The majority of respondents were Caucasian, worked part time, lived with their parents and had a family income of more than $40,000. They said if they had a "little extra money," defined as between $1 and $999, and wanted to convey status through general commodities, they would buy clothing, take a small vacation or invest in a Palm Pilot — in that order. If they had between $1,000 and $9,999 and wanted to convey status, they would purchase laptop computers, take a moderate vacation and purchase furniture.

If they had "a lot of extra money," more than $10,000, they would buy new, larger homes and luxury cars or SUVs. Students also ranked other items they considered as status conveying, which included cell phones, fine dining, hot tubs/Jacuzzis, large screen high-definition TVs, boats and luxury vacations.

In an earlier study, Fan set out guidelines for things that would be considered luxuries, such as travel, and those considered necessities, like food. "Luxury" items like a heated towel rack in the bathroom are not always particularly expensive, she said, but "if you have a low income you don't think about buying that." The study found that "people who borrow money do spend more on luxury goods compared to people who don't borrow."

Cook is convinced that from a spiritual perspective, debt "just eats you alive."

"I think people want to be outwardly rich rather than inwardly rich, and to me that's the key. People have a choice every single day. The Bible says you can't serve God and money, but people try to do both somehow. I think where your treasure is there your heart will be also."

Michael Cook can be reached at cookm@networld.com. Information and calculators for questions regarding mortgage interest and prepayment, the cost of sending a spouse to work, credit card interest and budgeting can be found online at www.cfcministry.org under the "tools" tab.

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E-mail: carrie@desnews.com

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