Tell me if I’m missing something here. In consulting, you sign up to work yourself to the bone for 15ish years at well below market pay for the chance of making partner where you will still be somewhat below market for another 10 years working yourself to the bone for the chance at maybe being a senior partner for 10 years making decent money while still working insane hours all while paying for your boss’s salary and pension and their retired boss’s pension. What about this is appealing again?

OP, you are delusional beyond belief lol. American average income is $50k/household. Idk how spoiled you grew up but starting in consulting and staying in consulting is a financial blessing most of the time.

OP I think you have valid points but I think you're missing a few things:

1) I think if given the option, many consultants WOULD choose a better paying job as a SWE or high finance. But those are different skill sets that most consultants don't have. After SWE and High finance, consulting is probably the third best option when it comes to compensation. Many consultants reach 100k by 24/25. That's a great trajectory.

2) also most consultants will not stay 10 years. I would bet most leave actually after 3-5 years. The 3-5 years working themselves to the bone (as you put it) has now set them up these consultants up to exit into a higher position than they would've gotten straight out of undergrad.

3) I think you are also vastly OVERestimating the ability for people to make money outside of consulting. Again, outside of SWE and High Finance, the clear path to 200k+ is NOT easy. In consulting however, 200k is basically manager/Senior manager and absolutely achievable given hard work and persistence. I really don't think this is the case for other industries.

Lastly, if you don't mind me making a reach, I think it sounds like you ARE intelligent and probably very good at your job. It sounds like you could've succeeded at being a SWE or High Finance and are now salty at the fact that you're a "mere consultant". Your title indicates that your still relatively young and i think you have plenty of time to go back to school to possibly pursue a higher compensation job. Unfortunately you do come off as immature and your age shows. We are incredibly blessed (whether by luck or hard work) that we have a job that basically guarantees we will never be anything below middle/upper-middle class. There are a plethora of other jobs that work just as many hours as us and are paid much lower. There's nothing wrong with you wanting to get paid more, but keep in mind where you are compared to the average American.

Yes, you are: all other factors that people like about consulting than money.
A good exercise for you would be to ask people on your company, especially with a higher tenure, or friends what they like about their job and you will hopefully get a diverse set of inspiring answers - if you are open for that and able to listen carefully.

Factors I heard about are team work, respectful and motivated colleagues, culture fostering diversity, opportunity to work on something meaningful, ability to help clients and their appreciation for that, diverse set of topics/areas (really, without any judgement, I think the majority of my colleagues would be bored to work only on finance topics for the rest of their career), training/development opportunities.

Hahaha if you want to make *real* money then buy a business. Saved my pennies while consulting then bought a small, niche business ($6M rev, 22% NOI) and immediately tripled my comp with a much longer runway for upside. Oh and I get to decide when I work, what calls I take, etc. because it’s my business. Will never go back to working for someone else.

What market are you shopping at?!

If your only measurement is money for work, you’ll never be happy.

Do you realize that you make more than a significant amount of working adults that provide for a family? My starting salary at Deloitte is more than my mom and dads salary (not combined obviously).

Also, if you are working yourself “to the bone”. Explore why. Is it bad project management? If so, work on expanding your network to work with a new team next time. Is it you struggling to make deliverables? Work on leveraging existing resources and work on managing up to be able to more efficiently meet expectations. Are you overloaded on non-billable work? Re-evaluate your commitments and consider finding someone to take something off your plate, or don’t overcommit in the future.

Something I’ve learned is that consulting companies will take as much as they can get. Sometimes you need to be proactive at setting boundaries and pushing back. Good managers and leadership that are worth working for understand this because it’s not good for firms long term to fail to retain talent due to burnout

??? What is the point of this post ???

I agree with you OP which is why I’m leaving lol

If you want to accrue a nine-figure net worth (which it sounds like is your target) - you need to be an entrepreneur. Period. Outside of a ~handful~ of partner positions at top HF and PE firms, and an even smaller number of C-suite positions at the largest companies in the world, you can’t get there working for somebody else. You won’t get there in IB, you won’t get there in tech. Full stop

People on here need to stop thinking that these incomes are low....

I was making over 100k at 25 I think we get paid fair - with a business degree - that isn’t even finance comeon we are chilling

Man all this salary talk makes me not want to accept my healthcare offer for a payer.

Midwest state, total comp around 170k (includes base, bonus, small pension fund, 401k matching). I have about 12 YOE, MBA, and former Mck. Main reason I want it is it’s product development, and have gotten interested in healthcare space.

@OP Market pay is a tricky word my friend. I don't understand how the Deloitte claims to pay above market where as the employees feel otherwise. I agree that there are many jobs which pay even less than consulting but still I get your point. I have a Master's degree, live in HCOL city and my pay is less than 80k. On the other hand, my friends working in tech - be it SWE, Analyst, PM make much more in terms of base and stocks. My husband works at a small tech firm and even his base pay is much better than mine + he has stocks. We both have same skills, went to same university and do same type of work. Another difference is that I work 60 hours a week and he works 40. It's not just me, most of the Deloitte employees work long hours and maybe that's a consulting thing. There is hardly any work life balance and it becomes worse when you travel. Overall, I regret my decision of joining consulting and will be moving to tech in the next few weeks.

The points though...

Another thing to add, OP - to get into non-technical high-paying tech industry roles or PE often requires skills or a few years of experience. So it’s not apples to apples to an entry level consulting offer.

OP, the only way to make really serious money is to work for yourself. Invent something that people want/need, and sell the hell out of it. As long as your compensation is determined by someone else, you’re always going to be unsatisfied. That works for some people, but most of us have neither the risk tolerance nor the drive to create that leads in that direction. And you’ll find that most successful entrepreneurs aren’t driven strictly by $$. They don’t set out to be the next Bezos or Gates or Jobs. They have an idea, execute on it, and along the way they hire exceptional people who help to make their dream a reality.

Op I appreciate your ambition, which I think is needed to reach high goals. Can you share your background and what your aiming to do on next 5-10 years? Genuine question

Someone holding a gun to your head? The beauty of the US is we have the freedom to choose. Are you kidding?

Sadly, it’s not a simple equation. Generally, work to frame “work” as the stuff you do for hours and the stuff you do for you.

Sometimes they align, other times they don’t.

Know what you need financially (e.g. house, vacay, retirement, etc) and then do the math so you have a case to earn/target the salary bump or jump firms or industries to get where you wanna be.

It’s the difference between an abundance mindset and a scarcity mindset

We ARE underpaid!!! If you think about hourly salary 🙃 I earn more hourly teaching kids English lol

Can you pls clarify if salary matters or role matters??? You seemed to be confused my friend