My coworker, who is a great guy and friend, makes a good amount more than me, and I do pretty well for myself.
We were discussing the fact that I was going to buy a house, which is on the upper end of what a mustachian would pay (you can read about that on the RE board). Anyway, he was expressing surprise at my spending so much on a house, which surprised me because he and his wife combine for more than I do and could easily afford something like that by my fairly frugal standards. He's also about to have a baby and will probably be looking to move into a new house himself soon.
Anyway, I heard him talking to another co-worker about cars the other day. They were comparing cars they saw in the company parking lot. He was wondering if it made sense to trade in his Mustang for a new $40k sports car because he didn't think he could fit a baby seat into his current car. This was after he mentioned he was going to buy a boat instead, but maybe now that the baby's coming, he should hold off on that (we live in the SW, there's no water anywhere near us). The kicker, they live a good 30 miles away where 'the houses are cheaper' and just bought a new Ford Explorer so he and his wife could commute to work in comfort. Don't you think the car seat will fit in the huge SUV??? He at least hits his company match on the 401k, but looked at me funny when I mentioned I wasn't a car person and wanted to make sure I maxed my 401k each year. Oh, and his wife buys new shoes online every week.
Not that it should matter, but now I feel a little bet better about why he thought my new house was pricey.
He's a good guy and into finance though. I'm going to keep trying to slip in hints of 'tax-advantaged savings' and 'commuting is expensive' all that. He does understand it when I mention it, I just don't think he's ever thought about it in depth before.