Yea, I think a lot of it is this. In a lot of these discussions, nobody wants to admit that their family is loaded. Although they might have to swallow their pride a little, if things get bad they could just move back in with lawyer dad or doctor mom, and they'd be fine indefinitely. I think that's very different, stress-wise, than "I have $100K of savings and am willing to sacrifice years of future retirement to blow through it."