While I can't say anyone I know has ended up in a particularly bad place in the end, there are two people I personally know: One is headed back to college to fi

While I can't say anyone I know has ended up in a particularly bad place in the end, there are two people I personally know: One is headed back to college to finish up his degree at almost 30; sure it's not a bad place, but his peers are far more financially secure and much further in their careers. Another was left scrambling for any job after his startup went under as COVID layoffs settled in, unclear how he's doing now (he needs a job for his visa, given how many years he spent trying to do the startup, he is highly unlikely to get into a good PhD program now which was something he had wanted to do). These are two people that I have immense respect for and who I'm sure did everything 'right'; it just doesn't work out for everyone. I think your personal sample depends on the people you know. I honestly can't think of anyone in a worse place than friend #2 above (except for one international student with a visa problem but this would have arisen whether or not they did normal things or started a company). This is likely because the only people I know here are from the university I went to though.