Let's see - steady income, 401k, my own half-assed attempts at investing coupled with the recent state of the stock market, all offset by two teenage kids, a non-deterministic set of costs associated for advanced education for them, a non-income-producing spouse with house remodelling plans, aging parents on both sides that may or may not need financial help someday. System is probably worth $25K, music being acquired at about $100/month, once or twice a year buying something for the system for a few K. Gotta subtract $2K since I recently did a deal with DSSMAN, at least until they catch the scumbag. I know what Quicken says I'm worth, but I really don't believe it takes into account all these unknowns, so I figure that at 40 years old I've got somewhere between 10 and 40 years of work left ahead of me before I consider myself "comfortable" and income-producing activities become optional. In the meantime, I'll keep buying equipment and music as long as those activities give me pleasure and don't cause any of the juggling balls to fall. I'll also be glad that a ski boat and a Harley wouldn't interest me even if there was no such thing as high-end audio equipment.
Regarding the sub-thread on why we've gotten to this state of expense in this hobby - there's a very interesting book called "Luxury Fever" that discusses this same phenomena in many areas. I think most of the factors described above play a part in the rising costs. -Kirk