Cope culture. (Yes, doctors make a lot of money, and that is fine.)

I saw this going viral on Twitter:

Yeah, someone should have told Tom Cruise this. Or Michael Jordan, Shaq, or anyone who works for a top quant firm. Bonuses and other comp for large trading firms can easily run into the 7-figures. Some even make 8-figures. But what would they know? They are obviously missing out by not being self-employed.

Also, small business has major survivorship bias. The mean is skewed by outliers, but the median is far worse due to many failures. It’s like saying you can get rich with the lottery, which is technically true, but also highly improbable. A major reason why so many athletes go broke is by starting businesses, instead of putting that money somewhere better, like index funds. A notable example is Curt Schilling, who blew a $75 million fortune on a failed computer game company.

I have seen others like James Altucher and Nassim Taleb echo a similar sentiment–that the only way to get ‘truly rich’ (however that is defined, which it never is) is with self-employment. Working for someone else means you’re a slave or always struggling:

The downplaying of lucrative salaried work is yet another example of ‘cope culture’, in which people have to reconcile their poor choices or having been dealt a bad hand at life by minimizing or downplaying the successful or by inventing an alternate reality in which the successful are not actually successful or that rich people are not actually rich.

It reminds me also of the people who expect to get rich with crypto having bought at the top and cannot bring themselves to accepting that they were mistaken or misled, as their investments fall even as stocks surge.

Or about doctors:

Specialists earn considerable money, even after accounting for student loan debt:

As for doctor salaries lagging inflation, that too is wrong:

As of 2024, typical medical school debt is $200,000-$230,000 (depending on the source), which amounts to just $2,300/month for a 10-year loan at 6%. A salary of $300k/year, which is a conservative estimate, still leaves $160,000/year in discretionary income after factoring state and federal taxes and loan repayments. Yes, doctors have a late start due to residency and credentialism, but rapidly earn it back.
Also doctor careers are really long, unlike other professions. Moreover, doctors can easily find work by being hired at hospitals instead of the long process of having to send out resumes. For this reason, physicians have the lowest unemployment rate of any profession:

Physicians have a low unemployment rate when compared to the national averageā€”according to the 100 Best Jobs list released by the U.S. News & World Report in 2024, the unemployment rate for physicians is 0.3%, which is less than the national unemployment rate of 3.7% in January 2024.Feb 22, 2024

Same for the nonsense you see on social media about how Silicon Valley is unaffordable for tech employees. A $150-200k/year job (which is likely a conservative estimate for new hires) for a single person is more than enough even with student loans–just run the numbers and see your yourself.

As I show here, even under the most unfavorable of circumstances, you are still left with $70k/year of discretionary income after all expenses. This was in 2019, so salaries have gone up even more.

It helps greatly that income taxes in America are among the lowest of any developed country. The progressive tax structure means Americans who make as much as mid-six-figures have effective tax rates of only around 30-35% (this includes state taxes for California, the most expensive of any state) compared to 40-50% elsewhere. The alleged superiority of Britain’s ‘free’ healthcare is negated by higher wages and employer-sponsored healthcare for Americans.

In either example, thanks to low taxes and big salaries, this abundance of discretionary income can be invested in rapidly appreciating assets such as the S&P 500, the Nasdaq 100, or real estate to generate even more wealth. In 5-7 years, assuming diligent investing, a continuation of the bull market, and keeping expenses low [0], being a millionaire is not out of the question. Sure, this is not Bill-Gates-level wealth, but it’s not bad either for a W-2.

To say that making millions is not ‘sufficiently rich’ sounds like goalpost moving to me. As shown by the many posts on ‘FIRE’ or investing Reddit communities of salaried people making millions–it is indeed possible to get rich working for someone else. These are young and middle-aged people on Reddit who have homes, nest eggs, a good work-life balance, and a high standard of living despite working for someone else, yet are somehow doing it wrong or are struggling according to the Twitter-narrative. Hell, even Steve Balmer became richer than Bill Gates despite working for him.

Of course, some doctors go into debt or go broke due to lifestyle creep, but this is true of all professions. It’s not like overspending is inevitable. Anyone can choose to live within their means or save. Second, this does not change the fact that doctors still earn a lot of money and have a lot of discretionary income even after factoring in loans and residency.

Cope culture does not mean it is hopeless. Everyone is still endowed with free will (within certain biological constraints). You can stop gambling on crypto or sports. Or you can learn a skill that pays well, like coding. You can choose to invest and live within your means. Also, what is wrong with honesty. I think it’s better to just accept that, yes, doctors and techies earn a lot of money, instead of inventing copes and fictional narratives that they don’t. That seems like a better way to go through life.

[0] Yes, I am making assumptions here, such as the bull market continuing, but success at small business is also based on assumptions that are also out of one’s control, like customer demand and market trends. Or not having your business shut down due to a pandemic. By comparison, those with salaried work were allowed to work from home.