6 Jobs That Create the Most Millionaires
Written by
Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy
Edited by
Chris Cluff
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Becoming a millionaire is a dream for many. While you can achieve this with patience, discipline or great business ideas, some career paths are also more prone to fast-track that goal than others.
And becoming a millionaire is not as unattainable as it may seem. The U.S. has 22.7 million millionaires, the most of any nation, according to the Global Wealth Report 2023 by UBS and Credit Suisse.
“Becoming a millionaire is a dream for many, and specific careers offer a better shot at reaching that goal,” said Kraig Kleeman, CEO of The New Workforce and Kraig Kleeman Live. “However, remember that becoming a millionaire typically takes hard work, innovative money management and determination, regardless of your chosen career path.”
Ultimately, financial success results from making informed choices, investing wisely and staying focused on your financial goals, Kleeman added.
“So, pick your path, work hard and — who knows? — you might join the millionaire’s club!” he said.
Here are six jobs that tend to create the most millionaires.
Entrepreneur
Running your own business is a classic way to become a millionaire and starting and growing your own business can lead to substantial financial rewards.
“As an entrepreneur, you can create cool stuff, solve problems and make big money, especially if your business takes off or gets bought out,” Kleeman said.
According to him, entrepreneurship “rocks for making millions” as it enables unlimited earnings, comes with ownership perks and provides a slew of tax benefits.
He said, “Entrepreneurs often enjoy tax breaks and deductions that can keep more money in their pockets.”
Medical Specialists
Doctors with specialties — such as obstetricians and gynecologists, emergency medicine physicians, dermatologists, cardiologists or anesthesiologists — earn salaries of $239,200 per year or greater, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
“While it can be tempting to pursue whatever hot career path is getting a lot of buzz at the moment, choosing a skillset that will always be in demand will make it easier to consistently earn a high salary for decades to come,” said Erika Kullberg, founder of Erika.com and personal finance and debt expert.
Kullberg noted, however, that you also need to calculate how much debt you may have to accrue in order to get to that salary.
“I graduated from law school with over $200,000 of debt,” she said, “and it’s not uncommon to see students graduating from medical school now with upward of $300,000 of student loans.”
Investment Bankers
Investment bankers tend to be highly compensated, especially after getting five to 10 years of experience under their belts.
“Enduring the thankless and demanding analyst and associate years to learn how large corporate transactions are put together, especially in a good economy, can pave the way to extremely lucrative compensation,” said Peter C. Earle, economist at American Institute for Economic Research.
The average investment banker salary in the United States is $266,689 as of Oct. 25, 2023, according to Salary.com. Yet, various bonuses often also come into play.
Airline Pilots
The median annual wage for airline pilots, copilots and flight engineers was $211,790 in May 2022, according to the BLS.
While the training is intense, the overall employment of airline and commercial pilots is projected to grow 4% from 2022 to 2032, so there is a lot of demand, according to the BLS.
Tech and Start-up Positions
According to Kleeman, these jobs can also pave the way to becoming a millionaire for several reasons.
For instance, tech companies often offer employees stock options, which can turn into gold if the company does well. In addition, these tend to have speedy career growth.
“Tech careers can take off quickly, with salaries rising fast,” he said.
AI Jobs
Artificial intelligence (AI) jobs are also not only on the rise but tend to offer high wages. For instance, recently, Netflix posted a job listing for a product manager position for a machine-learning platform, which lists a total compensation of up to $900,000 annually.
Meanwhile, a vice president of AI and machine-learning position at Upwork boasts an advertised salary of $260,000 to $437,000 a year, a senior manager of applied science and generative AI at Amazon lists a top salary of $340,300 and Walmart is hiring for a position on its conversational AI team. Walmart is offering a base salary of $168,000 to $252,000 annually.
Bottom Line
It’s important to note that when researching career options you want to balance a high-earning potential with a role and industry that fits well with your natural skill sets and passions.
“It’s important you have the tools you need to succeed in your career if you want to be a top earner,” Kullberg said.
According to her, beyond what your career choice is and how much you earn is not the best indicator of whether you will be a millionaire or not.
Instead, how you spend, save and invest your money plays a much bigger role.
“When you earn a lot, it can be very easy to get into the habit of spending a lot of money,” she said, adding that many high-earning career paths require taking on a lot of student loan debt. “If you aren’t aggressive about paying off that debt, it can be very challenging to reach millionaire status.”
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