As I see it, beyond a certain level money and things don't make you much happier. They just give you a different set of things to feel the same level of happiness about.
edit: This is as someone who has experienced household lifestyles going from <$40k/year to >$250k/year.
> I want more and if a job comes up tomorrow that will pay me more, I'm there.
Tere's diminishing returns on wealth accumulation. You need to give up something to make that extra more. Different people have different thresholds for "giving up" certain aspects of their life.
The kids you are thinking of certainly enjoy nice cars, good food, and so on.
However, the housing stock is mostly old & run down even at two million dollar prices. Not to mention, a kid with two full time Googler parents? They are attending an academically rigorous private school with 3-4 hours of cram classes after, not sipping virgin daiquiris by the pool.
the parenting attitude isnt "we got it made, lets enjoy the good life", it is "i expect you to do even better". also, most kids are not the product of 750k hh income families. the median hh income is about a hundred k.
350K is about enough to start considering buying a house in the bay area. Less than that and you have to make big compromises.
The life you can't imagine are all the lucky Engineers to be paid bay area salaries at reasonable cost of living locations like Seattle. You may laugh at me calling Seattle "reasonable" but compared to the bay it is.
Housing prices and the cost of any good school beyond a select few good public ones pretty much brings the lifestyle down to the same level. My friends with kids and solid incomes live comfortably but not extravagantly considering one lay-off can take your income from comfortable to 0 at a moment’s notice.
edit: This is as someone who has experienced household lifestyles going from <$40k/year to >$250k/year.