I think all 8 is a big mistake.  Wealth is a bit of a get out of jail free card.  It does almost nothing by itself, but can be used to take care of other issues.  Mechanically, 2 wealth can be spent to upgrade any other attribute by 1 (EDIT: Except population).<br/><br/>Also, with 0 wealth to spare, if you take a hit to wealth (monthly administration rolls will cause attributes to vary), you lose your gardens, which require you having 15 wealth on hand.<br/><br/>Lastly, bear in mind that if a unit gets destroyed, any wealth invested in it is lost.