“Rich man vs. fisherman on beach” is a flawed parable

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:&#x2F;&#x2F;thestorytellers.com&#x2F;the-businessman-and-the-fisherman&#x2F;).<p>Except the parable doesn&#x27;t think through a few super important things.<p>1. Children If you have them you need money to raise them, send to college etc. Fishing isn&#x27;t going to cut it.<p>2. Backup If you&#x27;ve saved money and you get ill or have some other kind of emergency you can use the savings. But if you&#x27;ve just been living paycheck to paycheck (or fishcheck?) and you get some health issue you&#x27;re kind of screwed (at least in the US).<p>3. Work can be meaningful I haven&#x27;t loved all my jobs but a lot of them were quite rewarding. I do like to fish, but it&#x27;s never been quite as intellectually stimulating or rewarding as solving a complex people &amp; systems problem, or as educational.