I’ve written critical articles about the costs of college tuition. It isn’t that I hate college, I love education, but it’s possible that college tuition costs can out-weigh their value. I love education, I love books, I love learning, I love understanding new things.
Simply put: Education Is Your Friend! I will always be an advocate of continuing education, I just don’t necessarily believe that it has to be a formal education. Recently, I’ve been watching a show called “Pawn Stars.” If you’re not familiar with the show, it basically focuses on one Las Vegas pawn shop, and some of the things that walk in the door.
It’s like a more entertaining Antiques Road Show. One thing that I’ve notices while watching this show is how few people actually know what they have! In some instances, the item is far more valuable than they could have ever dreamed, and in other instances, they bought a fake.
I’ve seen numerous instances where someone purchased an antique item of some sort, while possessing very little knowledge or expertise that would qualify them to purchase such an item. Basically: If you know nothing about baseball cards, coins, or antique chairs, then you shouldn’t be investing in cards, coins, and antique chairs.
You must become educated about you want to purchase, then study some more, then invest your money. You’ll notice throughout the show that they will call in experts when they feel they can’t properly appraise an item. This often works out to the favor of the person selling the item.
I’ll tell you right now, there are plenty of pawn shops out there that would love to take advantage of the person who doesn’t know what they have. I’ve been in pawn shops and heard the snickers after the person walked out. If you don’t get educated about what you are buying and selling, you will get burnt 9 times out of 10.
This applies in every facet in life. It applies at pawn shops, car dealerships, the stock market, and the garage sale. If you hate education, then you must love giving away money, because the two go hand-in-hand. Education will not only protect you from things you wouldn’t have known were false, but it will help you in your judgments on when you should or shouldn’t act.
Education is you friend. If you ever plan on indulging in a hobby, or investing in something outside of a bank’s offerings, you would serve yourself well to become an expert in what you’re about to undertake. It will save you many of the heartbreaking moments I’ve seen where a person is told that what they have is not only a fake, but a really poor fake that someone with a basic knowledge could have spotted.