It really is bizarre. My dad was a nurse administrator, had a great state retirement package and all these dreams of traveling the country with mom after he retired..a few months beforehand his body fell apart on him. First rheumatoid arthritis, then stenosis, he went to his retirement party in a wheelchair. It was a downhill spiral from there ending with him massively hooked on pain meds like oxy. At the time the doctors were prescribing it like candy, they even gave him fentanyl at one point :(

So he never did any of the things he'd dreamed about doing, and observing this really brought into focus what a scam the whole structure is. "Work really hard your whole life, then enjoy yours in your golden years!" They forget to mention that there's an excellent chance your body will begin to fail by then.

If ever I second-guess Howie and my decision to work for ourselves, all I have to do is think about this. But there's still no getting away from chasing money, just a bit more flexible, allowing us to enjoy traveling etc while we're younger.