> Maybe it's dumb but you have a choice between doing what you love and making a big payout by doing something else.

This is not strictly true. Programmers are relatively well paid. You can decide to live significantly below your means, and invest the rest.

For example, my neighbor once referred to his Oldsmobile as his "quarter million dollar Olds". I asked him what he meant, and he said that was the current value of the stock he'd sold to buy it.