My Single Greatest Investment
Investing in yourself is a brilliant financial decision. This type of investment pays dividends throughout your career and life. My single greatest investment to date was becoming a CRNA.
The Power of Investing in Yourself
Self-investment opens doors to higher earnings, job security, and personal fulfillment. It allows you to adapt to changing job markets and offers career flexibility. While it requires time, effort, and capital upfront, the rewards over a lifetime can be significant.
Comparing Earnings Across Education Levels
During my senior year of high school, the school principal told me something I hold to this day. He said the average High School graduate would earn about $1.2 million over their career. The average college graduate would earn about $2 million over their career. Even I, a high school senior, could deduce the real world impact of this difference.
Sure, more students attending college from his high school looks good on the statistics sheet, but there is a great deal of truth to this.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics gave me the following data points for education and annual earnings:
High School Graduate: Approximately $38,000 annually
College Graduate (Bachelor’s degree): $58,000 annually
Professional Degree (Master’s or PhD): $90,000 annually
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist: $250,000 annually
For career earnings, we must of course account for the opportunity cost to achieve the various degrees, but the compensation difference is substantial. Investing in a CRNA education offers a salary more than double that of many professional degree holders, reflecting a particularly strong return on investment.
At the age of 15 I set my sights on becoming a CRNA. A job that sounded cool and was much easier on the body than commercial roofing. I didn’t know much about anesthesia other than it was healthcare and a job that paid the coveted six-figures.
Why Becoming a CRNA Is/Was a Smart Investment
My 15-year-old self set in approximate timeline that was pretty darn close to reality:
Age 18 – Start Undergrad
Age 22 -- Graduate nursing school
Age 25 – Start CRNA school
Age 27-28 -- Graduate as a CRNA
As I approached the end of my schooling, I began eyeing jobs. I noted a couple CRNA jobs paying around $200,000 W-2. I figured I could get lucky and earn $225,000 my first year including my sign on bonus. Man was I wrong (for the better).
The end of my first year of anesthesia practice brought a pretty hefty amount of overtime landing my earnings in the mid six-figure range. I couldn’t believe it. I don't recall our savings rate, but it had to be something around 70% of net income. Absolutely unbelievable.
Fast forward to current day, and I'm making more than I thought I ever would as a locum CRNA. The investment is paying dividends.
The Benefits of Investing in Yourself
My anesthesia journey has been rewarding, fulfilling, and financially lucrative. A decision I don't regret. Anesthesia has certainly prolonged my time in the workforce. Had I continued working construction, my knees would both need to be replaced in my 40s. My back would ache the moment I got out of bed. And the significance sun exposure would probably lead to skin cancer.
My choice to deviate from the construction path was met with challenges throughout nursing school, fantastic yet trying experiences as an ICU registered nurse, and the most cognitively demanding anesthesia training I could have imagined.
The capital investment to become a CRNA is nothing to overlook. My undergraduate bachelors of science degree cost about $60,000 all in over 4 years. Anesthesia school curated tuition cost right around $100,000. If you don’t have the capital, someone will give it to you at an 8% interest rate. Not for the faint of heart.
The unpaid hours of nursing school, nursing clinicals, the didactic portion of anesthesia school, and the clinical portion of the anesthesia school are numerous.
All these tuition costs and all these training hours to produce CRNAs. To be a safe and competent anesthesia provider, it absolutely requires thousands of hours of training. My investments, of both money and time, allow me to give anesthesia as a CRNA and collect the financial rewards of providing such a service.
Opportunity Cost
I hear gurus preaching investing starting at age 18. They recommend putting $500 away into a Roth IRA to become millionaires in their 60s. All is fine and good, except I don't know any 18-year-olds investing $6,000 per year. I hope I'm wrong. I wasn't investing $6,000 per year. And any investments I made were into Certificates of Depression.
The early investment recommendation comes from the time value of money which can be summed up by the following formula:
FV = PV * (1 + r)t
The advantage to the young folks that take a job out of high school or a short education path into a tech school, is that their invested dollars see far more years in the market. The two caveats to this advantage are that a 20-year-old electrician actually invests every month and that the investments are appropriate to match market growth.
Every dollar invested at age 20 will grow to $88. That's the amazing effect of compounding interest over 45 years.
Go to anesthesia school and delay investing until your 30s, and every dollar invested will grow to $28 at age 65. Delay investing until your 40s, and every dollar invested will grow to just $10 at age 65.
There needs to be a balance between earning potential and time in the market. If you delay investing until your 30s or 40s, you need a lot more capital investment to secure financial independence. Reinvested returns and compounding interest work in an exponential fashion. Accounting for the cost of school and lower investment timeline are key.
The dollars I earned working as a registered nurse went towards paying for anesthesia school. I could have invested these dollars into a Roth IRA and watched them grow to $70 or $80 at age 65. Instead, I elected to cashflow my education. Those dollars prevented student loans. I reinvested these dollars into myself.
How did this investment turn out? At age 28, the TFC household was investing $20,000 per month. At age 30, the TFC household achieved millionaire status.
Today, I invest more per month than the average high school graduate earns in a year. This is proof of a great investment -- A fantastic return on investment.
Additional Benefits of Investing in Yourself
Don’t overlook investments into your health. It’s important to invest in areas of longevity such as nutrition and wellness. Achieving financial security lessens the mental burden. Less marital stress as finances are a major contention point.
Take more weeks off. Travel. See family and friends. Make these investments in your wellbeing.
Investing in yourself allows you to build a network of connections. Each of these connections has something or knows something that benefits you. It may be speaking with a business owner. It may be speaking with an anesthesia colleague. It may be someone you meet in the workplace.
It's truly amazing the community freely shares ideas and possesses the willingness to help others.
Change is Coming
Dave Ramsey is known for saying your income is your greatest wealth building tool. There is a great deal of truth to this, but less so for high earners.
As a CRNA with a high savings rate, I can invest a great deal of my earnings early and let my investments replace my income. Consistent investments into growing assets such as passively managed, low-cost index funds quickly create a sizable investment portfolio.
As someone who has acquired and self manages a7-figure portfolio, the daily ebbs and flows in the market are sometimes more than what I earn giving anesthesia. A 10% return on a $1 million portfolio is $100,000. As that portfolio grows to become a $5M or $10M portfolio, a 10% return is greater than what the majority of CRNAs earn in a single year.
My investment return would significantly exceed what I can make giving anesthesia. My income will no longer be my greatest wealth building tool. That title is now awarded to my investment portfolio.
I acknowledge that it is my income that allows me to build a portfolio, but in a matter of years, my portfolio earnings will exceed average anesthesia earnings. This is still due to an investment in myself.
Conclusion
Investing in your education and skills is the ultimate financial strategy. The CRNA pathway is an excellent example of how specialized training can lead to exceptional earnings, strong demand, and rewarding work. When it comes to wise financial decisions, investing in yourself is unmatched. Thanks for reading!
