Of course, few have that luxury. When drawing comparisons, it's important to not have false equivalence.

Yeah, I'd be living in a van down by the river if I quit.

I own a van and have a river in my city, maybe you can bring the food?

I would, but my wife would leave me.

Life has tradeoffs – a lot of founders burn through marriages don't they?

True.

I'm stuck at my current job. I would have quit a few years ago (I've been miserable for 4 years) if I wasn't married. I'd probably move to my parents', do LeetCode and Hacker rank for a couple months, then land a high paying job to save as much as possible, and then retire early to a small farm in a low cost of living area.

Not that I mean to pry but that sounds like it benefits everyone involved if it meant the pay raise – get a few months in savings in then bootstrap from there. Easier said than done I know.

My wife says she will never move out of the area. She goes to work when I get home to watch the kid and spends all that money on horses. So I don't have any free time to do LeetCode and I am forced to stay here and pay all the bills.

Sounds like your problems aren't really income or job problems.