I am one of six children. I'll start with the kids first.
Older Brother:32. I think he has 4 kids at this point with two women, jail history makes him work the crappiest jobs (dangerous or poorly paid.)
Older Sister: 30. Really common sense, but had a job for 6 years as an illegal apartment manager where she got free housing. In the middle of that, she dreamed of a job that would be air conditioned, and wanted to be a secretary type. But declined my suggestion of taking a medical coding class, because that was too much work. Now she is being evicted from the free housing(the guy who owned the property foreclosed on it.) She wanted to buy the home she'd loved and lived in for 6 years, but due to low credit and low income of her and her spouse, they couldn't get a loan. She is working a catering job and about to move into a rental apartment/house and as far as I can tell, has never grossed more than 20k/year.
I'll get to me in a second.
Younger Brother: is 25. owes several friends and myself money. Has been going to college so long that he's met the TIME limit on FAFSA as of the end of this semester. He's worried, because the FAFSA paid for his classes, and the private loans supplemented his catering/waiter/fast food joint income. Oh yeah, also because he doesn't even have a bachelors degree and no real goal with his education that is based on reality. Broadway anyone?
Younger sisters: Twins, 21. One may have a clue, but still lives with my mom, so can't have much of one. The other popped out a baby because all her friends were having one. Even though her and her on again/off again boyfriend had intermittent part time work. She ditched the baby on grandma and continues to couch surf among family, friends, and temporary boyfriends.
Me:27.5 I was not mustachian until last year when my husband got let go from his TA job. I was in debt and still blowing 12k a year on stupidity. I had no financial education from my mother and had a series of financial burdens I'll call "loser boyfriends." However, the only reason this all isn't AWFUL is because I was motivated enough to improve my lot in life and jump up to a 45k gross income by 21 years of age. I should be 92k of debt FREE by 30 (This includes husbands college loans and mortgage.)
The Mother:51
Of all this mess is a hoarding, emotionally toxic, user of a person who is now, unfortunately, the adopted caregiver of a new meal ticket granddaughter. Before my loser boyfriends, she was my largest loss of income since the moment I got a job. I was her emergency fund. She has literally, literally tried to black mail me, because I had moved out and a major part of her income had been lost. (The threat was that she would call my then current car insurance company and tell them that I was the cause of a car wreck a few years previous and that I should be paying the insurance premium hike for that. Therefore, I should pay her at least half of the hike monthly to keep her from doing so. I knew this was a ridiculous claim but the fact that she threatened this imploded the section of my brain regarding "family".)
Her financial advice?
at 14? "If you lost some weight, you could be a trophy wife".
At 18? "I'm so glad you gave up on your Veterinarian Dream, because you're awful at math."
at 19? "I'm not helping you get around anymore. You need a car. Let's go to a car dealership and get you one brand new. You never know what's wrong with those used cars."
She has absolutely no retirement fund. She stole a car (underhanded, but legally) from her own sister and sold it to someone else. When I crashed and totaled my new car, she rented me her extra car at $200 "for wear and tear." She once tried to get me to buy a 12k barn with air conditioning and heating so she could stop keeping her extra furniture from her 3 bedroom house in the garage. Last time I was on speaking terms with her, she ate fast food for EVERY MEAL and owned 6 printers. She once started a business; it was a puppy mill, and her children were her free labor. I was supposed to wash all 70 of the dogs on rotation. When she did work at a clothing store, all sorts of discounted crap started showing up at the house. And in hindsight, since she was in charge of discounting stuff, I wonder how much was truly discounted. I may as well stop there. This could go on for pages.