Why the lady sitting next to me should pay $2,000 for a computer class

April 22 28 Comments latest by FollowSteph.com

I’m sitting at my neighborhood coffee shop listening to two women talk about their careers. Yes, I eavesdrop.

One of them is complaining about her job, but says that she can’t get another one because she’s uncomfortable with her computer skills. Which led me to this post.

If you take a $2,000 computer class and it lets you get a job with a $10,000 salary bump, you should do it. No question.

If you buy one book per week, for $20 each, that’s $1,000 per year. If you get one good idea per week, my friend Paul told me, it’s worth it. If you apply that idea, I can’t even guess how much it would be worth.

If you buy a new car for $8,000 more than a used car, it can sometimes be worth it.

Put the numbers in context and look at value, not just cost. A $2,000 conference sure sounds like a lot. But if you make $80,000 off it, it sure looks like an investment. (Which is exactly what another friend, Erica, just did.)

Of course, the excuses will come. I don’t have that kind of money. (Answer: Save up.) How do I know if the class will get me that better job? I could probably take the same class for $100 somewhere else. All this stuff is free online, anyway.

You don’t know. That’s part of deciding what’s valuable and what’s simply a cost. But remember, buying something is not just about a number. If the value exceeds the cost, do it.

(2 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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28 Comments latest by FollowSteph.com

Can any restaurant experts help me out?

April 21 22 Comments latest by Robert

I’m working on an article on restaurants, but I’m looking for an expert or two to bounce my ideas off of. If you have experience in the restaurant industry, please leave a comment here.

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22 Comments latest by Robert

Read this if you’re running late on your taxes

April 15 15 Comments latest by observer

If you’re running late filing your taxes, don’t worry.

Get an automatic 6-month extension by filing a simple IRS form.

And if you still haven’t picked up a copy of the 2008 Tax Makeover Guide, check it out here:

My college roommate JRK sends me some interesting thoughts about the upcoming government tax rebates from an MIT report. As usual, it’s not just about rationality, but about the form in which the money is delivered (debit card vs. check):

• [The 2001 tax rebates] “show that taxpayers spent about two-thirds of their rebates within six months of receiving checks.”

• “The 2008 rebate program is aimed at low-income households, because these households are the least likely to save the rebates.”
• “…rebates that are received as electronic deposits may seem less like spendable cash, and more like potential savings, than checks that taxpayers receive in the mail”
• “I suspect that giving people a prepaid debit card will do more to rejuvenate the economy than mailing out checks, but direct deposits wouldn’t be nearly as effective,” Ariely said in a recent commentary for the Marketplace radio program. “I also suspect that if we added a line on the debit card that reads ’spend the government’s money’ this would work even better.”
• “If consumers save rather than spend the money, there will be no stimulus”

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15 Comments latest by observer

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