r/financialindependence • u/fidgit86 • 9d ago

What do you do that you earn six figures?

It seems like a lot of people make a lot of money and it seems like I’m missing out on something. So those of you that do, whats your occupation that pays so well?

15k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

View all comments

146

u/iusethistolearnstuff 9d ago

Management Consultant

52

u/--his_dudeness-- 9d ago

Yuuuuup. And all the misery that goes with it. I’m on year 7 now

42

u/kewissman 9d ago

I lasted 15 years before I crashed. Gone 75% of the time in North America, Europe, Asia.

I loved it actually, but missed my family and the kids were quickly growing up.

4

u/xwhooshx2 9d ago

what did you shift to instead?

6

u/kewissman 9d ago

Church Administrator

9

u/Yadona 9d ago

You don't get those years back

4

u/9throwaway2 HCOL 9d ago

I burned out fast; 1.5 years and then took a 5 mo vacation before going back to school.

1

u/Username56382 9d ago

What do you do now?

4

u/9throwaway2 HCOL 9d ago

Uni prof. Still make six figures, but worse stress. GO figure. I make great choices.

1

u/JustaRandomOldGuy 9d ago

I lasted 4 years with one of the big 5 (now big 4). I was offered manager of a new site and turned it down. They were shocked, that was a path to partnership. I realized going that route meant missing my kids grow up. I quit a few months later.

4

u/123097bag 9d ago

You’re supposed to leave the firm by now and go work at a client where you will be a VP automaticall

6

u/greedymeatball 9d ago

Get into industry before you get too far into consulting! Hard to get into industry after a while. Easy to go back into consulting later on.

2

u/LeeMayney 9d ago

Just curious, what you mean by "get into industry" before consulting?

3

u/greedymeatball 9d ago

I said get into industry before you get too far into consulting. Typical Management Consulting is a high paying, but stressful job. It can be fun for a little while you’re young and traveling a ton, but as you get older, job expectations and life goals change. When you’re older and more experienced, harder to shift out of consulting into a equivalent role in a non-consulting company.

1

u/LeeMayney 9d ago

Yeah, I did understand what you meant about going too far, I just didn't want to write it all out haha.

So by get into industry, do you mean get experience in a specific industry/field? Or do you mean take work where you're employed in-house by one company? Or have I missed the point completely?

2

u/greedymeatball 9d ago

In house. Leave the consulting company and work for a non-consulting company in the industry you specialize in as a consultant. Ie if you’re a management consultant that typically consults on healthcare clients, leave consulting sooner than later to join a healthcare company like a health insurance company or hospital system. It’s hard to make that switch to an equivalent role as you go up the consulting ladder because 1) you’re probably making a lot of money consulting and 2) you’re competing for fewer jobs against people that have been at that company for longer than you.

On the flip side, it’s easier to move from industry into consulting. Consulting companies like to hire people that know the industry and know potential client well.

Work life balance at consulting companies tends to suck. Work life balance at industry companies tends to be good. IMO, make the switch sooner if you value work life balance and career potential.

1

u/LeeMayney 9d ago

I'm with you now. Thanks for answering my question. I'm studying occ psych and feel like I would like to freelance/be a consultant at some point. It's interesting to hear that it may not be as good a work life balance as you might expect when working for yourself though.

It's a shame that in-house jobs in occ psych jobs seem to be few and far between in the UK.

2

u/greedymeatball 9d ago

Let me also add: I was referring to mostly management consulting as OP had posted. Typically with a major consulting company (EY, Bain, Deloitte, Accenture, etc). Typically the work life balance is low and travel requirements are M-Th every week. I can’t speak to individual consultants.

1

u/LeeMayney 9d ago

Yeah ofc, I understand there'll be differences, but I do think there is a lot of overlap in the types of things you'd expect to encounter in either field. Especially as a lot of the roles Occ Psych would qualify you for are with companies such as EY and Deloitte. Will be interesting to know if or how standards will change given the pandemic (I imagine slightly less travel and more zoom meetings even when we're back to normal, but you never know).

→ More replies

10

u/No-Werewolf-5461 9d ago

doesn't all the management consultant companies pay a lot? like Mckinsey and Bain etc

12

u/iusethistolearnstuff 9d ago

They do. I do not work for them. I’m an internal consultant. Companies who are implementing lean management systems typically hire internal consultants to deploy the new ways of working for leaders and managers.

2

u/InOurMomsButts420 9d ago

Thanks this is pretty interesting! Would you explain a little more about the lean management system? And is the internal consultant hired into an org undercover in a way?

3

u/iusethistolearnstuff 9d ago

Lean management systems are based off of lean manufacturing systems. Many financial services companies are trying to transform management culture to focus on lean process improvement. It’s not an undercover thing.

2

u/InOurMomsButts420 9d ago

Ah, okay. Here I’m thinking someone from consulting is brought into an internal team before a lot of other people on the team are let go. Then begin new processes. Thank you for clearing that up for me.

41

u/yolohedonist 28M+28F | ~40% Chubby-FI 9d ago

Props to you, I got burnt out after 3.5 years. Tough career.

13

u/iusethistolearnstuff 9d ago

I’ve been lucky to work for an enterprise deploying lean management system across the enterprise. My focus is on working with teams to deploy the tools and routines, teaching the value, and moving on to the next team.

4

u/ActualWheel6703 9d ago

Ohhh I need tips. I do Digital Marketing and Strategy in this area. (Recently started) and it's...draining.

5

u/Eddie_078 9d ago

Is it ok to be excited about this job despite the reviews?

5

u/z_mac10 9d ago

As someone in this field actively looking to get out, yes. The people I’ve worked with have been wonderful, the pay is great for a first job out of undergrad and the projects have been interesting.

That said, after 3 years of it I am entirely burnt out and have no interest anymore in working ridiculous hours under high stress to make someone (client) who has no idea who I am look good for their bosses.

1

u/Eddie_078 9d ago

Makes sense. Are you gonna retire early soon?

3

u/featherfactor 9d ago

Yes! I’m in the field and love it. Going on 8 years now. I will probably FIRE soon bc I can but it’s a great job and career if you work for a good company.

1

u/Eddie_078 9d ago

Good luck in achieving your FIRE goals.

3

u/howtoretireby40 9d ago

Non management consultant here, just a mere mortal business consultant who also made 6 figures after 4 years post undergrad. It’s great to reach for top tier consulting but boring ol’ BIG4 advisory and boutique consulting firms will easily get you to 6 figures too. I’m 11 years in and finally pulling 200k for the first time.

3

u/petethefreeze 9d ago

Same here 21 years and counting

3

u/soil_fanatic 25 | 50% SR | Farm FI 2026 9d ago

Burned out management consultant here too! In my third year out of undergrad at MBB and I'll clear $140k this year (was <$100 shy of clearing six figures in W2 income last year, whomp whomp)

I'm quitting next year because of the hours and high stress but the pay is great for this tenure

1

u/AlfredSwahn 9d ago

How do you get into this career?

5

u/mmbathrowitaway 9d ago

Depends on your age. If you haven't started undergrad (or fresh in undergrad), get really good grades and study hard for case interviews. If you've already started your career, work fairly hard to show progression in your career, study hard for the GMAT, get into a T15 MBA program, network, and study hard for case interviews.

This is for MBB. There are many smaller management consulting firms that you could break into that are less competitive.

1

u/Centralredditfan 9d ago

I'm doing something wrong. I'm not anywhere near 100k.

0

u/Bluepuck03 9d ago

Do you manage people? Or projects? Interested in what you have to say. Good work!