Referring to these front line finance jobs (I'm holding one such job):
1. Not everyone makes so much
2. Not everyone makes so much long enough to accumulate enough wealth
3. Every retrenchment means your average monthly pay is lowered
4. There is a cost to pay, e.g.long hours, stress
5. The psychological toll of retrenchment. It's painful trying to make spending cuts on yourself and your love ones.. the biggest uncertainty is one doesn't even know when the next high pay job will come.
6. Alot of people are trying to get in. Locals, foreigners, young and old, people from any industry, any field of study. The competition is extremely keen.
7. Alot of very mean, ruthless, selfish, unethical people are in this industry.
8. Alot of people in this industry are very bright, gifted, hardworking and they are likely to excel in other fields and make above average money
9. There is no such thing as lowering your pay to justify your existence. I like what I'm doing and I will stay even if my pay is cut by half. But it doesn't work this way. You either have a job or not.