Can economists make big money in the financial sector?

I am studying economics for some years. When I tell others that I am doing economics, some people, especially those who do not know this field very well, often ask me about my opinions about the financial market and to give them some investment tips. They often believe economics and finance are the same; however, this is not true. However, if people ask me since the two are two different subjects if economists can make big money in the financial sector, my answer would be good economists can definitely earn big money from the financial sector but average economics cannot, at least this is my answer at this moment. Economists here are defined as they work in the economics academy. I know from my colleagues and professors I know, some of them are very conservative that they save a lot, some enter the financial market but make a loss, of course there are some that make some money from the financial market. From this very limited sample, we can see that the group of economists is just like the ordinary population; however, the reason for me to have that answer is good economists that have some abilities that others do not have.

Firstly, I want to give some successful examples of good economists can make big money from the financial market. The most famous economist since the 20th century, Keynes, made his fortune from the wheat future market; there was a story about him that once he bought some wheat futures but forgot about it because of his busy work, one day he found that tones of wheat were delivered outside his college in Cambridge. There was another successful example that David Ricardo was a successful broker and made his fortune from being an opportunist during the Battle of Waterloo, but he was not formally an economist at the time, but his contribution to economics could not denied.

Many economists and I would like to compare ourselves with doctors that doctors aim to cure diseases and economists aim to economic disease and even some social diseases. There is one thing that economics and medicine shares in common at least from my limited knowledge and understanding (especially in medicine) that there are many theories that are relatively vague and largely based on our hypothesis and assumptions. Good economists are those who can raise different thinking paths to the important questions and possible feasible solutions to the problem; therefore, good economists are not just those who are good at theories, statistics or mathematics, they are those with incredible imagination and problem solving abilities under an environment with enormous unknowns and uncertainties. Such environment is exactly the same as the financial market that the financial market is also a place with enormous unknowns and uncertainties. Therefore, I believe good economists also have the abilities to make big money from the financial market.