Originally Posted by if_i_may_say_so

Recently, a discussion with my friend entailed a conclusion that one's pay is inversely proportional to one's intellect.

How else do you explain that a journalist earns way less than say, someone in the property arena? Being a doctor / lawyer doesn't necessarily translate into a fat pay cheque as well as I see some of my peers struggling in these vocations. Granted there are peers who are registrars or hold positions in the Law Society, they are but a few.

My friends are mostly scholars and they don't earn as much as one would have expected them to, especially those in SPH. (We're talking about being educated in LSE, Cambridge, etc)

It's especially disheartening to note that we've been indoctrinated with the value of education and how being part of the academic elite would pay off in the future only to realise that some Ah Beng delving in property can easily earn more than the purported elites in education.

I am a prime example of this disparity. My intelligence ranks way above my partner but he's drawing close to twice my income with a 6-figure salary. Both of us are not civil servants.

We live in a prime district condominium and he is driving an Audi coupe. (I can't drive.)

It frustrates me immensely that having intelligence results in nought. Being able to partake in debates and charm in argumentative essays are skills that don't translate into huge dollops of money. As for the peers who have leapfrogged into the million-dollar annual salary range, they are primarily lawyers with connections or are lucky to be born into a family of wealth (CEO of MNC, family with a string of law firms, etc).

I wasn't born into poverty. I was of an upper-middle class breed. My family had political connections and friends. Relatives were somebodies in various industries. I have two properties to be inherited. But to me, that isn't my trumpet to blow. Those were not earned under my watch. An inheritance says nothing about the purpose of your existence. It doesn't count in my basket. One should not hang up one's laurels and wait for someone to die in order to live on that sum of money. That said, having pride and being independent has resulted in drawing a lower salary than someone who is a yes-man.

I apologize if I do seem to be ranting and appear to be digressing from the thread but this disparity is just not right. While I'm cheering on those who have fallen from the academic path and admire their success in alternative avenues, I cannot help but feel that those, like us, who have invested wholly in our education have been misled.

Please feel free to engage in a meaningful discussion but kindly refrain from simply name-calling. It's rude and uncouth. Appreciate it. Thank you.