What will be the highest paying careers of the future? My dcs want to earn 100k plus😁

[Snowqueen22]

Chatting to the dcs last night about careers... One is very creative, one loves stem & maths, the youngest excels at humanities. They all said money is the most important thing initially. So based on this what are & will be the highest paying careers of the future? 100k plus

Sorry yes History of art 🤣 yes I don't think they'll be going down that route, we have zero connections! Although I'd imagine it would be a very interesting couse, I don't think it would be possible to survive after & they would need to go down a different route...

Listening to a podcast the other day and they were discussing how AI will have taken over a significant number of the jobs we think of as having a high earning capacity. Things like accountancy, medicine, construction will all become obsolete and be done by robots. They discussed how this hadn't yet made the political sphere yet but that it would be a huge issue going forwards.

Based on that I'd say tech was a good bet!

Aesthetics.
Hairdresser. An exceptionally good one. My hairdresser is about £250 for bog standard colour and if he just does 1 client in a day and it takes all day, it's £600. He works mainly in UK but sometimes abroad.
Plumber or sparky.

One of DHs friend earns well over 100k with an investment bank but works absolutely ridiculous hours and has very little family time.
A relative is an actuary and was on 100k before he was 30, and seemingly fairly good work/life balance

There are a LOT of grad trainee schemes which lead to solid, well paid careers which do not specify a certain degree. I mentioned Big4 above, but there are plenty of others. Your DC are more likely to (a) get into the best possible uni and (b) get the best possible result if they are doing a subject they really enjoy.

So don't get sucked into thinking "They want to be a lawyer/accountant, so it has to be a degree in law/finance"

Often the trick to being highly paid is having niche expertise. e.g. a lawyer might choose to specialise in engineering or pharma patents/intellectual property - in which case a science degree followed by a law conversion course would stand them in very good stead

I work in one of the best paid niches of accounting - my degree was in humanities and the same goes for many of my colleagues.

@Annie232 in what way does it not come across well. Ridiculous and either a super privileged comment or a chippy one. All of our time is valuable. Better to do something you enjoy that pays well than will leave you a pauper. I'm paid well and out of all those well paid jobs found one i enjoy. It is not a mutually exclusive concept.

OP you should be proud of your children that they are thinking ahead to self sufficency. I had very similar thoughts when i was younger (but wanted to earn £50k before 30). Im late 40's now and our young people have more financial pressure than ever before with education costs and spiralling living expenses. It is sensible to think these things through and early.

Materialistic in my view is spending uncontrollably, not taking positive action to ensure a comfortable life.

In terms of careers, law (but specialist and not high street), accounting (same caveat and don't discount going in house as financial director), the right areas of medicine, software development, business generally, banking. Surveyors often do very well by utilising their own knowledge. Working for yourself is generally the route to higher pay and more work life balance though.

That's really interesting & obviously then interpersonal & soft skills will become even more important..

The one that likes STEM should look at investment banking, not accounting. Accounting pays well but investment banking pays more.

The humanities child should look to become a lawyer, ideally a barrister in a lucrative area of the law.

The creative, plenty of directions they can take that but precious few jobs that pay the biggest money. I had a relative who did a creative degree, it would be too outing to say what. But needless to say only about 1 of the cohort of 50 ever actually worked in the field earning good money.

@cantba they're at the age when they are aware of the energy & cost of living crisis. We have to say no to a lot more now as we need to cover utilities, petrol & rising shopping bills. We will always scrimp & save for their activities & afterschool clubs but eating out, cinema trips & holidays are a thing of the past. They are very understanding as their friends are in the same boat... A trip to the cinema is now a movie at someone's house & treats... They have adapted well, trips used be very frequent but we have to cut our cloth to measure..

I’d encourage the maths fan to do maths or associated degrees. One of my two did a maths and stats degree and got a first. They were very money orientated before university, and initially considered being an Actuary (very well paid), but moved to retail whilst at university. They did a year in industry which wasn’t a necessary part of the job, with a major supermarket chain, and on the back of that was offered a place on the grad scheme as a new grad. It was exceptionally hard work and very very long hours, and they nearly resigned a couple of times, but their boss persuaded them to stay.

Now, in late 20s they are a director on a salary of close to £150k. Still hard work but they love it.

Accounting pays well but investment banking pays more.

This is true, although accounting is more geographically mobile within the UK. IB is pretty much confined to London.

Thanks @BetterFuture1985 it's good to know exactly what to look for or even suggest. They can research themselves & see if it's for them. They're young & I quite enjoy listening to them planning their future, it's nice to dream big, if they achieve a tenth of it they'll be doing well😁

I second this. I work in asset management. The biggest money is in so-called "front office" roles (which means making investment decisions and/or interfacing with clients). Private equity and hedge funds pay the most. They tend not to hire at the graduate level. The best way in is to get a graduate role in investment banking first. Other asset management firms do have graduate-level roles. They don't pay as much as private equity or hedge funds, but they still pay a lot at the highest levels. You might expect to earn £400K+ after 10 years in a front office role at a top asset management firm. You would earn seven figures after 10 years in such a role in a private equity firm or hedge fund.

Fintech or cyber security start up with shares as part of the package 👌🏻👌🏻 got to have good EQ and social skills and not just be a machine.

HNRTT but might want to refine your thinking about what is meant by careers/professions. Expect AI automation/offshore service competition to wreck the majority of well-paid employment and qualified work in legal/accountancy/most 'MC' professions sooner than many people realise.

@MassiveSalad22 I would imagine in the future emotional intelligence & social skills will be more important than ever to stand out from the crowd.

It's already happening in accountancy, hence the need to have hard-to-automate niche expertise.

Honestly, the biggest guarantee of high earnings in future is probably to choose an area with a skills shortage (therefore low barriers to entry) that can't be automated. Plumbing would be a good choice.

Honestly, the biggest guarantee of high earnings in future is probably to choose an area with a skills shortage (therefore low barriers to entry) that can't be automated. Plumbing would be a good choice.

They should both seriously consider degree apprenticeships - education paid for, get paid to study, and a guaranteed well-paid job at the end.

Your creative one could do an artsy degree for fun but the degree in itself won't make you any money without a nepotism network. Most of my friends age 30-40 did a creative degree and we're all on 22-32k, in London.

How about a gaming related creative job? Lots of money in gaming. Uses artistic skills, and natural language skills (English French etc) can be useful in learning to code.

I found this thread from a few days ago quite interesting to find out about sectors that pay well, are interesting, and low stress. Law no, specialist insurance yes!
www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4679522-what-careers-sound-good-on-paper-nightmare-in-reality-and-what-sounds-nightmare-on-paper-good-in-reality

My BIL is a self employed electrician with his own business and a couple of teams under him. I'm not sure what he earns but he is a multimillionaire with a very comfortable life. He's late 60's but still enjoys doing the odd job. I'm encouraging my ds into a trade, people will always need trades.

Absolutely yes to trades. I'd imagine my dc1 (the stem one) would make an excellent electrician... They bloody cost a fortune around here & are like hen's teeth.

@Grumpyoldpersonwithcats i agree with this. If you've got serious smarts but lack the peronality to make it in management, you can gross £150k on a software engineering contract. The hours are pretty good too usually.

Agree children wanting £££ is a bit off-putting. I would blame the parents, but I am always telling mine 'you need to earn good money' but they won't be persuaded, and keep talking to me about fun ideas they've had for jobs, instead.

How ridiculous. They are 8&10.