<p>I’ve been working in academic science for over five years and I’ve met a lot of PhD students, and I have yet to hear a single one say they were in it for the money. Some people hope to go into industry after graduation because the salaries are usually higher and the jobs (at least in some fields) are easier to come by, but the reason they get the PhD is because they want to contribute to research. </p>
<p>If your primary goal is a big paycheck, I would consider another route. As Bass51az said, an MS or an MBA would be a much easier route, maybe even a law degree. The legal job market is very saturated now, but with an EE undergrad degree you could potentially make a lot of money doing patent law (if you can get a job). </p>
<p>If you were to go the engineering route, in many engineering subfields the MS is considered the preferred professional degree anyway.</p>