If someone doesn’t love “pure math” then they don’t love math. Like most people, they don’t even know what “pure math” is. If your teacher only got a masters, it’s probably because they couldn’t finish the PhD.

Sure, your best bet is going into “AI” and grifting money there. Or anywhere else.

Realistically academia is a terrible career for any field. If you want to make money, then you need to serve capital, not education, not science, not truth. Sure, “actuarial science” is a great way to do that.