I disagree. Money buys you recognition, influence and power. There is no fixed price for these. It's an auction where the rewards go to the highest bidder.

More to your core point, you only make money investing if someone is building. Talking to S&P 500 goes up because those companies are building something and the stockholders get a piece of profit when the things that are built sold. If no one builds and no one buys, stocks are worthless and are not an investment.

I think there's an element of educating the younger generation to invest. If you can bring in more investors than are leaving, supply and demand will ensure that prices will keep increasing.

If no one is building things, Society collapses pretty fast.

Doesn't matter how many shares in bread companies you buy and sell. If nobody is baking the bread, people will starve.

A society cannot exist without makers, and neither can an investment Market in the long run

Is that what you personally are saving up for?

Freedom. Having money in the bank allows you to control your circumstances. It gives you time to wait for and consider multiple job opportunities. It gives you time to re-skill if the economy shifts or move if your region undergoes an economic depression.

That means being able to buy things. If you can't buy things, it doesn't matter what the number in your account is

I think the richest among us seem to disagree with you.

Different people may indeed have different values, but when we are talking about most people and what they are taught, I think this is true. People are thinking about retirement, buying a house, or paying for their kids education and this is why they save.