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Years ago, I read an article about a college professor, a lawyer, a doctor, and a very successful small business owner. All were from a VERY disadvantaged, inner city school with a sub 50% graduation rate and under 25% university success rate. All also had had a particular high school teacher for English or History (I simply can't remember which). This guy started his course with a lecture on "THE BIG GAME".
I don't recall a lot about the lecture unfortunately, but it influenced these poor struggling kids so profoundly that they went on to very successful professional lives. The big game, of course, was LIFE. The teacher started by asking if the kids enjoyed playing games. Of course they said yes, sensing a break from the tedium of the classroom. He then went on to explain the rules... that there were very definite rules, but everyone made up their own, and that only they knew what THEIR rules were, and when they had won. It sounded a lot like the board game Careers.
He then explained that the fun thing about this game was you could change the rules for winning. Even after you had won, you could change it so there was another way to win again, and go after that. You could want to be a millionaire, get there, win, and then decide you wanted to climb a mountain to win again. The possibilities were endless, and you could win doing something that didn't get someone else any closer to winning. You won when you were happy and content with your life.
He finally tied it into education by telling them that they probably wouldn't win just by getting an education, but that getting a good education would give them so many more opportunities to win... to achieve their dreams.
These 4 very successful people all with very unlikely backgrounds remembered that lecture and teacher as having been the catalyst to their success in life.
It sounds to me like you've kind of won at life already, and are looking to change the rules to win again. Good luck. The rules are such that if you find what you thought was the winning strategy (success) isn't bringing your the rewards you thought it would, you can change in mid-stream. That almost sounds about where you are. I will suggest that if you are looking at a specific dollar figure, you can always use more and do better things with it. From my financial counseling days, I always advised people that money itself was a bad goal. What money could do for you was a good goal.
As for me, I've achieved my financial goals and then some, my children are all doing well and I'm proud of them, so I feel I've been a success. I will retire early, but I will not stop living. I haven't won my Nobel Prize, or written my best-selling novel, or hiked the length of the Appalachian Trail, so I do have some more potential wins in my future.
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The secret to great marksmanship is deciding what the target was AFTER you've shot.
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