There is one negative to hedge funds: they tend to have long hours. But the stereotype is worse than fact; it's generally 9-to-7 (with some fucked-up sweatshops out there that go longer) and the work is interesting enough (usually) that you don't mind it.
Compared to the (accurately stated) ills of the 4 paths you listed, that negative is pretty mild. And you certainly can find hedge funds with reasonable hours: you're just not as likely to become the $5m/year trader working 9-to-6/7. (But you can go into VC and work 9-to-5 making 500k+.)
I'll probably go back to finance in my mid-30s, because it beats being VP/Eng at some dodgy startup not because I want to manage but because it's the only way to justify age-appropriate comp. The problem I run into now is that, after some startup dalliances (and a 6-monther at Google under a psychotic manager) I ended up with a "job hopper" resume. That doesn't hurt you so much in tech, but hedge funds are terrified of IP loss and auto-reject people with "too many" jobs.