Did I post my calculations of the value of a college education?
In the local newspaper I saw some educational organization being quoted to the effect that getting a college degree meant making a million dollars more than someone who had not.
Well, if you could invest $50,000 tax free (and that's a lot less that what my daughter's college education cost me) for 45 years and get a 9% per year return, that would end up as over $2,400,000.
Or take Social Security. Over the same 45-year period, an average worker or lower level manager might contribute $50,000 in taxes, plus the $50,000 contributed by the employer. This is looking backward. It's harder to figure the investment returns there, but surely using conservative investing and accounting, that amount could have grown from $100,000 to $300,000. And $300,000 can finance a lifetime annuity of $24,000 a year. So what does the Social Security recipient get? Less than $18,000. Of course, that is inflation-protected.
BTW I did find that my state retirement plan is one of the best-funded in the country, but to me that only means that it is among the least stupid.
I guess what it all comes down to is that no educational system and no government system can take the place of brains and hard work. |
