I too am in the basket of “never owning a high end.” Only here recently I picked up a Giant Reign on the + side of $1k….. ready to take the plunge on new shimano 1×11 due to shifting issues with the SRAM. So I will be about upwards $2k. That is the most ever spent on a bike… I do enjoy it.
Side note: I just got my lady to pony up from her department store bike to nice $600 Trek hard tail… were all moving up.