“A lot of people have put up these facades, these illusions. They’ve got a decent title at work, drive a great car, wear fancy clothes, but when you talk with them, (there’s) desperation, personally and financially. … People need to remember that material things don’t make you happier.

It’s like that old saying: ‘I’ve never seen a U-Haul behind a hearse.’

You can’t take your stuff with you.”

Louis Barajas, author of “Overworked, Overwhelmed and Underpaid,”

in a McClatchy interview