I wonder if this relative could have turned back time whether he would have lived the same way the second time.
Yeah; I reckon he would have done a lot more.
but no money guarantees unhappiness and ill health.
In both cases not true.
Maybe a more likely factor in regards to health, but fortunately in Aus it is relatively easy and cheap to get public and virtually free health care.
Obviously elective stuff isn't free, and some more serious but non-life threatening probs go onto waiting lists (knees and shoulders to name two), but basically you get seen to when you need it for not much. Add pension and welfare cards to the mix and it's even better for those folk.
But as for unhappiness due to poverty...sorry; but this is totally wrong. Happiness is a subjective thing.
I grew up poor, and my childhood was pretty good, lots of fun for the most part, lots of friends in similar families.
Did I get to go to theme parks, and holidays in Barbados, and skiing in the winter? Not at all; never ever happened.
But, you don't miss what you never had.
The person who is more likely to be unhappy being poor is the one who had it all, then lost it. They know what it's like to have lived the good life and now have the comparison of the two.
I know lots of poor people who have always been poor. Many are quite resigned and relatively happy that they will never have money, and make do with what they've got; holidays are camping trips, or sight-seeing drives for a day etc.
Their houses are modest, but many are happy homes. We lived in a 101 year old house that was a fair amount of a do-er upper, but my parents bought it cheap, and many of my school friends came to hang out there because the house was a welcoming home and they felt happy to be at our place.
The poor folk are happy driving the 20 year old Conformadore etc; would they like a Merc or Beemer? Sure, but aren't unhappy because they don't.