A friend of ours once wondered out loud if people who claim they “have no need or desire to spend more than $50K or $100K a year or whatever” are a) lying, b) easily contented or c) unimaginative.”
I contend that those who live a life they love on a relatively modest budget are the most imaginative. It’s the high spenders who typically take the more expensive path, the convenient path of least resistance, that are more likely to be lacking in imagination.
For the purposes of this discussion, consider a low spender to be someone spending $50,000 to $100,000 a year in 2016 dollars, which is when the question was first posed.
Dr. Dahle thinks that people who spend less than $124,000 or whatever are unable to come up with something that they’d like to do or have that would cost more.
For example, he was planning a heli-skiing trip at the time that was going to cost about $1,000 a day. Can’t they think of something like that to splurge on?
You can’t really replicate every aspect of heli-skiing without spending the money to do it, although, with a little imagination and research, you may find a location.
I’m not sure what exactly constitutes a high spender, but let’s say it’s some combination of spending well over $124,000 a year and a relatively low savings rate.