What paths to High Paid careers

[MedSchoolRat]

DD is academic, ambitious, competitive & materialistic. She wants a list of options to well paid careers besides medicine.

I work in a Medical School & I worry she'll get too stressed out on the course. She agrees that she needs to consider other jobs, to make a good choice, excluding sports & performing arts too.

There are A Lot of well-paid lawyers on MN. I work with very well paid Professors. There's a list here but it doesn't even include the University Proffs, so I wondered who else was left out. Anyone else want to describe paths they have seen how people got into high paid jobs (> £75k/annum)? TIA.

Rewind - did I just read that one of JBs expensively-educated children is a postman? Surprised he hasn't been ex-communicated!

Can't argue with the basic message though that women should make their own success and not let themselves become financially dependant on anyone else eg a man - goes hideously wrong with depressing regularity. I think the trick is not to become unpleasant or arrogant with it (male or female).

Tinkly - well, I'm just thinking what are going to be the 'things' in the next 20 years or so. If we don't sort out the challenges posed by climate change, for example, there won't be any long term future to worry about anyway. There will be a massive investment in that, there has to be. This article caught my interest as well www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/13/the-guardian-view-on-geography-its-the-must-have-a-level OK it's about A levels but the principle is sound, I think...the standout bits being 'only 5.8% of geography graduates were still job-hunting six months after they graduated, against an average of 7.3%' and 'It is inherently multidisciplinary in a world that increasingly values people who have the skills needed to work across the physical and social sciences'. I was at an event recently where people were talking about the key issues for the world in the next 20 years and I must say it really got me thinking...and, like I said above, in my own area (sort of) with integrated reporting possibly being a Big Thing coming up, people with those sorts of skills (in addition to people with other complementary skills obviously) may be more in demand there too.

My DD1 is dropping Geog after AS having got full UMS on one of her papers (go figure) and yes, that's fine for her because she knows what she wants to do so, ok, fine - but if I was purely thinking about what will be in demand, what will equip me to be gainfully/lucratively employed in the next 30 or so years, and I didn't actually have a preference for anything in particular, then I'd be thinking hard about geography/climate science/alternative energy/environmental stuff/or geology perhaps.

Interesting Uhtred, DS chose geography because he didn't have any particular passion or career plan. Two years into his degree he is massively interested in all the big global issues you have mentioned. And of course has honed his research, data interpretation and reporting skills. I do actually feel he is learning lots of useful stuff.

Economics & Geography joint degree, with an Erasmus 3rd year, would be high on my list of desirable degree courses. You would develop lots of useful transferable skills and wide-ranging understanding of global issues. Follow it up with an MPhil in International Relations or Finance.

Bobo that would produce an extremely attractive (on paper! ) and well skilled/experienced young person, I agree.

Thanks 2 all, esp. @Sparechange.

My degrees are in Geography . DD hated it in yr7-8 but is busting a gut to get A* at GCSE end of yr9, anyway (didn't like the other options).

I think I need to get DD to think carefully about the lifestyle factors. She'd like champagne & stupid-price handbags, but wouldn't like jetting to a new country every 2 yrs or chronic 60 hour weeks.

I will encourage DD to pursue her dreams.

And if her dream is earning lots of money???

My passion is horses. Working with horses means long hours, shit pay, earning the same at 40 as you did at 20, usually no pension or job security and no time to enjoy your own horse.

So I earn enough money to be able to enjoy my passion in my free time. It is not always wise to follow your passion into your job and very wise to consider earning capacity in any profession.

And as the the poster who is apparently a teacher and would tell a girl who wants to earn good money to marry a rich man...words fail me.

(Yes one is not currently using his degree and is a postman and I happily post that because like most parents I want to give the children opportunities to choose their own life. They all know how much I always enjoy survival skills on desert islands and that kind of thing and that just because I earn a fair bit and life is easier if you do that is not the life choice of anyone. Obviously I think he'll find the lack of money later is annoying but he very true to his own beliefs and in a sense is a credit to my own ethos - that we borrow children, are privileged to have them in our lives and we learn as much from them as they do from us rather than children are our factory production line and we force them into a mould; there are 5 chidlren.If he were the only one and his sisters weren't lawyers in London may be I might find it more difficult that he's chosen the path of social mobility -the path right down the scale from which his mining ancestors fought very hard to get above. For the poor to rise up the rich have to fall - that is social mobility - it works both ways round - clogs to clogs in 3 generations etc).

One of my lawyer daughters read geography. it is an interesting subject. It does have a slight reputation for what you do if you might not be up to something a bit harder but nothing wrong with that.

Wait till he becomes a Union rep and starts campaigning for compulsory parental leave after the birth of children

Don't go into medicine for the money. DH and I are both doctors, we earn well but for the amount of time/training etc could be earning a lot more in finance.

Smirk @ TIP.
DD might like being a surgeon. She enjoys DT & mechanical stuff, too.

I don't give a shit if someone thinks I am being materialistic by wanting to earn more. Growing up my family lost everything including the roof over our heads. I had a PT job as soon as I was old enough and it wasn't for pocket money purposes, it was to help pay for my transport costs to school and towards the weekly supermarket shop.

Consequently I am very motivated by money as it's important to me - not in the Midas sense where I just want to horde it, but because I want a comfortable lifestyle. I want the security of knowing that the roof over my head is mine free and clear and the bank can't take it away. I want the comfort of knowing that I can go to a supermarket and buy whatever food I like, instead of the value basics and paying at the checkout with freezer bags full of coppers and pennies. I like going into Clarks and buying nice comfortable shoes rather than having to get them out of a charity shop, then when the soles wore through having to patch them with newspaper or cardboard because I couldn't afford to replace them.

My childhood and teenage years had a profound effect on my attitude to finances and money. But really it's irrelevant what the reasons are; if I'm prepared to get off my arse and work for it, then why should it matter what motivates me? I didn't steal it, nobody gave it to me for nothing, I didn't inherit it - I've earned it. And I know there are lots of people out there in poorly paid jobs who work hard - I used to be one of them. But it was important to me to earn more, so I decided that I would sacrifice working in a 'vocational' type job that was incredibly rewarding and satisfying. Instead I picked an industry where I knew that I could do well because it would work with my strengths, studied at night and at the weekends, changed my job and set myself a goal that I would double my earnings within 5 years of starting. I have just hit that goal with a year to spare, but it has been bloody hard going not least because at times it is very stressful. I didn't mind the stress of my vocational job because I loved it. I don't love this job; it is a means to an end.

Just spotted your post about your DD maybe not liking travel and hours. It is possible to find jobs that don't need travel but it's very likely she'd have to put the hours in - at least at the beginning of her career whilst she is building her experience and reputation. My average week clocks in at about 55 hours, not including my commute which is an hour each way.

Bloody typos! Have been in my industry for approx. 15 years but changed the direction 4 years ago (it's a wide field where it can be applied vocationally as well as more specific/high level). Just realised this would not make sense when looking at my OP It has been a long day today

If she doesn't want to work horrendous hours, tell her to become a corporate lawyer and come and work offshore.
Lawyers with 2-3years PQE start on about US$150k in the smaller firms, US$175k in the bigger firms like mine.
Work hours are far more sociable than in the city, most are home by 6.30-7pm unless a huge deal going on.
DH is motivated by money and was earning £75 a week doing a paper round at 13 years old. He now earns 6 figures, works his balls off though.
I'm luckier that I earn the same but have far more flexibility and am home by 5.30 each day.

Also you may need to put in a lot of hours of work when younger but that then pays off and later it's easier. That can be worth in most jobs. Short term pain for long term gain just like as a teenager it might feel more fun to be out at parties and not revising but it's wiser to study and get good grades.

As Hadto says if you've not had much that's an incentive to earn more too. I am not saying I was ever poor but I certainly remember the 35p a week pocketmoney in the sixth form and giong round second hand book shops and having one CD when CDs came out and recording Beethoven's 5th (I did music GCSE on my own in the lower sixth and had the school enter me without lessons) from the radio because I could not afford to buy the tape. That kind of thing is an incentive to work harder to earn enough.

I wonder if you help your son out much Janet, even if it's simply by providing the sort of home, in the sort of location he couldn't afford to live in on a postman's salary.

I imagine a bit of ambition would kick in if he faced the unvarnished reality of the rest of his life on 20k. When you are young you have no idea though.

Just read thru whole thread with DD.
Much appreciated.
Feel almost honoured that so many old-timer MNers posted, too.
DD says she can probably handle a bit of "soul-destroying" if it means she owns her own yacht (naivety of youth?!)

If DD wants medicine or law she will want to plan for those by the time she's 16, it seems like those 2 paths can be very mutually exclusive, unfortunately. She reckons her passions are history & art but not many people get rich from those (barring Barak Obama).

oh and ps: thanks especially for the incidental posts about kids who have to work for what they get, gain a lot by having to do that. It's a message I've been trying to get thru to DD, who wonders why we don't spend more money on things she wants!

Good luck to her MedSchoolRat.

This thread has been interesting

I read some research that said the best route to high level success for women especially those who intend to become mothers is self employment.

If dd is really able then she should make her own career rather than relying on someone else providing her with a salary.

Tink, I have chosen to disclose he's a postman although I doubt he'll be featured in his school's old boy profiles. The extent to which you help out your children with food or help with homework or whateer is a difficult for every parent. For the moment he is his brothers' au pair and does school collection and we joke he can be my dementia carer in due course but I have never suggested to any of the children that a high income is the one right course in life. I think he's a testament to my open -ness.

He says all the other local postal workers manage fine - like me he is not high spend and likes to cycle etc although I suspect in due course if he remains Royal Mail employee he might well wish later he'd picked a higher paid job. He and indeed I could easily live on £20k a year actually as we are content practising survival skills in tents and like things like walks and only drink water so it is not tha I don't think he can manage on that salary but that life is harder. As I've always said if ahy of the children want to be a monk or run a bar in Costa Rica or whatever that is their choice - my job is to have the privilege of borrowing the children as they grow up and I learn as much from each of them as vice versa.

Interesting topic.

I know loads of well paid people, and the only thing they have in common is hard work.

I am trained in medicine, and the medics I know are comfortable, but certainly notstinking rich. My brother, who is a fashion designer, makes well into the 6 figures and earns much more than my GP friends. I know welders - a profession no educated person thinks about, and they earn almost 200k with great job security and no uni debt.

I know loads of bankers and ex bankers. Many start in the profession just for the dosh and most leave the profession due to terrible hours with not terribly interesting work, or are victim to the routine culls.

The richest people I know - I am talking private jet owning sorts, also are varied in their career paths. One grew and diversified a family grocery business (he had a liberal arts degree with a theatre studies major), another has a telecom engineering background who went on to rise up in a commodities firm, and others are in private equity or hedge funds.

The next tier (8 figures +) are entrepreneurs in various fields - many in the tech sector who sold their companies, several sold multiple companies.

The youngest self made millionaire I personally know is from high school. He made a million during high school on baseball cards.

What I am thing to point out is that there are a myriad of ways to make a good living, and the thing that seems to tie all these people together are long term planning, hard work, and grabbing opportunities given. the stinking rich ones are the ones who had interesting passions with great luck. Most of the hard working dispassionate ones are in the comfortably off 6 figure range.

I'm an IT consultant and currently very well paid with the potential to be obscenely well paid within a few years.

I have a BEng (Hons) in Software Engineering and an MSc in Business Information Systems.

My boss's boss is already in the obscenely well paid range. He has an MA in English Literature and somewhat of an authority on Chaucer. Seems to have worked out quite well for him ...

The Engineers I know earn way more than the scientists.
However the nicest cars in the carpark belong to the operators. The blokes (almost exclusively) who left school at 16 got an aprentership on a manufacturing site, worked their way through an NVQ, and then sit on shifts, taking overtime when it's offered.
The chemical engineer contractor I know is currently applying for everything and anything round the world. Having been paid £100/day a couple of years ago, he was down to about £60 at the start of the year, and now can't find a job of any sort. Those that make it big tend to work hard, and take risks.