On average, the people I know to have expensive phones and very big TVs are a lot poorer than the people with cheaper phones. The former eat domino's pizzas. There's a lot more psychological effect at play than just price and amount of food in the table.
Back in the 1990s when researchers went to write about millionaires they discovered most people who look rich are in debt such that they have less to live on day to day than poor people - they have nicer houses and toys but for their day to day budget they are in trouble. When they found people who had a high net worth they were living in poor neighborhoods and otherwise looked poor - but their bank account was big. Then they wrote "The millionaire next door".
After looking at life I've concluded both are wrong ways to live. you should save 10% for retirement (that is a good number for discussion but I'm open to other numbers). Spend the rest on toys - but don't go into debt. You can't take it with you, and do not know for sure that you will be healthy enough to do whatever activity you are saving up for in retirement. (at 50 my body is already such that I don't think any amount of training could get me ready to climb Mt Everest - good thing that was never my dream because it is too late. I could have done that at 30 if I wanted and there are plenty of less extreme things I can still do)
