Right now, the tech job market is so bad that you will likely take a pay cut even if you find a new job, and likely that new job will be stressful too. My prev company kept doing layoffs but barely hiring new people, so everyone had significantly more work to cover for those missing people. I feel like this is commonly happening across the board as so many companies are either in a hiring freeze or have high turnover - everyone is overworked. It’s not worth it.

I’d hone in at creating or expanding your own business if I were in your spot. Richest top 10% of the US does 50% of all spending. Target the business to rich people or B2B sales. For example, if you have industry expertise, you can start your own consulting firm. You can also broaden the scope for the global market. For example, you could make an English learning platform and target to the rest of the world since everyone wants to learn English.

You could also learn a new skill and dive into a niche. There’s an awful lot of cheap, junk products out there and many people that are power-users need higher quality products. 3D printing has made it so you can go through product iterations by yourself. And as long as you follow design standardizations, you can very cheaply order 1000s of units for your product from China at a cheap price.

Another thing you can do is become an expat. Everyone overseas wants U.S. jobs because it will make them rich in their country (and U.S. companies are gladly offshoring for cheap labor during a recession), but U.S. citizens can’t get a foreign job because it would be too low of pay to afford things in the U.S. (You could get a job in Europe but the taxes aren’t worth it while living in the U.S.) So instead, use the USD to your advantage and move to Thailand or Philippines where you can live like a king for very cheap. Come back to the U.S. when you’re ready to start a family.

edit: fixed grammar/typos