A very expensive house costs a few million dollars, which you should afford quite easily, especially if you have a partner making a decent amount of money. Children and their education cost quite a bit in the US, but even that shouldn't cost a lot. A few expensive holidays per year plus retirement money should be easily doable.
So, basically, why do you want/need more money?
So a down payment would likely be $300K-$600K.
Let's say $400K income.
NerdWallet says that even at $600K down with under $2K of monthly obligations, you're still "stretching" to get to $2.25M, so "afford quite easily" seems a bit questionable.
I always wanted two simple things in life: 1.) To be great at doing something that creates value for others. (sense of duty) and 2.) To be compensated equitably for my work. (sense of fairness)
If you do both of those and succeed, you will make a lot of money during your career. Some people just want to do #1--Linus Torvalds would be a great example--which I'd agree is a more noble, though he's certainly not starving.
As far as what money's good for, it gives you options. It means you can take risks in your career and play the long game. It means you don't have to work a bad job or keep your head down if people are being mistreated. It means your partner doesn't also have to work long hours to raise a family. It means you can start your own business or invest to make a little dent in the world. It means you can retire early if you get burnt out.
Material things are nice but you can have a very, very nice material life with an upper-middle class job. Beyond that, most things are really overrated. I used to like material things a lot more when I didn't have much money. Now that I have plenty, I don't bother much with them. A lot of those purchases came from status insecurity or trying to buy fulfillment. In my first job out of college, I leased a fancy BMW. Now I drive a decade-old Toyota.
IMO feeling "rich" is feeling like you don't have to do anything--your life is entirely on your own terms. It has little to do with buying stuff.
I would love to earn more money. Then again, I look at the post, shake my head and have a salary at about 30% of the GP's target (numbers, not currency. Not in the US).
With 100k+? I'd be comfortable forever. Maybe the US is that much more expensive.
I used to have only one mouth to feed, my own, and I was making 25% of what I make now. I was living quite comfortably.
There are five of us these days. I make 4x what I used to, and it's still not enough. The various costs you can't avoid (healthcare, housing, food) have gone up faster than my income. Every year, the kids spend more money than the year before. Even without the actual goods getting more expensive (and they do), the kids eat more as they grow, their clothes get more expensive, their extra-curriculum activities get more expensive. I can't wait until they start begging me for a car or other really expensive stuff.
The typical COLA raises, if you're even lucky enough to get those these days, do not cover those type of cost increases. Not even close.
Some people are born under lucky stars, or believe that life will provide, I'm unfortunately am not of that camp, so I want more money for the unpredictable future.
Say your job requires a certain level of effort and pays 100k. An offer comes your way from a similar employer, requiring the same level of effort, but pays 120k. All else being equal, why would you stay and miss the 20% bump?
Even if you have no debt, significant retirement/future-life savings, are living comfortably/within your means, what rationale would drive you to avoid earning more?
Ultimately, you're still investing a minimum of 8 hours a day working on something. You may as well drive up the ROI on those 8 hours as quickly as you can while you still can.
2. To travel comfortably. More generally, to be able to seek out distant experiences without fear.
You need 500k post tax which is almost 1 million in pre tax saved income to get a nice home in a decent neighborhood in the Bay Area. That is a huge chunk of change.