Here is the thing: in my group, sometimes, some of my players like to change their PC during the campaign. This could be caused either by the death of their previous character or by the fact that a narrative cause comes into play (i.e. the character achieves some sort of background aim and it makes perfectly sense that it stops adventuring) or by other causes. When this happens, of course they have to create a new character and by doing this they refer to the Wealth-by-level table. The problem is that by creating a new character from scratch, of course they frequently create a more optimized (and usually entirely magical-equipped) one with respect to the ones that are playing from level 1. The possibility of buying a gear which fits perfectly the need of a build of course makes the character stronger because it lacks some sort of randomness that the gear of the other characters have by acquiring their gear looting things around.
So, how do you solve this issue (if you have it) in your games? I quote the rules about the wealth-by-level table:
Table: Character Wealth by Level can also be used to budget gear for characters starting above 1st level, such as a new character created to replace a dead one. Characters should spend no more than half their total wealth on any single item. For a balanced approach, PCs that are built after 1st level should spend no more than 25% of their wealth on weapons, 25% on armor and protective devices, 25% on other magic items, 15% on disposable items like potions, scrolls, and wands, and 10% on ordinary gear and coins. Different character types might spend their wealth differently than these percentages suggest; for example, arcane casters might spend very little on weapons but a great deal more on other magic items and disposable items.
emphasis mine.
It seems that a very clear way to spend that money is suggested. Of course spending 180k at level 14th entirely in magic items is very different that spending the 25% of this number in the same thing. Does anyone follow this percentages? And in this case which percentages do you apply for arcane casters or non-martial characters?