I hope this post isn't serious. If money for money's sake is your primary motivation, you're setting yourself up for a big disappointment. With no commitments like a mortgage, and none coming up, what can you do with $250k that you can't do with $115k?

As for #1, an MBA to go work on Wall Street in this financial climate is a hard way to go, and you have clearly "not researched this option well" as you say. An MBA is most certainly not a sure thing.

As for #2, this is probably the better bet in the long run, but you are likely going to have to suffer through some long years of "not great" pay in the sub-$115k range before the moneybags come rolling in.