At the moment I think I will just have to live with it, because I am not willing to pretend I am broke, just to avoid unpleasant conversations.Would love to hear how others deal with mony and friends&family.

You can pretend to sue the unlicensed contractor but, you are throwing good money after bad and its almost impossible to sue someone that was working unlicensed, off the books.  

A number of folks said, don’t get a degree it cost to much and they are pretending to be self made millionaires at the same time.

If I decide I want to stay home, turn the computer on and pretend to work while really binge watching Superstore, I simply don't get a check.

Real estate is a sound investment and may not be very likely to crash,  but let's not pretend it can't... 

Nor does he pretend BRRRR isn't a capital-intensive strategy, or that there is no need for reserves.

Most people strip out all their equity to buy more property and pretend they made it, I've done versions of BRRRR myself although not as extreme as others.

Maybe pretend to be a potential renter yourself, although I like to think most agents would give you an honest answer either way. 

When pretending to know what you’re doing on Instagram trying to leverage a free pair of tight work pants?

Noun1.charlatan - a flamboyant deceiver; one who attracts customers with tricks or jokesmountebankbeguiler, cheater, deceiver, trickster, slicker, cheat - someone who leads you to believe something that is not truecraniologist, phrenologist - someone who claims to be able to read your character from the shape of your skullquack - an untrained person who pretends to be a physician and who dispenses medical advice