You are shooting down a strawman. The choice is not always or even mostly between "working entire life in forced mediocrity" vs "buying freedom". I have worked in a job, and I now own a successful business (and so I am reasonably wealthy) and I have actually enjoyed both. I was happy in my job, was paid decently, and I did some really interesting work. Then why I did I leave? The desire to be closer to family, that was the first motivation and a sense of adventure. Most of my former colleagues from where I worked (after 10+ years on the job) are quite happy too, and some of them have 20-30 patents to their name.

And statistically speaking, most Americans actually report being happy in their jobs. Anecdotally, I know many of my own employees turn down a lot of headhunter calls, often offering a lot more money - I assume that is about as real a test as it gets that they are happy in what they are doing.

This is not to tell you what is right for you. If you want to start a business (like I did) by all means, go ahead. I am just saying reality is a lot more nuanced, and a lot more complex.