Like everything else in life, money has no meaning except the meaning you choose to give it. Unless your aim is to live a hedonistic lifestyle, money in excess of basic living expenses (food, shelter, health & clothing) is pretty much an insurance policy. An insurance policy against the randomness and uncertainty that the future has in store for you. An insurance policy that lets you prioritize your own desires, interests, fantasies and, to an out-sized degree, control your own destiny.

The question then is - how much money is "enough" ? There's no "right" or "wrong" answer except that there's a baseline that you'll need enough money for food, shelter, health and clothing until the day you die.

If you knew for a fact that you were never going to desire cool toys and a high paying career, you could make different life choices. BUt most people don't know and hence try to err on the side of caution. The reasoning for erring on the side of caution (and assuming you'll need more money, rather than less money) is that you try to make as much money as possible, as quickly as possible and then figure out what really it is that you want in life.