What should my college major be?

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What should my college major be?

Ashan D
Renter · Long Beach, CA · Member since 2008 · 78 posts · 2 votes

Hi,

I am a nursing student who is basically done with nursing, I used to have a passion for the profession but other life priorities have taken over and now I consider myself a business person. I am a successful commodity trader so a degree is no longer as important as before.

However I'm not going to drop out of school, that would be narrow minded. I know I still need a degree if for nothing else than as a backup. To put my schooling in alignment with my new goals I want a degree that will help me with my end plan of commercial real estate investment (I'm not a dreamer, I have saved close to $100,000 so far). I was planning on taking the CCIM classes for that end, but I still need a degree in something (my parents would kill me otherwise)

I'm considering the following options:

Real Estate
Finance
Accounting

I don't know if the real estate degree is worth it because Im taking the CCIM classes in the future. Also I have heard from other RE investors that the degree does not offer much practical knowledge for an investor. But what do I know, I haven't taken any RE courses, they could teach me much more than I could learn from my RE books and CCIM courses.

The Finance degree sounds interesting for understanding how finance works. If I went this route I would not have to spend extra time in school either because I meet all the prereqs already. So even if not practically useful, I get the degree/safety net with minimal fuss and am able to get serious with commercial investment that much faster.

Accounting has the obvious benefit of me being able to handle my own books. Then again as investors we try to delegate what we can to focus on what we most importantly need to handle (the A&D) so maybe this degree has limited use as well.

The finance degree can be finished the earliest, the real estate degree will require the most amount of time (that one is not even at my school so it'll require a significant change of plans)

What do you guys think is the best option?

Thanks!

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  • Ken Hicks
    Boonies, PA · Member since 2008 · 333 posts · 15 votes
    18y

    If you got it in you do engineering. You can expand into different fields later in life.

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  • Account Closed
    Manhattan, NY · Member since 2008 · 801 posts · 61 votes
    18y

    If your desire is to do commercial re investing, the finance degree would be an excellent choice.

    Large commercial deals are not just real estate on a larger scale, every aspect of them from the buying process to the financing to partners to holding, improving and selling are all different.

    A finance degree would give you the leg up on pulling all of the parts and pieces together.

    You are already a nurse and will always have that as a fallback, you are already a trader and will always have that as a fallback. You might as well pick something for a degree that will help your ultimate career choice OR something that is just purely for fun.

    If you are a real sadist, you could get an actuarial science degree.

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  • Timothy W.
    Attorney · Raleigh, NC · Member since 2008 · 4k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    18y
    Originally posted by Tim Owensby:
    If you are a real sadist, you could get an actuarial science degree.

    What, you don't like the mathematical triangles on a saturday night? lol

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  • Matthew Gil
    Real Estate Investor · Member since 2008 · 340 posts · 34 votes
    18y

    My advice. Finish the degree you are working on. There is no law that says that your brain has to shut down when you graduate. Become a self-learner.

    One of the smartest and profound persons I know does not have a college degree, yet he reads about a book or two a week. Do that for 45 or so years and you tend to pick up a few things up.

    In my case, I decided to teach myself about politics, foreign affairs and economics. While my degree was not in those fields, I found them to be interesting and I keep myself up on those topics. And, I tell you what, it is a good thing to know that stuff. Currency fluctuations, tax policy, FED actions, international relations and commodity prices DO affect our business.

    So, my point? It does not matter what you finish a degree in, because you will always be learning.

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  • Joshua D.Pro Member
    BiggerPockets Founder · HI · Member since 2008 · 16k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    18y

    Most of the smartest and most successful people that I know never used their degrees. They are all self-learners and have managed to teach themselves towards success.

    School is important, but self-motivation and drive is WAY more important.

    Podcast Guest on Show #100
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  • Ingrid Nagy
    Property Manager · Passaic, NJ · Member since 2008 · 369 posts · 83 votes
    18y

    I myself would finish the nursing degree, get a job in your field to qualify for financing, to have steady cash flow, and start investing that $100K savings in real estate. It's a buyers market and the perfect opportunity to get your feet wet at a good time with a steady job to fall back on.

    I have a high school education but started working as a property manager when I was in my early 20's watching and learning from the big boys. That job gave me the hands on experience where I learned the ins and outs first hand and made the contacts I needed. I watched my bosses make killings in investment real estate and also lose their shirts. There were no specialized courses offered back then. I couldn't decide whether I liked residential or commercial so I obtained both a CPM & CCIM. The designations are useful when you are looking for full-time employment in the field and do give you an edge on other job seekers in the real estate management field. They give you the basis for real estate investment but the true lessons come from your desire, research, determination and how you apply the common sense mathematical skills to this field.

    When I decided to start investing 20+ yrs ago I saw it as a means to financial independence in the future. I'm not a flipper. I like to buy, hold and lease. I decided long ago that commercial was a great field to "work" in full time but not a great field to invest it (for me). To me, it takes a lot of savings to begin and when there is a vacancy, that vacancy can last a long time and quite possibly bankrupt you. You need quite a bit of reserve to keep afloat in commercial.

    I started buying small condos, foreclosure units, for cash during market downturns like now. I fixed them, rented them and kept them, slowly graduating up to multi-family dwellings. The law of supply/demand has a lesser effect during market corrections like now. Everyone needs apartments - the cheaper they are - the more people who can afford them and you in turn have a lesser exposure to cash flow loss and pulling from your pocket to meet monthly expenses.

    I'm starting to write a book here which was not my intention LOL. The point I was making was its your hoices and your own efforts that will help you succeed in investment real estate, not your degree. I relied on the full-time job to help me save and to carry me through the "rough" times when the market was down. After 20 years I'm up to 54 units and almost ready to finally give up that security blanket I call a full-time job. Best of luck to you! Ingrid

    I'm not a person to flip - more of an investor to buy, fix, hold and lease.

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  • Jason Phillips
    Memphis, TN · Member since 2008 · 10 posts · 1 vote
    18y

    If I was in your position get your rn degree and minor in finance

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