There are a couple of knives that I consider "best bang for the buck in their price class".

In the $20-ish dollar range:

The Vapor is one of those.
The Byrd Meadowlark and Byrd Robin are two of those.
The Benchmade Pika is one of those.

In the $50-ish dollar range:

The Spyderco Native and Spyderco Delica are two of those.

I don't see much NEED to buy anything much more expensive than that. Of course you may WANT something more than that, which is perfectly fine, but for everyday utility and normal use I don't think more is a requirement, it's a luxury. If you are a collector, or have day to day tasks that need the absolute longest lasting edge or some other special trait, then your NEEDS will vary from mine.

I have looked at, and drooled over, many knives more expensive than this. But in the end, 95% of the time I would set them down again because I couldn't justify the cost given my intended uses.