Yes, it’s true. Making money can cost you your life and yet thousands of us engage in hazardous occupations to put bread on the table.

Here are the top seven most dangerous ways to make money.

7. Bodyguard
Being a professional bodyguard means your job is to place yourself in harm’s way to protect your client. Suffering the usual approach of weirdoes, rabid fans, or angry protestors and so on is the easy part of the job. Sometimes the work means taking a bullet.

6. Bomb Squad
No explanation is necessary here. Handling explosives is never a picnic no matter how much experience you might have. The unpredictable nature of bomb components (and the people that make the bombs) mean you’re never safe doing this job. However much money these people make, it isn’t enough.

5. Stunt Man
Here’s another occupation that centers on doing things we wouldn’t normally do. In this case, taking incredible chances with life and limb. Yes, the pay is good. It should be since you are risking your life or future health on each gig. Even if you survive a career in this business, you’re more liable to limp away than walk.

4. Fireman
We all have a healthy respect for fire; we know instinctively the harm it can do. Well, a fireman’s job is to run headfirst into burning buildings! Like bomb squad work, it’s impossible to guess what fire will do and no amount of experience can make this job a cake walk. Perhaps saving lives is the real bonus here but it seems to me that fireman don’t get paid enough to risk their lives rescuing us.

3. Timber Cutter
This job might seem fairly benign compared to some of the others on this list as trees don’t seem threatening to us as we stroll through the park. However timber cutting has one of the highest fatality rates of any job going. It makes sense. You’re dozens of feet in the air, strapped to the support you’re hacking away at with a chainsaw. There are a lot of variables at play here and anything can, and often does, happen.

2. Policeman
Talk about high risk! A career in Law Enforcement is not for the squeamish. Not only do you have to deal, daily, with the worst traits humanity can manifest, but the threat to your life is a constant when you’re out on the street. Any job where bullets are part of the job description, and you spend your shift amongst society’s criminal element which thinks nothing of taking you out, is going to be dangerous.

1. Crime
Hollywood has been glamorizing a life of crime since the 1930s. Fast living, fast money, enough action to make sure we’re never bored… it seems like a fun ride and a great way to get out of the rat race. Well, the reality is something different altogether. Many serious criminals will often lead short, violent lives that end at a young age. There is no glamour in profiting from harming others, looking over your shoulder, and distrusting your so-called friends.

Andrew Salmon is a freelance writer - he writes about earning money and other finance topics, such as how to obtain cheap life insurance in Canada.

Visit Our Bookstore for Great Values!

101 Tips Every Job Seeker Should Know	The Ultimate Online Job Seekers eBook	10 Biggest Interview Mistakes	10 Biggest Resume Mistakes

Check out these hot articles!

This makes us laugh… every time we see it	The First Step to a Job You Love	Palestinian Traffic Cop Loves His Job	Beef up your email signature

This entry was posted on Monday, July 26th, 2010 at 9:12 am and is filed under Career. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.