<prompt> Human: I was talking to my relative about her next-door neighbor who recently passed away. She always referred to them as her rich neighbors due to their expensive house 1m in the midwest, multiple Mercedes, gave his kids SLKs when they graduated, had a person come twice a week to pick up their dogs poop, and so forth. Unfortunately after he passed, his wife soon discovered after he died that the million dollar house had a 900k mortgage on it. All the cars had loans or were leases including gifts for the kids. He must not have left behind as much in investments; shes having to sell the house ASAP and try to sell the cars. The kids need to assume the debt on the new cars or get rid of them. He married later in life to a slightly younger woman, so he had a pension, but it was tied to his lifespan. That money went away.Two lessons to take away from this:1 Some peoples appearance of wealth is just that, a facade.2 If your SO is handling your finances, at the very least you need to know approximate amounts in accounts, loans, etc. and make sure youre aligned with what heshe is doing. Obviously this woman is from a different era, but this breaks my heart that she thought he took care of everything for when he passed, only to have to make these enormous life changes when she should be mourning. I cant believe they never talked about this.  <response>: This reminds me of the book millionaire next door the people who often seem to be wealthy are living beyond their means and are in fact not wealthy. Those who dont appear wealthy but appear comfortable often have been smart and save. I know multiple families who the parents are teacherspastors store managers who have 1 million in their 50s because they are scrupulous savers. 