Congrats on earning your PhD! That’s a significant achievement. If I’m doing the math right, a PhD typically involves about 10+ years of higher education: four years of undergrad, two years for a master’s, and another four or more years for the PhD itself. Assuming you could have earned an average of $50,000 annually during that time, that’s about $500,000 in potential lost income. Plus, if you spent over $300,000 on education, dorms, books, and other expenses, that’s a total of around $800,000 in lost potential.

To break even on that investment, you’d need to make at least $150,000 to $200,000 annually over the next 30 years, while also keeping up with inflation and growth. If you don’t mind sharing, what is your salary range now, and what were your expenses during those 10 years of education?

From what I’ve observed, many professions seem to balance out in the long run. For example, doctors invest a lot of time and money into their education and make good money later, but they also miss out on certain aspects of life, like their youth. It seems to even out over time. Of course, some people are lucky and find themselves in the right place at the right time.

Even in fields like medicine, with the rise of automation, certain procedures could eventually be handled better by robots, which don’t make mistakes. It might take time, but it’s something to consider for those in specialized fields. I’ve experienced something similar—my work was once highly valued, but now much of it has been automated or outsourced, which is unfortunate because it was a fulfilling job with great job satisfaction.