The law of diminishing marginal utility says that for each additional unit of consumption, the marginal utility gained decreases. To make it simple, when a hungry person eats a few apples, the first apple will give him the most satisfaction. The second will give him lesser satisfaction than the first, the third will be lesser than the second, and so on. This is a simple concept taught as early as in the 11th standard economics.

However, money is considered a general exception to this rule. The logic being that a human is inherently greedy and the more money one is given, the more he may pursue. And this exception also has exceptions. There may be many who feel satisfaction at their wealth and don’t find the need to seek more of it. But there are certainly those who amass as much as possible and always look at those with a higher pool in an effort to match or beat them.

Considering that, as a general rule, one may never feel content with what they have, it is important to identify the urge to make more money. This should be done keeping in view what one has already made for himself. A little restraint and some frugal spending will ensure that money becomes an exception to the law I mentioned above.

This is not to say that making money is a vice. In fact, it is admirable to have income and wealth goals. Our society seems to have painted every person who looks for ways to make money as someone filled with greed. This is neither reasonable nor correct. Looking to earn is good, as long as one adopts an ethical behaviour, such as to pay all the dues he owes, respects the dignity of labour of people who work for him, discharges liabilities, and regularly helps those who are in need of assistance.

At the same time, it is also important to realise the utility added by increasing one’s wealth. You need a basic minimum for a good luxurious life. But once you have all that you need, your additional income does not affect your living standard. A person with a net worth of two crores may have similar life style as one with five. If someone wants to earn much more in an effort to use his wealth as power, then it takes a lot more to do so. You will have to change your life goals and start the pursuit of becoming an Ambani, something that is impossible for most of us. And the bracket between a basic luxurious lifestyle and becoming a billionaire is too huge to travel.

Nonetheless, amassing a lot of wealth may be to upgrade one’s lifestyle, but only ostensibly. For example, none of you reading this would know if I am typing this post on a budget laptop costing 15K or a MacBook. Similarly, the basic functionality of all high-range smartphones is, more or less, the same. Surely, it is good to invest in something which gives commensurate utility. But is it worth it to spend too much for the same, or even a marginal increase of utility? I think not. If one does that spending irrespective, this could be conspicuous consumption, something Veblen spoke about as his critic of capitalism.

Conspicuous consumption is a reality and leads to aggressive consumerism. But, boy, isn’t your life hollow when your source of happiness is the display of high-end devices and cars! This is a desperate call to rescue oneself from the void of insecurities and reclaim their lives to live on their own terms. But having said that, if a costly purchase is a source of happiness for one’s own self, without the aim of provoking envy in others or to show it off as a social position, it is entirely acceptable.

I think of all this as I battle with myself whether I should get an iPhone or not. It’s been almost three years since this question has been bothering me. I do have a MacBook and I realise the ease of its operation, but an iPhone is too much spending when a good Android phone does everything as effectively. I recently purchased a Shure MV7 microphone and I feel that I’ve done enough of extravagant purchase for the month. This is in the hope that it acts as an investment that should last long enough to justify its cost.

After the recent iPhone 13 launch, I was secretly happy that it has no new feature attractive enough to fire-up my urge to get it. No matter how much I may ponder over this in the coming days, I am certain that I will not get an iPhone. Because if I do buy one, I fear that I may regret being a spendthrift I never wanted to be, and maybe, not enjoy the iPhone the way one should. Hence, the easiest decision is no decision.