You may have read this story on HN or somewhere else: fisherman hangs out at the beach all day, and the rich man works hard all his life to get to the same place (https://thestorytellers.com/the-businessman-and-the-fisherman/).

Except the parable doesn't think through a few super important things.

1. Children If you have them you need money to raise them, send to college etc. Fishing isn't going to cut it.

2. Backup If you've saved money and you get ill or have some other kind of emergency you can use the savings. But if you've just been living paycheck to paycheck (or fishcheck?) and you get some health issue you're kind of screwed (at least in the US).

3. Work can be meaningful I haven't loved all my jobs but a lot of them were quite rewarding. I do like to fish, but it's never been quite as intellectually stimulating or rewarding as solving a complex people & systems problem, or as educational.