Asklemmy

Generally speaking, wealth is not built by working. It's built by investing. It's possible to have a relatively small salary and get relatively wealthy if you consistently live below your means and invest the surplus. Power of compounding.

What are your x and y axes here?

This is somewhat off topic, but it is actually related to knowledge, income, and returns.

I'm telling you from experience, make enough money to live comfortably and stop when you get there. If at all possible, don't have a long commute. Don't have a prestige job. Don't have a position that requires OT or sprints. I deescalated my role to something more banal and my happiness went way up.

You're likely not in a position to do that at 20, but when you get somewhat into a career and life sucks and you hate your work and you want to die, start looking for something that pays less but also doesn't suck the life out of you.

I would have agreed with this chart a decade ago but not now. I recently quit being an systems engineer to being a high voltage electrician. My job stress and required knowledge went down considerably, my pay went up 2x. I would love to recommend school but cannot as I feel like it was a waste for my career path.

How do you measure expert knowledge on the same graph as salary? Do you measure it in dollars?

Your graph is missing the more important factor: demand.
I'm guessing you weren't born into money, which is what most ultra wealthy people do. So failing that, you need to cultivate a skillset which includes doing something that other people want and are willing to pay for. And yes, that often means learning specialized, or dangerous skills. Take something like a high voltage electrician, they can make good moeny but they need a specific skillset, certifications, and fucking up can mean dying very quickly. Construction divers or underwater welders can earn good money as well. Though again, specific skillsets, certifications, and risks. On the less risky side, programmers can make good money, though that usually does require a lot of learning. IT and cybersecurity also fit this bill, though they do tend to follow your graph.

In short, businesses pay for people because they have a need for something to get done. No need, no money. You can be the most knowledgeable person in the world about flaking stone tools, and you are going to be struggling. Another route to income is starting your own business, but this has similar pitfalls. Start a business which people aren't interested in and you're going to flounder. Also, running a business does take it's own skillset, beyond the skillset involved in whatever the business's focus area is. Though, done right, you can focus on running the business and hire people to do the other stuff.

You are falling into a trap a lot of young, smart people do. You are assuming that knowledge and intelligence is what you need to succeed. It's not your fault, you've been fed that line for the last 12-ish years of your life by schools and society. It's bullshit. They do help, but knowing the right people, luck and the ability to socialize are more important. In short, go to business school and go into management. If that doesn't appeal to you (and that is perfectly valid) then you need to find and learn skills that businesses are willing to pay for. At the moment, that probably means a trade, like electrician or welder; or, a technical role such as engineering, IT or programming. If your interest is in the Humanities, sorry you're probably fucked.

[off topic]

There's at least one store I know of in New York City that's been making money off of doing VCR repairs for decades. A lot of companies invested in big video displays back in the day and it would cost far more to replace everything than it does to keep the antique tech going.

Some people are still learning Cobol.

https://www.cio.com/article/240709/why-its-time-to-learn-cobol.html

If you can find a niche tech like that it would make sense.

The green curve would be higher that the red one everywhere.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb talks about this when he explains his own career. He realized the amount of effort he had in him was never going to change, so he wanted a field where earnings weren't limited by his own effort - the dream of passive income. He became an expert on risk and a well known writer. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb

This is my take on it. That unexpected spike in the salary is slightly skewed stats from the billionaires with all the money and none of the knowledge.

Then it goes back down to nearly 0 where most of our average wages actually are.

Source: My source is that I made it the fuck up, but it's certainly what it feels like when you see the clueless assholes with money and power.

You don't promote good workers, the job description changes with promotion so the previously good worker might not be (as) good anymore.

Good workers with lots of expertise and know-how get more work.

After many careers and much money earned and spent, I now try to go by „ikigai“. Its a japanese theory and teaches you to be aware of what it is that you want, what makes you money, what the world needs and what you‘re good at, basically. This is how I went from a very well paid but soul sucking job to a lesser paid but much more fulfilling work.

For me it was building computers and the stuff around it. Its fun and it makes decent money if done right.

Good luck!

Become self-employed, don't charge by time but delivered projects/products.

I don't think there's a strong relation between knowledge and salary. It's more likely demand and supply - if specific skills are in demand, and not many people have them, then pay will increase. And at the highest levels it's often not what you know, but who you know that matters.

Get into politics.

Replace "expert knowledge" with "knowledge about how to manipulate people to vote for you"

Take bribes. Listens to whats your puppet-masters tell you to vote.

Ez money.

/s

Is there a field where that red curve is flipped so that each extra aquired unit of expertise earns you exponentially more money?