While getting into the top 0.1% by income is mostly luck (e.g. I can name a single "lucky draw" that propelled me into my current line of employment), the top 1% got there through hard work, dedication and drive. So I am pretty sure I would still be making a good-enough living even if I was not in finance. If I was, however, in the top 20%, I would probably live elsewhere and, more importantly, think of how to make more money. There is always an opportunity to make a buck, even if it's not in trading but in something else.
The reality is that, to quote John Gutfreund, "you never get rich in this business, you only attain new levels of relative poverty". Temptation of spending is always there and there always will be people that will cave in. E.g. a headhunter in the article - they guy is living off of placing people in one or another firm. Clearly, it's a contingency business and one would imagine he should have had enough insight to save up some cash for the lean times.
