Quick answer
Better to be underestimated and solvent than admired and hungry. The verse prefers reality to reputation.
Read both lines
This is a "better than" proverb, and it works by making the trade explicit. The NKJV footnotes "slighted" as lightly esteemed, so the first man is genuinely looked down on and genuinely doing fine. The second has arranged his own honor and lacks bread, which is the detail that ends the argument. The Hebrew phrase for that lack is built the same way as the idiom two verses later for a man who lacks heart, which sets the two failures side by side: one man is short of food, and the next is short of sense.
Related: Proverbs 12:11 · Proverbs 13:7 · Proverbs 15:16–17
New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. Full copyright information. Scripture provided by API.Bible.
Go Deeper
If this verse has been used to put weight on you that it was never carrying, ask about it directly.