The more money you have, the less bling you need:
Conspicuous consumption, this research suggests, is not an unambiguous signal of personal affluence. It’s a sign of belonging to a relatively poor group. Visible luxury thus serves less to establish the owner’s positive status as affluent than to fend off the negative perception that the owner is poor. The richer a society or peer group, the less important visible spending becomes.
I have noticed a distinct difference as my own personal wealth has grown. I spend far more money on services than on assets these days. Now, it could be that I have nearly everything I need already. But it feels more honest to say that I’d rather spend money on fleeting experiences than permanent ones. The fleeting experiences - meals, theater, vacation - seem of better value, strangely.
“If you want to live like a billionaire, buy a $12,000 bed,” says a financial-planner friend of mine. You can’t park a mattress in your driveway, but it will last for decades and you can enjoy it every night.