Opportunity costs and the missed investment returns

I am now in my mid 40s. I started working in tech in the mid-90s. I was ambitious and mainly only worked for or led tech startups. (I did well for myself, so can't complain too much)

When I look back on my career, had I went with my intuition at critical times, instead of what I felt was 'my duty' (or whatever justification I made to deny my intuitive senses), I would clearly be further ahead. In total, I probably wasted several years waiting for people or situations to change for the better, passing up several ultimately better opportunities.

One could say this about relationships too. Live and learn.

Actually it struck me in the original article how it could also apply to any relationship.

Thanks for sharing, man.

No offense, but you don't understand. Opportunity cost means specifically you aren't leaving money on the table. It means you are grabbing the pennies when you could be pursuing a more lucrative options. When you are 20 those options don't mean a million dollar deal, they mean not taking the better job that pays about the same but lets you earn 20k more in 2-3 years because you are doing something you love and thriving in it with fewer restarts. That over 20-40 years adds up to "millions in the bank", which is what the original poster said, not millions on the table.

A few times not seeing bad management in a startup where you took options rather than a decent wage would do it too.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost

OP wrote "an extra couple million in the bank"; since he didn't allude to opportunity costs himself I think there are at least a couple people reading the thread that would want to know what exactly that means.

I never heard the phrase used to represent opportunity cost and it's not clear that OP intended it in that way.

I'm just interested in his story, man. I really don't want to argue about this.

You explained it, perfectly. Thanks!