There are two aspects: balance sheet and status. Felix Dennis, an actual billionaire, called it the "point at the sky" theory of wealth creation. It's really a

There are two aspects: balance sheet and status. Felix Dennis, an actual billionaire, called it the "point at the sky" theory of wealth creation. It's really a form of cargo culting. On the other aspect, there are a number of what Thomas J. Stanley call "gold collar" workers: young, singles who often live at home but make relatively good money and so tend to buy things they cannot afford like used Lexuses, BMWs, Mercedes, etc. He even wrote a book about it "Stop Acting Rich."