Step foot into Miami or LA and you'll see the gaudy extremes of wealth accumulation. I live in Fort Lauderdale for a long time, and it blew me away how miserable a vast majority of the wealthy truly were. Meeting a lot of them in my younger 20's, believing they must be "living the dream", only to later find out it was a facade most of the time, completely changed my mind on "getting rich". Living modestly with no attachment to material things is the way to be.