I'm sure that once you fork out that for the scope and they look through it for the first time seeing Jupiter or Saturn or a cluster with they're own eyes and have their first "Oh wow!!" moment, the initial financial outlay will be forgotten or at least agreed to be well worth the investment.
Whenever my wife shakes her head at my latest acquisition, my standard comeback is "Well at least I'm not gambling, snorting or injecting it away"
