That's an interesting perspective, and of course your mileage may vary. Who knows what the counterfactuals are - what would your life been if you had stayed at

That's an interesting perspective, and of course your mileage may vary. Who knows what the counterfactuals are - what would your life been if you had stayed at work late for 20 years? Maybe you would be rich, maybe the outcome would have been bad. The grass is always greener, and there are lots of people who will sell you the line that if only you grind harder (for them and their friends) then you will be happier. I've seen it work out exactly once - a Romanian guy I know closeted himself with servers at a FAANG for 6 years and then quit with many $$$ went home and married the high school homecoming queen (Romanian equiv there of) he had spent his adolescent years dreaming of. As far as I know they are blissfully happy and live travelling the world. Mostly though the stories are sadder - near misses financially (within weeks of cashing out and then the founders had bad news... cashed out and then financial disaster soon after... paper valuation great, no exit ever, breakdown and pink slip) followed by a realization that nothing they ever did was worth a biscuit.