(i can relate), you sound younger than me, so here is my life-hack tutorial I wish I could send to myself:
welcome to the life of the autodidact, sounds like you are well on the path towards being a polymath in a plurality of subjects. without formal degrees in subject matters people will NOT take you seriously, so it's best if you can connect with other people who are credentialed - there are several ways to do this, best case see if you can get your name on a few papers in the field(s) you are interested in. there might be conferences, reddits, or discords on subject matters that interest you - look for those to network.
you will need to continue feeding your curiosity or you will probably become depressed. having a wife and kids, try to always put them first to be a good father! (note: i wasn't, and that scar doesn't fade - so kids are the priority once you've got them and you'll probably need to wait until they're off to college before you really get any free time to pursue your own interests).
someday, it's possible (although semi-unlikely) perhaps you might find or discover something that nobody else has figured out or bothered to do yet - but don't try create and do anything that requires a seed capital because few will understand wtf you are talking about most of the time and with no degree nobody will take you seriously making fund-raising an exercise in futility unless you literally get a patent - if you can build/demonstrate a prototype/mvp then it might be a different tune -- if you can sell/license something you make in the field, then you can pay yourself to pursue your passions and that's "living your best life" (where I am now) but until then you're probably going to be living a lonely life of solitude with regard to your academic pursuits. cheers.
welcome to the life of the autodidact, sounds like you are well on the path towards being a polymath in a plurality of subjects. without formal degrees in subject matters people will NOT take you seriously, so it's best if you can connect with other people who are credentialed - there are several ways to do this, best case see if you can get your name on a few papers in the field(s) you are interested in. there might be conferences, reddits, or discords on subject matters that interest you - look for those to network. you will need to continue feeding your curiosity or you will probably become depressed. having a wife and kids, try to always put them first to be a good father! (note: i wasn't, and that scar doesn't fade - so kids are the priority once you've got them and you'll probably need to wait until they're off to college before you really get any free time to pursue your own interests).
someday, it's possible (although semi-unlikely) perhaps you might find or discover something that nobody else has figured out or bothered to do yet - but don't try create and do anything that requires a seed capital because few will understand wtf you are talking about most of the time and with no degree nobody will take you seriously making fund-raising an exercise in futility unless you literally get a patent - if you can build/demonstrate a prototype/mvp then it might be a different tune -- if you can sell/license something you make in the field, then you can pay yourself to pursue your passions and that's "living your best life" (where I am now) but until then you're probably going to be living a lonely life of solitude with regard to your academic pursuits. cheers.