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The freedom to legitimately make a wider range of decisions is possible to expand while increasing success in some cases. I see most software engineers go down a path of increasing their financial obligations along with their incomes. I have tried to limit this over time, and instead, I take about 2/5 of my time off long-term. As a 32 year old, I've taken multi-year breaks from employment and lots of multi-month breaks. Funny enough, in this time I've gained niche software engineering skills in things that I would probably not have been able to acquire at work, which has opened up a variety of interesting jobs that I don't think would have been accessible via a path of continuous employment. For me it has been the opposite of the fear that most people are inclined to believe where the next employer will see a "resume gap" and be uninterested. In my time off of work, I have been able to build many personal relationships that would not have been accessible if I were working 40 hours per week continuously with a measly 4 weeks off per year. More relationships => more opportunities. More time for relationships => higher quality relationships => higher quality opportunities. This lets me work even less over time, and usually for 3 or 4 days per week when something interesting crosses my path. The labor market is extremely inefficient and it can often be exploited heavily to gain personal freedom and success simultaneously.