[ThaJay]

You have completely missed the point. The fact that you could does not mean you shoud or even would.

Wanting a cabin in the woods and being able to afford it does not make you "House freedom level". That level is being able to buy any house you could want without second thought.

The fact that you would not choose such a house is completely irrelevant to this train of thought. Some things you have to plan out and some things are just not worth to consider for even a second.

[esotericn]

The cabin was referring to the travel level, not housing.

I don't think "any X I could want" is meaningful.

You're taking it presumably to mean the most expensive offering that exists in the world, but I _could_ want something akin to Buckingham Palace and no amount of money would get me that, or I could want some generic massive palace that would cost $50bn which obviously is above the philanthropy level by any metric, or maybe I genuinely do just want a bog standard terrace because I'd rather give my money away than 'elevate' myself into a weird Hollywood lifestyle.

It makes far more sense to think about what I actually _do_ want, and in that view the levels can be ordered differently depending on the person.

The point I am making is that to some extent these levels are individual choice, they're not cast in stone.

[Kirby64]

To some extent they are, but really there's strong limits on this and they can't be broken. At the end of the day, vacations cost more than food and housing costs more than vacations. Full stop.

Your example of saying you don't care about fancy meals... well, sure, but that doesn't change the fact that your price sensitivity to a restaurant is going to be much lower than a vacation. If your end goal is to give a bunch to charity, then scrimping on a vacation too would be a better decision ultimately.

It's really hard to spend more than say, $1k on a meal. Even 3 star Michelin restaurants don't charge that much unless you include alcohol.

Comparatively, it's EASY to spend $1k on a vacation. Incredibly easy.

[esotericn]

I disagree with most of this; but let's just say we inhabit different worlds, and leave it at that. I figure we just take different vacations and go to different restaurants. :)