Recently, I found myself making an unusual comparison with a surprising outcome. My daughter had graduated high school and was trying to decide her path in life. She wanted to do something "responsible" that she had a "passion" for — but she wasn't sure what that was. I shared with her that most of us "old people" hadn't figured out who we were at 18, much less what we wanted to do for the rest of our lives.

So we discussed various colleges and subjects, and I encouraged her to consider a path that would lead to law school. She was not enthusiastic about becoming a lawyer. And she already understood, from watching the world around her, that having a degree does not always equal a quality paycheck.

Over the years, when I'd review applications for positions at our company, I'd sometimes let her sit with me and we'd discuss the résumés. We regularly saw people with college degrees applying for data entry positions, working completely outside the fields they spent years preparing for. She'd also met highly educated people working at Starbucks — like Patrick, a barista with a degree in political science but too much student debt and too high a cost of living to accept an internship in his field.

At that point, our conversation shifted from law to another career path: F&I. Making this comparison may seem odd at first, but the results prove it's worthwhile.

Too Many Lawyers

We considered the pros and cons of both professions, then took a hard look at the data. Here's what we found:

It's a grind either way. Both jobs require considerable attention to detail, world-class persuasion skills, high-level communication, long hours, and relentless dedication to work that always comes home with you. A single F&I manager will usually prepare more contracts each week than most law firms handle in an entire month. Neither path is easy.

That will cost you. Obtaining a degree from an ABA-accredited law school is not cheap. Over the last 25 years, law school tuition has consistently risen twice as fast as inflation. According to CNBC, the average annual tuition and fees at private law schools in the 2018–19 academic year was $49,095. Add four years of undergrad at $10,000-plus each, and a young lawyer could easily be over $300,000 in student loan debt before their career even begins.

It will be a while. The career path for many lawyers includes being in debt for the majority of their adult life — not only from student loans. They spent the first seven years of adulthood in school, not earning real money. Then comes the pressure to "look" successful once they enter the workforce, which means going deeper in debt on a house, car, and wardrobe.

We're not hiring. Currently, there are too many lawyers. This is causing a glut in the system and driving down wages. According to the National Association for Law Placement, in 2017 the median salary for a new attorney was $67,000 for women and $70,000 for men. So at 30, three years out of law school, you can reasonably expect to owe more than $300,000 in student loan debt while still earning well under $100,000 a year.

A young attorney can't simply go into private practice and dictate their own income, either. Marketing, healthcare, and operational expenses are too high without a stable client base. So instead they work for someone with hopes that someday they'll make partner. In their 40s, as they near the end of much of their debt load, the opportunity to make partner may appear — but at a cost: buying in to the firm, and continuing the debt cycle. For most lawyers, financial freedom typically doesn't occur until their 60s.

"Assuming a four-year tenure in sales followed by six years in F&I, total earnings would be about $1 million — with zero student loan debt."

Contrast with F&I

Turning to F&I, we wondered what my daughter could earn by selling cars out of high school. According to NADA Data, the average salesperson's compensation is $67,846. Average F&I compensation is $132,786. Assuming a four-year tenure in sales followed by six years in F&I, total earnings over that decade would be roughly $1 million — with zero student loan debt.

There is an unwarranted degree of negativity associated with working in a dealership that distorts the evaluation of the actual opportunity. If I could snap my fingers and make someone either a 10-year finance manager or a 10-year lawyer, the perception is that the lawyer would have the better life. But is that actually true?

The lawyer starts their career hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, working for someone else, unable to dictate their own income or schedule, doing work that may or may not align with their original passion. The F&I manager started earning at 18, has been building skills in persuasion, finance, and human communication for a decade, is debt-free, and is fully capable of generating six figures — with significantly more upside as skills develop.

What She Actually Decided

Ultimately, my daughter decided her real passion is in the fashion industry. She wants to design her own line of clothing someday. She knows that most fashion brands require substantial capital, industry connections, and many years of hard work before seeing significant return. So she decided to enter the automotive industry.

Unlike many of her peers, this decision allows her to support herself, remain debt-free, and fund her entrepreneurial effort. The skills she will gain — communication, negotiation, reading people, managing difficult conversations — will serve her well in any industry she enters afterward.

The car business will allow her to build capital to invest in her future. That's not a consolation prize. That's a strategy.

I need to be clear: I don't believe skipping college and joining the car business is a substitute for earning a degree. Nor would I advise anyone to ignore their education. That said, we shouldn't automatically assign value to a degree beyond its actual advantage. An education and a degree are not the same thing. Whatever professional path you choose, be a student of life — and make sure the math works.