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Comment by mschuster91 | Hacker News Reader

> Whether it's about wealth, ideologies or any other aspect of lifestyle: Suddenly it's right there, dangled in front of them.

And for what it's worth, what is considered "luxury" has become more and more accessible/affordable or is not a status symbol any more: 7-series BMW models can be leased for ~800€ a month, luxury watches have fallen out of fashion, expensive clothing items can be rented or you just go for the trend of "fast fashion", even extremely expensive cell phones like Samsung's Galaxy Fold series can be had with a contract for under 100€ a month.

And if you're just looking for something to prop up your Instagram profile, everything you need sans cosmetic products can be rented for cheap - no need to actually buy all that stuff.

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> what is considered "luxury" has become more and more accessible/affordable or is not a status symbol any more

This seems to be the reality for many HN users. But not being able to buy a home or even pay rent seems quite common in the general population.

Yeah the tech bubble is one of the worse ones. 800eur/month is not even possible for most people, let alone pocket change.

Not disagreeing with you but quite a few younger people driving those cars are living at their parents and have little to no other significant expenses. Yes, 800€/mo is a lot for many but for some it's in the "affordable if I don't do much else" category.

I've also heard about people pooling their money and driving them on alternating weekends. Luxury car ownership has gotten a lot cheaper than before when you needed to pay upfront or with hefty interest.

It would seem luxuries have gotten more accessible while necessities have gotten more dear. Not sure what that says about global versus local inequality.

The real weirdness is that bad local policy has led to uneven inflation, so our cultural 'anchors' of luxury are all thrown off.

A luxury car? We've gotten 10x+ better at making those since the 1950's, so ofc it's cheaper.

A trip to the Maldives? Same.

A reasonable house to live in? Well, we've sort of gotten better at making those, but not as drastically, AND we've decided to make laws that make it harder to build more of them anyway.

Lot's of fun hierarchy of needs debates to be had from that.

That's luxury brands moving downmarket to cash in. I've seen a lot more Maseratis out in my part of the 'burbs than before. We're not the rich 'burbs or area of the city, but deeply middle-class, and I'm quite certain that hasn't changed. I suspect instead that brand has moved down-market.

Some try to ride the line and do both. Create an overpriced line that's maybe less well-made than the "real" ones, and slap your brand name all over it because some segments of society think advertising the right brand names and lots of fake gold and such are what rich people like, and they want to be like them while prominently advertising that they can afford "luxury". Then you sell them in different stores from where you sell your actually-luxury goods. A Gucci bag with the most prominent design element being "Gucci" tiled all over it isn't actually a luxury item. "Big pony" Ralph Lauren isn't even luxury-adjacent like the mainline brand is (or, at least, has been), it's trashy as hell—but they produce them for a reason, and in some stores that's nearly all they have. That's a signal of the kind of store you're in and who they're selling to, not a sign that luxury has become more accessible.

None of this is "luxury" becoming more affordable.

Well, the financing plans you use which make luxury "affordable" are more a symptom of our debt based economy and monetary policy. Most people expect it to crash at some point

That's almost $1k/month. I don't know where you live or what life you live that $1k/month for a car that's probably not very practical is viable, but that's not normal in the US. That's rent in the exurbs, never mind the city. That's over a third of median annual salary before taxes. Now add fuel, maintenance, registration, and insurance. And leases usually require better than minimum insurance, so factor in good insurance on a $90-100k car.

Those leases include maintenance.

> 7-series BMW models can be leased for ~800€ a month

€800 a month? i have an income of €1100 per month. so after rent and bills (€500), i have €600 per month for all my other costs. no BMW for me.

although (like you(?)) i do live in a European country (Holland) where there is excellent, although expensive, rail/bus travel and biking infrastructure.

Are you a programmer.

€1100 is not a lot of money.

But now I'm thinking that's a possible retirement destination

Is that a full time job?

I thought holland was better paid than that. Short term unemployment benefits in Denmark would pay out approx 1808 eur a month after taxes.

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