[timwaagh]

A masters is already quite good. It should make your life more interesting than a bachelor's. Think about a decent job, no questions asked, you might even have a reasonable choice on what type of job you will take. Don't expect too much though.

Now with a PhD you could be the envy of your community. Imagine posting about pursuing your PhD in Australia or posting on Facebook about the space entity named after your research group. From what I know phds like to post on fb a lot. That is not to deride them. Most of their achievements are genuine and worthy of a like or three. A PhD is quite something. But it is no guarantee. You could get a PhD and still end up at the bottom end of the totem pole. One of my friends is like that. Spent years as a lecturer in China only to choose unemployment for a decade when he got back. But yeah. You have to mess up quite badly. I would argue that even in his case his life became more interesting because of it.