An alternate MBA return on investment

So the general MBA return on investment revolves around determining starting salary, calculating the full tuition costs, determine opportunity costs and finally determine the increase in salary post MBA. After determining the increase in salary, calculate the time it takes to repay the investment in costs and you have your ROI. A part-time MBA negates the effects of opportunity cost if you keep full employment the whole way through the tuition period so I have an advantage there.

If I take an alternate strategy for determining MBA return on investment, I calculate the funds directly invested in my education, give the education a miss and instead invest the funds in equities or bonds. My choice would be Wesfarmers (WES); whilst the price is a little higher than I hoped, I am working on saving the sum for the period of my education and investing the sum at the completion of the course.

The $20,000 I have allocated is invested at an average price of $41.00 giving me 488 shares in WES. This will allow me to track both capital appreciation and dividends paid over the next 12 years to determine my return on investment or at the very least estimate the capital appreciation (or loss) and dividends received.

Whilst it is too late now in many respects as I have already invested the funds in education, I will take a five year and ten year view to see if I would have been better off just investing the funds and keep plodding on in my current employment.