From my experience, if any high paying jobs will require you to spend substantial amount of time and effort in what you do. Especially in making decisions and taking risk which contributes to the business side. It's always nice to earn huge salary but the higher the salary goes, the higher the responsibilities are.

As fresh graduates, the common type of motivation to work is more of getting more digits in the paycheck. However, as time goes, people will realize that working is not everything about money. If you have a high paying job but you do not like what you do, you will not last long in the job. There must be a balance between work and life.

Certain type of industries pays a lot because of the risks at work and the requirement of being away from home for extended period of time. For eg., Airlines, Offshore Oil & Gas, Telco, etc. I don't deny that fresh graduates will enjoy the traveling, not to mention about the extra side income you can make from traveling. But as days go by, we will tend to get lonely especially if we are always abroad / away from home. Especially for those married people.

I don't deny that working overseas as freelancer / contractor is good for money. I'm dealing with these people all the time. The figures they make is way more than what those permanent staffs are making. The only problem for them is the endless traveling and away from home. Like I said previously, all these have to come at a price of being away from family. So, for those who are single, this is not a problem.

I don't deny that working for Ericsson is indeed enjoyable. It has a great working environment and the benefits are good too. At least the company treats its employees as humans and not machines. That's why most people will love their job there and many old timers remained there until they retire.

Like your boss' case, it's just a practical example of the extended period of being away from family. No doubt about the huge amount of money a freelancer makes, but money can't buy back the time that we missed out with our family. There's no way we can turn back the clock to let us hold our children's hands and help them to take their 1st steps, read them bedtime stories and pat them to sleep.

I have an engineer working with me who is a freelancer and makes about USD7,000.00 a month but she left her 7 months old baby at home to be nursed by someone else (I assume is her husband looking after their child).