Save or splurge: The office

To get the most for your money, you need to know two things: when the good stuff is worth paying extra for and when the economy choice is plenty good enough.

Herman Miler Aeron | $949
Desk chair
Herman Miler Aeron | $949
Save or spend: Spend
The wrong chair will give you improper support, which can lead to chronic back, shoulder and neck pain, says Jack Dennerlein, associate ergonomics professor at the Harvard School of Public Health.

You want one with adjustments for seat height, arm rests and seat pan (cost: $700 and up).

"The pan should be short enough that your rear end comfortably reaches the chair back, and there should be a few fingers of space between the knee back and the pan," he says.

Look for full back coverage and wheels so you don't "get stuck in one posture."

Herman Miller remains the gold standard manufacturer, though Dennerlein also likes Steelcase and Humanscale.

Desk chair

Laptop

Printer

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.