Well, they aren't super wealthy, but they are well off. They will be able to retire early. They have more than enough. They talk about whether or not they'll be able to 'make it' on their retirement salary, which is far more than what I make - and I have 4 kids and am trying to put myself through school and have a mortgage - they don't.
They often play mind games with me about their money. It's hard to explain, they always dangle the carrot then pull it back. They've made promises then claimed they never did and didn't I understand how broke they were? Once after pulling the carrot back, I asked her why she was doing this? She stated, "we have to think about our retirement you know. It's time for us to think about ourselves now." I always thought to myself, now?? when was that different than any other time? That's all they've ever done is think about themselves.
For a long time I thought they were decently well off but not at the level I recently found out. I knew they owned several properties outright and had some savings. I excused a lot of the carrot dangling because of it - I thought, "well maybe they want to help but then get scared because they need to concentrate on saving more, maybe they don't have enough to retire." However, I clean their house (that's one way my mom will help me with money - when she gets something out of it and doesn't have to pay me as much as a cleaning service) and they left a statement of financial position right on the desk. Let's just say I vastly underestimated their wealth and it makes me even angrier that they would do what they did. They are wealthy. Not super wealthy. But they could've fulfilled all of their broken promises and bought me a house in cash and not have it make a dent on their retirement. Not that I feel entitled to any of it (or that I expect a house, LOL, but just to demonstrate how much they have) but the last few years have been difficult to say the least and they made promises that I counted on and made huge life-changing decisions because of those promises. ugh, the whole thing makes me ill. I would never, ever do that to my children. Ever.
I get what you are saying about how they 'get' when you bring up money, and how dare I suggest they are 'well off' don't I know how they struggled and how HARD they worked for their money and if only I worked as HARD as they did...ugh, you know the typical conservative mindset. Yeah, like it's my fault my ex ran off with another woman and I found myself without a money or job or education and with 4 kids to raise on my own. I think I've done pretty good - after this term I'll have 6 more courses until I get my degree, I'm certain I'll get a decent job (I live in a low unemployment rate area) I've been able to pay for my education on my own (my ex pays enough in child support and spousal support that I just get by) and budget pretty effectively. I think I work hard too. Pretty much the only people who know my situation who haven't complimented me on how hard it must've been and haven't I risen to the challenge are my parents.
Yeah, my dad's the "why should I pay taxes for the school system? I don't have kids in school. Currently." type too. They are also the type to make judgments on how poor people spend their money, even though back when they didn't have much money, I remember them making some dumb decisions. Oh well. Typically conservative, they cannot see past their own noses. It will always be that way with them.
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