OK, this is what we can (hopefully) do. We’re gonna do a brainstorm.
Anyone with any ideas on any (AND I MEAN ANY) occupations that have high pay (specially during the first few years of starting), please list them.
If you are doing that job currently, then please describe a couple of details of the job (what it is, why you like/dislike it, salary and how long it took you to get there…)
I would also like to be mentioned jobs that carry with them qualifications (for e.g. Stock brokerage/ Accountancy etc.) and others that required you to train for it.
Any experience you have with these jobs (for e.g., brokerage) please indulge…
OK, so you go first (please)…
At the moment, cause I’m a bum… 15K… but to be honest, anything you have made a good living off, specially if you know it to be for your first few years…
Oh and any (work-related) experiences of friends and family please mention.
15k US? ok…
Teaching will get you to that point, though I know teaching is considered one of the lower paying professions. Salaries also vary from state to state and even city to city.
I’m vaguely looking at pay levels for librarians (important to consider since I’ve only got three semester left on my master’s program), and starting pay varies, depending on where, what type of library and the like. But most listings I’m seeing that interest me are running around 30k/year. I also know that that’s not necessarily where I will start.
Internal audit. An accounting background (though not necessarily the CPA certification) can help get your foot in the door just out of school, but it not necessary. I did it for close to seven years, and I have a history degree. Nice because it allows you to see all areas of a company for which you are working…but it can be difficult if you are not able to see the small details as well as the ‘big picture’. Normal starting salary (depending on location and company)…probably 25-30k USD.
But too…I’m assuming that you’re considering jobs for yourself. Think about what you enjoy doing. Don’t head for a career just out of money considerations. I did that for a long time, and I was miserable for the last two years. I’m far happier pursuing what I want to be doing and disregarding the fact that I’ll likely make far less than I was making.
In some areas of the country, graduate nurses are being offered very high starting salaries, anywhere from 30-60k.
A 2nd lieutenant in the military will start at around 30k. I’m personally combining the two careers, and getting a commision in the AF after I graduate from nursing school in May. I have previous enlisted experience, so I will be starting at 41k.
I have 17 years experience in the military life, both as active and a spouse, and I love it. The sense of community and of having a job that has a real impact are both huge plusses to me.
I hear pharmacists are in such demand right now that they’re making insane amounts of money - plus gigantic signing bonuses. The article I read listed a starting salary of about $90K!
Automotive engineer here with a post grad degree. I was offered a starting salary of about 37k as a CAD engineer - in Germany. In the US, I suppose that would go up to about 40K. Of course, this is 4 years of engineering plus one year of the opst grad course and some work experience as a student.
If there were any jobs in the industry (and there isn’t with over 15,000 laid off just last year), jobs building commercial aircraft pay quite well. You would start off at about $35K a year and it would steadily go up from there. Since I started in 1980, I have been laid off 3 times, gone through 2 strikes and a hell of a lot of changes in job description and I made almost $80k last year. That does include quite a bit of overtime too. Without OT, it would be about $65k. Not bad for someone with just a high school education.
Houston Chronicle, January 13, 2003
% Share of Income Average
Group Total Taxes Split Point Tax Rate
Top 1% 37.4 >$313,469 27.4%
Top 5% 56.5 >$128,336 24.4%
Top 10% 67.3 >$92,114 22.3%
Top 25% 84.0 >$55,225 19.1%
Top 50% 96.1 >$27,682 16.9%
Bottom 50% 3.9 <$27,682 4.6%
When I was young I went to work in a chemical plant and was trained fairly rapidly to be a reactor operator. It required no college, but you do need decent common sense.
The upside included good pay (putting my then salary through an inflation calculator puts it in today’s dollars at just over the $55,225 that would put one in the top 25%), the fact that it was interesting to learn how all that stuff worked and it required some analytical problem solving that had been absent in my previous incarnation as a burger chef.
If you are accustomed to living at one income level and jump significantly, you can actually start saving. I was able to save enough to not have to work in my first year at UT.
The downside would include it being outdoor, physical work in all kinds of weather, which didn’t really bother me when I was 20-21 years old, and the fact that it was somewhat dangerous. People got burned, broken and exposed to icky substances often enough.
Bank Tellers start around 16-18k with no prior experience - must be able to handle cash and be good with the public. This is often a gateway to better jobs - many other types of businesses see a bank postion on a resume as a stamp of trustworthiness…
Way, way too vague an OP. I mean, have you considered becoming a US Senator?
In general, very high-paying unskilled jobs go hand-in-hand with grueling, possibly dangerous labor. I’m thinking things like trawling for fish in Alaska or working in the oil fields.
Various kinds of sales jobs can offer very high salaries, but the down side is that is usually commission -- base salary is often dismal.
If you can get a job waiting at a very tony restaurant, you can do pretty well from tips.
Ok…first of, just about any corporate job requiring a college degree will pay you at least $35,000 starting.
Jobs that pay real high salaries (assuming you can get one):
Investment Banker -
Pay - I guess about $45,000-$200,000+ including bonus)
Job - Bitch boy at an Investment bank. Putting together M&A deals, financing, etc. Expect to work 100+ hours a week for two years before being sent off to MBA school. After B-School (and it should be a good school) you can become an Associate and then earn the really big money
Requires - A college degree from a good school. Excellent grades required. Typically summer internships are required. MBA for higher levels.
Management Consultant (my old job)-
Pay - $45,000-$150,000 dependent on experience, level and firm
Job - Providing strategic, technology and operational advice to companies.
Requires - College degree for lower levels. Advanced degree or extensive industry experience for higher levels
Lawyer
Pay - ranges, but I know corporate lawyers who start at $100,000. Others may not make that much.
Job - Lawyering (you’ve seen Law & Order or The Firm, right)
Requires - Law degree and passing the bar exam
Trader
Pay - shitload can be $500,000+…or you get fired
Job - Buying/selling stocks, bonds, commodities, or currency to other traders on various markets (Dan Ackroyd’s job at Duke & Duke in Trading Places was a Comodity Trader). Developing models
Requires - Demonstrate that you are supper-smart (like particle physicist smart) and/or that you have giant ass balls.
Stockbroker/financial advisor
Pay - commission based, but can be very high if you are successful
Job - Buying/selling stocks, bonds,insurance, etc to the public (Charlie Sheen’s character in Wall Street was a Stock Broker)
Requires - A college degree and an entrepreneurial spirit.
Doctor
Pay - I have no idea, but have you ever met a poor doctor
Job - Doctorin’
Requires - An MD degree
You can also get specific jobs in marketing, finance, technology, accounting, and sales. All pay fairly well and each has diferent requirements. I suggest you go to a site like www.vault.com or www.careerbuilder.com. They give a lot of information about professional careers, salary, and even message boards so you can see what kinds of things each profession bitches about.
I’m a former trader and this is not an accurate characterization. There are all different kinds of traders, and they make various salary depending on what kind they do, and how good they are at it. Getting to the point where you make a lot of money is usually a long road. Starting off as a runner, or a trader’s assistant typically pays very little and one may be in that position for quite some time. A college degree is not strictly necessary depending on what one is doing, nor are superior intellects, of giant balls. In fact, this last is more of a liability. What is needed is that you are a talented negotiator.
Blue collar or white? Without knowing your education or background;
** Iron worker **; if you can handle working outside all damn day and don’t have any issues joining a union. Could start at 30k a year but will have to spend at least one night a week in union trade school. The work will make you real old real fast though.
Something part time to pad the income, working for UPS as a truck loader (Pre-Loader). Part time but was paying $10.00 an hour some years ago. (You work from 4:00 to 8:00 on avg, 5 days a week)
Running numbers (they still even do that?)
Give blood and plasma every time you can.
Stand on a street corner with a sign… (probably makes more than anything listed so far… Opps, for got to toggle the sarcasm mode)