[mywittyname]

Yeah, my father is an electrician who does industrial work (non-union, but co-owns his business) and I was out-earning him by the time I was 21. Even though he made some good investment decisions, such as owning the building his company leases, based on info from my mom, I have amassed 2x the net worth in half the time.

I think people often conflate "being a <trade>" with "owning a <trade> business." A W-2 electrician earns a median salary of $62k in the USA. A guy who runs a business as an electrician might bill out $250k a year for his work, but he'll have to pay expenses like insurance, vehicles, gas, tools/tec, FICA, taxes, rent, on call services, and probably salaries for his assistants (which may include an unpaid secret assistant like a spouse who coordinates appointments). So their take home isn't nearly that much.

[ecshafer]

This is much more in line with the electricians I know. Another part that can really mess with TC for tradesman, even union electricians, is that getting a solid 40-50 hours is difficult. They might have 60 hours of work one week, and 30 hours the next week. A union guy might not get stable 40 hour weeks until they are 40+ due to the way seniority works. High paying electrician gigs like a lineman or high voltage at a power plant often have to get there on huge amounts of OT during storms.