Is finance the one industry where going into it for the money is "allowed"?

So I've come to realize that finance as a whole (or the jobs mainly talked about on WSO) is sort of rare when you think about it. When you think of almost any job that pays well, you're always told by professionals in that industry to not go into it for the money (engineers, doctors, lawyers, for example, will always say to be interested in the actual field)

Though for finance, while being interested in finance is for sure a major advantage and I'd hope that many that are going into finance do enjoy it, but lets be real a decent amount of IB analysts are doing it for money as their main reason. Whereas there are for sure doctors, engineers, lawyers, etc going into their careers for the money but this is generally frowned upon and they are scrutinized for it.

Finance is not only the industry that is about money but it's also the best/only option for people who are mainly focused on money.

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every industry is the same, you see a lot of people doing it for money. You think every doctor really cares about saving lives, etc? No a lot of them did it because of their parents/prestige/money.

The reason why its easier in finance is because compared to other industries there are no barriers to entry. No grad school (i.e. law school/med school) or hard skill (i.e. engineering). Therefore for kids that don’t know what they want to do if they can do it finance/business is the way to go. At least while you figure out what you want to do you can be making $$$ and $$$ is never bad to have

 

Yeah there are for sure docs going into it for money. But let's be real I'd bet there are far more doctors that have an interest in medicine/science/saving people than there are kids in finance that have a serious interest in finance/investing.

Also, if you tell people you're going into medicine for the money you're going to give off a heavily negative impression especially if you're talking to other doctors whereas if you you're going into finance solely for the reason of earning a lot of money nobody would bat an eye (unless you're talking to HR or your MD).

 

I doubt plastic surgeons are inserting silicone into aspiring instagram models for the sake of medicine

 

There is an arrogance that a lot of plastic surgeons have that's unique. These guys can make absurd amounts of money (millions) praying on people's insecurities if they pursue cosmetic procedures.

BUT if a plastic surgeon focuses on reconstructive surgery for people who had bad accidents, had bad deformities due to conditions outside of their hands and cancers in some case - I truly respect them a lot. 

The reason why reconstructive may not get as much attention is because on average, it pays lower than cosmetics. I forgot the exact data where I found this but anecdotally have seen a former plastic surgeon resident admit it on their social media (they had passion for reconstructive surgery more so than other aspects of plastics - but it was known to be lower paying).

 

I'm hoping this is sarcasm because in this case, it might be weirder if he was very interested in his job before he became a doctor

 

Hook up a lie detector test for lawyers and doctors. Ask them if they did it for the money, it would probably be similar results to what you'd find in finance professionals.

People may not say it but money and financial stability is important to live the lifestyles most of us want. Let it be a cheap frugal lifestyle, retire young or a lavish lifestyle that requires a 6-7 figure lifestyle.

Capitalism in America is the driving force for a lot of people choosing high paying professions. If doctors were paid a set wage like they may be in a socialist/3rd world country, I'd imagine the current shortage of physicians would be exponentially worse.

 

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