I have it on good authority that this is how it is in many other institutions of higher learning around the world, that being that pursuing a degree in Economics appears to be one of the easier paths to follow, academically. No disrespect to anybody studying Economics or to anyone who is fully qualified in that field. If anything, I think you’re right on the money, pun intended…

However, if something like Economics is the study of what makes the world go round, why aren’t all Economists millionaires, at the very least?

These days the degree you hold in your hand is pretty much an expensive piece of paper which in a sense tells potential employers that you’ve paid your dues academically, both in terms of money and time, but with so many free resources available by way of information, pretty much anyone who knows how to use Google beyond the first results-page can acquire any and all knowledge they want. A friend of mine who might be studying Economics could very well share with me their full course material and I could go through the entire academic course without attending lectures or sitting for the exams.

The only difference between myself and my qualified Economist friend would be that I don’t have a piece of paper officially declaring my qualification, but that is some knowledge which I can use in practice, is it not? Except it isn’t really…

You see, pretty much anything and everything by way of knowledge/information which is so readily available to the masses tends to lose the value it’s implied to have. This goes beyond the academic course of Economics, spilling over into economics in practice, through its conduit of the financial sector.

When everyone is trading CFDs for example, or even commodities and stocks, who makes all the money? Two parties make all the money, one of which party is guaranteed to make money, while the other party will either make a lot of money or lose a lot of money. The broker who charges commissions on each trade makes all the money, while the trader who has a lot of money to begin with stands to make a whole lot more if their positions are correct, but they also stand to lose a lot if it’s the other way around.

The Economist who graduated top of their class is smart – he’s not likely to try and live out his life as a CFD trader or an investor in stocks and bonds. No. He might go down the path of getting licensed to be a broker so that he can be in charge of the money and the channels through which it flows. So, when it comes to mastering the financial sector, which would imply that you’re in pursuit of some wealth, don’t do as the institutions say, do as they do.

No bank is going to give you advice that’s going to make you insanely rich. What they’re rather going to keep doing is give you advice that makes them insanely rich.