#DearBuki - Should I Get An MSc Or Buy A Car?

Hello dear blog readers, how has your day been? I have started a column tagged #DearBuki where you can send whatever issues weighing on your minds and I would do my best to proffer solutions to them by giving my opinion and showing other perspectives to them. I do a lot of these guidance and counselling offline so I felt the need to bring it on my blog. Do send me an email on bukiotuyemi@gmail.com and we will put heads together. Check out the other posts here.

As they say, a problem shared, is a problem half solved................ :)

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Dear Buki,

How are you and your beautiful family? I have a dilemma and I hope you can help me make a decision. I have the option of going away for my Master degree or buying a car and going for a holiday, and I am lost as to which to go for. Ordinarily, I would have opted for my Masters without a second thought but my friends are telling me that there are so many Masters holders here in Nigeria who have not gotten good jobs, if they have at all. They say after spending all that money on getting my MSc, I would be back here earning peanuts. I am very skeptical and confused at this moment, please help.

Thank you. 

Nnenna.

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Dear Nnenna, 

Thank you for writing in, I appreciate it. Back to the issue at hand, I understand your dilemma and it is one several people are faced with most times. You just have to weigh the pros and cons and take the leap yourself. In my own opinion, while you might not get a fantastic job offer immediately after your MSc degree, you cannot quantify the amount of knowledge and exposure you would be gaining from leaving the shores of Nigeria to go abroad to study. No knowledge is ever lost and who knows, perhaps like me, you might find your better half over there. :) Yup, I met my husband while I was studying for my Masters in England and we got married there and had both our kids there. 

As your friends rightly pointed out, getting a well-paid job when you get back is not guaranteed but at least you would have had enough exposure to enable you be an entrepreneur yourself. I was into buying and selling while I was abroad and I set up a flourishing online store too. You must not be an employee when you can excel at being an employer yourself. Such is the way your mindset would be wired by the time you have spent at least six months abroad. 

By the way, if going away for your Masters still does not interest you, staying back and starting a business with the funds is a much better option than splurging on a car and a holiday. Holidays end and cars have to be maintained from a steady source of income. If you have a business you are running, you will have the chance to buy your choice of cars and visit exotic locations. Think it through and do not just squander your funds, ok?

I wish you all the very best in your endeavours.

Thanks.

Buki O.