The “good” life is really only for those who sell a business or inherit the money

So this is clearly a huge blanket statement - but I speak from the perspective of a kid of a first generation immigrant whose parents made it ‘big’ in corporate America from almost 3 decades of non stop grinding to public company executive leadership (C suite level). Now, I am personally trying to achieve success as a financial services professional with aspirations to go work in an operations capacity for a public, with my real dreams outside of this all to start a business one day. 

At the level we grew up at, my siblings and I grew up very comfortable, no student loans, support for first home purchases, multiple nice cars, luxury goods and some travel,  but we generally lived very middle class (until C suite where the company afforded us residences overseas / travel for the family / etc). For my dad the whole time however, his purpose and day to day has been non stop work at the expense of a close relationship with us growing up, no time to develop hobbies or that kinda thing, general disregard for himself and his health (he’s not unhealthy, just never consistently cared for it, etc. not the only way to do it, but it is the common story I’ve seen from his peers. 

On the other hand, we have multiple points of reference of family and friends who took on entrepreneurship - one being in franchising (Mexican fast food, even truck stops), who have built and sold medium size businesses; the operational piece was intense and unsexy in many regards, it is no doubt in my eyes that this is however a happier life, one that builds something you can pass to your kids more so than a corporate career. Know others with dozens of McDonald’s, dennys, etc. real estate is another one - many of these aforementioned businesses built and maintained by hard working but not the most sophisticated people (not passing judgement, just mean relative to these super sharp corporate folk). 

Another couple examples are folks who we know that worked for the corporate (industry is specialized manufacturing)  who split off to start a small/medium size specialized competitor who got rolled up in to the corporate. At this point they’ve made $$$ and are out of the race altogether - again obviously higher risk of a path but when it pays off it is glorious. Yes selection bias but the above both in franchising and startup now having $10mn homes, with many 8 figures split between investments of various types. 

It’s obvious and overstated but even in a high paying career with somewhat predictable upward mobility you are stuck on a low risk high pain path to a comfortable life mostly for others to enjoy, not yourself. Not to say you can’t enjoy working, but I view life ultimately as designed and built for much more than being a worker bee. When I think of the real “good” life it’s one where you can afford yourself and your family the luxury of just not thinking about the burdens of small and medium expenses, ability to really look back and appreciate all you’ve built and the freedom in both time and capital it affords you to now pursue development and hobbies in whatever areas you might please. 

In investing at a GP level you capitalize on this whole system clearly in a unique and impressive way but I feel like the path up and general industry explosion is clearly and obviously stagnating relative to 10-20 years ago (as are most things). I don’t know what’s next for me but laying out my thoughts here at a high level to see if they resonate. None of this is to say the corporate and working pursuit isn’t great for some, and even for myself it’s arming me with skills that I can use for future ventures. This whole thing above ignoring truly exceptional people like athletes and entertainers and the rest