Rich-People Jobs

so you want jobs *outside* of archeology/anthropology as well, or *just* within those fields?

Architect? CEO? Author (rare, but hey, it's your story)? Tv personality? Investor?

Indiana Jones wasn't rich. He was a professor for a university and went to digs and such on their budget.

Many schools sponsor summer dig programs for their students and the professor goes along to supervise. (here's a list of digs.)

But we're poor and we send our kids to private (actually parochial schools). So I would think that a professor of archeology or anthropology at a major university would be able to afford private school.

Roly said:

Okay, I have one specific question first:

1) What kind of job within the field of either archeology or anthropology make someone really rich (or at least rich enough to send their kids to private school). Actually, I'm having a bit of trouble understanding just what it is that anthropologists do so maybe some people can help me out on that.

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None. Science jobs do not pay well. Trust me on this one. Especially research based science such as archeology which is always competing for grants etc and struggling for funding. The only way someone is going to get rich this way is working as an independant and finding a massive treasure. However, in order to do this one would have to be rich in the first place.

2) rich people jobs. I kind of need a big list of jobs/professions that'll make people rich (again from 'really well off' to 'filthy stinking'). I have a few obviously, but I'd like to see what others come up with.

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Dentist, doctor, lawyer, senior civil servant, politician, senior banking, investments, business



But bear in mind that you do not need to be rich to send your kids to private school. My daughter goes to a private school and I am in the £30-£40k salary bracket.

Most archaeologists and anthropologist aren't rich, they are academics. They can afford private school, but probably won't be endowing any. Some do come from monied families, and some do significant enough work to keep themselves in grants that allow them to live well. Some publish books for the general reader that would suppliment their income.

What do they do?

Archeologists dig, catalog, study, teach, attend symposium, write, consult, argue, bully graduate students, and dodge calls from the History Channel. Anthropologists take everything the archeologist has done pervert it, then wait on a calls from the History Channel.

Seriously both professions are very competitive and worthwhile. But most folks don't get rich or famous.

A more unusual type one - medical health physicist (my dad makes a fair amount of money on that plus, because he works for a university, massively discounted college tuition)

Oh and on the big money kind of of job, actuary. If you can handle the math, and play the corporate game, you can find yourself at the top of the insurance or financial sector.

I'm with shaldna on the science jobs. But if you were to make the person an art and/or antiquities consultant, that might work. Consultants with good connections and who get results can charge astronomical fees, especially if they can market themselves among a select clientele.

As for the other careers, venture capitalists, CEO's, software companies, people in real estate...
You could probably do a google search for highest paying jobs.

Only way an archeologist is going to make big money is by presenting a TV series and selling a lot of copies of the tie-in book. Alternatively they have family money (in trust for their kids perhaps) and followed archeology because they love the subject

Big money job - hedge fund manager

Science jobs can end up with significant money if you get lucky. Become the VP for Research of a small biotech start-up that comes up with the goods and gets bought by a major player, then watch the dollars roll in.

1) What kind of job within the field of either archeology or anthropology make someone really rich (or at least rich enough to send their kids to private school). Actually, I'm having a bit of trouble understanding just what it is that anthropologists do so maybe some people can help me out on that.

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No legal ones that I can think of ... unless they wrote a best-seller book about archaeology.

Illegal ones: grave-robbing and selling smuggled artifacts might be profitable enough.

rich people jobs. I kind of need a big list of jobs/professions that'll make people rich (again from 'really well off' to 'filthy stinking'). I have a few obviously, but I'd like to see what others come up with.

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Investment banking, corporate law, commercial real estate management,

waylander said:

Science jobs can end up with significant money if you get lucky. Become the VP for Research of a small biotech start-up that comes up with the goods and gets bought by a major player, then watch the dollars roll in.

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Yes. Biotech jobs in private companies (genetics, pharmaceutical... I can give you some real company names, if you want them) have BIG salaries for managers and CEOs. Also, managers and leaders in governmental labs (Livermore, los alamos, all those national labs) have fat pay checks. These people don't do science in the old fashioned way though. The lab geek that publishes papers will usually get a much more modest pay check. (sigh)

You can become rich in ANY field of work, provided you are the "best" at what you do. The key is not the profession, it's how far you progress in that profession.

Additionally, I echo the people who mentioned you don't have to be rich to send your kids to private school. My hubby went to private school and his (single parent) mom barely scraped by. It just so happened that private school was a priority for her, so that's where she spent her money on. Anyone can send their kids to private school if it's a priority.

Roly said:

Okay, I have one specific question first:

1) What kind of job within the field of either archeology or anthropology make someone really rich (or at least rich enough to send their kids to private school). Actually, I'm having a bit of trouble understanding just what it is that anthropologists do so maybe some people can help me out on that.

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A full professor with a resonable number of years in at a major university probably would feel that sending children to a good school would be a good idea and should be able to pay for it, unless he indulges in too many expensive recreations. A curator could do the same.

Anthropologists study humans. That is rather broad but so are the kinds of study that anthropologists do. The major divisions of anthropology are biological, cultural, archaeological, linguistic, and many ohers. It's an ideal college major for someone who wantss to write prose fiction.

2) rich people jobs. I kind of need a big list of jobs/professions that'll make people rich (again from 'really well off' to 'filthy stinking'). I have a few obviously, but I'd like to see what others come up with.

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Rich people seldom have jobs in the strictest sense of the word. Nearly all rich people work for themselves. People who are merely really well off may be in any number of professions from medicine to banking to manufacturing.

cscarlet said:

You can become rich in ANY field of work, provided you are the "best" at what you do. The key is not the profession, it's how far you progress in that profession.

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That would be lovely but, sorry, it is not true (in the US at least). Read Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich. Very sad and very true.

som1luvsmi said:

You could probably do a google search for highest paying jobs.

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Indeed.com is a job search engine which also posts graphs on salary trends. Dice.com has a similar database of information.

Here in Phoenix they print the 5 or 6 highest price real estate deals in the paper each week. The buyers and sellers are usually CEOs of companies or senior partners in law firms. Sometimes a physician (or both husband and wife are physicians). And once or twice I even saw a CPA as the buyer. Sometimes it is inherited money, which you can tell by the name if you are familiar with the *big* money players in our area. Sorry, I have never seen an archaeologist or anthropologist in the list.

MM

Anthropology is a pretty darn expansive field. There are companies now using anthropologists in their HR departments to help inner company dynamics run more smoothly, and also research and train employees on better ways to relate with customers to prevent miscommunication from cultural differences.

There are also some positions opening up if someone with anthropological training wants to be unethical, where advertisers work with them to target products in such a way that they have maximum appeal to a specific culture of people.

The US govt. also employs anthropologists, specifically with military operations in civilian areas. I remember reading an article about an anthropologist who was assigned to some division in Afghanistan, and how he had managed to save a lot of lives between the soldiers and locals by facilitating communication between the two.

OneWriter said:

Yes. Biotech jobs in private companies (genetics, pharmaceutical... I can give you some real company names, if you want them) have BIG salaries for managers and CEOs. Also, managers and leaders in governmental labs (Livermore, los alamos, all those national labs) have fat pay checks. These people don't do science in the old fashioned way though. The lab geek that publishes papers will usually get a much more modest pay check. (sigh)

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Agreed. Having worked in science I can tell you that the majority of managment at any of these firms are business types - lawyers, accountants etc, not scientists. Very few of them will actually have a science background.

The ones who do are, as you say, the ones doing all the work. And getting paid pennies for it.

I don't think you can get stinking rich from just holding down a job. I think you need to first have money (ie rich parents) that you then wisely invest, often in the company you have founded and is the CEO of. Venture capitalists can get obscenely rich from just one lucrative but iffy investment. That's a job of sorts.

Roly said:

Okay, I have one specific question first:

1) What kind of job within the field of either archeology or anthropology make someone really rich (or at least rich enough to send their kids to private school). Actually, I'm having a bit of trouble understanding just what it is that anthropologists do so maybe some people can help me out on that.

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The man who donates money to the university.

2) rich people jobs. I kind of need a big list of jobs/professions that'll make people rich (again from 'really well off' to 'filthy stinking'). I have a few obviously, but I'd like to see what others come up with.

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Job is not the right word. It's more of an attitude and a willingness to take chances that other people won't. There's definitely some business books available on Steve Jobs, and probably some on Bill Gates. Check them out and see the analysis of how these people were different than everyone else, including your garden-variety CEOs (lots of books on CEOs, as well). Do bear in mind that to a person who works 9-5 and is glad to go home at the end of the day and take the day off, it's a very different attitude--this person loves what he does, so he doesn't leave the "job" at work when he goes at work or on vacation. There's also a book called Rich Dad, Poor Dad, which may be useful to look at.

Just hit the business book section at a couple of libraries. There's a weather of material available.

waylander said:

Only way an archeologist is going to make big money is by presenting a TV series and selling a lot of copies of the tie-in book. Alternatively they have family money (in trust for their kids perhaps) and followed archeology because they love the subject

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I think this is correct. Dr. Zahi Hawass is a famous Egyptologist--you might want to check out his bio.

I also agree that successful Hedge Fund Manager = very rich.

You don't need a job to make you rich, if you are born rich. Your money works for you. That's the beauty of a trust fund. You can pay someone else to manage it for you and choose a job based solely on your desire for self-actualization.

shaldna said:

None. Science jobs do not pay well. Trust me on this one. Especially research based science such as archeology which is always competing for grants etc and struggling for funding. The only way someone is going to get rich this way is working as an independant and finding a massive treasure. However, in order to do this one would have to be rich in the first place.

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Science based jobs can pay well, depending on the field. Up here in the North-East, jobs within the oil industry can bring in very big wages, both office based and science based.

Rarri said:

Science based jobs can pay well, depending on the field. Up here in the North-East, jobs within the oil industry can bring in very big wages, both office based and science based.

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Yes, those are usually the jobs I mentioned in my previous post. But like I was saying, these are people that start indeed with a scientific background but then climb up the management ladder, and as they do they distance themselves from labs, publications, etc. In the middle salary range are people that own their own labs (PIs) and medical doctors who do research, surgeons, etc.

What I was trying to say is that the figure we typically have in mind of the scientist doing the "dirty" work in a lab, or sitting in front of his/her computer running simulations and struggling to get funded through grants and to get papers published -- that one usually doesn't get paid a lot. I happen to know....