I retired from the finance world at 49, i was a pilot as a first carrer and returned, the plus side for me was the financial security by retirement brought to the table, lets face it 90% of the stress a regional pilot faces are financial related in some form, i have non. As for the bs you have to put up with as a regional pilot, lets just put it this way, in order to retire at any age around 50ish its safe to say we had to tollerate our fare share of bs. Its not that we are drinking the koolaide as a reason why we seem happier, its because we have a real world view of real bs and real work.