After graduating university, it is not every person’s dream to stock shelves at ASDA or answer the phones at a call centre. In fact, it is the dream of relatively few.
If we take away regular career progression (accountancy, marketing medicine and law), we are left with a vast range of dreams and ambitions; whether in the realms of possibility or not, here are the top three.
Poker Star
Surprisingly, the life of a poker star is not that far from the day-to-day life of a film star. Though they are paid relatively differently (a film star will always get paid from a shoot), they are quite often adorned with money, women, and fan worship.
The wage of a professional poker player isn’t too shabby either as once you take away sponsorship deals, there’s the chance to walk away with millions of dollars for one day’s work.
Though getting to the top table is anything but easy, it is achievable. Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari, for example, is only 34 years old though has so far racked up more than $22 million in career winnings.
A current roster of rising stars can be found on fulltiltpoker.com, proving that it is possible to get to the big time.
Rock Star
Out of every band to ever release an album, see it chart and make their first million, there is probably a good ten thousand or so others that never see the world out of their home towns.
From practise sessions in a garage through to touring the United States, there is a long gap of time, blood, sweat and tears in between. And if you watch Blur’s No Distance Left to Run, you’ll see that even doing that isn’t always fun.
Get it right however, and you can make hundreds of millions.
According to Celebritynetworth.com the five richest rock stars include:
- Paul McCartney – $800 million
- John Lennon – $800 million
- Bono – $600 million
- George Harrison – $400 million
- Elton John – $370 million
When you get there, just remember to save, or you could end up bankrupt, just like UB40, Meat Loaf, Toni Braxton, Ted Nugent, Marvin Gaye, David Crosby, MC Hammer, Billy Joel, Jerry Lee Lewis and Willie Nelson.
Professional Footballer
If you thought making it as a rock star was particularly hard, then spare a thought for the 9,000 boys currently trying to make it big in and around the club academies.
It is said that out of those academies, only around 1 in every 100 or so will even make the lower leagues of professional football; a worrying prospect for those who fail to put stock into any other career outside of football.
Despite that however, even making it to League Two is worth the effort as the average player there would look to take home at least $750 a week. In contrast to this however, a Premiership player, on average, can earn roughly £22,000 a week – and that doesn’t include sponsorship deals.
Cristiano Ronaldo for example, earns £43 million a year from his wages and sponsorship deals combined; though Cristiano Ronaldo is one in 7 billion.
If you’ve passed the age of six, the sad news is that it is probably too late to become a footballer, though there is no reason at all why you still can’t make it in music or poker; two fine alternatives.