Do rich people think they are rich? Maybe they own a lot, but isn't there always someone with more, more, more, more, etc ad nauseam?
I've come to the conclusion that we are quite wealthy. This planet has such astonishing poverty, that declaration seems kind of obvious. But, even taking it to a micro level & considering the small number of people we regularly interact with, we're pretty lucky.
There are no children tapping us out & our home/cars are mostly paid off. There are expenses, bills, debts owed. But none of it feels like it's sucking the goodness out of life.
Don't get me wrong, we're not running out to buy the newest model of anything. We have to work & are terrible about saving/investing. Probably our dotage will be spent in a highway underpass.
In the here & now, we get to eat good food, go interesting places, spend time taking care of ourselves and each other. When our teeth hurt, they can be fixed. When it's cold out in the world, we can hibernate in our warm home. When someone we care about needs us, we can be there.
It's hard to come up with much more we seriously want, let alone need. Yes, there are things we would change (bathroom sinks), items we will buy (damn you Amazon for making that so easy) and desires which will also remain unfulfilled (just in case anyone's looking to give away a reliable new pickup which gets good mileage & has a bench seat for the dog to sprawl out on).
Seriously though, we are so unburdened and have been given so many opportunities to really have interesting friends. If life were over tomorrow, no one could say we didn't get our fair share of happiness.
