So which move has the best odds of becoming a millionaire: winning the lottery, going pro as an athlete or becoming a tech engineer? If you’ve read the title of this article, you’re not going to be surprised. But here’s the rundown.
They Both Beat Getting a Lottery Ticket
The odds of winning the lottery are one in 14 million. Meanwhile, one out of 659 players make the leap from a high school baseball team to a pro team, just one out of almost 12,000 high school basketball players do the same, and for high schoolers headed for the NFL, just one out of 4,233 get in. NBA players average a salary of $2,505, 720, while MLB players average around $500,000. NFL are looking at $860,000. But there’s a catch: The average sports career only lasts a few years. MLB careers average 5.6 years, NFL average 3.5 and NBA average 4.8 years.
Engineers Have Better Odds
From Paysa: Once in a career, the average is 40 years at a $125, 418 average salary, adding up to a total earnings potential of $5,016,723. That goes way up if you make it to Facebook ($13,533,236) or Google ($10,674,690). The odds of making it as a tech engineer are therefore much higher than the odds of making it in pro sports and they payout can be much more as well, especially when you consider that tech degrees are becoming more and more accessible.” Meanwhile, adding up the average salary and the average career lengths in pro sports nets you a relatively smaller pot: $2,912,000 in MLB, $3,010,000 in the NFL, and $12,027,456 in the NBA. But if you read this far down, chances are even better that a career in engineering is for you: You clearly enjoy math.
