Be Brave Not Safe

During my daily check-in to Yahoo! Finance I came across an article “School spending by affluent is widening wealth gap.”

In this article we learn (as the title would suggest) that the wealthier among us are spending (investing) in education at increasing rates, which serves to further widen the wealth gap.

We have 2 choices here:

1. Complain about the widening wealth gap.
2. Increase our own wealth and/or improve our children’s future prospects by investing in education!

There are a couple of telling quotes in this article including:

Education is the most powerful equalizing force ~ Thomas Piketty, the French economist whose exploration of tax data helped expose the wealth gap.

It becomes a feedback loop, where the children of the rich do the best in school, and those who do best in school become rich.

I know, some will say: “Yes, but the rich can afford to pay for high-priced private schools, tutors and Ivy League colleges.”

Reality: We do NOT need an “Ivy League” education to become affluent. As outlined in prior posts, we can:

• Take advantage of the solid education opportunities that are available from much lower-cost options including:
  • Public schools (by staying in school and getting that diploma)
  • Community College to obtain an Associates Degree and (if so desired) transfer those credits to a
  • 4-year College or University to obtain a Bachelor’s Degree
• Work our tails off at the job we land from the education received (to-date), taking on every possible responsibility and opportunity to learn and grow
• Self-educate (outside of a “formalized” system) – That is, education is NEVER-ENDING and we can do something about it EVERY SINGLE DAY. My own self-education is (partially) described in a prior post on “A Boot Camp Experience.”

Bottom-line: Education opens up doors of opportunity.

In closing, it is suggested that we don’t focus on the “negative spin” that the media would put on the wealthy. That is just wasting time and energy. Realize that “most” of the wealthy weren’t endowed from on high with a pile of cash: “most” EARNED IT from HARD WORK! And, education simply propelled them along the path.

As such, if we (truly) desire to improve our own situation (and/or our children’s future) we can do something about it: invest in education!