When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes.
—Erasmus
You work hard for your family. You know how you sweated for each dollar, which can make those dollars hard to spend. Especially if you have an eye toward investing—every dollar expended now comes at the cost of returns in the future.
That’s one way to think about it, but it’s not the only way. Marcus Aurelius wrote that what he learned from his great-grandfather was to “avoid public schools, to hire good private teachers, and to accept the resulting costs as money well spent.”
What Marcus was talking about is investing in your children’s education —whatever form you decide it will take. A tutor to teach them Spanish a couple times a month? A piano instructor? A yearly pass to the museum downtown? The gas and the commute to the magnet school on the other side of town instead of the closer but less rigorous one? Private tuition? One parent working less so you can homeschool? None of this is cheap. But don’t think of it as an expense. Think of it as an investment. It’s the most important investment you can make—it’s an investment in their knowledge, in their education, in their future. It’s making them better. It’s worth what it costs.