Only 2 factors dictate how much you make

How much you make is a combo of 2 simple factors.

1 - How much money you make someone else.
2 - How easy are you to replace.


Why does Drew Brees make more than a teacher? He has the perfect storm of both 1 & 2. He makes the Saints a ton of money and he is not easily replaced. Teachers, while they do a valuable job, do not directly make anyone money and there are thousands of new teachers who enter the workforce each year.

If you can be trained in a few hours/days or even weeks to do your job. You will never make much money unless you excel at that position and somehow make your employer a lot of money.


What you make is relative to every other profession and industry. Artificially sliding the money paid to someone doing entry-level unskilled work only causes the tide to re-level and hurts those who are not in the active workforce. (retirees living on a pool of money or structured retirement)

Rule #1 has some wiggle room if you are self employed, but it is the same rules. You are paid based on your unique ability and directly paid based on how much of your good/service you can hustle. If that good/service is easily replaceable, others will enter that market and you will make less.