To be nosy? (Shameless post)

[StandingLikeATRex]

I'm a long time a lurker and a recent poster.

Myself and DH are young (late 20's) (trainee) professionals. We are still at the very early stage of our careers, (think work experience, cups of tea, applying for placements) he is retraining and I've been working up.
We've been chatting about buying our first home together and how much we can afford, we've realised this is not very much. It's disheartening to know that I may never be able to afford the type of home/life that I want.
We aren't from traditionally professional families (working class) and don't know too many wealthy people.
So....I'm curious to know what sorts of careers people go into (it doesn't have to be you) how long does it take to get to a comfortable salary, what do wealthy people do? And how do they become wealthy? (Haha please don't send me those earn £,000,000's at home links)

Shall I retrain as my job has a ceiling and I will never earn 6 figures, what should I do, what would give me the best chances?

I've also been asked by a family friend to give advice on university courses that lead to good jobs. none. and that got me thinking more about this.

Don't wipe the floor with me please

Meant six figures, not three. That would be exploitative.

OP for what it's worth, I'd think twice about a banking career these days. DH and I met on the trading floor of a global bank at the end of the 90's when things were good - and I mean very, very good. It is long, long hours regularly 12-14 hour days, but the money was good and the work interesting. We were both on 6 figures in our early 30's. However banking has changed, the hours are the same but there are no pay rises, no bonuses and the huge increase in regulation has meant you are simply too scared to write business with anyone for fear of being sent to prison. It's also no longer a terribly 'socially acceptable job'.

The state of the industry, the huge increase in costs of complying with the added regulation and low interest rates have hit banks hard and every bank I know has a redundancy round every 6 months. DH went in 2012, I hung on slightly longer until a couple of weeks ago, DH managed to get another job in the industry but with so many redundant investment bankers about, I don't fancy my chances so much. If you have a PhD in maths and can get a job as a quant, you will do well, otherwise I would advise it's a dying industry.