> making a dent in the profitability of a multi-bn $ org should enable a very comfortable life
Life does not work like this, the world isn't about "should" it's about "is" and "can".
So if you create something that makes the company 10% more money, at best you can expect a promotion and a small one time bonus that is a fraction of a percent of that 10% recurring revenue growth you just generated for the company you work for.
That is the best scenario. The alternate scenario is verbal recognition with 0 reward and if you work in a truly dysfunctional organization you can expect outright retaliation at some small frequency.