Absolutely. There are some billionaires (Zuckerberg, like him or hate him) who seem like they're having the time of their lives in the chase.
Perhaps it's just people who don't enjoy their work, that are projecting themselves onto the working rich. Once you start with a faulty axiom (working intensely isn't fun), you start getting twisted conclusions (oh it must be psychological trauma, or those people just aren't reflective).
The OP seems to know the happiness literature well. He cites the studies showing emotional affect doesn't go up with money, but life satisfaction does. This seems to clearly suggest more money is >= less money. But his conclusion is literally the opposite to fit his essay's narrative: that if you make it rich, you'll just be sad and bored. This is not what empirically happens.
The statement "if you get rich, you will just be sad and bored" is one of the most obvious psychological operations by the rich and wealthy I have read about. It goes hand in hand with "money doesn't buy happiness" or "there is dignity in hard work (that leads to nothing, like moving boxes from here to there)."
I am earning 10 times what I was earning before -- I was living decently earlier anyway -- and my life is considerably better, with broader and deeper horizons, more creative and purposeful. I can travel wherever I want, I can help others when I can, eat the food I want. I don't go on a spending spree, I don't have a big car, fancy watches or other material possessions that can be associated with "having made it." But my life has improved a great deal. And if I had more money, my life would have even greater potential, aspirations and achievements. One might say, "But if a loved one were to die, your money would not help." Perhaps. But how would a lack of money help?
Perhaps it's just people who don't enjoy their work, that are projecting themselves onto the working rich. Once you start with a faulty axiom (working intensely isn't fun), you start getting twisted conclusions (oh it must be psychological trauma, or those people just aren't reflective).
The OP seems to know the happiness literature well. He cites the studies showing emotional affect doesn't go up with money, but life satisfaction does. This seems to clearly suggest more money is >= less money. But his conclusion is literally the opposite to fit his essay's narrative: that if you make it rich, you'll just be sad and bored. This is not what empirically happens.