Go into medicine if you really want to get rich
Hartford Jewish Film Festival, all online, brings back and adds to unseen in 2020 slate
I know money can’t buy you love, but wouldn’t it be nice to have enough money to buy whatever else you want?
I’m here to help you!
The most likely way to become rich is to try to get into a line of work that’s hard to get into, particularly if the people in that profession are the ones setting the rules for entry.
For example, if you want to become rich, tech may be a less likely way than you suppose. In 2019, about 2.4% of software developers made it to the top 1% of earners. As economist Jonathan Rothwell points out in his book, “A Republic of Equals,” as of 2015 there were nearly eight times as many software developers in this country as there were dentists, but nearly as many dentists in the top 1% as there were software developers.
The odds are also against you if you go into the STEM professions. Just about 2.2% of electrical engineers made it to the top
1%, just about 3.3% of chemical engineers did and about 0.8% of industrial engineers did. The arts aren’t so hot either. Even just among people who manage to make a living as an actor, a director or a producer, just about 2.1% made it to the tippy top.
What’s wrong with all these professions? That’s simple: These are highly competitive, innovative and productive industries where global competition drives down earnings. You want to go into a profession protected by strong professional organizations and state legislators who will shield you from global competition and productivity growth.
So what profession is most likely to get you rich? Medicine! You get to save lives and make bank all at once! One third of doctors overall, including about 58.6% of surgeons, are in the top 1% of earners. There are more doctors and surgeons in the top 1% than any other job category. According to Rothwell’s book, in Spain, Sweden and Iceland, doctors earn twice as much as the average worker, but in the United States physicians and surgeons earn nearly five times as much.
Why is that? First, there’s our screwed-up health care system in which nearly 18% of gross domestic product flows into medicine and disproportionately toward a relatively small number of doctors. Second, there are huge barriers of entry into that profession — including, of course, the strenuous education that’s required. The number of medical school students is limited. In 2018-2019, only
41% of applicants who applied to medical school actually got into one. Plus, a 1997 federal law capped the number of residency slots that Medicare funds would support.
It typically takes a minimum of 11 years of difficult training to become a doctor, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Once you’re a doctor, you are protected by state laws from competition from lower-cost workers. Rothwell cites research suggesting that nurse practitioners and dental hygienists can perform many duties now done by doctors and dentists, at lower cost.
You could go into law. Census data for 2019 shows that about 14.5% of lawyers are in the top 1% of earners. And for some of the same reasons: high barriers to entry, limits on competition from less costly alternatives and limits on innovation. For example, in most states it’s illegal for a nonlawyer to own a law firm. If some MBA has an innovative idea for how to streamline practices, she is not allowed to start a firm and use that idea.
If that doesn’t float your boat, try getting a job in venture capital, hedge funds or private equity. Don’t go into consumer banking. Companies with low-fee options, like those introduced by Vanguard, can’t pay the big bucks. The real money is in managing those higher-end investment vehicles to which only rich people and institutions have had easy access. For reasons that seem to mystify everyone, pension fund managers are willing to pay ridiculously high fees to people in those professions, so there are tons of money to be made. About 5% of financial managers are in the top 1% of earners.
Once you’ve made some money, there’s one more way to get richer. Buy a home in a neighborhood with a lot of zoning restrictions. For example, 84% of the land in Charlotte, North Carolina, and 94% of the land in San Jose, California, is zoned for detached single-family homes. These restrictions keep the supply of housing low and jack up the value of homes for people wealthy enough to already own one.
My main message is that if you want to get rich, don’t invent a new and useful product, start a company and try to sell it. Put the effort into entering a clubby line of work in which legislators and professional associations are working to make you rich. It’s easier!
The Mandell JCC Hartford Jewish Film Festival, in its 25th year, has gone all virtual, running from Feb. 28 to April 2. If the lineup looks the same as last year’s festival, that’s because to a great degree it is. In 2020 the fest was supposed to run from March 5 to 15. But on March 12, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the fest came to a sudden stop.
“We are showing the nine films we were unable to show last year, plus 10 additional ones,” said Jennifer Sharp, who was brought on to head up the festival in December. “They’re not necessarily available on Netflix or Amazon Prime.”
Sharp said she doesn’t know how a virtual festival will go over with its die-hard fans.
“Ticket sales are slower. We’ve learned that people wait until the last minute to purchase their tickets, around the time they feel like watching the film. It remains to be seen how easy it is for everybody to get on and watch,” she said.
One of the 10 new films in the lineup is the comedy “Shiva Baby.” It stars Simsbury native Rachel Sennott, who stars in the Kyra Sedgwick sitcom “Call Your Mother.” Sennott plays a woman who attends a funeral service with her parents and runs into her sugar daddy and his wife. It will be shown March 29 to April 1.
Films that were scheduled to be shown on or after March 12 last year, which will be shown this year, include:
”City of Joel,” a doc about Kyrias Joel, a 1.1-square mile Hasidic shtetl in New York. March 15 to 18
”Holy Silence,” a doc about Pope Pius XII, who did not help Jews during World War II. Feb. 28 to March 3
”Latter-Day Jew,” a comic doc about a gay Mormon who converts to Judaism. March 25 to 28
”Mossad,” a silly “Naked Gun”-style parody of the Jewish secret service. March 25 to 26 and 28 to 30
”Advocate,” a doc about Jewish-Israeli attorney Lea Tsemel. March 5 to 8
”Incitement,” a dramatized biopic of Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin, Yigal Amir. March 18 to 21
”Those Who Remained,” a drama about Hungarian Jews and the Holocaust. March 23 to 26
”My Name is Sara,” a drama about Holocaust escapee. March 13 to 16
”Viral: Antisemitism in Four Mutations,” a doc about antisemitism worldwide. March 21 to 24
Other films that were not in last year’s lineup include:
”Asia,” a drama about a fraught mother-daughter relationship. March 2 to 5
”Golden Voices,” a comedy about two Russians who emigrate to Israel. March 3 to6
”When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit,” a drama about a child fleeing Berlin with her family. March 6 to 9
”Here We Are,” a drama about a man raising an adult son, who has autism. March 8 to 11
”’Til Kingdom Come,” a doc about Evangelical Christianity and the Jewish state. March 9 to 12
”Sublet,” a drama about a New York travel writer who falls in love with Tel Aviv. March 11 to 14
”Shared Legacies,” a doc about the Civil Rights movement and its Jewish allies. March 16 to 19
”Thou Shalt Not Hate,” a drama about a Holocaust survivor’s son. March 20 to 23
”The Crossing,” a drama about Jewish children who flee on foot from Nazis. March 30 to April 2
Those who buy tickets to the films, which are $12 per household, can stream them starting at 7 p.m. on the first day of availability. On the last day of availability, the film must be started by 7 p.m. Some of the films are accompanied by virtual talks. To buy tickets, and for more details on the films, visit mandelljcc.org.