College graduates earn $1.6 million more than high school graduates during the course of their careers. But what’s interesting is this is a SMALLER gap than the difference between a college graduate with an engineering degree vs an education degree. So, what you choose to study can be more financially important than IF you decide to even go to college.

Let’s say you majored in psych or journalism. Are you screwed? No, absolutely not. There is a lot beneath the surface of the median numbers that are listed in the post. For instance, the top 25% of journalism graduates earn over $4 million in their careers, which is MORE than the median engineering graduate!

Regardless of if you went to college or what you chose to study, you have to create your own path. How much you earn over the course of your life is dictated by so much more than your diploma. Your skills, passion, network, persistence, intensity, and many more things will play a larger role than your degree.

There are a ton of other data points that are not being looked at in this post (gender, race, university rank, etc). All of those impact the averages as well (way more than they should unfortunately).

Remember, how much you make is only a fraction of the wealth equation. There are plenty of people with high incomes who are totally broke. Regardless of you income level, always spend less than you make. Invest as much as you can, as soon as you can, into low cost index funds. That is how you become wealthy.

As always, reminding you to build wealth by following the two PFC rules: 1.) Live below your means and 2.) Invest early and often.‎

‎-Vivi & Shane

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