it looks like it should be easier to become wealthy by any available means than it is to singlehandedly solve all the world's important problems
Doesn't becoming very wealthy for the purpose of saving the world (and then actually saving the world) count as singlehandedly solving all the problems?
What I was getting at is that the cognitive effort required to actually solve a Millennium problem may be greater than the cognitive effort of making a billion dollars and hiring a thousand mathematicians to work in Millennium problems.
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.
(I plan to make these threads from now on. Downvote if you disapprove. If I miss one, feel free to do it yourself.)