Although few would deny that it is better to be rich than poor, for some people the quest for money is so all-consuming that it extinguishes all other aspects of life. The cause of the urge to make enormous sums of money varies with the individual, but often money is a substitute for something a person's life lacks. To some, money means security. To some, it means power. To others, it means the possibility of love, and to a fourth group, it means competition and winning the game. A tremendous need for power is invariably the bottom line for those driven to make a lot of money. The bigger the pile, the more powerful they think they will feel. Parents and family background also influence a person's pursuit of money. Many people who grew up poor and then made a fortune live in fear that they will lose it. Others strive for money to compete with their wealthy, successful parents. Making money for its own sake can be addicting like high-stakes gambling. The more they earned, the bigger their appetite was. They paid great price for their insatiability for money in terms of their living quality. For example, their obsession with money-making renders them unable to enjoy what they have earned. Instead, they just work at such an intense pace and under such strenuous pressure that they totally neglected themselves. Hence the emergence of various kinds of psychological and physical problems, like impotence, insomnia, heart attacks and problems with a spouse or children. The cause of the compulsion to make enormous sums of money ______.