Franklin identifies something most of us miss: that wealth and poverty aren't merely financial states, but psychological conditions rooted in our own estimation of what we have. A person of modest means who feels sufficient is genuinely richer than a millionaire plagued by the sensation of scarcity—and this matters because the second person will exhaust themselves chasing more, often squandering what they've built in the process. We see this constantly in lottery winners who go bankrupt within years, their discontent following them like a shadow; meanwhile, a schoolteacher living within modest means sleeps soundly. Franklin's true claim is that your inner life determines your actual life far more than your bank balance does.