Hi Trace,

That is kind of a personal question, but I will answer it as best as I feel comfortable. You will not become extremely wealthy working as a scientist and be able to live a huge mansion and have lots of fancy, expensive cars. However, I do make enough money to pay my living expenses and occasionally I can take a fun vacation with my family.

Kris

Hi; I'll add that many careers in the sciences have flexible hours and exciting work opportunities. So - for example,I was able to take a few days off and bring my kids to watch the launch of SDO. How cool is that??!! I get to work routinely at large observatories with gi-normous telescopes and the most advanced technology around. I work with incredibly interesting people every day, in a career that is exciting and fullfilling. And I can take a few hours off in the middle of the day (like today) to go talk to my son's class about The Sun. So - for many of us, the fact that we don't make millions of dollars, like a CEO might, is OK, because the things we get to do are so much more fun and the life of being a scientist allows you to do things that one can't if working 9-5 Monday-Friday only, on a very strict schedule. It's not an easy career, but most scientists that I know much prefer the lifestyle that it allows than other careers.

Cheers,

-KD