One of the biggest factors in choosing my career for the rest of my life is money. Doing something that I love is a close second. I have hobbies, I have things I’m interested in and dreams I’d like to pursue, but what’s the point of doing “what I love” if I’m not going to get payed for it as much as I’d like to be?

I know, I may sound extremely self-centered when talking about this, but making money is one of the biggest dreams in my life. I want to be well-off, I want to drive a nice car, I want to be able to go out to eat and tip well (See, that’s my selfless side), as well as provide for my family, but none of this would happen if I did not have the drive to earn more money.

For example, I mentioned that I’d like to drive a nice car. I’ve always had a thing for cars. Working on them and putting in the blood, sweat and sometimes tears, all to be able to drive that car down the block, just knowing that all my effort has gone into it, is what I live for. Now, this gets a little pricey. Working on cars, especially the ones I have interest in (BMW, Subaru, Mercedes, Porsche), can get very expensive. A question arises, “What am I going to do to get all this money, just to support my hobby?”

Work hard and earn a lot of money. That’s what.

Here’s a disclaimer: this next part might arouse some people’s opinions on money earning in certain fields, but hey, it’s an opinion piece.

People always tell me “You should be a mechanic!” because it’s something that I obviously love. I, however, very politely tell them that I’d rather have a job in the medical field, where I know I’ll most likely earn a good living. Let’s say I went to school and became a Senior Automotive Technician. I would earn around $51,000 annually (Salary.com). This is the median pay, meaning that half the people who do this job make more, and half make less.

Now lets take something I love doing, as well as something that would make a significantly larger figure. An Anesthesiologist makes, on average, around $345,000 annually (Salary.com). This, as well, is the median pay for this career. Of course, I’d be in school for much longer and would be paying off multiple times the amount for my education. But if I achieve this career, I would definitely be able to support myself, my family, and last, but not least, my precious car.

So what’s better here? Let’s look at our options.

BMW STEP program, which is their automotive technician program, is most likely what I would pursue:
-2 year degree in automotive technology
-20 week program
-Mentor guided on the job training, for let’s say the rest of the year.
-$20,000 a year tuition ($60-70,000 total)
-$51,000 annual salary
-In a perfect world, my education would be paid off in about one and a half years. This isn’t counting putting any money towards myself, my family, or my car.

Anesthesiology:
-4 years undergraduate
-4 years medical school
-2 years medical residency
-$35,000 annual tuition (Nebraska Wesleyan University)
-$50,000 annual tuition (Creighton Medical School)
-$345,000 annual salary.
-In a perfect world, I would be able to pay off my tuition in a year. As stated, this isn’t counting putting money towards myself, my family, or my car.

So, is the hard work going to pay off from going to medical school? I’d say so. I’d be doing what I love (At a small sacrifice money wise for 10 years), while also having all this extra money to support what I love next, my car.

I’m not here to say you should forget about what you love to do, and pursue a career that will earn you more money. Having a career that you love is important, if not the most important part of your career itself. If you dread waking up every morning to go to work and work with people you don’t like, you’re going to burn out. Eventually, you will ask yourself “What am I doing?”

Instead, find something you’re good at, break down and skew what you love to do, and find what you truly love about it. Being a mechanic takes handwork skills and an analytic mind to be able to tell whats wrong and fix it. Problems arise left and right that you must analyze when you become a mechanic. I am taking my skill of working with my hands as well as a love for solving problems, and finding a career that has these characteristics (anesthesiology) and pays a lot more. This will give me the ability to control my life in the way I want to, as well as let me not have any financial problems.

Pursue what you love, to be able to preserve to what you love.