Shaw's observation inverts our usual thinking about wealth—he's not talking about asceticism or poverty, but about the freedom that comes from wanting fewer things. A person who genuinely enjoys a simple breakfast needs less money than someone enslaved to expensive habits, which means they're literally richer in the only way that matters: they have more autonomy over their own time and choices. Consider the friend who inherited money but spends it all on status symbols versus the one living modestly on less income, yet somehow seems to move through the world with more ease—that's Shaw's point exactly. True prosperity, he suggests, is measured not by what fills your coffers but by what you can afford to skip.