I’m not saying money can make you happy, but if a person is struggling and anxious about basic necessities and creature comforts, they aren’t going to be very happy.
“Money can’t buy you happiness” is propaganda to keep people in their places. Cold, hungry people aren’t happy.
Another myth: “if you only try hard enough, you can do anything you want.” That simply isn’t so and that adage only serves to compound unhappiness by laying a level of guilt: if I didn’t get something, it was my own fault. I didn’t try hard enough.
But dreams and effort are absolutely a component in success.