It sounds like one of your goals is to make a lot of money (which is fine of course). If that's true then purposely eliminating wealthy (and lucky) people from your social circle seems like an act of sabotage.
Like they've talked to publishers on my behalf and convinced them to set up meetings with me so I can pitch my designs to them, playtested my game designs and gave me useful advice, given me playtester credits on some of their published games, will most likely talk up my games if and when they get published, and I think I might be able to do a codesign with an established designer if I had a bit more time (pretty busy at the moment).
Personally I'd still be friends with these people even if they did none of that, I just enjoy their company, but it has had some side benefits as well.
Most people in the board game industry are far from 'wealthy', though. I probably make more money than several of these people I'm referring to (but definitely not all), although I'm much less passionate about my current job than they are, so I could still be envious of them (and every once in a while I do feel that way).