---
id: "concept-lunch-pail-jobs"
type: "concept"
source_timestamps: ["00:13:20", "00:13:35"]
tags: ["career-strategy", "wealth-creation"]
related: ["contrarian-blue-collar-wealth", "action-start-boring-business"]
definition: "High-paying W2 jobs (e.g., investment banking) that, despite the salary, still require trading time for money without building owned enterprise value."
sources: ["dillian"]
sourceVaultSlug: "jared-dillian-macro-trading-wealth-2026Jun25"
originDay: 6
---
# Lunch Pail Jobs

## Definition

High-paying W2 jobs (e.g., investment banking) that, despite the salary, still require trading time for money without building owned enterprise value.

## Detail

[[entity-jared-dillian]] uses the term **'lunch pail jobs'** to describe high-paying W2 employment in prestigious sectors like:

- Investment banking
- Private equity
- Silicon Valley tech

Despite the high salaries, Dillian argues these are fundamentally **just jobs where an individual trades their time for money**. The worker does not own the underlying enterprise value or control their ultimate destiny.

He contrasts these roles with entrepreneurship — see [[contrarian-blue-collar-wealth]] and [[action-start-boring-business]] — arguing that true, outsized wealth is rarely created by being an employee, even a highly paid one, but rather by **owning a business and building equity**.

See the verbatim formulation in [[quote-business-wealth]].

### Counter-Perspective
High-paying W2 careers *can* create significant wealth through high savings rates, concentrated equity compensation, and eventual transitions to entrepreneurship or angel investing.

## Related

- [[contrarian-blue-collar-wealth]]
- [[action-start-boring-business]]
- [[quote-business-wealth]]