Well yeah, that is the bitter truth and it makes sense because we can't survive in the current world if we are not making enough money.
What happens, once we start earning good amount of money, the needs and wants don't stop and we keep focusing on money to satisfy our desires.
What you have mentioned is a good suggestion which everyone should try to follow because not everything requires money.
Happiness is when spending quality time with your friends and family and we don't require a huge amount of money for that.
It cannot be denied that the presence of family or friends is the happiest thing for us, although money cannot buy togetherness when with family, but it would still be good for us to earning money and that is the main thing in life, with a lot of money we can help our friends and relatives when they need it, and that becomes more meaningful to us.