Finish college, plain and simple. That's an investment in your future, as corny as it sounds. It's worth more than short term financial gains.
If all else fails, at least you'll have a diploma when trying to find a job. It'll help you get through the door more than typing "invested in crypto currencies" in your CV.
such notions are complete nonsense! if you want invest in your future you get brain power!!!! best way to get brain power is to throw oneself into unexpected chaos!!! the main reason why most people are not getting nothing good out of it, is cause when they go into chaos they panic and just try desperate to get out, that is not how to do it! once you make a step from rigid robotic instruction life, to a normal human life you should aproach it do or die way and then you will see trough bullshit and your life will reach perfection as much as it is humanly possible!
To some, college does represent unexpected chaos. While I do agree that getting "real life experience" should either be part of one's education or take center stage before starting a serious career, I don't think it should come at the expense of a formal education, should one be able to pay for it. I agree that falling flat on your nose in life is necessary to advance and round out your life, but it shouldn't come at the expense of something that can help guarantee at least a decent future.
If your post was meant to be completely sarcastic with a hint of irony, carry on!
im serious! as much as it is possible be serious in words. what you consider decent future? being dumb? even with money? only good life messure is the brain power, because with brain power you can make everything else, education these days = get a paper which will convince hiring companies that you are good slave(as in you will cope with bullshit well), for any position which do not require slave labour, like anything creative only factor is what you can do and your past work(portfolio), if you focus on your education basicaly means you giving up on life.
I agree that traditional education is severely lacking for those heading into creative professions. Nonetheless, doing a course to gain the necessary knowledge (with a diploma/degree or not) to accomplish what you want to do (let's say you want to become a VFX compositing artist) definitely wouldn't hurt. The point is, you can indeed be self-taught in anything you want, but it's not always the right path to take.
For example, if the op wants a career in finance, without some form of diploma/degree/certification, he could be shit out of luck.
All in all, I find that education can definitely open a lot of doors that could otherwise be shut. On the flip side, NOT having a degree/diploma could very well close certain doors that may be desired by certain people. So to answer your question, to me a decent future is one where I am able to choose which options I want and which I may not want. If you consider three years of college education a "waste of time" since you're missing out on "life" for those three years, that's your prerogative. Others might take those 3 years, get a formal education and "live life" at an even more rewarding and higher level than you.
A life with no education might cater greatly to some due to the more numerous opportunities to "live life" as it were, but it's not the kind of life that's recommended for the majority (98%+) of people.
But that's just me.