Those on here long enough may remember the old AF debates about whether it made sense to simply become a higher-paid tradesman, like a plumber, rather than pursue the CFA dream. According to this article, perhaps it now makes more sense to become a Wal-Mart truck driver instead. So now (as famously reported elsewhere much to the chagrin of established investments professionals), you can crack the $100k mark immediately out of Harvard working for Goldman Sachs, OR, hit it immediately after a CDL program working for Wally World. Brave new world, friends!
https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/walmart-raises-pay-to-attract-truck-drivers-11649336400
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Starting to think the CFA can go truck itself
I’m not sure.
A plumber with gas license (to install gas appliances) can probably break 100k without dealing with toilets and still sleep in his own bed every night.
I’m aware of this because we just had to replace a gas range 
I feel like being a cop may be another good exit opp. Apparently about 400 Boston cops make over $215k. The highest earner a couple years ago made $684k. Average cash comp is $133k for a cop in boston. And if they issue a ticket and it’s contested, and they go to court for a hearing, apparently they can bill for a minimum of a few hours even if they’re only there for 10 minutes. Pretty sweet. Same with a lot of their overtime practices.
Also the fire department. “Only 58 of the 1,693 Fire employees didn’t bring home more than $100,000 in cash comp last year, and 1,000 employees made more than $150,000.” The top fireman made $333k in 2020.
It’s not great on the PD side. The level of dedication required to take that home requires either youth or supplemental testosterone in combination with insomnia. Depending on where you work, you could be constantly rotating between day, evening, and night shifts, or stuck working 12 hours shifts at night until you build enough seniority to see daylight. Then you’ll have to work an extra 4 hours, or 4 hours at an off-duty job, 4-5x a week.
On the FD side, they’re usually 24-on, 48-off, so some will work 2 days straight, either OT at their home dept or get a second job at another dept.
So their income is probably understated. Plus
most FDs rotate calls, so if there’s 4 units in 1 city and 8 calls overnight, they only had to roll out of bed and put their boots on twice each. The fire houses I’ve been to had freaking individual bed rooms, leather recliners, and fully equipped kitchens.
Hose toter is the way to go. However, the risk of destructive coping mechanisms is similar. Seeing dead kids wears on you, whether they were shot in a drive by or fell into the family pool when no one was looking and drowned.
Dang, I wish my bank could throw some recliners and bedrooms our way into our offices.