I might add that if you make and sell your own products, then a degree is completely unnecessary for you given the amount of 'free' education that can be obtain

I might add that if you make and sell your own products, then a degree is completely unnecessary for you given the amount of 'free' education that can be obtained via the internet today. For 99% of people out there, a degree is a institutional stamp of approval that employers seek because it's what every other employer out there does. People get a degree because it is necessary for a BigCorp job, it's a self perpetuating cycle. But it sounds like you want to learn and research to satisfy your a curiosity within yourself which is the only case I would say an academic degree is a good thing to strive for.