Sure, I get that. But are the people trying to maximize income as an employee really looking for the low stress route in the first place?

I suppose I should have qualified my comment by saying it's if your primary aim is to maximize income.

My primary goal is to maximize my income with the least amount of stress possible, and FAANG hits that spot just right.

I guess you can say I could maximize further by switching to finance or starting my own business, but the amount of extra stress is just not worth it at the moment, personally.

Stress level has very unclear correlation with compensation. My very personal experience was that higher the compensation, less stressful the job was.

At my compensation my only stress is what happens if I get laid off and can't find new work in this market.

  > I get that...
  > Sure, I get that...

Doesn't sound like you get it. You ask why people have an aversion to starting their own business and people are giving you reasons that you don't want to accept.

I've done both. Working FAANG is way easier than running your own business. Orders of magnitude less stress. That's why some people can "rest and vest" at FAANG.