You can look at this from the opposite direction: Will a big, nice house make you happy if you don’t have friends and family to share it with? Will the vacation make you happy if you don’t enjoy spending time with your family? Will a fancy car make you happy if you only drive it while commuting to a job you despise?

What they did value were things like quality friendships, being part of something bigger than themselves, and spending quality, unstructured time with their children.