For most American families, there are four major financial dreams: Earn enough to enjoy a middle-class lifestyle; Buy a home; Enjoy a happy retirement; and Help your kids with college expenses. Now that we are in the holiday season, the greatest gift to your kids would be to offer a different path so that they can be financially successful.

I met a lady that had settled in Scottsdale; was divorced; and owned five rental houses that took 20 years to acquire. She invited me to her house for supper because she wanted me to talk to her son. He was attending a very expensive school. The cost to attend one year, counting tuition, fees, books, and living expenses is $76,761 or a total $307,044 for four years.

She asked me what advice I could give her son, whose professors told him that he needed to get an MBA from Harvard or some other elite university. The annual cost of attending the Harvard’s two-year MBA program is a total of $268,172. She was seriously considering selling three of her rental houses to fund his four years at his college and his Harvard MBA. His professors have never worked in the real world and so naturally suggested an expensive Harvard MBA as the path to success. Harvard claims that $175,000 is the starting salary, but that only occurs if you get a job. Unlike professions such as doctor, lawyer, or CPA, one can’t just “hang out your shingle” and start your own business. Most MBA’s are hired employees.

Let’s examine the actual research by Thomas Stanley, PhD, who for 40 years has studied how folks become multi-millionaires. On page 34 of The Millionaire Mind, is a chart that looks at the Top 30 Millionaires’ Success Factors. The top five factors are: “Being honest with all people” and “Being well disciplined” are tied for #1; “Getting along with people” is ranked #3; “Having a supportive spouse” is ranked #4; and “Working harder than most people” is ranked #5.

In contrast, Ranked #21 is “Having a high IQ/superior intellect”; Ranked #23 is “Attending a top-rated college”; Ranked #28 is “Investing in the equities of public corporations”; Ranked #29 is “Having excellent investment advisors”; and Ranked last at #30 is “Graduating near the top of my class”.

Here’s an alternative career path in HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning). It costs $15,000 to $35,000 for a two-year associate’s degree; or $1,200 to $15,000 to get a certification that takes 6-12 months. In AZ, the average pay is $54,779 and top earners get $74,551. However, my own HVAC tech works for a large company that pays its techs a commission on HVAC sales. He told me that the top HVAC techs earn $150,000 to $200,000+ annually. Four of the top 5 “Millionaires’ Success Factors determine how much you earn with “Having a supporting spouse” being random, give that half of all first marriages wind up in divorce.

Investing $15,000 to $35,000 in an associate’s degree in HVAC and adding $15,000 for sales and self-improvement courses such as Dale Carnegie, becomes a total investment of $30,000 to $50,000 and you can earn as much as some new Harvard MBA’s. You can earn even more by starting your own HVAC company. In AZ, there’s a huge demand given our brutal heat and HVAC companies don’t have enough workers to keep up with the demand. You cannot export HVAC jobs to China and they can’t be replaced by artificial intelligence. Also, Mom doesn’t have to endanger her own retirement by spending $575,216 for her son’s higher education.

To RSVP for the seminars or schedule a free consultation, please contact Dr. Harold Wong at (480) 706-0177 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. His website is https://drharoldwong.com.

Dr. Wong earned his Ph.D. in Economics at University of California/Berkeley and has appeared on over 400 TV/radio programs.