The power of a makeover.

I bumped into someone I hadn't met for 20 years, in the vast supermarket he was now managing.

"You're looking very well," were the first words he spoke after we shook hands. I thanked him.

Inside myself I agreed with him... I felt good too.

Just like the time I left my last and final employment. Several years later in a local mall I met a Swedish girl I had worked with in the same building. She looked shocked, in a good way.

"My goodness, you look terrific," she gushed, staring at me with a smile. Then she said it yet again with that surprised voice about how good I looked.

And of course, there's the time someone said I looked like Clint Eastwood.

It was all very pleasing to the ego. But I wondered why these people would make the comparison between now and back then - when obviously I must have looked like a train wreck.

I finally figured out the answer. And it was a combination of a variety of different things...

I dress better now. Back then - when I was poor - I was running on an empty wallet, living from paycheck to paycheck, unable to afford more than the basics in life. And I guess it showed.

And now I was rich. That shows more than most people know, and it doesn't mean facelifts or liposuction.

Because the security of having more money than you need shows up in your demeanor, in your attitude. You have a confidence that shines through when money worries are in the past.

My wife has blossomed in the last year. She received a large inheritance and she openly said how much secure she feels about her personal finances. Even though I provide everything for her and she doesn't have to work, the lump sum has given her a quiet confidence that shows.

That's why I believe in the power of money to make your life better - even if it's only in appearance.

But it is more than that, thank goodness...

Being rich means having options.

I've had so few options back in my poor life, that I tend to grab on to the ones that affect me most.

Sometimes they are the shallow, status-driven icons... like expensive cars. But then I've always been a car guy.

Only now can I afford to buy and keep them.

There's another, more important advantage to being wealthy. When you use the real power of money to improve other people's lives. Like dropping $50 into a talented busker's guitar case (and hoping the guy won't spend it on drugs).

Or visiting a community food bank with a truckload of groceries that takes two people to unload.

A couple of lawyers give away $20 a day by hiding it in their city somewhere. To find it, you find directions on their website.

It's all very satisfying. And it's why I continue to promote playing the lottery, because there's no quicker way to improve yourself - and look better too - than winning a boatload of money.

Spend it on yourself, then benefit others. It will do wonders for your appearance.