The sort of stable accumulation described is typical for a very small number of people overall, from low income to higher incomes, in my experience. Life is complicated.
I know of a billionaire (one of the ones most HNers consider evil) that had a lot of the local millionaires sneering at him when he didn't renovate the vacation house that he bought in the kind of place where those kinds of people buy vacation houses. According to the help at the yacht club his rational was that it wasn't worth his time to think about and there was no sense in paying someone to manage the process because from his POV there's no difference between vacationing in a house his contractor optioned out vs vacationing in one the last owner optioned out. That said, I think it may have been a "guest house" because upon Googling he has a much more extensive mansion in the area.
And while you say "human nature" I'd rather say it's "human illness." They someone are within a strata of society where there is no limit, a 20 minute private jet flight or a $20,000 meal is not out of the question and is in fact the norm.
They buy a fully renovated house for $10 million but then gut it to renovate it to "their tastes" and then live in it for two weeks of the year. There's just not culture to tell them it's excessive.