Are there any long-term and high paying jobs out there?
Hey everyone, I've been thinking about this for a bit and while this question may be dumb, I'm going to ask it anyways. Generally, when you think of the typical high paying careers it's either: Finance, Law, Medicine or Tech.
From what I've been reading here, it seems finance is more of a temporary job that people take before inevitably going to Corp Dev/Fin. Getting to MD, Partner at MBB or Partner at a PE firm have been mostly described as close to impossible. AM as a whole has been described as shrinking which doesn't leave many other long-term options apart from accounting though becoming a Big 4 Partner is obviously not easy. This makes it pretty difficult for a finance/consulting career to last 20+ years.
Law is quite the same, there's really only 2 places you can go: Biglaw or in-house. Some firms only have 1% of people making it to Partner which is heavily based on luck among other things. In-house salaries usually around Corp Fin/Dev levels which is obviously good but not on the same level as Biglaw, IB, PE or MBB Consulting.
It seems that for a solid job that may last for more than 15 years, medicine and tech are the way to go. Though medicine is obviously extremely competitive and takes 10 years of your life and tech doesn't pay as well as biglaw, medicine or high finance on average unless you're starting a company.
This is all from what I've taken reading posts here so I'm not entirely sure if the stuff I said about finance is 100% correct. What do you guys think, is there a possibility for a long term career in finance/law or is it generally make your money and leave?
A long-term career in finance is possible; it's just a matter of how much shit you can take. Some people go in thinking 2-3 years ahead and then pivot to CF, some move to PE/HF and some stay in IB. Look at all the bankers who are in their 40s/50s. Those are long-term finance careers. Will many people in this generation stay 20-30 years in finance? Maybe, perhaps less than they did in the 80s/90s. Does a long-term finance career lead to happiness? Depends on the person. Is a long-term finance career possible? Yes.
Not in finance yet, though interested as well to see if there are a lot of people at later roles (MD or Partner) that are in their late 40s or early 50s. Anyone know generally how long people stay MD or Partner in MBB?
Remember seeing a bankerella post that said average tenure was 8 years at the MD level so ~20 years average career length in banking.
Probably a large function of those numbers is early retirement.
But I assume they could stay for longer if they're inclined and producing?
Staying at a company for 20 years is low risk.
It may be prestigious and you may make partner. But, you settled for stability instead of starting your own company, implementing your own vision, or starting your own fund.
There are no high paying jobs. There are no low paying jobs. It’s all perspective.
You would be surprised how many guys made fortunes are idiots. But a path to a cushy 300k job for just about anyone posting here should be fairly easy. Like someone said in another thread - school administrator.
I think there are also a lot of cushy small time local big shot jobs. Local home builder. Guy who runs 50 trucks of air conditioning repair guys.
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This some Robert California shit
Climb the mountain high enough to see the top and it all makes sense.
See 60 year olds nearly 3 comma club founders spending their time dealing with 19 year old heroin addicts picking up charges at Coachella. Billionaire kids who are miserable or even better faking happiness on instagram...you realize how little it matters. Money causes as many problems as it solves.... and to some extent just makes you bored and finding new headaches.
Don't you dare put accounting and the rest of finance in the same category. Saying, "well, I can't do AM so I gotta do accounting," is like saying, "well, I can't be a neurosurgeon so let's look at physical therapy."
Family offices and pension funds.
29 yrs of business experience working with retail clients ranging form mid market to HNW. Lots of small business owners. You'd be amazed at how many earn more than doctors, lawyers, , etc. Just regular guys (and gals) providing a necessary service to the community and doing it well. Many make 7 figures, control their own future, don't have to answer to anyone, etc. If you want to be in corporate america, as a high paid employee, finance (IB, Corp Dev., Consulting, Accounting, Computer Science at google) are all great but you are an employee and completely controlled by others.
Understand that the VAST majority will never make it to IB MD, run their own HF, Partner at MBB or Big 4. The numbers are staggering against it. So all these first jobs are just starting points for you to become who you will become.
Real wealth typically comes from starting your own thing and investing wisely. income is generally more of a cash flow thing unless you're making well in 7 figures and then the income itself is wealth. Go make 500k per yr for 20+ yrs and invest well (and live well) and at 50 or so you have lots of choices. That's more realistic than making millions at 35 (can be done, but very rare, personally know 2 who have but they are outliers for sure)
any specific examples of the small businesses? In my neck of the woods, the only successful small business owners are construction related
All kinds. Restaurants. Realtors, small tech cos, home builders, HVAC, property casualty agencies, franchisees in various industries, retail stores of several variety - one guy I know has 6 locations of a discount vitamin shoppe and is killing it! - , bars. Buddy of mine started a stadium seat / bleacher company (is a mechanical engineer) serving high schools and colleges. Has jobs all over the place. Just sold out for big bucks. Mom and Pop CPA firms making a killing serving all the small businesses. Independent distributors. Commercial RE developers. The list goes on and on. (and of course Wealth Managers / Investment Advisors).
I recently found a cafe near my town on sale for $900k. It had a turnover of $2m a year and had a net profit of $400k. I wish I had that capital at my disposal.
Mostly good advice, but you're purposely ignoring the survivorship bias present for entrepreneurs while highlighting it for other professions. It's extremely hard to be a successful entrepreneur of the caliber you mention. Furthermore, most people are not cut out for entrepreneurship.
I don't necessarily disagree with your point (survivorship...hard...most are not cut out...) To be really good at anything is hard. It takes dedication, knowledge, passion, luck, etc. My point was simply that there are MANY MANY regular folks out there making a great living doing regular things. They're not all rocket scientists. The CPA who left the Big 4 after a few yrs and joined a local practice, became a partner in a few yrs and is making half a mil for as long as he wants (not regional firms - local Mom and Pop). The sales guy who was working for company X selling widgets and decides to go out on his own for 3x the comp. I think it's a lot harder and a lot less realistic to become an MD at a BB or MBB, start your own HF, etc.
check out plumbing or better yet crane operating, those union guys make bank
Those are high paying jobs?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303936704576399563008284024
not that this happens to everyone, but occasionally
You can make 6 figures at most things fairly easily. 7 figures is also way easier than I had previously thought. What I really failed to account for is how fast new doors open up when you start succeeding.
I literally went from making like...30k to $300k+ and now probably around $700k - $1.2M in the course of 4 years or so and my main business throwing off cash is in an industry all my friends told me was too small. Turns out that trash industries are great because competition is crap.
This is so true.
I have a buddy who literally looked at every single type of blue collar business with terrible competitors. He started a power washing company.
First year went from just him, and a truck, knocking doors to get deals --> 12 months later he has 5 crews (2 people each) and booked up with at least 2-3 appointments per day for his crew.
No experience in powerwashing. Was simply a b2b sales rep, and who jumped in and thrived in a realm with no competition.
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