Of course, in many cases, these people have let their expenditures get out of whack. Too fancy houses to keep up,expensive yacht, too many cars, very expensive schools for their kids etc.
I don’t disagree wth what you say, but in fairness a 1.3 million dollar house in silicon valley is the equivalent of a $200,000 - 300,000 house lots of other places. The cost of living there is completely out of whack (I don’t live there). There are lots of places in California that a 1600-1700 square ft. condo/townhome costs $600,000 - 700,000 or more. And that’s not necessarily ocean front (those condos are often in the millions). This guy should consider himself very fortunate, but if he wants to get off the treadmill it’s time for him to move from silicon valley. Unfortunately, living the ‘California lifestyle’ has taken on such mythical stature that many people are willing to waste their lives holding on to this and giving everything working to stay there. I moved.