The Value of Education

As we approach the back-to-school frenzy that is typical in the month of August, I am focusing on the value of education for this newsletter. As we work with young professionals with growing families, we always want to implement a great plan that will help them reach their financial goals. As part of that plan, we want to assess the value of investing in your children’s education. Please consider the following three resources, which provide an alternative look at the commonly-understood educational system employed in the United States. This helps to flesh out, I think, what Benjamin Franklin meant in his quote, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

• Read: Peter Adeney of Mr. Money Mustache writes of his and his wife’s experience with their son’s education in a standard schooling environment and how they used their FIRE status to begin homeschooling him instead. Their conclusion? Homeschooling turned out to be packed with freedom, requiring high effort in exchange for high reward, delivering a truly excellent education.
• Listen: Joshua Sheats of Radical Personal Finance has a great listen in this podcast: he urges you to carefully consider the return on investment (ROI) you are getting on the money and time you and your children are investing in their education. Is it paying off? Are you getting a good deal?
• Watch: The educational philosophy of Maria Montessori (1870-1952, Italy) is world-renowned in its application to the formation of children, which fully respects their dignity and allows their curiosity to be fostered in carefully designed environments. You can learn more in this 18-minute video summarizing What is Montessori?. I should note here that we feel very fortunate to be able to send our four-year-old daughter to a local Montessori school!

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You can click on the links below to access this month’s resources. Thanks for reading, listening, and watching!