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What are the Best Paying Jobs in Business?
Are you thinking of a career change? Are you dreaming of a higher salary? Then it is time to check out these amazing high-paying business careers. With all of these jobs, you can earn well over 6 figures, and even better, they have an incredible career progression!
1. Financial Trader
There is no cap on how much financial traders can earn. This is because many traders receive a percentage of the profits they earn. For example, it is common for some trading shops to offer a 50% profit split. In 2016 a Goldman Sach’s trader made $100 million in profit in a single year by trading junk bonds. You can imagine just how big his yearly bonus was!
There are different types of financial traders, but the ones who make the most money are known as prop traders. Prop traders make trades with the goal of profiting off the difference between the purchase and sale prices of different assets. For example, they might buy Apple stock at $150 and then sell it for $170, pocketing the profit.
To become a financial trader, you don’t need a degree or any specific skills. If you show an interest in trading, prop trading firms will often give you a shot. However, it helps if you have some experience trading, some basic financial knowledge, and come from a math or stats background.
Alternatively, you could go the bank route and study finance in college and then apply for a trading role at a bank. However, nowadays, banks are only allowed to do market making. This is where they provide liquidity by quoting both bid and ask prices and trying to make a tiny profit on the difference. After a few years of experience at a bank, you could go work for a hedge fund or prop trading firm.
2. Portfolio Manager
Portfolio managers are like the product managers of the hedge fund role. Their job is to take control of client’s money and deploy it in the market to earn a profit. Portfolio managers are in charge of the overall strategy. They have the final say about what investments or trades the hedge fund makes. Portfolio managers are also in charge of analysts who feed them information about the markets and traders who then execute the portfolio manager’s strategy. Additionally, portfolio managers may employ strategies to hedge foreign exchange risk, ensuring the fund’s investments are protected from adverse currency fluctuations.
Top portfolio managers earn millions because hedge funds typically charge a 2% fee based on the amount of capital they control and 20% on profits. For example, a $1 billion hedge fund that earned $100,000 million profit in 2022 will charge customers $40,000,000. It is not underheard for portfolio managers to earn over $10,000,000 in a single year.
Being a portfolio manager is the dream of many young finance graduates, but this role can be extremely tough to get into. You typically need to work as a hedge fund analyst for many years and just getting a role as a hedge fund analyst is extremely difficult as many only hire the top analysts from big investment banks. However, if you are passionate about finance and the markets, this career can legitimately turn you into a billionaire!
3. Product Manager
Product managers are making a bank! Did you know product managers at Google are making between $500,000 and $1 million per year? Virtually all product managers in the US start on at least $100,000 as base salary, and many receive additional performance-related bonuses and equity.
But what do product managers actually do? Product managers are tasked with leading teams to build, develop and manage specific products. They are in charge of the overall strategy and ensuring things get built on time, are under budget, and adequately meet the needs of the customers.
Product managers are expected to be all-rounders. They typically need some tech skills but also need strong interpersonal skills and be great leaders while understanding marketing and strategic management. Many product managers come from a consulting or programmer background.
Landing a coveted product manager role is not easy. This is one of the hottest careers in the tech world. To be a successful product manager, you need to have a deep understanding of the market you operate in and know what customers want. Studying CompSci combined with a general business degree and then landing an entry-level role as a business analyst will put you firmly on track to landing your first product manager job.
4. Hedge Fund Financial Analyst
Hedge fund analysts, on average, earn $200,000 per year, with many receiving massive bonuses that can tip their yearly salary above $600,000. Hedge fund analysts are tasked with studying the markets and asset classes and coming up with investment ideas.
Hedge fund analysts need to have strong finance skills, understand how markets work, and having technical math and computer programming skills can help. The typical pathway to becoming a hedge fund analyst is to work in an investment bank for a few years and then make the transition.
To improve your chances of becoming a successful hedge fund analyst, you should study finance at a prestigious university, do internships at hedge funds, and land a graduate role at an investment bank. After working at an investment bank for a few years, you can apply for hedge fund roles or get an MBA and then apply!
5. Programmer
Did you know entry-level programmers at software companies like Google earn $150,000 per year? Experience programmers can earn as much as $500,000, and if they have equity in a company that goes public, they can become overnight millionaires. By the way, such specialization as software engineering is in great demand in America. According to the SignalHire study, software engineers are in the top in 5 states by demand.
Programmers are tasked with writing the code that makes many things in our world run. Their code is found in cars, apps, planes, TVs, washing machines, and virtually everything you use every day. As this job is so important for modern society to run, top computer engineers can command big money.
Becoming a computer programmer is fairly easy; you can take an online course and then apply for entry-level roles. As there are limited programmers, companies are always looking for skilled and hard-working people. To give you a better chance of landing a job, you can study CompSci at university.
Final Thoughts
There are lots of jobs in the business world where you can earn high 6 figures. When looking for high-paying roles, you also need to factor in the experience required to land the role and just how competitive it is. Jobs that pay well but are not impossible to land include:
● Financial Trader
● Portfolio Manager
● Product Manager
● Hedge Fund Analyst
● Computer Programmers
Comment below what you think are the top-paying jobs in business in 2022 and your experiences working in these roles!
