[kalid]

Very well put. Jumping into a finance/consulting job for the money and living out your life is the career equivalent of cranking out jingos for commercials or kitsch art reproductions. We're human beings, we're meant to follow our passions. If someone is genuinely interested in optimizing processes or structuring finances, great! But it's a disservice to your soul to jump in for the money alone.

I realize this is a "luxury" mentality (I'm actually the son of immigrants from a poor background so I get this) but life is about more. "I study physics and engineering so my children can study literature and philosophy" is a famous quote along these lines (can't remember). Funny enough, I enjoy math/physics for its own sake. But mindlessly pressuring/inciting people to be doctors/consultants/financial analysts is doing them a disservice in the long run.

And for what it's worth, I think the revenue created by the finance industry far exceeds its value. Saying "the industry must be valuable because it makes money" doesn't sway me. The rubber dog crap industry is probably millions but it's not helping people.