Who is the poorest person in your family and why?

[PassingStranger]

Just being nosy?
Whose the poorest and Why?

Me. Despite being the only university educated one.

One brother owns his own very successful business and married someone who came from a very comfortable family.

Other brother married someone from a comfortable family, plus she is very well paid and his job is above average pay, and they only have one child.

My parents are now retired or semi retired and have ok pensions, are now mortage free and had a healthy inheritance from my great uncle and my grandmother

I had four kids and married someone who is on minimum wage and I own my own small business. We do ok, but compared to my brothers, we're by far the poorest.

I don't know anyone as poor as me. I wouldn't swap places with any of them.

My cat just moved himself in. £1000+ at the vets within a couple of weeks. I don't think it's technically his debt though.

I think it's me. Both DC have complex needs and I can therefore only work very part time hours in low pay as I could never establish a career. Both are teens, one is severely disabled. I either work or provide care and feel a bit cheated by life.

Currently hard to know. My elderly relations have money behind them and cousins and their wives both have good jobs and work full-time.

DH and his brother took early retirement (in DH's case for his own well being). Both odd the odd bit of part-time work and wives work part-time. His sister and DH both work more or less full time. They've all benefited from inheritance, which helped them all pay off their mortgage.

Turning the clocks back, DH's brother and family had it hard for many years. They chose to have three children, but lived in a house that needed doing up, no heating, rarely had gas fire on when we were there. My sister-in-law would often call me into the kitchen for inspiration and what she could do with what she had in the cupboards. Wasn't worth having their fridge on, as only thing in there was milk - no spread, veggies keeping fresh, jars or things like ketchup. The whole family used to miss lunch time, unless the DC had something at school.

My MIL. Married in her teens and quickly had 2 boys before age 20. Didn't go to college or start a career as a result. Was divorced before she was 20 as well and suddenly a single mum to two very small children and unable to work. Got given emergency council housing in a horrifically violent and crime ridden council estate, which consisted of 1 room between the 3 or them. Wasn't able to work before both kids were at school but by then was in her mid 20s with no qualifications beyond some very low end-of-school qualifications and struggled to find anything that paid more than she could get on UC (she would have to pay for wrap around childcare for most jobs, making it unsustainable). By the time the boys could be left alone as teens she had health problems which prevented her from working. She was remarried by then but her husband works nights as a delivery driver and they live pay check to pay check in a council house.

It doesn't seem like a nice way to live. She's now in her early 60s and has life threatening disease as a result of being horribly over weight and looks unlikely to live many more years. Her weight is as a consequence of spending 90% of her time at home on the sofa watching tv.

I really feel for her, one bad choice in a partner and her life and prospects completely unravelled.

You have cats too?

Well done, well done, well done! I chose family too and then dh had an op and could not work, so I am stuck with the career, but you did the right thing!

My brother. He has autism, adhd, and fetal alcohol syndrome.

He gets disability but he also always works odd jobs around the neighbourhood. He keeps himself busy which I think does wonders for his mental health.

How does that work? I'd say ME!

My kids hoard all their money, and live rent-free with all their clubs and hobbies and everything paid for, they're mainly too young to go out alone. They are better off than even the cats

Hard to say
My parents are retired so probably have the least money coming in, but are the most asset rich (mortgage paid off etc), the money they do have coming in is guaranteed (pensions) whereas technically me and my siblings could lose our jobs, and they have no dependents

We've never actually discussed it but because we all work in the public sector, I can make an educated guess and assume my 2 siblings earn less than me (one slightly, one by quite a lot) but because they are in relationships their overall household income is more - so they probably have the most money coming in- but then they have dependent children that money has to be spent on. The number of DC and their stage of life (e.g. nursery fees) probably affects who out of the 2 has least disposable income on a year by year basis.

I probably earn the most (although nothing special at all, not a MN 'high earner') but as a single person all bills etc are on me rather than dual income. Smaller house = smaller mortgage. So a larger percentage of household income probably spent on necessities but after that everything left over is for me only.

So one household lower in income but highest in assets and disposable income, two higher in total income but probably lowest in fully disposable income, one in the middle!

Dd because she demands to go into town every Saturday and drags me around the American sweet shop, Claires Accessories and Primark, agonising over her £5 pocket money and how to spend it.

As compared to Ds who lets it pile up in his account for years at a time and then suddenly drops a couple of hundred on a 3D printer or a million Warhammer figures.

There's a running joke where DD will ask me if DS is richer than me. About half the time, he is! Then they both laugh at me. Being a grownup sucks.

This is a great shout actually, can I change my answer? I think my uninsurable and dentally challenged elderly cat is more of a net drain than my 10 year old.

Who knows?

Why would I know the ins and outs of all my families financials?

I have family members who are bank balance rich (I have seen their statements whilst helping them set up a new bank account) and yet to look at you would think they are poverty stricken. They have never worked, buy next to nothing new, live in an ancient house that still runs on coal and hoard stuff they find dumpster diving. Your classic 'Crazy cat lady', arguing with themselves and yelling at inanimate objects... but they're factually far richer than me and I only know that by accident of helping them sort a bank issue.

So people can look rich (job, nice house, new car, fancy holidays etc...) and are credit surfing cards, loans and debt trying to stay 1 step off bankruptcy and not have a single penny to their name and others look poor and destitute but might be sat on a fortune because they choose never to spend it... you just never know.

Who - toss up between my sisters in law - both early 70s, single, and dependent on state pensions and benefits.

Why - both left school with no qualifications and got married in their teens, worked minimum wage jobs. Divorce. Both retired as soon as they reached state pension age, even though they couldn't afford to.

You beat me to it.

Our cat only owns about 3 toys, is reliant on food subsidies and has to sleep on/in other peoples' beds. She has an outside lavvy, has to make her own clothing and has been rejected from all the paper-rounds she's applied for.😿

My parents are poorest - both retired but didn’t plan their pension properly at all and struggle, basically their lifestyle is heavily subsidized by me and my DB. I am probably richest in terms of assets and have a dual income thanks to DH but we have DC which means we don’t have much disposable income compared to my single DB.

Actually I forgot my mom. Birth mom. She's homeless and has never had a job.

My aunty (she's 63 now) but I haven't seen her in decades. She got in with a very bad group of people and got into drugs and was homeless and in prison.

It's tragic because I remember her as a young woman so vibrant and beautiful. Her mental health was always fragile but it didn't have to end like this.

Send her up a chimney, quick! 😂

In terms of income - me. Single income household. Teacher.

But I won't be the lowest in terms of disposable income because I have no partner, no children and rent my house at 33% of market rent from my school (boarding school so we get cheap housing in return for boarding duties). They also pay the council tax. Not sure why.

I used to feel literally rich in these circumstances. Never even thought about money. But my salary has been frozen for nearly 10 years so not so much any more!

[Edited to take salary out because I posted before reading the thread and now see that nobody else has given that kind of detail!! 😳]

My mum - she's disabled and can't work, so lives off PIP. I do what I can to help out but we're not a particularly well-off family all round, neither of my parents have e.g. pensions, savings, etc.

🐶❤️

In terms of income? My sister, due to laziness and work dodging. In terms of disposable income after expenses? me