you are even talking about. The first 10 years of my job I wasn't in a position or a workplace that even allowed me to work much over 40 hours a week and even if it did, wouldn't have rewarded those extra hours by somehow moving me up a chain faster such that I end up in a position to not work as many hours. Your story here is very vague, though I admit I haven't read all of your posts in this thread so I may have missed some other details. But you seem to be removing money from the discussion so I can't tell if you are trying to say that working more meant you socked away more for retirement and then were able to move to a career that took less time later, or if you are saying that you stayed in the same career but ended up with a position later that took less time because you spent more time earlier on. The latter is what I'm hearing but it really makes no sense to me. I guess I could have gone in search of another job that allowed me to work crazy hours in hopes of moving up the chain, but from what I can see that would only get me into a position that requires even more hours. That is, unless you are talking $$ saved during those first 10 years or so.

Your posts read like a guy who cared more about his job than his family and justified it for 10 years and then realized that he was missing out and luckily was able to back it off and move to another position that allowed him to spend more time at home and now he needs to make himself feel okay about those first 10 years by trying to convince others that it was a wise decision.