[Sliver]

He realized the happiest times of his life were when he was an student and had less stuff.

"It was before I got locked in the trap of accumulating stuff and having to stay in a job because you'd accumulated stuff -the self-propagating cycle of staying at jobs that you hate to make lots of money to pay for stuff you don't really need or want.

I doubt he was happy because he had less stuff when he was in school - he was probably happier because he had less responsibility. As you get older you become more responsible for your parents instead of the other way around, you have kids (and need to raise them, feed them, put a roof over their head), you become more important in your vocation, there are more demands on your time, etc. I don't see "things" as causing problems, but if you're a dependable and valuable person, people start to depend on your value. That can result in stress.