Ancient wisdom on wealth has a clear instruction for expenses: do not confuse desire with necessity. A person can distinguish between what they need and what they want. Both are real, but only one is required. The problem is that we live in environments designed to blur this line. Advertising exists to turn desires into felt necessities. Social comparison makes us feel that what our peers have is what we require. The result is that most people spend up to or past their income regardless of what that income is — because desires always expand to fill whatever is available.