midlifejourney.com

Yesterday we published the first of five tips for midlife investing: GO GREEN! (See post for Feb. 24, 2009) Today, is the second of five tips.

1. GO GREEN!

Tip # 2: Invest in Yourself!

One of the best investments you can make these days is in your own education!!! While the market goes on its roller coaster straight down into the caverns… you can choose to invest in learning something new. It’s a great time to take that extra course to fine tune skills you already have, or to develop a new skill that can integrate well with what you already know.

Don’t have much time? Community Colleges often have short-term evening classes that are geared to help you learn quickly. Take six weeks, one evening a week and learn something you’ve always wanted to know. Get away from the T.V. for a night and invest in your mind.

Don’t have much discretionary cash right now? There are thousands of on-line tutorials you can access for FREE. Need to learn a new software program, or learn a new task with the programs you already use? Check out:

http://www.learnthat.com/

http://www.free-ed.net/free-ed/

There’s even one for learning Spanish FREE! http://www.studyspanish.com/

. . . . . .

Review all the Investment Tips for Boomers in this series:

1. GO GREEN!
2. Invest in Your Mind – Education
3. Invest in Your Health  – Good Food
4. Invest in A Good Time
5. Invest in Your Dreams
   

I have to tell you about an educational website I just stumbled upon. http://www.academicearth.org

It is the portal for a fabulous variety of college level lectures from a wide variety of universities. Subjects from astronomy, entrepreneurship, medicine, political science, religion—you name it…! There is something of interest for everyone. And it’s all FREE!!! College lectures for FREE! Check it out.

Once upon a long time ago I thought that my education was complete when I received my MFA from Michigan State University. What more was there to learn? I had passed my exams, completed my work— learning was done, now I could focus on the doing, the earning, the living.

Needless to say, it took no time to realize that degree was only the tip of a very large iceberg: the beginning of my education. Continue Reading »