My goal when I started commercial flying was to join the biz jet sector, and when I judged I had enough experience, plus the right sort of 'get stuck in' attitude, to make the move, I did so. Unfortunately for me that coincided with the start of the financial crisis and my first GA job lasted only 10 weeks before being made redundant. What followed was 6 years of incredible instability, freelance contracts seemed to be the only available options and the situation wasn't helped by NetJets Europe flooding the job market with redundant Citation-rated crew.
I eventually took the hint, pulled the plug on GA and went back to the airlines. Personally I think it's a great shame because I have the right attitude for GA and, when it works, it's a excellent job to be in; but watching my former junior airline colleagues piling on the hours and moving onwards and upwards whilst I scratched around in the dirt for an hour here and there wasn't fun.
The larger biz jets certainly seem to be where the security is, but I know guys on Gulfstreams and Globals that have found themselves redundant when the owner has decided to sell. So as boring as airline ops are to some, I'm sticking with that option for the moment and piling on the hours.
On the home and away question, I don't have a family but I'm based hundreds of miles from home, and with a daft roster that often has single days off here and there and never more than 2 consecutive days off, I get home much much less than when I was in GA.