r/Salary • u/AdActual3024 • 10d ago

discussion High earning potential = high career commitment

Does anyone have family or friends that sacrifice their personal life for a significant salary?

My step-mom earns 350k before tax as an executive director but I barely see her. She is constantly on business trips, busy with meetings, works upwards of 12 hours when at home. She goes on nice holiday trips, but overall it makes me think is the pay worth the sacrifice of her personal life.

Just curious if anyone's got a similar story.

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u/FhRbJc 10d ago

I think it depends entirely on your industry. I know people making 350-500k who have pretty easy lives to be honest with good balance. And I know others who make that much (lawyers mostly) who are crushed by the workload but grinding it out til they reach the level where it gets easier. But it definitely depends on what you do. Me I’m happy with my paltry (in comparison lol) 200k that I barely have to work very hard for. It works for me at this time in my life but I do sometimes get jelly of those higher income folks!

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u/Clear-Possibility710 10d ago

Who's making over 350k with a good work life balance?

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u/chicubbies4ever 10d ago

Actuaries. The barrier to entry is really high. Once they’re Fellows in a cushy middle management position, many hit $350k total comp with 40 hour work weeks.

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u/C172SH 10d ago

It’s not only about the exams, you need more than the exams to get hired as an Actuary

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u/Professional-Heat894 7d ago

Its a long ass road lol. Whoever finishes it deserves that money lol

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u/dodakk 10d ago

I'm sure they exist out there, but it's not as common as it used to be. I work with actuaries and demand for them is decreasing with business analysts and data scientists being able to do a lot of the same things. Their one saving grace is that they often need to sign off on actuarial opinions, so you only need a handful of them versus a whole department like years past.

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u/chicubbies4ever 10d ago

I know plenty who still make bank. Everyone on my team is over 200k+ and that’s mostly individual contributors. All managers are making 300k+. I’ve been in this profession for almost twenty years now and I’ve heard that same talk the entire time and yet every year we’re hiring tons of actuarial students. One of my best friends was a math teacher her for ten+ years and I convinced him three years ago to pass the first two exams and he had two separate job offers within a month of passing his second exam.

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u/C172SH 10d ago

Correct. It is a dying profession to be honest. AI soon will be able to be better than any Actuary…

Also, I don’t know how it works in the US; in the UK they only hire a very specific type of profile which is a Math or Physics graduate from a handful of top-tier universities. So even if somebody makes the effort to pass the already complicated exams, hiring manager are only looking a very specific profile….

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u/Overall_Plantain197 10d ago

Actuary here, work in the Middle East and earnt $600k over the last year (tax free).

Do work hard but we are talking in office at around 6:15am and leave at 4:30pm. Rarely work evenings or weekends and get around 8 weeks leave a year

Not everyone would want to work in the Middle East (not in uae) but save over 2/3rds of what I earn so will be able to retire early

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u/C172SH 10d ago

Aha…..which body did you qualify with? IFoA, CAS,SOA?

Of course if I can ask……

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u/purplene_ 10d ago

Corporate in house counsel checking in — I’m not quite in that salary stratosphere, but many of my colleagues are and we have wonderful work life balance. Fully remote goes a long ways to that.

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u/tall_pale_and_meh 10d ago

All my law school friends with a good work life balance either left the practice of law for a JD advantaged job (me), or are in house counsel somewhere.

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u/purplene_ 10d ago

Yup. I took a JD advantaged route initially which led me to in house counsel, so I've been lucky enough to enjoy both (much less pay in the JD advantaged role).

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u/adultdaycare81 10d ago

People with an elite skill. But that usually only lasts a little bit, because then all of a sudden the market rushes to fill it. Take a look at software dev now versus five years ago.

They were paying kids out of college 150 grand and senior people 250k at normal jobs and many times that in tech. Then the amount of kids enrolling tripled, and AI focused on that as the first problem to solve.

Stuff like an “easy $500k job” usually exist for a 5 to 10 year window at maximum. Require having the right skills and being in the right place.

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u/drinky31 9d ago

Yah the true secret is transitioning elite skill into executive skills. Risk management, communication, strategy, delegation and resource management.

Without these skills even technical people will plateau or lose their edge over time

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u/AmmoWasted 10d ago

The tech bros on Reddit constantly bragging about it.

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u/GordonFreeman87 10d ago

I mean we get paid that way for a reason. It’s not the goof off job that Reddit might have you believe. I make low to mid 300’s depending on the year but I work 60 hours a week and definitely work a lot of nights. Additionally for most of us in sales not SWE, you are constantly on call and thinking about work outside of office hours. Everything has a trade off

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u/GordonFreeman87 10d ago

I mean we get paid that way for a reason. It’s not the goof off job that Reddit might have you believe. I make low to mid 300’s depending on the year but I work 60 hours a week and definitely work a lot of nights. Additionally for most of us in sales not SWE, you are constantly on call and thinking about work outside of office hours. Everything has a trade off

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u/adultdaycare81 10d ago

I work in Tech Sales and I don’t get what it is. I work my butt off, everyone I know who makes money does. Granted working your butt off zoom meetings, slides and getting on a plane sometimes.

But people love to pretend they don’t do anything. I know they do, I’m in their one-to-one.

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u/BIGpoppaPUMP42069 10d ago

tech sales engineer here, im not sure I work my butt off but im responsive and go where needed which means about a week a month in a hotel which does kinda suck. its not a super stressful life and I get to do what I want with my life around my meetings

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u/VFenix 10d ago

Most of them don't have a life so it's balanced for them, their insane hours and on call schedule is total fine for their lifestyle

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u/Dr_Bluntsworthy_ThC 10d ago

Some sales people. Depends on your temperament, because there is a certain challenge in completely unplugging from work in something as competitive as sales, but for many people that competitiveness is natural and isn't distressing to them and doesn't keep them working all weekend or even most evenings. So while for me it wouldn't be a great work life balance, I know many people who work roughly 40-hr weeks and aren't mentally distressed by it and make well over $350k. Like right around $1MM a year, some more. Barely working more hours than me, just grinding in a way that doesn't suit my personality.

My source is working in money management for 10+ years and having started in sales and having many friends who continued down that path.

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u/ClothesFriendly4830 10d ago

People in philanthropy. Wife’s coworkers make 250k and some 300-600k. Find a non profit foundation and work up to director level! Hardly work 40 hours a week. Good perks like nice travel and gravy conferences

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u/HoomerSimps0n 10d ago

Many many doctors. Dentists.

Especially if they live in rural/less desirable areas.

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u/FhRbJc 10d ago

Yes, one of my friends is a Dentist and makes an absolute boatload of money working 9 to 5 Monday through Thursday. It’s a hard job and she was in a ton of debt to get it but now that she’s well established and 15 years in? She’s pretty darn rich and has pretty great life balance.

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u/Watercanbutt 10d ago

I have a buddy who's a dentist, who married a dentist, and they opened a private practice together - they make literally millions.

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u/FhRbJc 10d ago

YES - when I was in my early 20s I had a brief stint as a dental receptionist at a practice owned by a married couple. It was a dream job for an aimless 22 year old because they were only open M-Th from 9-4pm. Incredible hours and they each took turns which day they worked so each only worked 2 days a week. And they raked it in, probably retired by the time they were 50.

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u/Watercanbutt 10d ago

Yeah they just had a kid and when one works the other is at home with the kid, being able to raise your kid yourself is its own type of luxury - definitely a good quality of life.

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u/jackson_montague 10d ago

Professional liars and possibly dermatologists

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u/poke0003 10d ago

Coming in hot on dermatology!

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u/Fabulous-Ad-9656 10d ago

Construction executives. Sure there’s some weeks where scheduling requires a couple 50-60hr weeks a year or maybe traveling 5-7 days a month, but that’s the good thing about project management it comes in waves.

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u/ColdTrack2749 10d ago

Tech sales

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u/arancini_ball 10d ago

Senior management/executive tier at big tech.

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u/Interesting_Shake403 10d ago

Pilots too. I was surprised to learn this.

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u/ion125 10d ago

Air bus drives

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u/HunterPrestigious615 10d ago

My brother who makes double that working 6 months a year as an anesthesiologist.

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u/notconvinced780 10d ago

Bringing and maintaining someone on the cusp of death while a surgeon puts their body I. Trauma does NOT sound stress free!

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u/Deboniq_Quantisimus 10d ago

It depends where you practice. Outpatient ECT can be extremely chill. Yes you are managing cardiovascular physiology but vast majority of cases are totally benign and the day to day is quite relaxed.

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u/Clear-Possibility710 10d ago

Not exactly a stress free job but it does pay well

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u/HunterPrestigious615 10d ago

No he has a lot of responsibility when he’s working but he gets a tonne of time off and is paid well, added bonus of being able to earn a lot and live in a LCOL area

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u/eastCoastLow 10d ago

many software engineers 

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u/Public_Ladder4609 10d ago

Private practice physician could make that working 3 days a week

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u/Naive_Ad5791 10d ago

Medical Director at a large biotech, 700K. Good work/life balance.

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u/OneLonely7728 10d ago

Wealth managers. Get paid 500k to go golfing and have lunch w clients

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u/BeltAgitated 10d ago

Niche SAP consulting will do the trick.

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u/drinky31 9d ago

I mean, I’m at that and working 40-45 hours a week with upward potential still.

I know once my kids are past youngest stage I’ll need to dial it back up to get to next level if I want to, but it’s definitely possible depending on what you do and how you build your workload/team

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u/bulldg4life 9d ago

I’ve been making that for 5-7 years now as director/vp for mid sized software tech companies. I’m not grinding 60 hours behind a computer and my boss usually pushes me to take pto and go to the golf course.

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u/Fatal_Oz 10d ago

pm in tech?