Wealth is not a measure of success.
Happiness is not a measure of success.
True success is to improve the human condition
Well, it depends on what metric you're measuring success. If your goal is to make a lot of money, then being wealthy is a
great measure of success. I used to think that being financially-motivated was a bad thing (i.e. wanting to get & be rich) but I have several friends who are
only motivated by money, but not in a bad way - it's just what happens to light their fire & doesn't mean they're addicted to money. I like playing with new gadgets & that's half my job at work - fixing them, buying them, setting them up, everything from computers to cell phones to TV players to whatever. So my views on that have changed a bit over time - while I don't think it's great to be in love with money, I don't think being motivated by money is a bad thing, either. A lot of doctors & dentists I know love the paycheck but not the job, and I appreciate that they do it when I break my arm or need my teeth cleaned or whatever, so there's that aspect too!
And as much as I hate to say it, I don't even know if true success is improving the human condition - a lot of us like to abuse our bodies with alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, late nights, unhealthy diets, etc., so how do you improve the condition of people who don't want to improve? We have access to fresh veggies & fruits year-round, yet we're all addicted to McDonalds, Pepsi, and Doritos. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, because enjoying a yummy treat is a form of improving the human condition, and having the technology to create things like Doritos in mass production is a pretty amazing thing.