Staying Relevant: Treating a New Skill as an Investment
In this episode of Money Lessons, Andy treats a new skill the way he'd treat any other investment: what it costs, what it returns, and when to make it.
He defines skill gap, upskilling, and reskilling; explains why skills go stale, with the World Economic Forum's finding that workers can expect 39 percent of their skills to be transformed or outdated by 2030; and works through a $3,000 certificate step by step, counting the money, the hours, and the years the skill will keep earning.
Fun fact: an employer with an educational-assistance plan can pay up to $5,250 a year toward your education — or, since the 2025 tax law, your student loans — with no tax on it.
How to Build Empathy? Listen.
Far too often, when confronted with a challenge, we talk. We talk to deflect. We talk because we don’t know what else to do. We talk to release nervous energy. To make matters worse, when we start talking, we usually start relaying a story of a similar challenge that’s happened to us. The individual who’s going through the challenge doesn’t want to hear about our suffering or similar situation, they want to be heard.
Learning is a Business Imperative
If your people truly are your most valuable asset, it becomes a business imperative to ensure that the skill portfolios of your team members are maintained and nurtured in good times and in bad—especially when the seas get rough.