Interesting Robby, true that money doesn't buy happiness and peace of mind but it does seem easier to attain some semblance of those things if you're reasonably secure as opposed to dirt poor. It would be hard to say that the guy going into sobriety with no family support and zero assets and no education or job is going to have an easy road ahead. Quite the contrary, he will have a ton of roadblocks to overcome.
On the other hand the person with a lot of money and family support, great education and job outlook will have a much easier path to travel. So is money important, yea I think it is.