The price of nearly anything right now is pretty wild. Building materials, ammo, lawnmowers, boats, whatever, it's all gotten crazy. The fed says inflation is low......well if the price of goods goes up considerably, what do you call that? That is another conversation entirely! But, people are willing to pay whatever they want and there is a lot of money out there. I fished out of Chamberlain on the first nice weekend and there was millions upon millions of dollars of boats and trucks there. It's a bit depressing to look at a future boat purchase right now, but it is what it is.
Going from a 14' tiller to a 21' glass boat certainly changes your fishing opportunities. But speaking from experience, going from a very capable & reliable boat, to a newer, far more expensive, yet similarly capable boat did not change the fishing experience for me. I still catch the same amount of fish in either and the beer tastes good still. Biggest upgrade was going from the crappy Igloo cooler to the Rtic....now the beer is colder longer!