JH: I think a while back you posted something about $1,000 a month into index funds or something could provide a nice nest egg or something or the other. Could you relink that article, or find one similar? I know that time is the most important aspect with money, and I'm eager to start.
Ask an Economist (Post #1005 and counting)
- Thread starter JerichoHill
- Start date
- Status
JerichoHill
Bedrock of Knowledge
That was a normative statement. Forgive me for not having the cite right in front of me, but in general most economists are going to consider education a public good. I can cite anecdotal evidence that the disagreement as to whether education is a public good to be provided by the public sector mainly occurs within the more libertarian viewpoint of economics. Moderate and liberal economists (and a good many conservative) have this viewpoint. It's only within libertarianistic economics that disagreement arises. I can recall a good many debates at GMU into the wee hours on this, with substantial disagreement amongst professors and students.
I'm not stating this is the correct viewpoint, even though it is the viewpoint I hold (that would be a positive statement). But I can state the general pattern,because that's what it is.
JerichoHill
Bedrock of Knowledge
I'd recommend the blog in my signature as a starting point. Then again, I am staff there. We have an approach more akin to the tortoise, rather than the hare. Remember that the turtle wins.
Other good sites are fivecentnickel and iwillteachyoutoberich.
John Bogle is the hero for passive investing. I recommend any of his books.
For a new investor, I recommend starting small. For post-tax savings after you've at least contributed to your employer's match on pre-tax savings, start a ROTH IRA if you don't make more than 110K (US). I would set up an automatic monthly payment system (say 100 dollars) and point it to buy into 1 Vanguard index fund. If you want to be fancy, split it into thirds and buy 1 US Index Fund, 1 International Fund, and 1 other.
By automating your savings, you forget you had that money to spend. Then ignore the market. You'll be happily surprised in 20 years.
JerichoHill
Bedrock of Knowledge
Economics is a good area of study if you have an interest in business and law. Since its not restrictive to a particular industry's skill set like engineering may be, its flexible.
I hold an graduate degree in economics. In the DC area, the average pay or an economist with such qualifications as I is about 75K starting. I make a bit more.
A bachelor's degree can expect to start at around 35-40K, depending on one's location in the US. An economist will need a strong grounding in math, and some courses in logic (greek philosophy) and history will be a good help. I'd avoid business classes until graduate school.
Homie
Anti-Lefty
I was just saying that technically education is not a public good, because it is not non-excludable, ehh, that is alot of negatives, sorry. How about this: Education is excludable, therefore it is not a public good. Whether it should be provided by the public (government) is a different matter.
You went to GMU? The bulk of my econ professors went there. Nikolai Wenzel and Nelson are quite young, but maybe you know Ivan Pongracic (foreigner). I do not know if Gary Wolfram and Charles Steele went there, but maybe. I also know Nathan Russell from GMU, but he teaches elsewere.
Any of those names sound familiar?
You went to GMU? The bulk of my econ professors went there. Nikolai Wenzel and Nelson are quite young, but maybe you know Ivan Pongracic (foreigner). I do not know if Gary Wolfram and Charles Steele went there, but maybe. I also know Nathan Russell from GMU, but he teaches elsewere.
Any of those names sound familiar?
Homie
Anti-Lefty
Thats what I thought, and it was!Hossam said:
According to stats that I have seen, an econ degree pays well for a social science, but you will make more with a technical degree. However, a technical degree is not as flexible. Take the advice that everybody gives: Do what you like more, what interests you.
JH, there is that much of a difference in the starting salary between bachelor and master? That is a buttload more for 2 extra years.
JerichoHill
Bedrock of Knowledge
How is education excludable? If I learn math, someone else cannot? Excludable means "This means that consumption of the good by one individual does not reduce the amount of the good available for consumption by others"
I may argue specialty education could be excludable, something that is provided mainly by private educators.
Sorry, I really don't know many folks from GMU. The program there is small
and intense. My main professors were Russell Roberts, Larry Iannaccone, David Levy, and Alex Tabbarok
JerichoHill
Bedrock of Knowledge
3 more years (I wasn't just an econ graduate student, I did more stuff), published a paper on dating, and learned enough to get an advanced certification in SAS. And 3 years bopping around the DOJ as a honors statistician (fancy label for graduate student they want to keep)
Oh, thanks. Those sites were exactly what I was thinking of. Many thanks to you.
$1200 a year...starting, oh, let's say two years, when I'm eighteen...Or why not now? The possibilities...
Oh, and education is most definitely a public good.
Integral
Can't you hear it?
As long as we're discussing education...
Jericho, we agree that education is, at least partly, a public good. But how far does that go? Free college for everyone who wants to go? Free grad school?
On the econ major: I agree that getting deep into a statistics package (Stata or SAS) is vital. A bit of programming (Java/C++) is also probably very useful.
Jericho, we agree that education is, at least partly, a public good. But how far does that go? Free college for everyone who wants to go? Free grad school?
On the econ major: I agree that getting deep into a statistics package (Stata or SAS) is vital. A bit of programming (Java/C++) is also probably very useful.
Homie
Anti-Lefty
Are you sure that you are not confusing non-excludable with non-rivalry? I agree that education is non-rivalry, so it possess one of the two properties of a public good. But a good must possess both these properties to be considered a public good by definition.JH said:
The people I mentioned were not professors at GMU, but got their degrees from there. I thought you might have known them as fellow students, I guess not.JH said:
Ahhh. From this sentenced,JH said:
I hold an graduate degree in economics. In the DC area, the average pay or an economist with such qualifications as I is about 75K starting. I make a bit more.
I thought that was the average pay for an economist with a masters degree, since you didn't mention your other qualifications.
Homie
Anti-Lefty
Sure, because you say so, right.Lightfang said:
Just to get this straight: I might believe that just as massages and doughnuts are not public goods, education isn't either. But I may believe that education, doughnuts and massages should be provided to the public by the government. Would I be contradicting myself? No, I wouldn't, because a public good is an econ term with a definition, but what should and shouldn't be provided by government is a matter of policy and is a normative statement.
JerichoHill
Bedrock of Knowledge
Oh, thanks. Those sites were exactly what I was thinking of. Many thanks to you.
Assuming you do just that, you'd have 1 million dollars by retirement age (60-65ish).
Think of what happens as you grow in income and increase your monthly contribution.
JerichoHill
Bedrock of Knowledge
Homie,
Let's not get too upset. This thread is remarkably congenial for a CFC thread. That, and donuts are kinda a bad example as they're so far off from being a public good its silly
JerichoHill
Bedrock of Knowledge
I would say that primary education (what we call k-12 in the US) should be available free, should one want a public education. I don't think we should ban or not encourage private firms entering the market as well.
I like how the secondary education market works. Folks with money but not alot of knowledge overpay private schools for their kid's undergrad. States subsidize public schools, which are pretty good in and of themselves.
Fewer folks pay for graduate school. Grants and fellowships and what-not (referring to some MS / MBA programs and most PHD programs)
As for the programming knowledge, that's very important. It's one reason why I went ABD. The money I could earn simply warranted a jump.
JerichoHill
Bedrock of Knowledge
@@Homie
Are you sure that you are not confusing non-excludable with non-rivalry?
I am most definitely not confusing the two since I copied that definition of non-excludable from an economics textbook on my bookshelf that is generally used in graduate programs.
The people I mentioned were not professors at GMU, but got their degrees from there. I thought you might have known them as fellow students, I guess not.
You basically need to start at the same time to know those folks. I ran a blog with a few PHDers from GMU for awhile...we all started at the same time.
I thought that was the average pay for an economist with a masters degree, since you didn't mention your other qualifications.
Sorry. I know from the US labor reports that the average pay of economists in the DC area is about 75K. That's not entry. I have a friend who is an economist with the BEA who was ABD at GMU. He earns 50K
Are you sure that you are not confusing non-excludable with non-rivalry?
I am most definitely not confusing the two since I copied that definition of non-excludable from an economics textbook on my bookshelf that is generally used in graduate programs.
The people I mentioned were not professors at GMU, but got their degrees from there. I thought you might have known them as fellow students, I guess not.
You basically need to start at the same time to know those folks. I ran a blog with a few PHDers from GMU for awhile...we all started at the same time.
I thought that was the average pay for an economist with a masters degree, since you didn't mention your other qualifications.
Sorry. I know from the US labor reports that the average pay of economists in the DC area is about 75K. That's not entry. I have a friend who is an economist with the BEA who was ABD at GMU. He earns 50K
I know some folks with masters in econ who work as city economic development directors (or bureaucrats in those departments) who make roughly that much in markets that have much lower costs of living than DC...but thats not really a starting gig either (and working for city government can be a little stressful, since your job security can be tied to the administration)
JerichoHill
Bedrock of Knowledge
It's a bit more stressful than a cushy fed office that happens to have some mood lighting and a lava lamp in it. I may move into city econ dev when I'm older though.
Elta
我不会把这种
Why isn't the fiscal year instep with the calendar year? Are there significant benefits to having them on different dates?
JerichoHill
Bedrock of Knowledge
Have you seen the Federal Government offices between Thanksgiving and New Year's? It's like 50-75% of our staff leaves the planet. There's good reason we don't have many deadlines ending on Dec 31st!
- Status
