When I lived in CA, it was like that. I even lived in one of those huge fancy homes for a couple of years. What it cost was that my husband only came home on weekends for several years (military) He lived too far away! We eventually moved into base housing and I knew a different set of friends. One family I remember, had been in the middle of the internet startup craze and had made millions. It was a fairly young couple (early 30s) and the dad was retired, both had a hand in educating their children full time. :)
It would be nice to be independently wealthy so that both parents could have more involvement in the children’s education. I realized long ago that a bigger or fancier house wouldn’t make me any happier ... although I would really like a shed!