> Additionally, I'd love to take a few years off and spend more time with my family. Being tethered to a job, regardless of how much it pays, will not allow me

> Additionally, I'd love to take a few years off and spend more time with my family. Being tethered to a job, regardless of how much it pays, will not allow me to do that. Making a shitload of cash will. This pretty much sums it up as far as I'm concerned. We all have only one shot at life on this planet, so unless you're comfortable spending all of your productive years working for just enough money to stay afloat, you'll want to save up as much money as you can, to buy yourself the freedom to make radical changes to the course of your life when the time comes that's what's necessary to 'increase happiness'. I always get a little annoyed when people say or write stuff such as 'money does not buy you happiness'. In our modern, western societies, it actually does buy you happiness, provided you have enough of it, and don't blow it all on materialistic things. All those quasi-romantical perspectives how it's immaterial things like health, family and friends that make you happy are missing the point. It's not about money, that's just a medium of wealth, but about the opportunities you have for yourself and your loved ones to enjoy life. If you're lucky enough to have good health, family, friends and the financial means to make the most out of the privilege of having all that, you can be much happier than when you have to miss either one of those. I realize that this may sound awfully shallow and materialistic, but it's just my observation of how this world turns. Sure enough you can be happy without being wealthy, but in the end, almost everyone would prefer being happy and wealthy, for the simple fact that it provides opportunities that are simply unattainable if you're happy but broke.