Venting time, because I'm not sure where else to do it:

My spouse and I are becoming more and more distant from a group of friends (teenage/early adult-years friends from his hometown) because of money. The stereotypical small-town mentality permeates it, and they have a horrible habit of needing to know everyone's business, then measuring each other's worth and success against it.

I don't talk about money with others. It's no one's business. I don't tell anyone (outside of anonymous internet postings, of course) what we make, our investment strategies, how much we contribute to tax-deferred accounts, or even our FI plans.

However, that doesn't stop these "friends" from digging. After we purchased our house, someone looked up the purchase price (public record, that's fine), then openly questioned our ability, in front of others, to afford it. Context: the house was $255K. We had a downpayment and zero debt. We have a six-figure income, and a >$100K net worth that's steadily rising. The mortgage is a small portion of our budget, even after funding 401(k)s, IRAs, and an HSA. (They don't know any of this--it's none of their beeswax.) I was incensed that 1) someone openly questioned my financial decision-making, and 2) how uncouth and rude it was. Now we're the "loaded" friends (far from it!!), who should be able to afford "anything," and now receive skeptical looks when we decline paying for certain things.

It's sad, because I like some of them, and they make up a large chunk of our friends in the area. But I'm thinking we'll be seeing less and less of them...