"The way I look at things is ratios: Is that to say that a $48,000 piano is always bad? No. If you told me you had a million dollars in Mutual Funds for retirement and you are making $200,000 a year, your $300,000 house is paid for and you had an extra $50,000 in addition to your emergency fund laying around and you wanted to buy that piano, [that would be okay]. But when you tell me all you've got is $150,000 saved for retirement and you're in your 50's, I can't put the equivalent of 1/3 of your nest egg...that is a luxury item." Dave Ramsey
