PhD doesn't always equal academia, like a poster pointed out, we are having education inflation. Where the degree is not worth the piece of paper it is written on. Bachelors degrees have become the norm now, people are shocked if you say you aren't going to university.
I think a higher qualfication is always worth having, it separates you from the 2:1 BSc guy that has become so common. You don't need to go into academia with a PhD, there are many consultancy roles or roles in banks that want a PhD. Plus you can always have academia as a backup, there would be post doc places you can consider.
I completed a first year PhD at a university in economics, before transferring to another PhD in finance (because I could get funding for this new one).