I honestly think of education as the “forgotten investment”. People will spend 10s of thousands of dollars on University and then never take another course.

They’ll spend hours trying to save $500 in expenses rather then spending those hours trying to make $500.

To put this into perspective a $1 / hour raise is worth $2,000 / year. Even after taxes that’s $1,000 to $1,500 left over (even in Canada). That’s enough money to fund a new iPhone simply by making an extra $1 / hour.

And those raises are more or less cumulative over time, it’s like compound interest on your career.

As an example, I’ve worked for two bosses who offered raises for completing related technical courses. In the three+ years under that system, I’m the only person I’ve met who’s actually earned one of these raises. I parlayed 100 hours into $2,000. That’s a $20 / hour return over the course of just one year.