Depending what you believe your time is worth, investing in stereo equipment can seem like very little gain for lots of money. ghdprentice may have $150 grand in his current system but how much was the total expenditure over the last 50 years? How many hours at the going rate were spent analyzing comparing and even growing as a listener? If you add up all the equipment you went through and the time spent to get to your current system isn't that really the cost?
To me the real difference in just throwing money at the stuff the hi end shop tells you to buy and really understanding the relationship of how the components work together comes down to appreciation. 50 years of experience is beyond value. To bad that experience can't be bottled and passed on to the newbies with only 20 years of experience.