Giving the illusion of wealth in the 1980s, and today


Like many people who never achieved much wealth, I always loved giving the illusion of wealth, going back to when I started my first corporate job, in Los Angeles in 1986. And I continue this illusion to this day, which is very convincing for people who don't know me up close and personal. And in a long life, I've learned that genuinely wealthy people don't do that, they do the opposite. I'll see if I can explain.

When I got the job at Blue Cross of California, at age 28, I was not only self-conscious about people mistaking me for the delivery boy, I also wanted to be able to fit in to corporate events. I lived in a, ahem, "less than fashionable" part of town, which was all that I could afford (barely) before I got the job, and I stayed wanted to stay there until I could move into more expensive housing, which I actually never did.

So I did the best I could with what I had. I washed and ironed my dress shirts, I scrounged discount places for clothes, and would never dream of appearing in public unless I was clean and well-dressed, even when I wasn't going to work. I wanted people to think that I was wealthy, and had just stepped out of an expensive car, which I parked in a garage on the nice side of town. I got so good at this illusion that it became a lot of fun for me to do, and in no time I was out-dressing even my superiors at work. The jacket that I'm wearing there came from Marshalls or Ross, along with the shirt and tie. I would stop at these places after work and look through what they had, and if they had my size I'd snap it up. It wasn't until much later that I learned that their tags that said, "Compare at $$$" were actually true, and the prices that department stores actually charged. Yikes!

Then, in my forties, I got to meet some genuinely wealthy people up close and personal, at the classic car auctions in Scottsdale, Arizona. And they looked terrible! They were dirty, often smelly, and wore the rattiest clothing you could imagine. The wealthier they were, the more they looked like a homeless person. They didn't get dressed up to do a million dollar bid at an auction, they didn't care what anyone thought. At least that was my first impression.

Of course, human nature is a complex thing, and of course these wealthy people cared what other people thought of them, they didn't want to be seen as rich people, like the cartoon character on the Monopoly game board. They dressed down as carefully as I dressed up. Of course, there had to be people in the middle, but I didn't pay attention to them. I would see people dressed up beautifully, and figure that they weren't the really rich ones, and I would walk past someone who looked as if they should be escorted out of the building, and know that they were super-rich.

To this day I can recognize rich people by how much effort they put into denying their wealth. And I guess I understand - walking around looking like you have hundred-dollar bills in your pocket is just gonna make people ask for loans, which would be annoying. But I know the code, and if your car is always dirty, and is a beater, and your clothes are wrinkled and dirty, I'd ask you for a loan - but I don't need one, see how wealthy I look?
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