Originally Posted by Newspaperguy

I know a number of people who have tangible material goals for themselves, similar to what the original poster's girlfriend has set. They see their dream of a big house, a fancy car, a boat or anything else on the list as a way to motivate themselves to work hard. In other words, it's not as much about the Bentley as what acquiring the Bentley will mean.

From what I see on this board and in this thread, many of us have more ideological goals which can't be defined by the acquisition of things.

Our goals and dreams will define us, as will our choices of the markers of our success. If two people have goals which take them in opposing directions, a relationship will be difficult. The question here is whether the original poster and his girlfriend are working towards similar goals and defining them differently or are they working towards goals which cannot be reconciled.