Originally Posted by schwarm

At one of our annual meetings a few years ago, there was an interesting presentation (unfortunately I can't find a references). It compared the relative economic outcomes of a neurosurgeon (one of the highest compensated medical specialties) to an attorney, a stock broker, and a truck driver. It used published average incomes, educational costs, and interest rates for investments and educational debts.

Basically, assuming a truck driver starts working after high school, a stock broker goes to college and then starts working, and an attorney goes thru law school, then works an associate for a few years and then as a partner. The neurosurgeon goes thru med school, goes thru 7 years of training, and then works in practice.

Here's the key, each of the 4 have to live at the same expense level as the neurosurgeon at each year, investing the rest of earnings (so, the truck driver lives on what a college student lives on for 4 yrs and invests the rest, etc.). This really isn't realistic, of course, but it does show how much deferred gratification is involved.

At age 45, the truck driver ends up about $1,000,000 ahead. The stock broker and the attorney end up about even. The neurosurgeon ends up about $1,000,000 behind.