My last threadjack.
On the issue of money, the law of diminishing returns is applicable.
Once you have what you need; food, housing, health insurance, transportation, some entertainment, and a few passions, anything else brings increasingly marginal returns.
The people I know who literally kill themselves so that they can afford to acquire more and more expensive things seemingly do it, exclusively, to build their esteem among their peers.
For whatever reason, they believe that a Mercedes S550 will bring them more respect from others than an Acura TL. They need a American Express Black Card. They have to have a 7,500 square foot house, totally decked out, even though they don't have children, or their children are away at college. $7,500 suits, 100k Golf Club memberships, and on and on.
It's ironic that they're killing themselves to try and impress people, most of whom wouldn't miss them if they died tomorrow.
There is a point, assuming that one is confident in who they are, and not obsessed with what others think of them, where the rational person lets go of all the nonsense, focuses on quality versus quantity, passion versus excess, and throws any notions of those who judge them based on what they own or lease right out the window, and by doing so, they liberate themselves from a massive burden that will only get in the way of their self-realization.
You need money to be happy. Just make sure its a tool and not a master. And try to spread whatever is excess around to those who are truly in need of the basics, whatever that cause may be.