"Thought We Were Dirt Poor": People Reveal The Moment It Hit Them They Were Actually Rich

Going to other peoples houses and seeing they weren't as big. Took me a long time to find this out because... let's just say popular was not the word to describe me.

My brother is 8 years older than me. When he came back home for a visit after his first semester in college he told 10yo me that he never revealed his hometown to his new college friends because he didn't want them to think he was a snob. We lived on the far-less prosperous side of that village, but still, that was precisely when I realized that I was born with inherent/unearned privileges that others might never experience.

Not exactly rich but on the wealthy side of my peers. When working for me was an option for when I needed extra money, compared to my peers who had to work to help there parents support the house hold.

Started noticing Christmas gifts being a lot different than others. Then for sure when college paid for.

Also once or twice, without fully understanding, when younger saw my dad sign for some ridiculous restaurant checks with equally outrageous(ly large) tips.

In addition to lots of typical “luxury” things, very expensive vacations, graduating college without debt, expensive hobbies and vacation homes the thing that really sticks out is how much my parents were willing to pay for things like tutors, SAT prep, summer camps and sports. They wanted us to have every experience and every advantage they could provide.

It took me years and years to appreciate.

Not crazy “rich”, but it quickly became apparent that 2-3 Ski trips per year (in the Rockies) wasn’t exactly the norm lol.

Ok, my parents didn't make much when I was growing up. If fact I know it was under 18K a year, so I got my college paid for via grants and other means. I grew up though on a large family farm that was incorporated. My parents were the majority share holders. So how it worked my parents kept their income low, but the farm paid for cars and trucks, atvs, snowmobiles, and houses. So all my parents had to do was pay for food and clothes for school, but farm clothes where paid for by the farm.

I found out later in life while I thought we didn't have much money. In reality Dad was a savvy business guy realized he could basically live on nothing, but yet when he retired he was able to pocket 2-3 mil. I thought it was normal for people to get a new truck/car every 3-4 years. Yet you keep the old one on farm for the employees to drive and use on the farm. As 16 year old I basically had a fleet of cars/trucks to choose from to drive. Who paid my insurance for driving not my parents, but the farm.

I grew up poor & lived with my mom, but my dad eventually made really good money as an electrical engineer for international cruise ships. I'm not sure how much money he made exactly but I visited him every summer, sometimes in the winter. One summer he got a new house in a gated community. It was a modest-sized house but with two living rooms, a lake view, and freaking columns inside. The washer & dryer sang a song when they were done. The community had a clubhouse, a pool & a hot tub and a really nice gym. They took me on shopping sprees and bought me whatever I wanted even if it wasn't on sale, we went to Disney often, ate out pretty much every day, bought all organic groceries at Fresh Market instead of Walmart.

Maybe they were just solid middle-class but man I've never felt so rich. Im really glad I got to "take breaks" from being poor lol.

I remember talking to my family in a car ride about what I learned in economics class my junior year of high school. That particular day, my class learned about safeguards the U.S. government has in place to prevent another Great Depression. One of those safeguards is the FDIC and how it insures your money placed in a bank account and if it's lost or stolen, you will be reimbursed by the Federal Government. At the time, the maximum amount of money in an account FDIC would insure was $100,000. My Dad has a degree in economics and this was no surprise to him, but my step-mom must not have been aware of this because, when she heard this, she asked my Dad very seriously what would happen to our money if it was stolen, implying that my family had more than $100,000 to our name. Considering the standard of living my family was, and is currently is, living at I feel foolish for not realizing my family's affluence until I was 17, but the fact my family had more than $100,000 blew my mind. It's certainly something not to be taken for granted.

When I started to use the prefix “best” whenever I was trying to find a product or service online and was applauded for my diligence.

At my high school we had the ACT sponsored by the state. This wasn’t right but I glanced at the 3-4 friends around me filling out their demographics and noticed their parents were making < $50k. I filled out the top bubble which was > $160k and didn’t realize that was significantly high. This was probably 10th grade too.

When I worked at a factory when I was 18 through a career ready machining program I got over the summer. My dad helped me buy a new car, I paid roughly $4,000 but overall the car was $21,000, he paid in cash. When I showed up to work, everyone asked me what my dad did for work, he's a cargo pilot, after that it was non stop teasing and comments about how rich he/our family was. Later on when I was applying for FASFA I found out that my dad made about $300,000 per year. You wouldn't guess it by looking at our house, but I always had a computer, working car, and I graduated from college debt free.

My parents weren't rich, but when I was applying for college loans I saw that my dad made around $150,000 a year which really surprised me since, when growing up, money always felt like it was really tight and I remember my parents always worrying about overspending on their budget. I do have 9 siblings so that probably lent to that, but I always figured we were kinda more in the field of low middle class income wise.

My dad came home with a Maranello Ferrari and didn't think it was that big of a deal.

I have rich parents. People went crazy over my yeezy shoes.... I was like ummm... ya they are cool but people (from my class) just wouldnt believe it to be real. Glad my shoes size is small coz classmates where asking to try it own.. People started taking me seriously and started talking good to me after that...weird imo