When I was a young'un, my daddy used to tell me that although money doesn't buy happiness, not having money buys unhappiness.
Either way, the key is to enjoy what you're doing. That way, if there's no money in it, that's okay cuz you still go to work with a smile on your face. And if there is money, then that becomes an added plus.
Thus, if you ever enter a field solely for the money, and if you don't enjoy it, then one day the money will dry up, and not only are you in a field that you don't enjoy, plus you don't have any money either.
And no use blasting people who make a lot of money and enjoy doing it. It just sounds too much like sour grapes.
I hate to sound preachy, but if someone is making a lot of money, it's because they are worth it. You might not think they're worth it, but the marketplace says they're worth it. For example, Michael Jordan in his prime had an estimated net worth of $350 million dollars. I don't know what it is now. Maybe it's more (through investments), or maybe it's less (through gambling). But even though he was worth $350 mil, his value to the sporting goods market was estimated at over $5 BILLION. If anything, this guy was technically underpaid. I reckon that whatever we make is about 10% of what our value to the market is. So if residents get paid $40 or $50 grand a year, it's cuz they're worth $400-500, 000 dollars to the hospital. And if a movie star is paid $15 mil for his/her work, it's because they are worth at least $150 mil to the producers.
The only place this rule of thumb (call it "the economic theory of TIVA") doesn't work is with CEO pay. I still don't understand how they get paid $150 mil per year in order to keep the company in the red (i.e. GM, FoMoCo, airlines, etc.).
Have a great weekend, all.
