I'm an average joe making good money for family and enjoying a chill life. What am I missing out on by not pursuing prestige?
Hey guys. I'm a 29 year old white male with a loving wife and 1 year old son. I went to a state school (Cal State Fullerton), graduated with a 3.1 GPA (didn't give a crap about school, just partied) and then got a sales job. Then I busted my ass (I'm not analytical or smart, but I'm a grinder) and hustled and got into tech sales. The past few years I've been making $100k+ in software sales for startups.
I live in LA right now and love it. I have a gorgeous wife and awesome son. I work out regularly, eat healthily, and only work 45 hours a week. I have 3 hobbies - I do drums in a rock band, I surf, and do martial arts (BJJ), and am decent at all three. I still have plenty of free time to enjoy entertainment (video games), TV, movies, etc., while caring for my family. Life is good and I'm happy.
Since you guys here are so obsessed with prestige, what am I missing out on? What am I losing by not getting an Ivy League degree or working as an investment banker, consultant, corporate lawyer, doctor, etc.? Why do some of you guys seek a career with 70+ hour work weeks on the regular? It's not that I'm not ambitious at all - in sales, you gotta be, but I value life a lot too.
Just curious about your guyses perspectives. Living to work rather than the other way around seems miserable from my perspective. Thanks.
You are missing out on nothing is the real answer. People are different and want different things in life. Based on what you have chosen (family, hobbies, sunshine) you have the right career for you.
The powerful thing is that you figured out what makes you happy and what it takes to keep that lifestyle.
I have a very specific career goal that I want to achieve, so it'll take those long hours, but in the end it's worth it for me.
Nothing. These people working 70+ every week are legit slaves.
Slaves to their own lifestyles for the most part...
You are missing out on nothing....
If these "brick in the wall" sheep WSO users realized you can have a much better life in tech/software sales AND make $300K+ a year, their brains would explode because it doesn't fit the narrative they've been spoonfed for years.
Idk if you read/follow Wall Street Playboys, but they say the #1 job to go into is tech/software sales.
300k in sales? Could you link something where I could read about this?
300k isnt even that much in tech sales
Prestigious and high paying careers are like investments, there's a considerable risk/return tradeoff involved.
My experience is that a lot of upper-middle class folks (bankers, management consultants) are a lot more stressed out than "regular" middle class people. They earn good money, but have lifestyles which require a certain level of future income. Regular people will say that they are rich, but they don't identify themselves as rich.
So, maybe you're missing out on a bigger, nice house. Nicer cars. Nice stuff. But it all comes with added costs.
Chasing prestige for the prestige itself is not very sustainable. Usually it's a by-product.
Get that paper & enjoy your life!
Where is your surf spot & are you training Gi or no Gi?
Aye even more Jiu Jistu guys!
You are missing out on women, alcohol, drugs, the badarse life.
If you did Investment Banking, you would have been flying in a private jet to Grand Cayman on your first day at work and have it easy from there. Nothing or no one would go against you.
Say goodbye to being a slave to the system and working long hours for under $1 Million salary. You would be making money off of every single stock trade you make and every laundering you help out with. You would have been making millions your first year at work.
Why the hell did you not choose this lifestyle?
This comment is so off the mark if it was trying to get a laugh. Awful delivery.
Not trying to "get a laugh" just showing the perception people have of IB is far different from reality
He fooled some knuckleheads into wasting monkey shit. I’d say the delivery was good.
lol you're just jealous of the author of the post, as I am now.
What you're not considering is the fact that I'm a complete coward and would never be able to do a sales job.
I'm curious about your curiosity.
You're missing nothing.
My dad never made more than $150k a year (only salary in the family), but he was at all of our after-school activities, coached little league, ate dinner with family every night, and still saved enough to pay for (modest) vacations and half of our public college tuition. He just visited Europe for the first time and is excited to travel the country in a camper van with my mom during retirement.
My MD makes over $2mm a year (in addition to a highly-paid spouse) and stresses about private boarding school tuition, misses family events, takes weekly 6am cross-country flights, and regularly questions if the delayed gratification plan he's had for the last 20 years will be worth it.
I spent my childhood years wanting for the life my MD has. Now that I'm on that track, I envy my dad.
Grass is always greener
This
I understand what you're saying.
A lot of time people don't realize that with a higher salary, most people have higher expenses. That becomes a problem because once people start living a higher lifestyle, it's hard for them to transition to lower cost one. You almost become a slave to it.
This is so raw. Hope you decide to do what's best for you.
Nice post - but I don’t believe he’s looking for everyone to disavow their career choice in banking...
Answer? You’re missing out on massive career opportunities which result, not from prestige, but from the things about investment banking which bestow that prestige - I.e top bankers have ear of the leaders of industry, governments and investment firms - from a career perspective, exposure to that (transactions, negotiations, analysis etc ) provides young people starting out with an accelerated path towards gaining experience - experience that might further their career in banking, or investment management or in just about any other walk of life . So many bankers have gone on to top jobs in industry, government etc. it’s a good launching pad.
Doesn’t mean you can’t launch from where you are, it just may be more difficult because of the focus your job has (although Bill Gates was essentially a software salesman - and probably made the most valuable sale in software history when he got IBM to adopt MS-DOS - as I understand, he didn’t even own the code at the time he sold them).
So I hope you find success and satisfaction in what you do; in such a way that still benefits the other important elements of life.
Is it wrong that I'd rather be the MD than your dad? Not that his decision to take that route is wrong but not for me.
Not at all. Just highlighting there are very real trade-offs in both lifestyles. If you're happy in one, it's unlikely you'd be happy in the other.
Why would you rather be the MD
Good to see even the average joes have a god complex
Because compared to many, they're not so average.
Everyone has different priorities in life.. There is no "win" or "lose" when it comes to your career choice.
You optimised for a lifestyle and a job that you believe fits your ideals and goals. For some people, your lifestyle is not ideal and not something to settle for because, for whatever reason, they want something more and are willing to grind for it. For others, you are the epitomy of the American dream and they would be jealous to even have 1/2 of what you do.
Moral is, you do you. If someone wants to grind it out to become an attending doctor, an MD in IB, a top market maker, a PE Partner etc because they think it's worth it and it fits within their vision of how they want to live their life.. so be it. If someone wants to settle for making decent money in a decent job that allows them to spend more time with their kids, their spouse and their dogs.. so be it.
By comparing yourself without context to others you fall victim to the same prestige-obsessed, narrow sighted behaviour some people exhibit.
Nothing dude. I'm not jealous of billionaires, CEOs, BSDs, etc... I'm jealous of the guy who lives in a track home, drives a camry, has an 'average' life and is totally happy because I wish I could do that but I don't know how.
Kudos to you, I think it's great.
Sounds like you might need some help or mental coaching. (I am getting a depressed vibe from your comment)
I know a few UHNWI and billionaires who live modest lifestyles. (But there will always be the Dan Blizerians of the world)
I'll quote myself to provide some modern wisdom. "In the scheme of things; a couch potato the binge watches NFLX is a happy man, and A doctor the operates on patients is a happy man. It is when a couch potato wants to be a banker or a doctor or (vice versa) that people hate what they do." (Some people love to work and some people resent it)
To sum up this statement look at your values and pursue a passion that makes you happy.
Why someone who doesn’t work in finance would come here and post this trash.
Please let me know where I should send your cookie and gold star. We are all happy you’re happy.
How many gold stars to be considered prestigious?
Word on the street; if you have less then 6 stars you are considered a pleb.
I asked the same.
Also, why would someone who's clueless and clearly uninterested in the field would take the effort of creating an account, and even learn the basics about the forum to post this? Or it's simply another user with a throwaway account, who's questioning his life choices.
Seeking confirmation and/or subtly trying to flex.
"weird flex but ok"
Not a bad life especially if you can remain debt free. I have a buddy I went to undergrad with and he dropped out senior year and moved to Seattle. Guy smoked more pot than I have ever seen. Wake and bake type of guy on Snoop Dogg's level but self taught coder and very personable. Overall really cool guy. Works in tech sales for a public company and kills it. Makes $500k-$600k a year and has for years now. Bought a house before the Amazonians took over and now his house is paid off and doubled in value. Gets to work from home and travel all the time.
Out of curiosity - what kind of products does your friend sell? What kind of coding knowledge do you need for that? What kind of hours does he work? What is the ceiling on his comp potential? Any downsides to his career path that you see?
He works for Palo Alto Networks does B2B sales. He know several languages but not sure which ones. He travels for work a few times a week and then works from home mostly. Their sales have somewhat stalled but he still does well. He gets heavily recruited by other companies and loves what he does. They pay people $10k for patents as well and he has created 3 patents while there.
Average Joes don't make $100k+/yr. Next.
Ya i feel like the people on WSO here think the average median household income is $100k...GTFO
I've seen people on here say you're a failure if you're not making $150k 2 years out of college. Probably 15 year olds who read about IB on here, and think they are miles ahead of the world because they found out about the industry before their friends did or something, dunno.
It’s not like a 100k is a ton of money now. It’s definitely within average joe land. Anyone with any work competency gets there.
Also a basic accounting major to big 4 can hit 100k late 20’s.
I am pretty average and make $100k as a data scientist working from home.
That's awesome.. I would love to have that kind of mobility. How long is your hours per week?
Exactly
why the **** cant i use GIFs anymore
You’re a shadow of your former self.
If being an investment banking or management consultant makes you happy, and you like working 80-120 hours a week, and missing out on most of your life, then by all means do it. Good for you.
If you think anyone is impressed by the fact that you're an investment banker or management consultant, you're an idiot.
you don't think working 80-120 hours a week is impressive?
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It's impressive in the same sense that benching 1,000 pounds is impressive.
Benching 1,000 pounds is a staggering feat. I cannot do it, nor can most people. So if you can do it, you are unique, and have out-performed everyone else. However, nobody really cares, and when you're 400 pounds and goofy looking because of all of the food you eat to put that much muscle on, it kind of defeats the purpose. See where I'm going with this working 120 hours a week?
ditto! can't agree more.
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