What roles will pay the most in 15 years?

Investment Banking MD compensation has fallen significantly in the past 15 years.

We are starting to see a similar trend with PE as it becomes more commoditized.

In the next 15-20 years, what industries / roles will pay the most? Will top compensation transfer to Tech? Sales?

Would love to hear others thoughts

34 Comments
 

- AI Management

- Neuroscience / Brain Link

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Why are people MSing this? I have actually done research at two hospitals in Neuroscience. If you disagree with me, don't be a coward and drop MS without explanation. 

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

All the model monkeys are scared of AI (for good reason, I also think it will cause a white collar blood bath) and no one here wants to admit STEM, particularly Neuroscience and other bio-related fields, have much better tailwinds than most of finance.

"If you don't have any enemies in life you have never stood up for anything" - Winston Churchill | "It's a testament to the sheer belligerence of the profession that people would rather argue about the 'risk-adjusted returns' of using inferior tooth cleaning methods." - kellycriterion
 

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"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 
GimmyStimmy

Investment Banking MD compensation has fallen significantly in the past 15 years.

We are starting to see a similar trend with PE as it becomes more commoditized.

In the next 15-20 years, what industries / roles will pay the most? Will top compensation transfer to Tech? Sales?

Would love to hear others thoughts

Are we "starting to see a similar trend"?? I think you can maybe argue some expect to see a similar trend but this is not strictly true

 
Most Helpful

The only right answer is no one knows what will pay what in 15 years.

Like all things in life, the cream will rise to the top. The 20 year old who was just working on my kitchen charged me $125/hr in labor alone, plus trip charges, plus material costs, and supplies expenses. He’s good at his craft and it took me months to get on his schedule.

If someone told you that Big Tech/Social Media would be a thing 15 years ago, would you have believed them?

 

The only correct answer is construction trades.  In 10 years those guys will be making $200+ per hour on average across the country and on an income to education cost level will be the highest paid job class in the country. 

 

PEarbitrage

The only correct answer is construction trades.  In 10 years those guys will be making $200+ per hour on average across the country and on an income to education cost level will be the highest paid job class in the country. 

Think about it.

Can’t outsource it.

ChatGPT can’t do it.

Women, largely, won’t do it.

Trades bros got it made. Low barriers to entry in terms of schooling, ability to find work anywhere, and no reason a skilled person can’t get an LLC to hang their own shingle.

I couldn’t hang a shingle and become Wolf Boutique LLC. No company of any worth would pay for my advisory services.

 

It's getting wild. I was consulting with a group a year ago that owns and operates data centers around the D.C. area - got myself a site tour during the construction process during an energization phase, which is basically we're turning on the power and it may blow up which was really cool to see. They brought in some specialized tech with the full fire-retardant suit and gear, nice guy. Was reviewing some of their books the next week, and saw the charge for that - $377/hr for that guy. Plus, he was based in Seattle, so they expensed his flight, hotels, meals, and more I presume. 

Now, that may be a one-off example, but agree that construction trades will become exponentially more valuable in the coming years. Used to do CM work in another life, quite the scene!

 
baddealflow12

absolutely.  facebook was extremely popular in 2005-2006.  social media was the next big thing lol

I joined Facebook when I was in college in 2004 and it was so cool back then. Moved to NYC in 2007 and Facebook was still cool - lots of adventures from people and all kinds of party pics in NYC.

Now my FB is just kids and families. And lots of spam notifications. The notifications used to be real.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Greening the economy is going to be huge. Power is where the most money is going to be spent (billions upon billions a year). That is going to wash over everyone from linemen, trades making and installing solar panels, power traders (vol will stay nuts until we build a lot of nukes)... HVAC/insulation installers for upgrading housing will be big too.

Regarding metals, I think the outlook is good as well thanks to the drive to electrification and recycling, but I don't think it's as sure fire a career as power trader or tradesmen in electricity/HVAC.

 

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