Most people don’t get it. It’s not about the money for the sake of money. That’s some mercantile bullshit some people certainly hold. But the real purpose of the money is that it’s proof of your skill to yourself and the world. Read the Iliad, what are the heroes going on and on about? It’s their wealth. Why? Not for the sake of their wealth since Agamemnon was willing to lose a fortune to win the war by giving it to Achilles in exchange for his commitment in the war, and Achilles rejected this for the sake of the future renown his mother had plotted with Zeus to get. Yet they brag again and again about the wealth they’ve achieved in-between the book along with the other heroes. This is why:
The Iliad is what anthropologists call a “ranked society.” This means that your status isn’t fixed by birth and neither are you entirely constrained by your circumstances or secured. While the upper class did have a sense of lineage they were not secured in this, as they need to often remind everyone of past achievements while their internal dialogue about doing or not doing something and reasoning to others revolves on what others will think. They are fighting to gain and not lose status. That is a ranked society.
A good warrior is a rich man because his skills in war gave him spoils. It’s an objective sign of success. The same principle applies to many men who go out and seek money. It’s not the money itself, it’s a signaling to the world and evidence to yourself that you are a man of value and SKILL. Not any idiot or coward can do what you did.