I think there is a phenomena where people measure themselves by salary more strongly than quality of life, because it is easier to compare apples to apples. Wh

I think there is a phenomena where people measure themselves by salary more strongly than quality of life, because it is easier to compare apples to apples. When I was graduating from Business school (twenty years ago when people did that so don't throw shade) people compared themselves against their other classmates in terms of salary almost exclusively. In retrospect it may have been more important to get your foot in the door of a company or industry that you wanted to stick with for a career. Alternately, if you get paid a lot when you are young it becomes your quote. In my experience, people who don't get paid a lot at the start tend to get paid less for the rest of their working lives.