I'll never fault someone making money in the field so long as they're providing good ethical care.
I actually meant starting my own Meninger Clinic, so to speak. I guess that's another animal entirely. Some can pull it off, others can't.
You might then want to get a business degree or some business experience plus some very good experience before you start something like this, or enter one of those private places and work yourself up.
The first PD of my fellowship program had an MBA in addition to being a forensic psychiatrist. He was one of the doctors that was instrumental in founding the Lindner Center. He was the guy that got me convinced to go to Cincinnati for fellowship so I was bummed that he left the position right before I started fellowship, but his replacement is one of the top doctors in the field and considered even higher than that first PD so I couldn't complain. (I likened it to having Hercules being replaced by Zeus).
He later left his prestigious position at that institution to become a top medical officer in a very large hospital system.
Remember, higher rates demand higher quality. In private institutions, they often attract very rich patients, but they have much higher expectations of treatment. This can be difficult, especially when the family has unrealistic expectations and are used to their money getting anything they want. Several people on this forum mentioned they aspired to be in a lucrative private practice. I can tell you from experience that these patients and their families can be very difficult. I remember having a conversation with a patient's father (a corporate officer in a major corporation) who told me he insisted on having me do a treatment team meeting with the all the other doctor's who've treated this patient in the last few years-some of them in other parts of the country, and those doctors could not bill for showing up to the hospital....
And this patient was IMHO going to be a very high risk for suicide no matter how well a job I did. I could see this guy possibly doing something bad, and then the father getting a team of the world's best lawyers to sue me not knowing I was doing way over the standard of care for his son. I talked to his outpatient psychiatrist who also told me he sometimes had problems going to sleep at night because if his son ever did anything dangerous, he could see the family getting so upset they might set him in their legal cross-hairs, even though he too was doing a good job.
When it's your own business and you're not part of a huge institution, you sure as heck better worry about this. If I got sued in my current job, the university handles the malpractice. I don't have to worry about the legal fees no matter how bad they get. If I lose, the university pays for it. End of story, I can sleep at night. If it's my own private practice and someone wants to go against you in the legal battlefield you could end up losing the business, even your house if you're not savvy.
Another problem with wealthy patients and their families is they often have borderline traits, not because of abuse but because the families are dysfunctional and their money has a large part to do with it. Getting a wealthy patient can be something on the order of getting a problematic borderline patient who is intrusive, emotionally cumbersome, and their family thinks you can give them a pill to just shut them up.
I had one patient with an extremely wealthy husband (he paid over $300K for his wife's treatment over the past few years). The guy was litigious-happy. He sued almost every prior doctor she ever had. He also had some legal eagle ambulance-chaser lawyer who'd bully doctors with lawsuits all the time. She tried to pull that crap on met not knowing I was a forensic psychiatrist and at one point I told the lawyer to go ahead and sue me because we both knew the lawsuit wouldn't pass and then I'd counter-sue for the waste of time it would be on my practice and the likelihood of me winning would be pretty good. After trying to be friendly with this lawyer after being on the phone with her for 45 minutes and going through enough of her BS, I basically quickened the conversation to it's end point with the following statement to the effect of...
(Coldly): I'm a forensic psychiatrist. I've been in court hundreds of times on cases much more difficult than this. You don't scare me and I know the tricks here lady. Don't ever try this BS on me. Don't try it now, don't try it ever. You and I know how this works and just as much as you can make life difficult to me, I can do it to you worse.
The conversation ended within a few minutes.
I was able to do this because of my legal experience. That shut that a-hole lawyer up. I later terminated that patient but did it in a manner where I was rock-solid not going to get sued unless the patient's husband decided to do a frivolous lawsuit that we both know wouldn't work. Problem for you is I doubt you'll get that type of experience unless you become a forensic psychiatrist.
Point is don't gun for the money in this field just for the money. It's not worth it. Work hard, do good work, and keep your eyes open for better job opportunities and that'll be a much less stressful way to make the money.