Can you get rich by studying Psychology?

Yes No Maybe. Everything will depend on your concept of wealth and your level of financial education.

Hello friends!

I often get the question “Can you get rich by studying psychology at university?” The answer is simple: no, yes, maybe. Studying philosophy, I learned the importance of logic. And, more than that, the importance of defining a concept. Now, if we are going to answer if it is possible to get rich by going to college, we have to have an assumption – or an explanation – about what it is to get rich, right?

Wealth how to earn rivers of money

When parents or high school students speak to me with concern about the impossibility of getting rich doing psychology, I know they are thinking of wealth as synonymous with making loads of money. Or, at least, earn very well to have a comfortable life.

So, if you say: “don’t do this college, you won’t be able to earn much a month!” And soon after, the question arises: but how much can you earn per month working with psychology?

Unfortunately, we cannot say. Rather, it will vary so much that the answer will not be accurate. Ask a psychologist who works 40 hours a week in an interior city, at the city hall, and she will tell you that she earns 1500 reais with discounts. Ask another professional, and he will tell you that he earns 15,000 reais. Ask another and he’ll tell you he earns 60,000.

See here – Average salary and job market in psychology

Well, to resolve this impasse, people often ask: “but what are the best areas? Which ones pay better?”

Also Read – Areas of Psychology with the Highest Salaries

Psychology doesn’t give money, don’t go to college

These days I met a professional colleague and she told me that she tells everyone who is interested in college not to do it, because there is no money. According to her, you cannot have stability, you cannot have financial freedom, you cannot have a lot of time off…

Americans are right when they say that time is money. They are right in the economic sense of life, because we all have 24 hours in a day. Why do some earn more and others less? Because the remuneration per hour or month will vary from person to person.

Not only with psychology but with all liberal professions, we exchange time for money. The individual works 40 hours a week in a company or institution and after 4 weeks he receives his paycheck, with X. Another works with another type of remuneration, in which he earns for each client. After X customers, he will have Y at the end of the month. If you work harder, you get more, right?

An example. If I, as a psychologist, sign up for a well-known health plan here in Minas, I will receive 25 reais per service. If I work for myself, I can charge as much as I want. If I charge 100 reais, I will earn 4 times more than the person who earns through the plan.

Anyway, if the definition of wealth is making lots of money and becoming a millionaire, I’m sorry to inform you that psychology won’t make you rich.

In search of another definition of wealth

Whenever I publish a text talking about the remuneration of psychology here on the site, someone comes and says: “But money is not important. The important thing is to like what you do and do it with love”. This is another definition of wealth: being happy with one’s work and contributing to society.

If this is your definition of wealth, psychology will certainly make you rich.

However, I would like to share another definition of wealth, which I think is more accurate. To be rich means to have an amount of income passive monthly that exceeds the expenses.

For example, when I went to college, between 2002 and 2006, my teachers earned around 7000 reais a month, which amounted to around 20-25 minimum wages at the time. Today it would be equivalent to earning about 19,000 reais/month.

I remember a teacher who told me that he was struggling and still hadn’t been able to buy his own house. At the time I didn’t say anything, but I thought: “why not?” Later I found out that a teacher had managed to do it, because it was economical. I had another professor who had apartments for rent and another who had businesses.

Notice: they all earned practically the same salary (some variations more or less due to accumulation of function and length of service). How could one have nothing and the other even have apartments for rent? The answer is simple:

– Spend (cost) less than you earn (income). The difference, if used well, can be invested in passive income until you reach the point where the passive income exceeds the monthly cost.

Let’s say someone earns 5,000 reais a month. And spend 6,000. In one year you will have a debt of 12,000 reais (more than two salaries) plus interest.

Now, a person who earns 5,000 and spends 5,000 will stay the same. A person who earns 5,000 and spends 4,000 will have 12,000 at the end of the year. In 10 years, it will have 120,000. In 20 years it will have 240,000. With an application of 2%, you will have a passive income of 4,800 reais per month. And that’s what I didn’t count the compound interest of gradually accumulating the total amount.

So at the end of 20 years, this person will be rich in the sense I’m saying. Her monthly cost, 4,000 reais, will be paid with the interest that will appear every month in her bank account without her doing anything. Wealth: having an income that pays more than you spend.

Note: this example does not consider inflation, nor the annual salary increase, nor the possibility of earning hundreds of times more than 2% per month with other types of investment.

Veja – The 10 main differences between the richest and the poorest

In this sense does psychology give money? It depends! It depends on the professional’s ability to manage, his consumerism, in addition to his ability to study a little about economics and investments. I say maybe. Maybe yes.

Conclusion

As I said at the beginning, I have three answers to the title question:

1) No, psychology does not give money. There is a pyramid. Some earn a lot per month, a little more earn an intermediate salary, and most earn the floor.

2) Yes, psychology gives money. But to earn a lot a month you will need to study a lot, have professional contacts and find clients or companies that pay what is fair.

3) Maybe. If we think of a salary definition that goes beyond the monthly amount, we will see that maybe psychology pays off in the long run. Maybe not. After all, it’s no use earning 15,000 reais or 60,000 reais if everything is spent before the end of the month.

Questions, suggestions, comments, please write below.

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