Hear me out -- when you're debt-free in a modest paid-off house, you have so much extra "brain space" that used to be devoted to managing bills, worrying about layoffs or the next job, etc. Whereas if you're debt-free with low overhead, you can push back on management, be bolder in your current work, pay cash for continuing education, take interesting but not top-paid work, make mistakes and not stress about them, etc.