Jul 30, 2024
If you’re a younger American with dreams of wealth and influence, Scott Galloway has some blunt advice: get your degree, and pack your bags.
An episode of Steve Bartlett’s podcast, The Diary of a CEO, featured Galloway — a renowned entrepreneur, author, and professor of marketing at NYU’s Stern School of Business — answering the age-old question of how to become wealthy.
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He recommends two critical changes younger Americans must adopt: get credentialed, and move to a supercity such as New York City, San Francisco, London, or Milan.
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“We live in a LinkedIn economy,” Galloway said. “On average, people who get a college degree earn 50 to 100 percent more throughout their life. There’s an entire set of industries that are off limits to people that don’t have credentialing.”
He then added geography to the equation, telling Bartlett that two-thirds of all economic growth over the next 30 years will come from the world’s 20 supercities — metropolitan areas with ultra-high concentrations of wealth, talent, and innovation.
He likened such a move to playing against tennis great Serena Williams: “When you’re in a city, you’re playing against Serena Williams every day. Everyone is smart, everyone is well-dressed, everyone is working hard, everyone is taking chances. And you are surrounded by people who are very successful and you are gonna bump off professional and personal [opportunities] every day.”
Get ‘credentialed’
Galloway emphasizes the importance of obtaining credentials, which generally means earning a degree from a reputable institution.
Today’s competitive job market, he argued, requires a credentialed educational background to enhance career prospects and earning potential.
The stats are on Galloway’s side: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics states that individuals with a bachelor’s degree have median earnings of $1,493 per week, compared to $899 for those with only a high school diploma.
Over a 40-year career, this earnings gap can translate to nearly $1 million more for degree-holders. Furthermore, the unemployment rate for college graduates is significantly lower, at 2.2%, compared to 3.9% for high-school graduates.
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Galloway appeared even-handed about the value of college education. During a guest spot on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” he drew applause by suggesting wealth could be found not necessarily through degrees from elite schools, but simply by mastering a talent that would make one marketable for top-paying jobs.
“The two-thirds of kids who don’t have an opportunity to go to college have real opportunities as long as we stop shaming kids who don’t go to an elite college and end up in a romance industry,” he told Maher. “Find your talent. Find out what you’re good at.”
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Move to a ‘super city’
The second crucial lifestyle change Galloway advocates is relocating to one of those talent- and innovation-rich supercities.
Living in these urban hubs can raise one’s chances of financial success due to the clustering of high-paying jobs, networking opportunities, and access to cutting-edge industries.
New York has Wall Street, while San Francisco and Silicon Valley have tech giants like Apple, Google, and Facebook. Living in these cities puts these opportunities within reach.
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For instance, Glassdoor lists the average salary for a software engineer in San Francisco at about $140,000 per year — significantly higher than the city’s average base salary of $114,000.
And when you’re ready to move on, job mobility tends to be higher in population centers. However, there are some cost considerations.
While the benefits of living in a supercity are significant, it’s crucial to consider the higher cost of living. Housing, transportation, and everyday expenses are typically higher in these metropolitan areas.
For example, a software engineer's salary in San Francisco may not meet the city’s astronomical cost of living. But as Galloway would likely note, higher salaries and abundant career opportunities can offset these costs over time.
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Vawn Himmelsbach is a veteran journalist who covers tech, business, finance and travel. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, National Post, CBC News, Yahoo Finance, MSN, CAA Magazine, Travelweek, Explore Magazine and Consumer Reports.
