Just met with a 30yr old family friend. Told me she’s now a lawyer at a top DC firm making $350k/yr. In 3-4 years she’ll be gunning for Partner — said they make 2-3 million per year. (This might all be inflated BS, but I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.) I’m 27 with almost 3 years design experience and currently make almost $100k/yr. I promised myself that by 30 I’d have 1 million in net worth and would retire early (FIRE). Currently I’m nowhere near that goal — more like $150k net worth. Speaking to my lawyer friend has made me realize that it is possible to make a lot more. I’m reaching out because I’d like your advice on how someone in my similar position should go about doing so before 30. If there are no options to substantially increase salary 2-3x I’m considering starting a startup — also in order to try to live more meaningfully. Any help would be very much appreciated.
Do a CS masters and get into a fang. You can get to $1M by 33-35
Not sure I can pursue a CS master if I have a design undergrad, but I’ll check
There’s no easy money. You don’t think there are people like your lawyer friend, the trajectory for making money is very rarely that exponential. There’s nothing wrong in thinking big. It’s good but take a calculated risk and invest in yourself, understand why someone would be paid high and aim to gain those skills.
Good point. From my outsider’s perspective, jobs that command the highest pay are the ones that bring in the most revenue to the company AND are closest to that source of revenue. In the case of my lawyer friend, she has really good inter-personal skills and is attractive, so she is able to use that to her advantage when managing client relationships.
I am 35 and make 200k/y but my net worth is no where close to even 100k. YOLO, enjoy your life.
There are so many lawyers out there checking documents and reading patents and making notes at age 30. There are outlier financial successes in every field.
True. I wonder if outliers have any common defining traits that can be emulated and learned/acquired through hard work
I’d also comment that making partner at a big law firm is no cakewalk. You first have to go to a top tier law firm and then get hired by one - which is a challenge these days given all the competition. Then, you have to work your butt off for many years where you basically have no life. Then you’ll get the big money. But if you’ve gotten that far you’re probably someone who is used to working that hard and somewhat embraces hat lifestyle and not someone who is looking to retire early.
Many lawyers end up doing traffic courts and immigration. Not much money there.
This ^. It's by no means expected that you make partner, and it takes about ten years of crushing hard work (120 hour weeks) until then. It gets better once you hit a few years in, but a close friend at top tier law firm is still doing 100 hour weeks, 7 years in. He's doing well and is probably on partner track, but that's a while away still. Also, comp doesn't start that high for partners, that's probably close to your terminal compensation, and assumes that you're bringing in business to the firm that is a multiple of what they pay you. The other thing I've learned, having known him since he was a miserly student, is that the goal posts continually move. As a student, he dreamed of a six figure salary. With a six figure salary and a million dollar apartment under his belt, he dreams of a seven figure salary and a bigger apartment with a better view. Long story short, I suspect he'll never be content - and life will pass on by while he's in the office all day and all weekend.
Don’t do startup if that is your goal. I can only give you my experience. I am late 30s. It is possible to make more but a startup is not the way. Expected yield for a startup is low. Very low. When I was 27, i had about half mil and thought, there is no way to hit my goal. I then took a lot of that money and invested it aggressively, very aggressively. Then various markets took a dive, so to double up, I did a startup. We went farther than most. Got revenue but couldn’t turn profit without longer runway. Short on cash, i closed up shop and went to fang. Now 10 years later i have about 1 mil! If i had just bought an index fund, join a fang when I was 27, i would have had about 5 mil at minimum by my calculation. I don’t regret the startup experience because it’s like getting my PhD. Not many people get that stab at it and it is not something I can do again in my old age (tech speaking; I know I am young, but not compared to fb, snap engineers). The bottom line... tech people make more than lawyers now. You need to figure out where you want to be in 5 or 10 years. If you want to retire early, take the easy road. I would have not been content at 5 mil by 35. I wanted a stab at changing the world, had an opportunity, so I took it. I failed at execution. You can take my route... or my classmates’ who joined goog right after grad school. He’s now worth double digit mil. You’re young. The choice is yours. There is no right choice. And don’t compare to others. Figure out what you want and do it.
Thanks for sharing. What investments did you make that was very aggressive btw?
Thank you for this candid answer
When you work as an employee for a company (not a startup), you’re doing it for the consistency. These doctors and dentists and lawyers, the ones that become truly wealthy are the ones who start their own practice or firm. This comes with the risks of any business, but your ceiling for earnings is much, much higher than being an employee In some cases, you can come into a very high position at your company, like a director or VP, or your friend’s case, a partner, but those positions are very difficult to get into
One thing is certain: Capital One isn't going to make you rich.
Agreed!
Even for lawyers it varies a lot. You got luck and talent to be a top criminal lawyer (criminal lawyer lol) but you may end up to be a drunken immigration lawyer too. Choose your career path wisely. We human are easily affected by situational encounters, which is OK. However we should not let emotion affect our long term plan. Just my 2 cents
Agree. Your salary and comp can make you dislike your job but can’t make you like or love it. You’re better off optimizing for a job that you really love doing
You can’t, be realistic. If we could make 900k in 3 years we would not share either.
Why not? It’s not like there’s a limited supply of wealth. Wealth gets created, no?
No, money/value is created. Wealth is accumulated or inherited. Hence the definition of wealth: “An abundance of valuable possessions or money.”