I knew of a teacher for whom financial independence was one of the main prerequisites to being accepted into the school. 
  He charged an incredible amount for an introduction (the price of a nice, new German-made car) - but would teach for free once you’re accepted. 
  I couldn’t afford the intro     From my experience teachers always work to build up the student before deconstructing.   For instance you must make your body strong before being able to release the gripping of your muscles.   For some teachers you must be very successful in worldly pursuits to be able to release them in favour of spiritual practice…   For others you must be brave and confident before you can release fear.   I guess it can work in the opposite direction too. If you were born into wealth, you may need to lose everything before your attachment to wealth can be let go…   In my experience the people that do well in these arts have their life reasonably well-sorted.   I guess if you’re in a low state where life is a difficult overwhelming thing that you can barely handle - the part of you that clings or lets go will not be able to release its grip on what little it has…   When life is reasonably ok - and you feel you can handle things well, you’ll have an easier time of releasing your grip.   And I think there’s a difference between success that’s achieved through greed and success that’s achieved through competence.   Competence is an important quality