Same here, I now have a 2-day job that pays the bills and gives me all the space to do only the cool and innovative projects I love doing. I've worked my way down the whole ladder, from 5 to 4 to 3, but finding a decent paying 2-day job took years :) and is by far the best as having 3 days free per week is perfect.

The simple logic is that money is compensation for wasting your time. The bigger the waste the bigger the compensation needs to be. My 2-day job is a shining example - revising structural calculations for the government.

Have you ever stopped to wonder why so many brilliant innovations all start out in basements and were never developed in a 9-5 or longer-hour job? Even the most brilliant engineers out there are all trapped in a bill-per-hour, "time is money" straight jacket. All are wasting the best years of their life earning only money. They all have chosen "half- bad", instead of just a little bad plus a lot of good :). A good pension plan and a mortgaged villa never compensate for not expressing one's full creativity.

The meaning of life has never been about money - one look at Maslow's pyramid (hierarchy of needs) can tell you that. Your friend has chosen to live on the highest three levels. Most settle for only the bottom two. Now ask yourself, who lives the richer life? :)