With the lack of empathy another very sad thing of living in USA is to discover how almost all the people measures success in life with the size of the paycheck/bank account.
Without money I think unto the future of one’s children. In the opposite direction, the degree to which you have money is the degree to which you can be morally effective in your community. The very poor and the very rich, IMO, have a different slew of interesting moral choices.
This question itself is quintesentially American. Here in Poland, I don't hear ANYONE EVER talking about wanting success. I think people here just want contentment and some sort of balance.
Yes, a certain measure of wealth is required to find happiness. Without basic needs being met, it is hard to find much more than misery.
Of course, most people want more money than they have, but different cultures place a higher emphasis on the acquisition of money than others. And studies have shown that beyond a certain point, additional money adds very little incremental happiness.
On the other hand, living in a culture that places high worth on money has significant side effects, such as people who have sufficient means spending much of their time, energy and worry on things that really don’t give them the happiness they are looking for, to the detriment of things that do (relationships, hobbies, etc.).