Are your parents rich or poor?

I grew up “poor.”
But everyone in the neighborhood thought we were rich.
It’s not what you have that proves your “wealth” but how you use what is available.

I would of had it no other way.

Both my parents, without education and getting a very late start in life are retired and comfortable.

Poor; yes, it had an unfavorable effect.

My immediate family was quite poor; the head of the household was functionally illiterate at the time and had a very crappy job. She has done better for herself financially since I and her son left, as she no longer needs to spend money on our care.

The effect on me of being raised poor has been in all the exponential repercussions of A) not having that cushion of wealth to be able to do things that my peers could with no problem at an early age, B) not having the connections that my wealthier peers’ families had to get access to good jobs and so on, and C) not knowing the financial information, principles and strategies that middle class and upper class people seemingly learn by osmosis. I knew next to nothing about how money really works, even into my 30s. Part of that was my fault after 18.

Neither!

My dad is finacially stable, while my mom is poor. I live with my mom and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I make my own money and get my dads child support (that he just started sending like two months ago). To help my mom out, I pay her $350 a month..it’s sorta like my “rent.” lol. But before when it was just my moms income, my brother and I..strike my brother (he was a drama king who still demands money and he’s 20.) My brother got most of the stuff because he had to look “cool” for the girls and his friends. He always played around and never did anything to help around the house. I would entertain myself by going outside and playing, helping my mom clean up around the house, and somtimes I would just have to live through the boredom. It has made me a very hard worker. I like to work for everything I get..even if it’s a present haha :)

Neither. However, they were financially stable. I was never denied the things I desired. However, they taught me the value of money by teaching me middle-class values. Their attitude taught me how difficult it can be to be a provider.

My family was always somewhere in the middle. My mom used to refer to it as “upper middle class,” but if that was the case, they were right on the edge. They started out with nothing, and by the time I was in middle school were able to build their dream house out in the country. It was a very nice house, big, on a lot of land. We always had decent cars, usually new or only slightly used, but nothing fancy. When I got older, I had the idea that my parents pretty much lived right at their means, with not a lot extra after supporting our lifestyle. We only rarely went on vacation a few times over the course of my childhood, didn’t buy expensive clothes, never had a housekeeper. My mom alternated between staying home, working at home, and working full-time outside the home. However, my brother and I were used to getting everything we wanted for Christmas and birthdays. Yes, very spoiled.

Now my dad still lives that kind of life, but will probably scale back since he’s retired. My mom and her husband have been having money problems for a while, but it’s hard to know what’s really going on because she lies constantly.

My parents started out fairly middle class. As they had child after child things got tighter and tighter. Then my dad decided to open his own business. He was a phenomenal cabinet maker but a terrible businessman. That started a cycle of not having any money for two months then getting some money on the third month. By this time there were six of us and things were bad. Instead of moving into a larger house my dad decided to take the roof off of ours and build a second story. They didn’t get the roof on in time for a rainy period and we had torrential downpours inside the house. All the plaster needed to be torn out. He got the roof on, insulated the outside walls, and framed out the bedrooms and then stopped. The last thing he did on that house was finish my oldest sister’s bedroom…complete with built in cabinetry.

My mom did daycare to cover food costs. We had our lights shut off too many times to count. My mom developed rage problems.

We all got paper routes and periodically pooled our money to help my mom pay for things. When my mom got sick and tired of staring at studs (the wooden kind) she taught us how to prop sheet rock and we sheeted the living room, play room and kitchen. We couldn’t manage the ceiling though.

That childhood left me with some significant scars. But it also taught me the value of pulling together. I learned how to earn money at a young age and became very self sufficient (financially) at a too young age.

It appeared to be basically middle-class to me growing up (somewhere between rich and poor). That being said, my mother lies about money (and many other things), so I can’t say for sure.

When i was growing up, we were poor. Now, mother is neither rich or poor. She lives a comfortable lifestyle.

middle class but living lie were poor because mom spends it all on junk food and treats for herself.

My dad is a multi-millionaire. He makes his millions as a venture capitalist. I grew up in a very wealthy situation. I’m not sure how it’s affected me, to be honest. Hard to say at this moment, since I’m only one year into college. Although I do sometimes think that if my parents weren’t wealthy, I might not have gotten into Stanford. But unlike many stereotypes of “rich kids”, I don’t just get whatever I want all the time, I don’t expect the world to be handed to me, I’m studying linguistics which is not going to get me a seven-figure income. Yeah, sure, it was fun growing up wealthy, living in a gigantic house in a fancy neighborhood, going on exotic vacations every year, and driving an Audi and all that shit. But that stage of my life is over. Time to move on.

Only time will tell how it has really affected me. So far, I’m doing great in college and my life is exactly where I want it to be.

@DominicX – I have an idea. Something I think your dad might be interested in.

My Dad supported our family, and Mom stayed at home. We never had a brand new car, but were never without a car. Dad worked at a blue collar job, and also did what they now call “Flipping” houses. He would buy a pre-war house, add a second bathroom, upgrade the kitchen, and then sell it. He was a licensed plumber and electrician, so did all the work himself.

We took two week vacations every year, but stayed in campgrounds to save money on motels. We were not allowed to buy souvenirs or other wasteful things, but books were allowed.

My family was very frugal, and the main household rule was reuse, make do, do without. We were able to make a small amount of money go a long way, with used clothing and furniture. We also had a garden with vegetables everywhere we lived. We called it box gardening, now known as raised bed gardening.

I grew up very privileged with many benefits (good schools, nice vacations, etc) and I really appreciate how fortunate I am, especially since my Dad imposed a good work ethic on us. He insisted we work every summer from the time we were 13 years old, no slacking allowed. There were some family dysfunction issues, however, that have stayed with my sibs and me for life so I can’t say it was a totally free ride…

My mother lives pretty comfortably on just her SS.

We were poor growing up. Yes it affected me in the sense that I never learned to waste money or food just because I can. And I learned the difference between want and need.

Both of my parents grew up dirt poor, but very hard working. After they met Dad went to college and got his EE degree. He worked his way up the Boeing corporate ladder, almost to the top. So, I was raised in an Upper Middle class family, but with a good work ethic.

It affected in that when, as an adult, I ended up an impoverished single mother, trying to support 4 kids on $15,000 or less a year, I still reached for quality, at least in our surroundings. I kept my rental place very clean, repaired screens, walls and windows as they needed repairing, painted….

I grew up in a fairly affluent area but my parents were very poor and everything was always a struggle. Our family were probably the poorest in the community.

Oh well, in Zambia when we used to live only me and mom, we had absolutely everything that we needed… except for my father
Then when mom got married to an Icelander and we moved to Iceland..I feel like I am more spoiled-though I control it…I am always asking for things but after some days I always forget that I asked for something….
I am also a little more selfish, (mom tells me that I’ve always been selfish even from when I was a young girl:/)

But I would say that we have all we need… even though we don’t have a nicest car ever but what matters is that we can move…I mean you wouldn’t want to own a nice car which is always freezing and you can’t even move?? riight!!

My parents believe in education, and felt that it was their duty to put each of their children through college, but at that point, the obligation ended. So they put three children through college.

I don’t know how much of stretch it was for them. I know I was only eligible for a little financial aid, and most of that was loans.

They built their own house (or had it built), but it was a stretch, I think, financially. We always seemed to drive second hand cars. We did manage to get some overseas travel in, but only when my father’s job took him there.

I recently was shown their assets as they begin to plan for inheritances and such. I was shocked. They only had about half the amount I thought they would have. So I guess when they called themselves middle class, that was about right. I thought they were upper middle class, but I was wrong. They had to work hard—harder than they needed to, I think, because I don’t think they were terribly wise with investments.

My dad is a Lawyer, and my mom is a Teacher. They are divorced. So they have very different reactions when they see a piece of green paper, that is for sure.

If I can’t choose middle class, I’ll say “rich”.
But I believe that the way they raised me is why I didn’t have much of a work ethic and things like that, rather than coming from a “rich” family.

You are who you are. Whether your parents are rich or not shouldn’t really be a reflection of who you are.

“Old money”. Career choices out of tradition or interest rather than necessity.

When I was a child we never had much money. My parents divorced when I was 11 years old and so, any money that either of my parents had seemed to go on solicitor bills. Nowadays, my mum is comfortable (not exactly rich but she doesn’t have to worry about too much). She has a good job which pays nicely and so does her new husand. My dad has just started his own business and so, at the moment, he is being very careful with money. I think he has the potential to be comfortable in the money department some day though.

We’re all rich compared to some people
Having said that, the only time we were rich was when I was an infant – once we ran to Russia and later to America, we’ve never been rich since. My parents taught me that money doesn’t matter and that no matter how much you have, it’s best to not focus on it – to not feel negatively or positively about it…just simply not make your life revolve around it and that’s how I grew up feeling.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir So true…

We grew up not like Rosanne (is that middle class?) but certainly not anywhere near wealthy. We all had everything we needed except a/c. Then when we moved to Dallas dad began saving money. He built up a tidy sum, I was later to find out, but I think he overdid it. He could have lived much better had he been less tight-fisted.

@silvermoon Maybe it shouldn’t reflect who you are, but it does.

poor.