Being a professor is a pretty sweet gig. You get respect, a good salary, and a chance to make a difference. After I quit my finance job in 2012, I thought about going back to school to get a PhD. I had enough money to live on, and I loved teaching. I even thought about teaching at a university.
I went to Stanford University to check out their Communications Department. I met with some professors and showed them my work on Financial Samurai, but they weren’t impressed. I also met with the head of the Master’s program for Journalism. She was really nice and encouraged me to apply, but I decided not to. I had already been running Financial Samurai on WordPress for almost four years, and I already had a Master’s degree in Business Administration.
After a month, I realized that becoming a professor wasn’t for me. You need to have taken certain courses, have great grades and test scores, and have a clear idea of what you want to research. Even if I got my PhD in communications, it would be really hard to get a job as a professor at a major university. Only the best of the best get tenure at a top 25 university. Most people stay associate or assistant professors for their whole careers.
But I didn’t give up on my dream of teaching. I thought about becoming a public school teacher, and then I found the perfect job: high school tennis coach. I love tennis, so this job would let me teach something I’m passionate about.
Recently, three things happened that made me think about becoming a professor again. These reasons show why being a professor is the perfect mix of money and status.
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Professors can afford multi-million dollar properties. Reuters reported that Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX, his parents, and senior executives of a failed cryptocurrency exchange bought at least 19 properties worth nearly $121 million in the Bahamas over the past two years. Real estate is my favorite way to build wealth, so this news really caught my eye. The average Stanford professor makes about $250,000. Sam’s parents are tenured professors in their late-60s, so let’s say they each make $400,000. That’s a combined income of $800,000, which is a top 1% income. With a 20% down payment, they could comfortably buy a $4,000,000 vacation property in the Bahamas. But according to the Reuters article, it looks like they bought a vacation property worth $16.4 million in the Bahamas!
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Professors get great benefits for their kids who go to college. One of my son’s friends has a mom who works at Stanford. She’s not a professor, but a scientist with a PhD. When her son graduates high school, he’ll have a better chance of getting into Stanford. And if he gets in, he only has to pay half the cost of tuition. My tennis buddy, who also works at Stanford, confirmed this benefit. Even if my kids didn’t get into Stanford, they would still get half the Stanford tuition a year toward any school they attend.
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Professors can make a lot of extra money. Some professors can afford really expensive properties on their salaries, but how? Let’s look at legitimate ways professors can earn more money. I spent two-and-a-half years writing, editing, and marketing my book, Buy This, Not That. During this time, I realized there are many bestselling nonfiction authors who are professors. These professors have used their status as professors at top universities to become authorities in their fields. With this authority and status, they can sign lucrative book deals every couple of years.
In conclusion, being a professor might be the best job for income and status. The only other job that might be better is being a doctor. Lawyers, bankers, strategy consultants, and techies get paid well, but they don’t get as much respect. Being an author is good for status, but it’s really hard to make a living as a writer alone. Most authors need day jobs to survive. As a professor, you could make a lot of money and nobody would know. You could blend in with the middle class and be embraced by the majority. Plus, you get job security and a lifetime pension!
If becoming a full-time professor isn’t for you, you could become an adjunct professor. Adjunct professors are part-time faculty members who are hired on a contract basis. They usually teach for a few semesters before going back to their industry full-time. You won’t make a lot of money as an adjunct professor, but you will get some status. And hopefully, you’re already making plenty of money elsewhere.
So, do you think being a professor is the best job for income and status? If not, what job do you think is better?
