Personally, I am not attached to chat history and am totally fine with losing it. I've never backed up any chat history, and to be honest I feel weird about having 10 years old chats on my messenger account.
I might screenshot some important messages, but that's about it.
I am with you. Put aside lost phone, I still have all my older phones. Every time I start with a new phone, I use WhatsApp from scratch without restoring history/etc. I don’t back it up at all. Has not been a problem.
I might screenshot some important messages, but that's about it.