Education: A Consumption or Investment?

During my secondary school days, I always wonder why I have to learn geography, Pythagoras theorem and trigonometry. Are those really useful and relevant to my career? The funny thing is most of us will forget what we have learnt after graduation (like how I threw my books away the moment I graduate – I’m serious!)

Don’t get me wrong, obtaining more education is usually a good thing. But we are going to look into it in financial context. Education can be both a consumption and investment depending on what business or career you are in. Taking a dance course would be classified as “consumption,” unless you dance for a living or you’re in a dance business. Basically, consumption makes you a better rounded and perhaps a more interesting person but probably will not bring any economic value.

But if you are a photographer and you take photographs in order to put food on the table, taking up photography courses would be deemed as an “investment.” By taking up courses, you learn skills that can enhance your productivity and increase your economic value in the market.

So is geography, Pythagoras theorem and trigonometry important? The answer is no! Most likely you are not going to apply them in your job (unless you are a mathematician or a scientist…) So why bother going to through primary, secondary school?

The reason is because school is like a training ground which prepares us for the “outside” world. In schools, we learn to be a problem solver, we learn that if we sow hard work, we will reap rewards, and also learn to communicate with different kinds of people. All these are extremely important. It is a place for us to have the right mindset, moral value and equip us with the ability to further improve ourselves.

Also, we study for the sake of qualifications. We can see how little a person with a PSLE qualification earns as compared to how much someone with a Master Degree. The difference is HUGE! So why bother going through education? It is simply so that you can get a higher pay job.

If you are still studying or you intend to further your studies, you need to ask yourselves what is the purpose. Is it to improve your economic value or just to learn something that you are interested in? You need to ask yourselves whether you think it is an investment or consumption.

To me, I enjoyed learning about investments and creating wealth. It is something of my interest and it creates economic value. This kind of education is the best as it is both an investment and consumption. Kill two birds with one stone!