You are not "reduced" to do that. You are making that choice, that's all. Nobody is forcing you. If you badly wanted to create a business, you'd just go ahead and do it.

> > will require insurmountable efforts

regardless of whether or not you believe it's just "making that choice," completely discrediting somebody's claim the effort is insurmountable _to them_ makes you a breaker of Rule 1

Well it is objectively surmountable and if it personally isn’t to them that means that the money is more important to them than achieving that goal to make a business. I don’t see how this isn’t a choice? “I’m not doing it since the insecurity of not having a high income is scarier than my desire to open a business”

That said I do bet that if you try to do your thing and it really doesn’t work out you probably can go back to software afterwards if you’re open to the risk of burning through your savings in the process.

Because putting food on the table so your family can eat isn’t a choice. Don’t have savings to burn through as you do that? Then it’s not a choice.

Just one example.

Morality may not be objective, but it surely isn’t just personal either. That’s what makes it a nuanced discussion, and not just a choice one makes.

By deciding you want to do that in the future but first you need to save, are you deprioritizing it, or prioritizing it indirectly?

Most people in his country put food on family table without US-level software developer salary. It's hard to lower expectations of life quality, but let's not dramatize.

Isn't everyone nitpicking at the word "insurmountable" :-)

What if it wasn't meant to be taken literally

Lol i came back to my comment and saw this thread... English is not my first language so you are right, I'm sorry my choice of word got people worked up.

Or find an extremely trusted local who also wants to start a business and bankroll them.

The extremely trusted is the hard part.

Off-topic, but are you the bombcar of GTNH fame?

If it can be called fame, heh.

I am curious… why do you want to start a business? It seems like so much work for less pay. Why is the option of working until you retire early a bad thing?

Not the OP but I'd love to do something that contributes to the local community in a more tangible way than my current $BIGTECH job. I'd love to start a dance studio, a cafe/bookstore, a makerspace. But it'd be a huge pay cut, assuming I could even make a successful business out of it.

Your paying higher taxes contributes likely more to the community than another store.

Your paying a local charity usually does much more to the community than even running a gym.

If you run a store or a cafe by just paying locals to work in it, using a part of your high wages, it's pretty helpful. But see the charity above; maybe it's better to support e.g. educators.

In general, your community is never better off if you suddenly become poorer.

Using the money to pay others to start more local schools, maybe a free coding bootcamp (with entrance tests), maybe maybe could be a high impact thing to do?

Or a charity yes (unless of course it's sth like a SPA for dogs)

Taxes contribute to government, not community. Agree with the charity option.

It's just because I've been working in Technology all my life. I've got a PhD in CompSci, I've grown the tech teams of 2 startups, I've worked in different areas... and I just dont really find it that fulfilling anymore. The pay is outrageously good... but at this point it's mainly just that. After 20 years of doing it, it just isnt the same.

Maybe it's just the "midlife crisis"

I used to be told:

The first 25 years to improve yourself

The second 25 years to improve your family

The third 25 years to improve your community

The final 25 years to improve everyone

It sounds like you're just reaching the third stage of life :-)