Life has many sides, and you need some skill at all of them. Mant people become mathematicians or scientists purely because they love the work, and they are content if they make enough money to spend most of their time doing the research work they love.
But this is rare, and getting more rare under an administration run by luddites like the current one. Scientists also have children, and when they start to grow up, suddenly the scientist needs to put food regularly on the table, and then also pay for the very expensive education of the budding young potential scientist in the family.
In the 1960's when I was young student, Jack Kennedy was in the white house, and life was very different indeed. Corporations were encouraged to put up merit scholarship money for bright kids to go to the best schools, and places like Harvard and Princeton, began to be home to poor kids who had the ambition and talent to study hard enough to excel. Many of us went to such schools even though we could not even afford the train tickets to get there and had to hitchike back and forth.
Nowadays a "merit scholarship" pays only a couple of thousand a year, as compared to more than full tuition at Harvard in the 1960's, which would translate into over $30,000 a year now.
So if you want to be a scientist, you must do it because you love it, but you must also be aware that survival is important. As simple a thing as physical education is useful, since scientists sometimes work 30 or 40 hours in a row, and you cannot do that if you are physically unfit.
It is also wise to have a skill that is worth money, such as computer or network savvy, so you can moonlight and actually earn something. In my job, the people with the best research track records are often barewly keeping heads above water, while those who have had less research succes but who have taught themselves computer skills, often by simply teaching the numerical analysis courses are better off.
Everyone, especially poor people, needs to know how to shop wisely, cook reasonably, and maintain a car, or even a house. If you can even train a dog, you can earn extra money.
You also need to learn to write clearly and persuasively, so you can communicate with others, and possibly attract grant money for your work.
by the way, I hope you are joking, as there are no lazy but successful scientists. If you are interested in money and science, you might tilt toward the biological and medical sciences. Some decades ago at least it was reported that something like 51% of all federal research moneu was in those fields, while physical and mathematical sciences accounted for only 1.7%.
Some university administrators evaluate research quality literally by the dollar amount of grant money attracted, so by that metric, a mediocre scientist who brings in large grants could be better regarded than a brilliant one who does not.
but to be happy in your work, you have to choose it because it facinates you, not because it pays well. Still you cannot afford to let finances force you out of your field. this balancing act takes some thought and skill.
By the way, education is cheap, or even free, for the truly exceptional student. Strive to be that student and professors will go out of their way to teach you, and graduate programs will pay you to attend. Well funded researchers will support you to work with them. But lazy students will not have this experience.
So it it that easy to become a scientist?? 
