Education vs. Financial Prosperity

Hi everyone. Recently I've been thinking about education and its correlation with financial prosperity. Contrary to the popular belief that more education leads to more money, I think that an education vs. income graph is closer to a bell curve.

Look at the people with PhD's and M.D.'s. They are the most educated group of people on the planet. They receive 8 or more years of post-tertiary education. They are very wealthy, yes. But rarely to do Doctors make over a six-figure income. They are rich, but Doctors are not billionaires.

The multi-millionaires and billionaires, in fact, have less formal education than the Doctors. The "truly wealthy" are the businessmen, the sports stars, the actors, etc. For example, Mark Zuckerburg and Bill Gates never graduated from college. They are both worth billions. Kobe Byrant makes absurd amounts of money through endorsements, and he barely graduated high school.

So, I am asking BHW , if someone's wants to fulfill his financial aspirations, should his ultimate goal be to advance his education?

I'm asking you this because I was just accepted into Yale today, and I'm contemplating my future in IM. Should I continue to pursue Blackhatting, or should I focus on my studies? Maybe both? Let me know what you all think.

well, lots of skills that come into play with internet marketing, web design, etc etc can be learned from the comfort of your own home if you have the drive to do it yourself. you dont necessarily need to take college courses on these things if you truly want to learn them, it just makes it easier when someone else is feeding you the information rather than you learning/reading tutorials and implementing it yourself.

it really depends on what your financial aspirations really are. some people want to be millionaries/billionares, but some people who do bh just want a good amount to live the lifestyle they want, and that amount doesnt even come close to the millions/billions.

People like actors, sports stars, etc, are obviously grossly overpaid. they get paid ridiculous amounts to basically live out their hobby. whether or not anyone thinks they deserve that money is another issue.

That's cool that you got accepted into Yale, what were you planning on taking there if you decide to go? I think its entirely possible to do both IM and go to school, you just have to learn to balance your workload.

Thanks for the input man.

I'm thinking about studying business or economics, even though those fields are kind of in the shitter due to the financial crisis. But those are the fields that interest me so I'm just going to go for it .

If I have any free time in college, I want to try to self-study web design and programming languages so I can implement them in IM. And it really isn't for the money. I think IM is truly fun! Its like a side-hobby of mine; its interesting, and I make bank at the same time

Thanks BHW! This community is awesome!

Definitely finish college! I have one year left at a top school, and it's taken me forever just to get my bachelor's degree. I dropped out of my first top school, then got into another one later on. I'm learning black hat stuff now, but all the jobs I have some interest in require a damn bachelor's. It's only 4 years of your life, very short in the long term, and you can always fall back on it if you ever *gasp* need a 9-5 job (for insurance reasons, maybe).
Plus, you can meet girls! (if you're a straight guy, that is).
You'll never regret it, so long as you can pay off your loans.
BTW, I'm in western Massachusetts, about 1.5-2 hours north of New Haven, and there are a few BHers in New England that I know about.
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Once you have an education, nobody can take it away from you. The key is what you do with it. If you have the opportunity to get an education at Yale, you are pretty much set for life as far as a job goes...so you have security. Security + education allows you to take chances that others can't.

It is easy to point out the one in a million stories of guys that made it but that is like winning the lottery. There are people like that in the medical field as well. Look at the surgeons to the stars and say that Dr. Oz dude that is always on Oprah...you think they are starving? Take a look at the Dr. Phil biography...he hustled his way to where he is today. You can do it in any industry if you have the drive and a plan.

I think if you compared the starting salary after graduating from Yale to what the median IM guy from BHW makes in a year, you would be well ahead of that curve. So my advice...get your education, learn IM in your spare time (if you have any) and then hire people to start you up a little company. Take a look at the freelance services here at BHW. I bet you that if you had a small sum to invest (and knew where to invest it), you could have a stable of sites making you money and you wouldn't have to really do anything. Wash, Rinse, Repeat....good luck man and congrats!

I would recommend you go to Yale and do IM part-time. It will at least get you money for the weekends! You can always do IM full time after college, if you decide to. And like another user said, it's really a once in a lifetime opportunity to have fun and hook up with lots of girls. Some of the best years of my life (so far) were at college. And if you ever decide to get out of the IM game, you'll always have a good backup plan.

As for a major, I think finance & accounting are still good choices, even with the economy in the crapper. Businesses always need someone to count the beans.

I agree, go to school and learn as much as you can. It does help when you're starting your first business online, or working on new projects, etc. The more education you have the better you'll be. Smart people make money.