A frenzied work life may or may not make you better off, but being better off definitely seems to carry with it more frenzy. So you might suppose that people who have graduated from college would feel they have to work somewhat less intensely than high-school grads. You'd be wrong, of course. It's the college-degree holders who are working the longer hours. But you'd be wrong about that, too.
Surveys show they're far more focused on financial success than ever before.
Maybe, but there's no good reason to assume so. The typical American works 350 more hours a year than the typical European, more hours even than the notoriously industrious Japanese. You might then suppose that more Americans would prefer to work a bit less, sacrificing some earnings. Both seem doubtful. We didn't used to work that much harder than they did, decades ago.