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

[Anonymous]

Anesthesiologist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

What makes you say this? Everyone I know in these fields is convinced that AI is going to change everything .

NP but it’s honestly shocking how easily the public is convinced by tech bros with overvalued companies. AI is a readjustment, but the whole “taking all the jobs” bit is so some douchey 20 year old who just graduated Stanford can get investors to send him an obscene amount of money for a company that Open Ai and inevitably Google will buy. It’s jarring because in the tech space currently the discussion is Open Ai needing to eventually collapse, but somehow that isn’t reaching most employees yet.

+1, this year felt like public gaslighting. I can't get AI to do basic bookkeeping tasks, but we expect it to replace accountants okay. I have no doubt that AI is great at writing basic code, which is about all I've used it for, but it really doesn't seem to do much of its job very well and will continue to need close inspection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a sophomore who would like to have a comfortable lifestyle. He’s a smart kid, who does well in school, who likes a comfortable lifestyle. He thinks he would be happier with a job he “didn’t hate” that gave him $ to do what he likes on the weekends, than a job he loves with uncertain income, or one with long hours.

He does well in school, math comes easily to him. He’s wondered about careers in data, finance, etc . . . Someone told him patent attorney is a good choice if you want interesting work and a good life style.

Any suggestions for majors and careers that might be a fit?

If you want to be a patent attorney, you probably want an engineering degree.

The best paid patent attorneys are probably litigators.

The venn diagram of engineers that would also make good litigators is pretty small. You are a rare talent and you will be paid like you are a rare talent if you pursue patent law.

Lol. I think many engineers could make decent litigators, but would they want to be? They could do briefing but may be more of a second chair presence. Litigation is not typically for someone who just wants to chill, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Thank you for the information. My son is an accounting major. I wish I had gone that route.

I sincerely wish your son well. It’s a white-collar, semi-technical “job” that every business in every industry needs. Staff accountants to CFO — the limits are your own.

Some of the certifications can be a bit wonky and there are still fairly strict continuing education requirements to maintain a CPA. DH made enough for me to be a SAHM for awhile (10+ yrs) and could easily pivot to self-employment/PT/consulting when I got the amazing opportunity to return to my IT career and he wanted a shot at SAHD. Granted, we’re in a lower COL area but work/life balance has definitely been achievable.

Good Luck and Happy New Year to all!

[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.

+1. I slogged for 5 yrs and then coasted for the next 35. It was worth it.

+1

10 year slog here. Since then it’s been awesome!

DH slogged a few years longer but is now 1/2 time at age 50 with plans to retire in 5 years, max.

We didn’t meet until our mid-30s, but it turned out we had carved out very similar post-college paths (likely due to similar upbringings, priorities, and values.)

By our mid-30s, we each had paid off our school loans, purchased a condo, and were investing small amounts in the market each month.

We’ve been really clear with our teens about that first decade out of college. So they absolutely know our backstory - not just the awesome lifestyle of the past 5-10 years with us working 9-5 (at most) and not worrying about money.

The three keys for us:

(1) We’re both good with long term planning (including financial planning), and are strategic thinkers re value and risk. We taught ourselves a ton (anyone remember Motley Fool back in the day??), but a lot was just intuitive. And of course the stock market had gone bananas these past 30 years!

(2) We 100% know how to work hard. Very, very hard. All nighters, months with very few days off, grueling work travel, etc. It was remarkably easy to do in our 20s when we were young and energetic. After a decade, it was a massive relief to start dialing it back. (We’ve told our kids allll the stories! 2am meetings, last minute/quick turnaround travel overseas and back etc. Not so glamorous. 😂)

(3) We’ve both always lived below our means - before we met and ever since.
Not in some horrible, sacrificial, sad way. We just never bought into a big lifestyle. We invested our bonuses and raises and never over-committed on big ticket things like housing or travel.

It wasn’t hard, maybe because we didn’t grow up wealthy or surrounded by wealth. Or maybe because we’re pretty easily pleased? And as some said above, it definitely helps to live in a smaller city than DC/NY/SF etc. Lower expectations, for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anesthesiologist.

Or an Anesthesiologist Assistant!!

https://explorehealthcareers.org/careers/allied-health-professions/anesthesiologist-assistant/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Thank you for the information. My son is an accounting major. I wish I had gone that route.

I sincerely wish your son well. It’s a white-collar, semi-technical “job” that every business in every industry needs. Staff accountants to CFO — the limits are your own.

Some of the certifications can be a bit wonky and there are still fairly strict continuing education requirements to maintain a CPA. DH made enough for me to be a SAHM for awhile (10+ yrs) and could easily pivot to self-employment/PT/consulting when I got the amazing opportunity to return to my IT career and he wanted a shot at SAHD. Granted, we’re in a lower COL area but work/life balance has definitely been achievable.

Good Luck and Happy New Year to all!

Happy New Year!

[Anonymous]

Finance, not in IB, but at large, legacy companies.

[Anonymous]

Senator from Delaware, Vice President, President

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Senator from Delaware, Vice President, President

Son of a real estate developer, cast member Home Alone 2, reality tv host, President

[Anonymous]

Accountant

[Anonymous]

Physician if you can handle the stress. 3 years residency do not terrible. I make 200k no weekends no nights no call and flexible with the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Physician if you can handle the stress. 3 years residency do not terrible. I make 200k no weekends no nights no call and flexible with the kids.

What specialty?

[Anonymous]

OP here,

Someone, not here, said data science. Any thoughts on that? I feel like it would play to his strengths.

[Anonymous]

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.

These residencies are the most competitive to match into. Many spend 4 years working their butts off in med school only to be rejected and deep in debt.

If you go the med school route, you need to be ok with less attractive specialties.