Education should not be overpriced. So I can’t say that to spend hundreds of thousands on a piece of paper is worth it. It may be, or it may not.

Real education is often worth it. In the modern competitive world, highschool education is required. College education is required. There are exceptions, where college dropouts are successful, however such strategy is not generally recommended. College teaches you how to pursue a single objective (graduation) for 4 years. College teaches you social skills.

Statistically, PhD’s don’t pay for themselves: the opportunity cost and overall cost of a phd is *not* recovered throughout the lifetime of the individual, so it is not recommended. Same probably applies to Masters degrees. However, masters in business, statistics, or economics sounds generally worth it.

MBA pays for itself, and is recommended.

I generally recommend spending small amounts of money ($10’s or $100’s) on single (non-degree) classes. Examples are: salsa classes, language classes, udemy.com classes on using excel, accounting, reading financial statements, css tutorials, etc. Spending a small amount is motivation to learn, to get something out of that class. Spending also means that you hope the learning resource is of higher value than a free resource.