Becoming a massage therapist

by Ben
(Los Altos, CA)

I have met many men at the clinic I work at who are massage therapists. These guys are looking for work!

Is it possible for male massage therapists to really make good money (I mean $45,000 and up)?

Seeing how desperate they look makes me want to give up my hope of becoming a massage therapist myself. I enjoy giving massages and doing active/passive stretching (whether PNF or otherwise), joint mobilization and so on. However, since most of these techniques are also used by physical therapists and physical therapy assistants, it seems that reputation of profession is stronger than the reputation of an individual (regardless of gender).

So,
would it be best to combine and become a PT and massage therapist or would it be more practical just to become a PT?