Never judge a book by its cover, right? And never judge this consultant by what he is wearing – particularly on the weekend…

The more I thought about the following personal story, the more humorous it was to me. I hope you enjoy it too.

In my last post, I mentioned my wife breaking her hip. Happy to report she is now home and doing well.

In order to facilitate things, I decided to buy her a new set of wheels — a wheelchair. Not absolutely necessary, but it was a good move.

I first checked Amazon, but the model of interest would not be available for a week or more. On a hunch, I decided to check Craig’s list.

Lo and behold, there was the exact same model she was using in the transitional care facility — immediately available and about half price. And it was only four miles away. How much better could it get?

It was Sunday afternoon, I immediately respond, and yes, it was available. But it would be best if I picked it up right away. So I dropped everything and hustled over.

Not thinking, I grabbed my checkbook rather than the cash machine. Who uses cash these days anyway?

Here is where it becomes humorous. Not knowing the neighborhood, I arrive in my 25 year old Toyota and park next to a shiny brand new BMW in the driveway of a $1.5 million dollar town house.

Posh neighborhood on the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis.

The neighbors were having some sort of soiree of in the front yard, when this old guy (me) shows up. I was wearing ragged shorts and my free t-shirt with the motto “Life is Short – Do Stuff That Matters.”

Hadn’t shaved. Did I mention I’m missing a bunch of teeth awaiting dentures and eventually implants? The Beverly Hillbilly had arrived 🙂

The wheelchair was brand new, with a mileage of about 500 yards. When I whipped out the checkbook, the guy gets a pained look. “Did you not bring cash?” Oops.

I gave him a business card and assured him the check was good. He reluctantly took the check – probably not wanting to miss his sale. Turns out he was a realtor – and who knows – may have even needed the money.

As I left, I detected some “stink eye” from the neighbors. Pretty sure they told the seller he would never see his $250. In retrospect, I should have hit the cash machine, but doubt that would have changed the neighborhood reaction (which matters to me not at all.)

As I reflected on this, I found it more and more amusing. But then I also wondered how many of these young millennial “high fliers” were actually wealthy (net worth) or were just living a pseudo-glamoros lifestyle (aka “Keeping Up With the Jones.”)

This is not meant to be critical nor is it even my business, but I felt some sadness that the latter might be the case — at least for some of them. I remembered an early boss who was house poor (story #2) and trapped in his job.

Hope you enjoyed this, also hope it also provided some perspective. If you are reading my blog, you are probably  interested in becoming independent (occupational-financial-locational) just as I have. With rare exception, you don’t get there showing off and going deeper into debt.

PS – Shared this on a private financial forum (more details in the next post) and it generated many humorous responses. Many of us subscribe to a “stealth wealth” philosophy. This was the financial message of the Millionaire Next Door series by the late Dr. Stanley.

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