I agree that humans aren’t totally rational in these decisions, but the key point is that the professor is totally ignoring a large amount of what drives people to go into finance: money. It’s much easier to say how someone should use their skills, when you don’t have to live off of the salary those skills bring.
Come now, don’t make up my argument. That’s bad style.
Professors aren’t rich, duh. But they’re also neither in the job market, not starting their career off. Their students need to build wealth, worry about long term earnings potential, and pay back the large student debt that they just incurred. Unless if the professor is actively planning on quoting soon, none of these are incentives that the professor are subject to personally, meaning their advice will probably underweight them.
I agree that this is a flaw with advice from elders and one that one should keep in mind. I disagree that this is a unique flaw of advice from professors and more just a flaw with advice?
Those who have more experience are going to be more distanced from your exact circumstances, as a function of having more experience. Advice can be useful nonetheless.
