Excellent. There are two parts to budgeting, you mention the first one which is understanding where your money is going, the second part is prioritizing where your money should be going. Part of the latter is understanding what is (and what is not) withing your means.

So if you are making $70K and you're hanging out socially with people making twice that, you are going to be at a disadvantage in 'expensive' activities. Someone with $100K in income which is taking home over $1K/month more than you after taxes, might decide they are going to spend $500 a month on track time at the local race track (driving fast is very fun of course) that is way too expensive for someone who is only making $70K. As a person budgeting you always ask "Is this valuable, or is it expensive?" [1] understanding the difference can really help clarify what you want to spend money on.

But lets think about the social aspects for a minute. Young people especially (although it is present across age groups) have a tendency to 'brag' either subtly or not so subtly using money. Called 'conspicuous consumption' back in the day, you can recognize these people right away, they always have the latest tech gadget, or a car that is less than 2 yrs old, or this seasons fashion accessories, etc. Why they are like that varies but how it affects you the $70K earner, and more importantly your budget, is key. You have to resist giving into that way of validating yourself and your friendships and instead actively pursue other paths. So if you're budget is being warped by those kinds of influences you might seek out ways to avoid them. It is tough since nobody likes to say "I can't afford to do that stuff that you are doing every day" even when its the truth. However good friends will figure it out and adapt.

Under no circumstances pretend you are something you aren't, I knew a guy in the dot com days who was pretending to be a lot more well off than he was in order to 'hang out' with some actually wealthy people. He got the bar tab once at one of their events, it was a bit over $12,000. He had to call AmEx to get them to approve it. I personally would not think the access was worth that sort of shock to the budget but recognize different people value different things way more differently than I.

[1] One of the engineers here at the office who has a background in economics introduced me to that phrase and it really captures the essence of budget prioritization.

Today, for example, I carried what seemed like an uncomfortably heavy set of bags, yet it only came out to about $30, and will probably last me the rest of the week: 2 lbs pork tenderloin (2x $5), 5 lbs potatoes ($3), 2 lbs tomatoes ($4), 1 lb lentils ($3), 2 lbs onions ($2), 1 head broccoli ($1), 12x eggs ($3), 2 lbs nectarines ($3).

I think I more often run into the problem of buying way more than I can carry/eat, and it still doesn't cost much. I mean, I like nectarines, but 2 pounds of nectarines is a lot to finish before they get overripe, so some of that might get wasted. But since they cost me damn near nothing, that's alright.

Pool of available jobs is smaller, so the competition is fiercer, so the mediocre talent takes itself out of the game and all your are left with are the stars who don't want to move. I know lots of engineers in N. Carolina around the Research Triangle Park area who are way more talented than some folks in the Bay Area but they don't abide the culture that is Silicon Valley and so they don't move here.

The problem we have, is it's a small community. Poaching is out of the question. Cause word does get around. So we interview hoping we nail someone good before someone else does.

But being South Florida no one considers us tech heavy. Even though we are a "banking" & medical center and wealth is everywhere.

I was complaining about this to some state senator a while back. There was talk about creating a tech area in Miami/Fort Lauderdale (they talk about it every year). He told me, "You take care of your yacht here; your computers in New York".

And that sums up Florida's tech problem.