I received my undergraduate degree in Accounting from a small but prestigious university in the Midwest. During the summer between my junior and senior year of college, I had an internship with General Electric working as a cost accountant in one of their factories. It didn’t take long to determine that I wanted nothing to do with accounting. I hated it, so I turned my focus to real estate lending and banking, a subject that interested my much more.
The thing with real estate and loan investing, however, is that I use almost nothing of what I learned in college in my practice today. A formal degree in a real estate discipline is certainly not required. You simply have to be smart and soak in everything that you can from a good, trusted mentor. During my banking days, I handled the money for wealthy athletes, doctors, lawyers, and captains of industry. One of my clients was a business professor at a well-known university. She held a doctorate in international business. During a financial planning meeting where I helped guide her with financial decisions, the discussion turned to my educational road to get to where I was at that point in my career. She said, “you know, you should really think about getting your doctorate. Why don’t you enroll at my school and get it?” My reply was simply this – “Will you be one of my instructors?” to which she answered in the affirmative. “Then tell me, who is handling your money for you?” To that, she just laughed and said “touche.”
The moral of the story is that you don’t have to have a fancy degree to be successful in this field. You simply need to be smart and listen to a real mentor. You’ll take some lumps and lose money on some of your deals. Just consider those losses as “tuition.” With determination and effort, you’ll do well.