Being rich to me is just a state of mind. Oddly enough the more money i make the more jaded i become and less happy i am overall in life. My degree got me a job, but working my ass off for 60 hours a week got me where i am today. You don't need a PhD to be rich, but you won't find too many poor Doctors or Dentists.
Most of the extremely wealthy people i know either inherited their wealth or got extremely lucky on a business deal.
Life is what you make of it, but the day you start feeling sorry for yourself is the day you will not progress in life anymore. I also believe in living a modest lifestyle, i own a small condo and drive a Toyota Camry. Most of the people who work below me and make far less than me drive BMW's and Lexus', almost all of my team members have more bills than i do, yet make about 2/3 of what i do.
It's all about choices, I'd rather invest money and have a nice vacation overseas a few times a year than drive a BMW, but to each his own.