day-out? Will you feel like killing yourself?! These are all options you’ve got to consider.

I was once told by one of my university professors (yes, I took the go-to-school route… but the thing is that I like school!) that having a university degree opens a lot of doors. Obviously, he has a biased opinion. Not only is a Ph.D. holder, but he’s a university professor with tenure! How can he not be biased? As for me, I can say that I feel less biased, but I can’t be sure. Anyway, if you’re reading this, I’m sure you’re interested in my humble opinion – IMHO – yes, get some web jargon in there.

Anyway, I love reading and I love school, so it wasn’t hard for me to choose to go to school and study something I love. I choose “undecided major” in my first year, and I subsequently chose to pursue “East Asian Studies.” Originally, I was apt to choose some type of business studies, but luckily I didn’t get into my university’s business school… and I also discovered something that I loved. I really do love East Asian Studies, and I read books about it even now, two years after graduating. But, do you know what I was not thinking about while I was in school? I wasn’t thinking a damn thing about money! What a mistake.

The mistake is that I studied what I loved, but I didn’t at the same time study things that would make me money. Now, I don’t mean you have to study “how to make money” in school as part of your academics – I just mean that you must learn in any way possible how to make money! I totally encourage you to study what you love in school, but I also totally encourage you to learn about money when not in class. If I had done that, I’d definitely be waaay ahead of where I am now in terms of personal finance. Remember folks, freedom in this already-democratic society means money. Freedom = financial freedom.

I think I went off-topic a little there. Actually, the main point of today’s post was to talk about much people get remunerated in each of their jobs. Sure, it looks like a doctor is getting paid wads of cash – but he or she had to attend almost a decade of post-graduate study! And sure, maybe a university graduate starts off by making more than a mere high school graduate, but the university graduate had to attend at least three years more of school. And yeah, yeah, there are tons of studies out there showing that a “college graduate” makes much more than a “high school graduate” over a lifetime… but do you really want to be spending your lifetime working?! Do yah??

Anyway, think about it, a really smart high school graduate could start off by making $30,000 per annum as, say, an administrative assistant. He or she could save that money and pour it into assets, thus generating passive income and thus having the ability to buy more assets, which generate more passive income! A typical three-year university graduate would have to spend about $5~10,000 per year for three years on their education… so that starts them off with a debt! There’s also no guarantee that they’ll get a job much higher paying than $30,000 (with a liberal arts degree, that is). Let’s say it’s an engineer; that first salary could be about $55,000 – not bad. Let’s look at the doctor now: four years of undergraduate at the same price mentioned above, followed by four more years of post-graduate at $10~15,000 per year. Once the doctor gets out, he’s just an intern making $60,000 a year for 2~3 years with a massive debt! Well, let’s say that both the university graduate and the doctor pay off their debts within two years – that’s fantastic. But now they’re two more years behind the high school graduate.

Anyway, I’m not trying to preach anything here; basically, I’m just saying that higher earners actually put in a lot before they started their jobs. That means when they’re working, they’re not only getting compensated for their time now, but they’re getting compensated for their time before. Of course, the longer they stick to their chosen field, the higher the compensation for now time is, and the less it is for before time. With high school graduates (taking it as the minimum mandatory education), he or she is getting paid completely for now time. Of course, there’s no stopping a high school graduate from learning just as much about anything as a university student – and he or she has the advantage of being able to earn now money, which is worth more than later money.