Chapter 13: The Futile Fight: Education - The Millionaire Fastlane

CHAPTER 13: THE FUTILE FIGHT: EDUCATION

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.
~ Albert Einstein

The Fight Against Uncontrollable Limited Leverage: Education

The Slowlaner's natural reaction to the Uncontrollable Limited Leverage (ULL) inherent in their wealth equation is to wage war with intrinsic value by deploying the education weapon. Since ULL defines the Slowlane, the Slowlaner rationalizes that the only variable worthy of escalation is their rate of pay. I need to make six figures! I need to make more money! So, predictably, they go back to school and get an MBA or some certification. They'll argue, “MBA grads earn 15% more!” or “The starting salary of a certified PMP is $120,000 year!”

For example, Steve Ambrose enrolls into an MBA program to sweeten his credentials. The cost of the MBA is $44,000 and 800 hours. Steve justifies this twofold expense (time and money) because he anticipates his intrinsic value to rise. Upon completion, Steve expects to be worth more to his company and worth more in the competitive marketplace. Unfortunately, he still trades his time for money-just at a higher rate, yet still uncontrolled and unleveraged.

Another example is my friend who enrolled in a project management certification class that ate five eight-hour Saturdays from her life and cost $2,700. Her goal? A project management credential that would raise her intrinsic value in the marketplace. As a certified project manager, she exposes herself to new opportunities at higher grades of pay. But still, a trade of time for money.

Whether consciously or not, the Slowlaner believes that elevating intrinsic value can create wealth. Want to be highly paid right out of college? Go to medical school and become a doctor. As a physician, your intrinsic value is now worth $200 per hour. Become an engineer, a lawyer, or an accountant-all highly paid, professional, salaried positions. Typically, a formal college education is used to serve Slowlane purposes-an explicit attempt to raise intrinsic value. Fight that intrinsic value variable!

Not All Education Is Created Equal

The problem with formal education used to raise intrinsic value is that it's ungodly expensive in time and money. Not a week goes by when I don't hear about some freshly minted MBA graduate who struggles to pay his student loans while working a mid-grade job he could have gotten out of high school. Debt that traps you to a job is not good debt. A preoccupation to become “highly educated” could be a Trojan horse to your freedom.

Not all education is created equal. Some education can roadblock your wealth road trip. If an education entombs you under a mountain of debt and shackles you to a job for the rest of your life, is it really a good education? If an MBA increases your salary by 15% but takes 15 years to pay, was it a good investment?

It's a great myth: To get rich you need an expensive college degree. Hogwash. A degree isn't a prerequisite to Fastlane wealth. Some of the richest Fastlaners are people who never finished either high school or college. Bill Gates, Steven Spielberg, Richard Branson, Michael Dell, Felix Dennis, David Geffen, and John Paul DeJoria all dropped out of school to pursue Fastlane objectives. How dare they get rich and not be “educated”?

Slowlane Entrapment

Financing expensive college tuition for an education is a dangerous game that can lead to Slowlane entrapment: conformity and education servitude. A typical collegiate study progresses from general knowledge to very specific skill sets.

For example, while studying finance I learned complex mathematical formulas that aided in financial decision-making, things like “lease or buy” and “return on investment.” These concepts are specific tools to a trade that can hinder your future options. The prescribed path for graduates with finance degrees was to get a job in the financial sector, an insurance company, an accounting firm, or an investment house.

My education had the indirect and unintended consequence of restricting my options to specific disciplines based on an educative skill set. The result? Conformity and limited choice. If there aren't opportunities in my field, my education becomes marginalized and devalued. If the opportunities available require less education(say, a BS) than I have (MBA), I become overqualified and unemployable. If my skills erode in practicality based on technological evolution, my education becomes deprecated and my value to society plummets accordingly.

The second educational entrapment danger is “education servitude.”

While the Sidewalker deals with “Lifestyle Servitude,” the Slowlaner wrestles with “Education Servitude” (freedom eroded by education) that traps the victim to a job.

Has your education indentured you to a job? Advanced degrees are not cheap. According to The College Board the average college degree, including room and board, now costs nearly $60,000. Prefer the prestige of a private school? The tab will set you back a Ferrari. This kind of debt buries the dreams of your youth and puts them permanently bound to the Slowlane or worse, the Sidewalk.

Consider the statistics. In 2007, the Washington Post reported that, according to Nellie Mae, the big student loan service provider, by the time college students are seniors, 56% of them will have four or more credit cards with an average balance of $2,864. According to a research report by Demos-USA.org, a public policy research and advocacy organization, people in the 18–24 age bracket spend nearly 30% of their monthly income on debt repayment. This is double from 20 years ago.

A survey of college borrowers found that the average college senior graduated with nearly $19,000 in student loan debts, and graduate degree pursuers more than $45,000. A 2007 Charles Schwab survey revealed that teenagers believe when they get older they will earn an average salary of $145,000. The reality? Adults with a college degree earned an average of $54,000. Unfortunately, the future isn't so bright that you have to wear shades. The truth behind reality and expectation is about a $100,000 chasm. This disparity might explain why the debts of our youth have exploded as they bridge their reality to expectation. If I can't make $145,000, I can look like I make $145,000!

The best excuse people have for not having wealth is “I don't have time.” Well, why don't you have time? Because you have a job. Why do you have a job? Because you need one. Why do you need one? Because you have bills to pay. Why do you have bills to pay? Because you have debt. Why do you have debt? Oh yes, because you went to school for six years and have six figures in student loans.

If you financed your advanced education with debt, the debt automatically becomes parasitic and traps you into forced job servitude, and that destroys freedom. While you might earn more, work is forced to stave off the debt. The debt is parasitic because it fails to free time and instead creates indentured time. Sadly, the parasitic debt is unforgiving and isn't sympathetic to the source. Whether you owe $35,000 for your awesome BMW or for student loans, debt steals freedom and forces indentured time.

Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions

• Slowlaners attempt to manipulate intrinsic value by education.
• Indentured time is time you spend earning a living. It is the opposite of free time.
• Parasitic debt is debt that creates indentured time and forces work.