By WendyBG@aol.com
July 6, 2000

How do you stack up on the external trappings of status? The house (size, decorations, location)? The car (or SUV)? The clothes (age, name brands)? The entertainment (vacation locale, restaurants, tipples)? The work you contract out instead of doing with your own hands?

How much do you CARE about the external trappings of status?

In the words of the Zen adage: To be unhappy, think about what you don't have. To be happy, think about what you DO have.

If you care about status, you are likely to go into debt to project an image that you can't afford. Learn to love what you have.

To build wealth, become like an iceberg: only show a fraction of your actual assets. Don't try to show everything you have, or, indeed, to have everything at once. Invest the hidden part to grow over time.