I couldn't agree more, but before I go any further may I point out that the word "materialism" has two entirely different meanings. (1) An undue attachment to physical things, i.e. "wealth" in a broad sense; that is clearly the sense in which you are using the word. (2) The belief that the material world, the one that our senses experience and that science can explore more deeply, is all that exists (i.e. the belief that there is no "spiritual world" distinct from the material world). I am materialist in the second sense but not the first. (We can spare ourselves any discussion of a possible third meaning; dialectical materialism is a bit passé these days.)
My husband and I live very simply. Our car is 24 years old - and looks it. There is not a single armchair or soft chair in the house; simple wooden chairs are perfectly adequate and I'm sitting on one now. We can heat only one room, though winter here can be cold, and that room is heated by a wood-burning stove (for which my husband and I have to cut and carry all the wood from our own trees). We have no washing machine; we wash clothes by hand in the bath. Dishes are washed by hand in an ancient marble sink. And other things. We are far from poor, and could afford to have much more. But we neither need nor want more.
My only extravagance is getting my nails done nicely once a month or so. Yes, it's a silly waste of money. But I think I'm allowed to be silly occasionally.
Sigmund Freud summed it up nicely. Basically what he said (presumably in German) is that the two essentials in life, once you have got the basics like food and shelter, are work (i.e. something to do, to give you a purpose), and someone to love. He was right. I don't suppose he was the first person to make that kind of observation, but he is the first one I know of. I have my work (some research on a topic in biology that interests me) and I have a wonderful man for a husband. I don't want anything more.
The pursuit of material things does not bring happiness. One of my aunts married a man who was a good entrepreneur and who eventually became very wealthy. My aunt was no happier, and probably less happy than my mother, who had little. And all her possessions didn't do my aunt any good when cancer struck.
However you don't have to participate in other people's headlong, pointless rush to acquire material things (and wreck our planet in the process). You can step aside from it. How much you can step aside will depend on your circumstances, but you will be able to do it to at least some extent. I walked away from the rat race, and a very lucrative career, many years ago, so I could live a simpler but far more rewarding life. I have never regretted it.
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