by Valentine Logar

Created on: August 17, 2009   Last Updated: October 12, 2009

We all want it, that magic bullet that will get us to the top earnings category and make us overnight millionaires. Let's be realistic though, nothing is free or easy, and there isn't really a magic bullet or a secret top ten. In fact, for the past decade the medical profession has dominated the top money earners in salary, though not necessarily top earnings overall. We can all pick up Forbes Magazine and read the top earners or the new list of 400 Billionaires; rarely will we see any of them with a profession from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

In making career choices, it is important to find a profession that we can be passionate about and that pays well. You aren't going to love your job every day, but with luck, a bit of planning, and some insight into market trends it might be possible to find a profession that fits your personality and goals, while also doing something more than simply covering the cost of living. It isn't always possible to accurately predict market trends; however, some trends are grounded with solid historical behavior and can be predicted with some accuracy.

What is paying well in 2009, are predictions based on 2006 and 2007 survey results and predictions based upon performance trends. The results of the 2008 surveys are not yet available through the BLS. In developing this article rather than simply repeating the top ten professions, I have taken a broader view and tried to provide greater scope, thus I have grouped the medical professions, which dominate the top twenty highest earning professions, into a single "profession" and averaged the salary. For the next nine jobs or professions, these are in order of salary earnings from the same BLS list.

The following are the jobs that have been predicted to be the top pay for 2009 and beyond.

1) Medical Professionals, top earnings average $ 175,221.

Required education: 4 years under -graduate, 4 years medical school, and 3 to 8 years of internship and residency depending on specialty selected. Something to note, the BLS states that 80% of all practicing M.D's enter the workforce with a median debt of $120,000. The BLS is predicting a rise of 14% in demand from 2006 to 2016, meaning a faster than normal growth.

2) Chief Executives, top earnings average $ 151,370. These earnings are not including performance bonus, which can reach tens of millions in some cases. The BLS also includes in this group the senior management levels of larger organizations, such as Senior Vice Presidents,

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