Those guys at the banks earn so much more than us consultants it's unreal. Man, they're in a different league. Literally all of them at management level are multi-multi-millionaires. And they get out by 5pm every day too.The bosses in consultancy have the egos, the bosses at the banks have the money.

BEP,Lets get real please. Yes, Exec level in big banks get paid very well [b]just like[/b] the Partners in big consultancies. I would say the Execs get more (when you include shares etc) but the Partners in big Consultancies are hardly far behind when they close big big deals.(I am excluding USA based bank Execs, who used to get paid $20m+ etc before 2007. I'm focusing here in the UK)I would also agree that the average Senior Manager in a big bank gets paid a bit more than equivalent in consultancy. But again, its 10-20% rather than 40-50%Also, lets quash this idea that "poor old consultant" is the only one working late. In my experience, in the big banks any Exec and Senior Mangt worth his salt (ie the good ones) are working all hours and have to go to all sorts of after work dos, client meetings, supplier meetings etc. Again, I think consultants may do 10-20% more here and there due to inhouse work, but it is certainly not 40-50%And lets all remember, that in a country where the average salary is c£24k (do you remember the good old days when we earned that!?!), we are all not doing too badly.

Yep. Climbing the corporate ladder is far less likely to turn you in a multi-millionaire than starting your own business. This may not hold true for the majority of the population (and that's kind of the whole point) but for the highly qualified ones out there it's a no-brainer. Think about it - you spend years upon years in a hyper-competitive environment, where thousands of highly motivated, moderate- to-highly educated individuals compete on a very narrow front for a handful of top spots (i.e. partner etc.) Surely there are far less competitive environments for making top bucks out there?