I don't know about you guys, but I've had a hard time planting my butt in a first-class airplane cabin-- let alone spending $10K on a fantasy vacation.... and are now retired, comfortable and by their own admission "living good." It is more about meeting expenses and having enough left over to do the things you like to do. I call that financial security. Not every one wants the "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous". Most of us would be satisfied with maintaining our current standard of living in retirement. That standard is different for everyone.
Don't get me wrong, I'm quite happy to travel first class when I [-]win the departure-lounge lottery[/-] get upgraded, but it's hard to put it on my credit card. It's not buyer's remorse or a lack of value as much as it is a sad commentary on what it takes to get treated with a bare minimum standard of [-]personal space[/-] travel accomodation. I wonder if the inflation-adjusted cost of a first-class airline ticket has risen over the last 40 years... but I guess we'd have to factor in hedonic adjustments like [-]better aircraft timeliness, reliability, and safety[/-] improved in-flight entertainment systems.
How strange. Don't they know that millions of little retail investors will get discouraged and flock to the offices of financial gurus for assistance in meeting their retirement goals? Why would the gurus want to be pestered by all these crowds of desperately unhappy people??!Now some financial guru's are upping the ante. Now you need millions more.
BTW Forbes has an updated chart (Sep 2007):The cost of being rich just keeps going up and up. Just check out the Forbes "Cost of Living Extremely Well" index. The index clearly shows that the cost of being rich is racing ahead of the normal cost of living as measured by the CPI....
Interactive Chart: Cost Of Living Extremely Well Index - Forbes.com
and an updated CLEWI basket:
The Price of Living Well - Forbes.com
Luckily the cost of a subscription to Forbes magazine has managed to hold the line (no doubt with a few hedonic improvements) at the bargain rate of just (*choke*) $60/year...