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I had a quick question. My friend, who is basically at the highest point in Law (he essentially landed a corporate law job offer at one of the best firms in the country = an achievement equivalent to that of landing the most competitive in medicine). Starting salary is 225K. I mean he simply is a genius yet charismatic guy and very well-rounded in all fields of academics, and balanced to manage an active social life. Well, we had a conversation about dentistry vs. medicine. The point was that dentistry could give you a money + lifestyle, but no prestige. Some specialties in medicine- derm, plastics, rads, etc...-however, would give you all three = money, lifestyle, + prestige. Ultimately, I was asking "how can prestige benefit me if become a dermatologist financially?"
In seriousness (I am not talking about meeting girls or wowing other people), but I was curious as to how prestige can help me as a doctor. He said that prestige will come in importance financially in the context of making money on side-deals (i.e. investments- whether it may be real estate, property, companies, etc...) His argument was that "rich people don't make most of their wealth on their sole day-to-day profession but rather on the side-deals made at social gatherings." At first, I really thought this was silly because I felt that connections + networking gets you such type of wealth and you could practically be a garbage man, but be cousins with Bill Gates. I thought these side-deals were meant for people who were already rich and had connections, but not for people like me or my friend who have come from nothing. With this notion, I felt that prestige was meaningless and my friend was making a haphazard argument. However, he would rather have this "wild-card" option of a prestigious job may in order to acquire a lot of wealth than not having prestige at all. You may ask, why he is so concerned about prestige and money? Well, my friend is a very ambitious guy and humble too. He loves working at free clinics and providing his services to the less fortunate and enjoys making money at the same time. However, his goal in life is to retire early in his mid 40s which is why he made this argument that PRESTIGE in fact matters if you want to retire early. He entered law over other fields such as business, despite working 12 hours a day as a corporate lawyer, because first and foremost, he loves it and is amazing at it, and secondarily, he feels that prestige will help him enter this elite circle of side-deals and eventually retire early. Thus, this argument is really catered to long term financial goals.
Well, I trust my friend, a very credentialed individual - will graduate from Georgetown Law summa this spring + possible valedictorian. Plus, he was undergrad (full ride) valedictorian/summa/phi beta at UMiami. He made this argument because he experienced firsthand of this argument I am bringing forth on this thread. During his year off before law school, he was working as an intern in investment banking. He stunned his colleagues through charisma, hard work, and previous credentials that the CEO (very rich with estimated wealth of over $100 million) loved the guy and the rest was history- solo jet rides with him, private one-on-one dinners, keys to one of his beach houses- they basically became very close friends. I was even shocked when I went to his room and the CEO was on the speaker phone with him making jokes.
One day, they were all at a Christmas social event, organized by the CEO, and my friend mentioned on the guest list that there were CEOs, doctors, lawyers, i-banking executives, and that was basically it. The point my friend was making was that in that room he was in, you have 2 groups of people. You have sellers looking for people to invest on a deal with guaranteed profits and you have buyers looking to invest. For example, there may be a very expensive property about to be built that no one knows about except the seller but he is looking for investors. These were the type of side-deals my friend was referring to. The point was this: Just to get an opportunity to be invited to those types of social gatherings and enter this exclusive group of private investors/sellers requires that you have a very prestigious job. For example, dentists, who may not seen as prestigious, as lawyers, doctors, or CEOs, would not be invited to such events. At the same time, just to reiterate, there was no guarantee that you will strike any deals or get invited frequently as a doctor, but simply the MAIN POINT was that just to have the prestige and this wild-card of a possibility to strike one or two such deals = BINGO, you could make most of my wealth and retire earlier. I mean there may be the usual real estate, stock market investing, high dividend yielding stocks, etc... but his point was that these opportunities (side-deals) are the ones that make or break you forever. Thus, to be in such a position, due to PRESTIGE as a doctor or lawyer, is simply a life-changing opportunity.
I was wondering how you would validate this claim my friend is making. Do you know any doctors who have been in this position? Do you think prestige matters in this financial manner that I have presented above? Do you think being will give you any OBJECTIVE and tangible financial benefits with such connections over being an ordinary dentist?
Thanks guys.
In seriousness (I am not talking about meeting girls or wowing other people), but I was curious as to how prestige can help me as a doctor. He said that prestige will come in importance financially in the context of making money on side-deals (i.e. investments- whether it may be real estate, property, companies, etc...) His argument was that "rich people don't make most of their wealth on their sole day-to-day profession but rather on the side-deals made at social gatherings." At first, I really thought this was silly because I felt that connections + networking gets you such type of wealth and you could practically be a garbage man, but be cousins with Bill Gates. I thought these side-deals were meant for people who were already rich and had connections, but not for people like me or my friend who have come from nothing. With this notion, I felt that prestige was meaningless and my friend was making a haphazard argument. However, he would rather have this "wild-card" option of a prestigious job may in order to acquire a lot of wealth than not having prestige at all. You may ask, why he is so concerned about prestige and money? Well, my friend is a very ambitious guy and humble too. He loves working at free clinics and providing his services to the less fortunate and enjoys making money at the same time. However, his goal in life is to retire early in his mid 40s which is why he made this argument that PRESTIGE in fact matters if you want to retire early. He entered law over other fields such as business, despite working 12 hours a day as a corporate lawyer, because first and foremost, he loves it and is amazing at it, and secondarily, he feels that prestige will help him enter this elite circle of side-deals and eventually retire early. Thus, this argument is really catered to long term financial goals.
Well, I trust my friend, a very credentialed individual - will graduate from Georgetown Law summa this spring + possible valedictorian. Plus, he was undergrad (full ride) valedictorian/summa/phi beta at UMiami. He made this argument because he experienced firsthand of this argument I am bringing forth on this thread. During his year off before law school, he was working as an intern in investment banking. He stunned his colleagues through charisma, hard work, and previous credentials that the CEO (very rich with estimated wealth of over $100 million) loved the guy and the rest was history- solo jet rides with him, private one-on-one dinners, keys to one of his beach houses- they basically became very close friends. I was even shocked when I went to his room and the CEO was on the speaker phone with him making jokes.
One day, they were all at a Christmas social event, organized by the CEO, and my friend mentioned on the guest list that there were CEOs, doctors, lawyers, i-banking executives, and that was basically it. The point my friend was making was that in that room he was in, you have 2 groups of people. You have sellers looking for people to invest on a deal with guaranteed profits and you have buyers looking to invest. For example, there may be a very expensive property about to be built that no one knows about except the seller but he is looking for investors. These were the type of side-deals my friend was referring to. The point was this: Just to get an opportunity to be invited to those types of social gatherings and enter this exclusive group of private investors/sellers requires that you have a very prestigious job. For example, dentists, who may not seen as prestigious, as lawyers, doctors, or CEOs, would not be invited to such events. At the same time, just to reiterate, there was no guarantee that you will strike any deals or get invited frequently as a doctor, but simply the MAIN POINT was that just to have the prestige and this wild-card of a possibility to strike one or two such deals = BINGO, you could make most of my wealth and retire earlier. I mean there may be the usual real estate, stock market investing, high dividend yielding stocks, etc... but his point was that these opportunities (side-deals) are the ones that make or break you forever. Thus, to be in such a position, due to PRESTIGE as a doctor or lawyer, is simply a life-changing opportunity.
I was wondering how you would validate this claim my friend is making. Do you know any doctors who have been in this position? Do you think prestige matters in this financial manner that I have presented above? Do you think being will give you any OBJECTIVE and tangible financial benefits with such connections over being an ordinary dentist?
Thanks guys.
