It's very easy to say that when you're making more than the cost of living by a significant margin. Not so much when you've lived with meager wages. I love what I do, but I also wouldn't have switched careers if it didn't pay more than I made now. The years I've taken off my life from doing it would not have been worth it for an additional $500/month. If anything that coupled with the major inflation that's happened in the past two years, it wouldn't have even been worth it.