Invest in Your Future - it's coming

If you invest in your future, you get to enjoy the benefits of all you've invested. When I think about this concept of investment, I think of education.

We all know people who didn't finish high school. Often these same people find that many opportunities in the working world aren’t open to them unless they have a high school diploma. Many end up going back to school later in life to get their GED. They are obliged to do this while working full time. Some finish, some don't.

The problem is that they never viewed high school as a way of "sinking time and money" into themselves while they were there. Only after some sorry experiences do they realize that they missed an opportunity to gain valuable knowledge. Poor investing usually leads to poor payoffs.

Lots of people don’t go to college. Sadly, a college diploma is almost a requirement these days if you expect to be upwardly mobile. I had my sights set on a college education long before I graduated high school. "Invest in your future" was something I murmured at night while a high school student drifting off to sleep at night.

I attended college classes and paid for them myself. This was a sound investment in my future. At the time, I couldn’t think of a better way to ensure my future success. My bank account was meager, but those thousands of dollars would be well spent at the university.

Some of my friends went off to start work and earned money while I was attending school for 5 years. Having money to spend is gratifying, but I knew that having a college degree would be more satisfying in the long run. I delayed gratification and sat in school for years. I spent thousands of dollars to put myself through school while my friends made thousands of dollars.

When I first started at the university, I didn’t know what I was going to study. I didn’t even have any idea of what I was going to do after college, but I knew that I needed a degree in order to show others that I had a can do attitude and was capable of achievement.

There isn’t much I use today from my college days, but the diploma has been most useful as evidence that I had paid the price of admission to a professional career. Getting my degree is something that I have never regretted.

It's called "getting your ticket punched." It shows you paid your dues and now you'll be more welcome to work among your peers in the marketplace.

I highly recommend that you consider education and training as a way to invest in your future. I can't guarantee what difference it will make, but I can guarantee that the future is coming, so you better be prepared.

Done with Invest in Your Future, back to Mindset of Frugality