This is phenomenal:

We all need money

And if you spend it the right way, it does increase happiness. But research shows money doesn't buy meaning in life.

And when old people are surveyed (people who have almost completed "the game of life") they never use money as their scoring system.

If there's something many agree is a good measure, it's probably relationships. I've tried to use that as a scoring system before but it's still not as simple and elegant as money.

Maybe it depends on the type of life you want.

Here's one metric that's for certain. You only have about 30,000 days, roughly, to play this real game of life. Will you decide whether you won or lost by money? It's something to consider. For me, personally, I think Tim O'Reilly may have said it best:

Some of you may succeed, and some of you may fail. I want to remind you that financial success is not the only goal or the only measure of success. It's easy to get caught up in the heady buzz of making money. You should regard money as fuel for what you really want to do, not as a goal in and of itself. Money is like gas in the car — you need to pay attention or you'll end up on the side of the road — but a well-lived life is not a tour of gas stations! [O'Reilly Radar]