5. Going Back to School

A professional degree or accreditation is a huge factor that influences your personal financial outlook. In some industries, a masters degree comes with new job opportunities and wage premiums, and in others it doesn’t boost your earning potential at all. Getting an advanced degree means time spent not earning and money spent, not saved, so it’s a weighty decision. In this episode, Susanna does a retrospective, back-of-the-napkin cost-benefit analysis of her own masters degree, before we bring our guest Taylor on to talk about her decision to pursue an advanced degree in accounting. Taylor spent her early career working low wage jobs in a high cost city, and looking for jobs in a saturated field while slowly going into debt. She describes her moment of reckoning, how she found her way out of debt, into new-found confidence, and onto a career path that has already paid dividends.