When I was a stock broker my boss told me you can usually judge a man's character by a nice watch, suit, car or casual conversation. Is this true? I think so.

I can recall meeting with affluent clients and noticing that they wore a nice watch or drove a nice car and thinking to myself, wow this guy is important. This guy is making money. I wonder what he does. More importantly, it proved to be something that I had in common with the client and that goes a long way.

If you're hiding these things because of what your neighbors or clients may think, you're hiding your character. Your hiding who you really are. If any potential client finds out you drive a Porsche thru back channels, how much is that client going to trust you in future business dealings?

Have you also considered that you could actually be diminishing your chances at landing that next big business deal? What if your client owns several high end exotics and he sees you driving your beater Toyota. If I were him, I'd be weary and be pissed off later to find out that you usually drive a Porsche. I'd be like WTF!!! If he can't be himself around me, than how can I trust him?

Now I'm not saying to pull up to a meeting in your Double R Phantom or Maybach for an initial meeting. But showing up in a Turbo, Cayenne, S Class or 7 Series would be just fine by my standards.

PS.....I don't own a Porsche (yet) but do own a CL55 and CLS500. I also own several nice watches that I wear daily. I drive my cars and wear my watches as I please because God blessed me with them.

I could give a rat's azz about what anyone else thinks.......

Just my .02