You want your child to be financially independent: college is still almost always the best bet

The Myth of the Unemployed College Grad

The Atlantic article captures what I have told clients recently when their unmotivated child – usually boy – seems like a questionable bet for child.

I understand the reluctance.  Shelling out a hundred thousand plus for the teen who seems more focused on video games and Tik-tok does not seem like a wise investment.

But…. I have seen the other result.  Anecdotally, I can tell you with utter certainty that the work world is generally not kind to 18-22 year olds.  The outliers  – those who started businesses or otherwise were wildly self-motivated and talented – that you read about are… outliers.  And, as you know, the teen that you are looking at who is looking at a screen while you look at him is very different than those outliers.

The article – and if you can’t read due to the paywall, send me an e-mail and I’ll share – describes several subjective truths and one big objective truth.

The subjective truth: every year, media outlets will cherry-pick the the unemployed college grad who wonders why he/she spends so much money on college without the “guaranteed payoff.”    One of the articles that the Atlantic mentions was from 1975.

The writer followed up with those featured in recent articles.  Guess what?  Those unemployed college grads are now employed and pretty much doing great.

As for the those not going to college who are doing well… those in the trades (and the military) do just fine financially as young adults.  But hit a limit financially and as the article discussed, college grads on average do better – far better…actually far, far, far better… in the long run.

That’s the objective truth.