High-Salary Career Paths

After reading investing books for a long time, you often hear a reminder like this: when your principal isn’t that large yet, don’t rush into studying overly complex strategies.
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Stock picking, asset allocation, leverage, options—sure, all of that can be worth learning. But when your principal is only a few hundred thousand, even if your performance is great, the number you multiply back still won’t change your life overnight. By contrast, earning an extra 20,000–30,000 a month and saving it is something you can really feel.
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┃ The Analects says: “The gentleman attends to the fundamentals; once the fundamentals are established, the Way emerges.”
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When it comes to building assets, I think that “fundamentals” can be understood as active income.
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A while ago, Yarru, a finance editor at Commonwealth Publishing, mailed me High-Salary Career Paths. She recommended it to me because I used to work in the tech industry. After finishing it, I felt the book addressed a very direct question: after working for several years, how come you still can’t earn the income you want?
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Moboo writes a line in the book that I really like:
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┃ “The design of a compensation structure is the blueprint of the workplace.”
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Even when everyone is working hard, the pay gap can sometimes be huge. Companies look at what problems you can solve, how complex those problems are, how many people would be affected if something goes wrong, and whether the company itself can afford to pay higher compensation.
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A lot of personal finance books say that having enough money is enough. It’s a comforting line. But for someone who hasn’t yet built a sense of security in life, another question may still pop up: then what about the bills right in front of me?
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┃ Food, clothing, housing, transportation, education, entertainment—which of these doesn’t cost money?
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Near the end, the book introduces a very interesting “braised pork rice theory.” Skip one 5,000-dollar dry-aged steak meal, and use that same money to eat braised pork rice instead—you can order the whole table of braised eggs, fried tofu, assorted sliced meats, and side dishes, and still say with swagger: “This table is on me.”
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After your income increases, there’s no need to rush into upgrading your life to a more expensive version. It can simply give you a bit more room in the places that truly matter to you.
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I’d rather think of a high salary as a bit of backbone. When a job isn’t a good fit, you have the ability to leave; when you want to be with family, take a break, or live somewhere else, you don’t have to be pushed forward by bills at every step.
No matter which track you’re on right now, I highly recommend this to everyone—you’ll definitely come away with something.