Really? If you don't need to work for the rest of your life and can afford to hire multiple staff to work for you that seems like something akin to a minor feudal lord to me.

It adds up quickly though. After taxes on those revenues you’re looking at $60k/year for each child’s education, $75k for family travel and recreation - with 2 kids you’re at $200k already before considering taxes. Meanwhile club membership can easily reach $30k for family socializing, $10k for home and garden maintenance, in addition to day to day expenses like dining and sports training/dues - easily another $20k annually. Throw in another $40k on property taxes.

So you can’t really quit your day job and you’re solidly upper middle class - but it’s not like you’re aren’t still thinking about money or that you’re spending your growth (keep in mind your earning on top of realized investment income is taxed at nearly the highest marginal rates - what legacy will you even have to pass down, especially after estate taxes. Can keep you up at night if the Margeaux didn’t knock you out.

It’s really news to me that I’m a surf. Here I was thinking that I could choose to work for anybody I wanted to, including myself, or specialize in any line of work I liked. I thought that I had completely freedom to hold my own assets and other property, and use them in any way I choose.

But apparently I exist in a state of permanent debt bondage, I am merely a chattel tied to a piece of land, that can be brought and sold by whoever is the master of my liberty.

Because that’s what a serfdom is, and according to the most upvoted comment ITT, our modern society significantly resembles a serfdom. Gosh, I really hope that violent revolution they’re talking about happens soon, so that my masters wealth can be fairly redistributed.

I wish I could work for anyone that I wanted to. The hurdle is acquiring the skills needed for that job, often years before you can get the job (in which case those skill may no longer be relevant). Secondly you need credentials. A prerequisite to both those is access to capital. Other forms of credentials is a built up network of references. Once you get all that you then need to locate someone that has a need that your skills happen to fill (hopefully you didn't skill up on an area that is no longer relevant), then you need to convince them to hire you.

And once you are working for someone else, there are a lot of things tipping the scales of power toward the employer. If you want to switch employers it takes time to prep and interview. Both of those are hard to come by if your current employer is requiring excess work hours from you, and isn't approving vacation request. And you then need to perform well in an interview which is difficult if you are currently suffering employer-induced burnout.

Well the fundamental issue you’re describing is that if you want a job, you have to be able to perform some sort of valuable function. Which you could rephrase as if you want to extract value from society, you need to be able to contribute value to it. There has never been a time when this was easier to do. If you want to compete for high value positions, you’re free to do so. If you want capital to invest in your skills, an essentially unlimited quantity of it is available to you. If you want to contribute a minimum level of value, you will only face a trivial level of competition for employment. If you want to contribute no value at all, the state will still provide for your welfare by taxing the value that everybody else provides.

You’re right that most of these pathways require some level of work, but that’s not a valid thing to complain about. Without the systems or society has established, it would require a lot more work, in return for much less reward, and the consequences of failing would actually be serious. There has never been a more prosperous time to live, and your complaint that you still have to do work and that people don’t value you as much as you think they should is frankly just whining. Our modern society doesn’t resemble a serfdom on any meaningful level, and no matter what system you think would be capable of improving things further, you’ll still have to confront the reality that there will always be people better at navigating it than you are.

Sounds like you came from a privileged background or you may have forgotten your humble roots.

What a tremendously low effort (and inaccurate) ad hominem.

It’s called life. Life is challenging, not everyone gets everything that they want. In centuries past, people developed elaborate belief systems like Buddhism and Christianity which provide wisdom and guidance to help people accept and even possibly enjoy a life that will inevitably fall short of expectations.

8/10 but satire is frowned upon nowadays