Is even Buddhahood itself a short straw next to material wealth and pleasure and fame?

Is even Buddhahood itself a short straw next to material wealth and pleasure and fame? The Buddha could have been a wheel turning monarch, and was in deed born a prince. So perhaps his decision isn't all that confusing for the rest of the world. Is even a small degree of enlightenment preferable to unparalleled wealth and power, or are they in fact incomparable? ---------- Put another way, what does your karma have to be to be born as a prince, as compared to e.g. the first jana?