Best Investment Strategy Possible | Chris Bell

The best possible investment you can make is in yourself and your education. Most of us make less than $100,000 per year and most of us don't manage 20 people because we aren't educated enough to do either. The founders of FaceBook, Google and Twitter didn't just collect millions of dollars for having an idea. They worked endless hours on their education and then created their companies from scratch.

Where to Start

One class at a time. Don't compare yourself to friends and family members that already have degrees, and don't focus on any specific major when you begin. Your associate's degree takes about 2 years to complete one class at a time and there won't be too many classes specific to any major. The classes will be compiled of English and Math courses because you need English and Math expertise to handle most of the more difficult classes later on. There will be many electives that you get to choose along the way in order to find out what specific major you want to focus on. Later on, the classes will get much more focused.

Your bachelor's degree will be more focused than your associate's, and your master's degree will be more focused than your bachelor's. I majored in web design and I was forced to take psychology classes, environmental classes and some history classes, but I learned a little bit from each and don't regret taking any of them.

What Happens After You Graduate

Continue taking one class at a time. Do it for the rest of your life. Why wouldn't you want to continuously improve your brain, your skills and the variety job functions you can do? Why wouldn't you want to be a manager or a founder of a company one day, and why wouldn't you want to make more money? It's incredibly unlikely that you will ever make $200,000 per year working for Apple without a degree, and even if you are employed at Apple, you may be forced to take more classes and programs during your time there.

REASONS TO GET SMARTER

If there's someone near you at work with a master's degree I bet it shows. I'm guessing he or she advanced quickly, or will soon advance past you even though you've been there for years longer. Having a degree shows dedication to employers. Having a degree shows that you're not a quitter. A degree shows that you want to improve yourself for the sake of improving yourself. Graduating from college while working full time shows an added commitment to employers. Writing 10 page papers and 25 page research papers forces you to learn about random subjects while also teaching you better grammar, punctuation and the overall English language.

Writing college level papers teaches you to reference reputable sources when making your point instead of just stating something opinionated. After taking various courses and writing papers in college, you'll be able to hold better and longer conversations with people about their choice of topic. College keeps you current because marketing classes today involve social media, compared to marketing classes 25 years ago that probably discussed cold calling and newspaper advertisements. Job experience is solid but job experience after an education is rock solid. You're not a skilled doctor the second you graduate, but you have the jargon and education that will help you learn from the best.

Who is your Mentor?

If your mentor is Donald Trump, like mine, you should read his books, try to work for his companies or simply follow his past. I know Mr. Trump has stories of his past when he first got started and I also know that he wasn't an overnight success story. Every success story has a long trail of hard work behind it. Each of those stories also have long hours of dedication and many problems that almost knocked them down. But the strive and dedication, along with the years of commitment, overcome the early stages and take you to their level of success. Some can do it without an education, but it's much easier to get there if you're educated!

I have a BS in IT with a focus of web design and I'm taking graduate courses right now.

Written by: Chris Bell
Chris Bell Real Estate