Most people would like to be rich. Maybe not like the richest people in the (think Bill Gates and Warren Buffet), and maybe not even a multi-millionaire, but wealthy enough to live comfortably and enjoy life—maybe retire early, own the house and car, and go on extended vacations. Now while most people want more money rather than less, getting (and saving) that money can be a challenge—and studying English (or any language for that matter) can help to overcome that challenge.

So how can studying a subject that most people hate taking in college or university help you to get rich? Well, as I suggest elsewhere, English is really an information technology and about manipulating information. In The Origin of Wealth¹, Eric Beinhocker gives a number of examples that show that as the quantity of information that a society produces, so too does its standard of living. What Beinhocker is really suggesting then is that all wealth ultimately comes from the manipulation of information. And if we accept Beinhocker’s conclusion, then we see that at the very least, being able to manage and (re)organize information is critical to our daily lives and our long-term wealth.

Since managing and organizing information is essentially what English is all about—finding ideas from different places (either from books or more commonly today, search engines such as Google), critically analyzing those ideas, and then organizing them into coherently written essays (or blog posts). While literature may be the subject of interest in an English class, studying English gives you the writing and associated skills that are critical for manipulating the information that wealth depends upon. And mastering those skills can help you to get rich.