Recently, my good friend’s brother proposed to his girlfriend of the last several years. Everyone in their family really likes this woman, but they were really disappointed in the engagement story. She sent a photo of them after he proposed where she has the ring on her finger, and while it appears to be a small and dainty sapphire ring, I didn’t think much of it and figured that must be her jewelry style for my friend’s brother to have picked this out. She told me today that the family was disappointed because they didn’t care for the ring, and lo and behold, what he ended up spending a lot of money on ended up being a brand new Tesla for himself. “He cheaped out on the ring because he purchased himself a one hundred thousand dollar car!” my friend exclaimed to me over the phone tonight. The whole family felt betrayed, as though he had been cheap with everyone, even himself, until now.

The truth is that I actually got really excited when I heard this story. I’m not a car person at all, but the idea of owning one is so intriguing to me; no one I know until now owns one. It’s like one of those luxuries that actually deserves to be a luxury; it’s not some stupid overpriced Kate Spade bag that going to fray in two to three years. It’s actually a decent investment. I told my friend that since her brother has a reputation for being cheap, even on himself, maybe we should all be excited for him that he finally decided to splurge on himself. She didn’t seem to enjoy this idea. I think everyone should splurge on something for themselves. What else are we going to do with the money we work hard to earn?