Consider the hypothetical: My partner has health issues that requires me to earn more money to support us both/cannot work. ... I work at a startup and if we su

Consider the hypothetical: My partner has health issues that requires me to earn more money to support us both/cannot work. ... I work at a startup and if we succeed my partner will be set for life. That sounds like a risky tradeoff -- if you're taking a paycut in return for some possible future return, you're essentially gambling, since no matter how hard you work, you have limited power to affect the outcome. The company may succeed and ear you a lot of money... or it may fail due to market forces outside of its control. I work for a startup (though it's late stage enough that they pay market salary), but my partner works at a more traditional job.