Once salary has reached a certain point, the total compensation, benefits and professional satisfaction or CV opportunities as well as healthy work/life balance, in addition to social environment - all start taking on more weight.

People do leave for pure pay concerns, but it’s not that simple for many.

Also: this strategy might not work so well in places where future financial security isn’t so assured, as where I am. Thinking about the USA or some developing countries where I grew up - piling up capital is so critical to survive surprises ranging from illness to state failure, so ymmv.

Good point. Now that you are pointing this out I see this reflected in the behavior off my friends. I have friends in the US who make very high salaries but are much more focused on that and piling up money for retirement as quickly as possible whereas my friends in Europe are earning much less but are prioritizing happiness. At the same time some of the offers I've seen for the same people at different companies for the same person differed by significantly more than my European friends' entire compensation.