I had one of those jobs for a couple years. Highly paid, yet of no consequence. And it was making my brain ossify. I'm doing meaningful work now, but the pay is not so hot.
I quit an odious but well-paid corporate job, years ago. I couldn't believe what they were paying me to do basically nothing important. I MAY eventually make something close to what I made at that job (in my early 20s) again, doing what I actually like to do, in a job that doesn't suck out my lifeblood.
Did I end up on the NY Times comment board by accident? I guess I am the odd person out. I have always aspired to be a capitalist & entrepreneur, even in college when I wasn't making any money. My heroes were Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.
I find that creating new products and services that customers want to be highly fulfilling, and can be very financially rewarding. Two people I know ended up on the Forbes 400 (I was hired into their startup), and I suppose that many of my friends are in the "1%". But by and large, these people have the same lifestyle as they did before they made their money, although obviously they don't worry about day to day expenditures. You would never know what someone is worth based upon how they dressed or what they drove. New England is different that way from other parts of the country.
