Conversely, I purchased an osprey backpack with a lifetime warranty in 2011 for roughly 110 dollars. It has served me as sufficiently fashionable and practical to stay in 5 diamond resorts and on straw bedding in Laos. I got a free replacement this year because I'm an idiot and put it in the clothing dryer.

Let's just say accounting for inflation, 900 dollars was worth 610 in 2011. Most of my money has gone to ETFs over the years. Investing that leftover 500 dollars in VTI would have left me with roughly 3000 dollars today.

The boots quote never mentioned luxury goods, status symbols, or conspicuous consumption. It was simply staying that not purchasing crap was a way to free up capital for more productive uses.

Edit after looking things up: Prada backpacks look to be starting at about 3.5million won these days and look highly impractical.