Your impression is, of course, correct. I realized that my pilot capabilities make a decent backup since I have them, but there's are lots of reasons I'm an engineer and not working for mustache aviation anymore. I hadn't gotten the impression David was at that point at all, given his almost daily Facebook posts about how the job he was so enamored with a few months back is now a drudgery, and how he didn't become a commercial pilot to do what he's doing. Of course, with his resume and hours the best flying job he could typically get would be CFI, provided he had the rating.
The arrangement I did with the Aztec worked well for allowing it to earn its keep since I was going to own the plane anyway, and that is ultimately what allowed me to get some pretty decent flying gigs when I had them. I could also fall back on another flying gig to pay the bills if I had to, although I'm hoping that doesn't happen. So in that sense it was worthwhile, and if faced with the same choices I would make the same decisions. But I had the means to support the plane and its big expenses that occurred.