Majors/careers for a kid who wants money and work/life balance

[Anonymous]

I think there's also a concept of putting your dues in. I'm a lawyer and I have good work/life balance now, but my first couple years out of law school were a slog. Same with my spouse, who's an engineer. He has work/life balance now but his first few years he had to do a lot of travel and long hours, especially when he was also finishing his secondary degree. Now this time lined up for us, so it didn't impact our relationship (we got married out of college).

There's an aspect of learning your field so you get more efficient later ad well.

But that's something to consider that your mid to late 20s can be slog time while you build skills and prove yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If he finds the financial markets interesting, is a good communicator, and enjoys working with people, he should consider becoming a financial advisor. You usually don't work weekends or late nights unless your entertain clients. Once you build your own book of clients, you can strike out on your own or will be in demand by multiple firms. Building a book of your own clients is tough and will take time, but you can make more than $250k pretty easily.

Yes this is a good one too. Look into the CFP certification and becoming a wealth advisor. It’s a tough exam and requires credentials, but if you have both math and people skills it’s a great,
lucrative career. Also no one has an emergency wealth advisory meeting on a Sunday or late at night.

[Anonymous]

Two posters mentioned accounting. Wouldn’t long hours be required Jan-apr in the public accounting fields?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Accounting. It’s got a good lifestyle outside of the admittedly boring job. For an industry that is supposed to be “automated,” we’re hiring more than ever. It’s a safe boring answer for a reason: it works.

At tax time he won’t be chilling. He’ll be working his @ss off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he finds the financial markets interesting, is a good communicator, and enjoys working with people, he should consider becoming a financial advisor. You usually don't work weekends or late nights unless your entertain clients. Once you build your own book of clients, you can strike out on your own or will be in demand by multiple firms. Building a book of your own clients is tough and will take time, but you can make more than $250k pretty easily.

Yes this is a good one too. Look into the CFP certification and becoming a wealth advisor. It’s a tough exam and requires credentials, but if you have both math and people skills it’s a great,
lucrative career. Also no one has an emergency wealth advisory meeting on a Sunday or late at night.

DS just did this, but get a job to pay you to study and pay for exams and licensing.

[Anonymous]

Plastics

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think there's also a concept of putting your dues in. I'm a lawyer and I have good work/life balance now, but my first couple years out of law school were a slog. Same with my spouse, who's an engineer. He has work/life balance now but his first few years he had to do a lot of travel and long hours, especially when he was also finishing his secondary degree. Now this time lined up for us, so it didn't impact our relationship (we got married out of college).

There's an aspect of learning your field so you get more efficient later ad well.

But that's something to consider that your mid to late 20s can be slog time while you build skills and prove yourself.

THIs this this.

Doc married to a professor, sibling is a doc married to a lawyer. My spouse is an elite school professor and makes more than the average prof (260k most years) but had to start with post doc salary, luckily phd is free and per cost of living PHD stipends now are much better than they were 25 years ago. Med school was loans for me and my sib, one year of a merit scholarship for me, now my top med school gives out multiple years of full merit and some 4-year merit. It is a Top5 med school.
We put in our dues, our first salaries were low, but we have jointly made over 500k for many years now, some years over 600k. Spouse prof lifestyle is very conducive to family life. My physician career is too. No weekends or hospital call for me, no night shifts--my specialty does not do that but we all did that in residency. Sibs field does not either and their specialty makes DOUBLE what i make(I am primary care). Their spouse had all law loans. They paid it all off. We both put our kids through private schools, one in the DMV, one northeast, and so far have 3 of our collective 5 kids in private colleges and need no loans to pay full fare. We could take off for school functions, plan around sports/arts events, etc.
The people in our adult life who have no work-life balance are those no control of their own schedules. That is the key: put in your dues, rise to the top where you have the most control, get efficient, and find a career that lets you take the days off you need. The other key is find a spouse who wants to make the balance work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two posters mentioned accounting. Wouldn’t long hours be required Jan-apr in the public accounting fields?

Do corporate accounting. DH did the Big 4/6/8 (or whatever number they’ve merged/split into) and indeed did mega hours in those months. Only managers and partners made The Money. Been on the corporate side now for decades and likes it and its work/life balance much better. Still tedious work at times, and you’re often the bearer of bad (financial) news but it’s steady, respectable work where Al is just another tool in toolbox - not much different than EBS/software replacing columned ledger paper. 🤪

People still need to get paid and someone’s gotta count the last penny (even though they don’t make ‘em anymore). A good accountant is often the last one let go in a buyout or even brought over in a merger. Ask me how we know…..

Neither DC has any interest in accounting but oldest is pursuing the BSN/RN/CRNA route mentioned upthread with the plan of maximum flexibility and commensurate pay given the time/effort for the credentials.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So he basically wants money but doesn’t want to work hard? Isn’t that what you are really saying, OP?

That’s the dream! Don’t be jealous you didn’t think of this.

Dermatologist or orthodontist. Hard to get into but the careers aren’t as stressful as other kinds of medicine. But you make bank.

I don't see him wanting to go through medical school or residency.

He will NEVER make it thru. My kid who is a resident doctor put in 120 hours last 7 days. That's like 17 hours/day in avg. I don't see OP's kid willing to do that.

Physician here. This is not typical any longer. I did my residency at Stanford, and even back then it wasn't like this. Now, many residents are unionized, get Uber vouchers after call, 80-hr max, etc. Besides, residency isn't the issue. The burnout comes much later, mid career, and not at all related to long hours.

Regardless, I agree about avoiding medicine.

Also a physician who did residency at Stanford - I am in a specialty that has 9-5 pm hours with very little call. But agree with you - would avoid medicine!

[Anonymous]

OP here,

He knows he needs to put in dues. He can work hard. He doesn't want a life that is all work, and he wants to eventually (not immediately at 22) be able to enjoy more expensive hobbies.

At this point, he says he's not interested in marriage or kids. Of course, he's 15 so that could change. For that matter, he could go to college and find something that fascinates him.

I think he'd be a good accountant, if it meant a few months of working around the clock, and then 9 months where he'd have weekends free, and could afford a nice vacation and some expensive equipment for his hobby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here,

He knows he needs to put in dues. He can work hard. He doesn't want a life that is all work, and he wants to eventually (not immediately at 22) be able to enjoy more expensive hobbies.

At this point, he says he's not interested in marriage or kids. Of course, he's 15 so that could change. For that matter, he could go to college and find something that fascinates him.

I think he'd be a good accountant, if it meant a few months of working around the clock, and then 9 months where he'd have weekends free, and could afford a nice vacation and some expensive equipment for his hobby.

My advice is to live somewhere affordable. We moved from DC to a more.affordable city years ago. Money goes much further, life balance is much better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Poster with a poli sci undergrad and then a top MBA. I now work for a Fortune 500 known for good work life balance.

I make enough to be in the top 10% of the population in household income, but never really have much to do after work at this stage of my career, and have not for the past 10-15 years.

I have told my similarly math-oriented kid in college now to major in business with a finance or accounting focus, or data science/analytics. Contrary to some popular theories, AI is not taking these jobs and in fact it’s really going to be a tool that people in these jobs will use in the future.

I think it will be easy to be a Director/sr director/VP level in many companies, large and small, with this kind of background undergrad.

This is me but without the MBA. If you include the stock portion of my comp, I am usually at about $600k or so per year ($400k without). Rarely if ever work after 5-6pm, and never on weekends or during vacations or anything like that. It certainly helps that my DH makes much more than I do so I can set limits at work without worry about losing my job, so I do recognize that advantage. But this is a good path for what it sounds like OP's son wants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here,

He knows he needs to put in dues. He can work hard. He doesn't want a life that is all work, and he wants to eventually (not immediately at 22) be able to enjoy more expensive hobbies.

At this point, he says he's not interested in marriage or kids. Of course, he's 15 so that could change. For that matter, he could go to college and find something that fascinates him.

I think he'd be a good accountant, if it meant a few months of working around the clock, and then 9 months where he'd have weekends free, and could afford a nice vacation and some expensive equipment for his hobby.

Hell, he is only 15??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there's also a concept of putting your dues in. I'm a lawyer and I have good work/life balance now, but my first couple years out of law school were a slog. Same with my spouse, who's an engineer. He has work/life balance now but his first few years he had to do a lot of travel and long hours, especially when he was also finishing his secondary degree. Now this time lined up for us, so it didn't impact our relationship (we got married out of college).

There's an aspect of learning your field so you get more efficient later ad well.

But that's something to consider that your mid to late 20s can be slog time while you build skills and prove yourself.

THIs this this.

Doc married to a professor, sibling is a doc married to a lawyer. My spouse is an elite school professor and makes more than the average prof (260k most years) but had to start with post doc salary, luckily phd is free and per cost of living PHD stipends now are much better than they were 25 years ago. Med school was loans for me and my sib, one year of a merit scholarship for me, now my top med school gives out multiple years of full merit and some 4-year merit. It is a Top5 med school.
We put in our dues, our first salaries were low, but we have jointly made over 500k for many years now, some years over 600k. Spouse prof lifestyle is very conducive to family life. My physician career is too. No weekends or hospital call for me, no night shifts--my specialty does not do that but we all did that in residency. Sibs field does not either and their specialty makes DOUBLE what i make(I am primary care). Their spouse had all law loans. They paid it all off. We both put our kids through private schools, one in the DMV, one northeast, and so far have 3 of our collective 5 kids in private colleges and need no loans to pay full fare. We could take off for school functions, plan around sports/arts events, etc.
The people in our adult life who have no work-life balance are those no control of their own schedules. That is the key: put in your dues, rise to the top where you have the most control, get efficient, and find a career that lets you take the days off you need. The other key is find a spouse who wants to make the balance work.

Since when? The max stipend you're looking at without grfp is about $50,000...to live in Palo Alto. The stipends in the Boston area are miserably low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here,

He knows he needs to put in dues. He can work hard. He doesn't want a life that is all work, and he wants to eventually (not immediately at 22) be able to enjoy more expensive hobbies.

At this point, he says he's not interested in marriage or kids. Of course, he's 15 so that could change. For that matter, he could go to college and find something that fascinates him.

I think he'd be a good accountant, if it meant a few months of working around the clock, and then 9 months where he'd have weekends free, and could afford a nice vacation and some expensive equipment for his hobby.

My advice is to live somewhere affordable. We moved from DC to a more.affordable city years ago. Money goes much further, life balance is much better.

Totally agree. There are plenty of fairly big cities that are a lot cheaper, so you still get most of the benefits of being in a city (sports, culture, major airport, plenty of jobs, diverse, educated population) with much lower cost of living.