My in-laws are really starting to piss me off. Over the past 6-12 months they have been giving my wife (their daughter) a really hard sell to buy a new car because her car is more than 10 years old. She has a 2007 Honda CRV with 150,000 miles. She bought it new in 2008 and has taken really good care of it. My wife stuck up for herself and has simply said multiple times, "I don't want a car payment"
Her parents are 65 years old and would like to retire, but can't because they do not have enough money. Maybe part of the problem is that they have 3 car payments? They have a 2015 Dodge diesel truck ($55,000), 2018 Honda Pilot ($30,000) and 2020 Jeep Rubicon ($40,000). Working has been really hard on their health over the past 2 years. They work at a grocery store as a stocking manager and check-out clerk.
Father in law works 48 hours/week. Mother in law works 40 hours/week. They both get 4 weeks of paid vacation, so their total hours/week average around 81 hours/week. Their combined annual income is probably around 90,000/year.
We make around the same amount (90,000/year), but we work half as much because we value our health and time and not new cars. I average 25 hours/week of work and my wife averages 15 hours/week. This is 40 hours/week total combined.
I really do not care how they live their life. I strongly believe in, "To each their own." However, I am dumbfounded that they feel the need to tell us how to live our lives and their path is the better way. In my opinion, their life sucks.
I feel like "to each their own" goes out the window when people try to tell you how to live your life. A witty retort like "we don't want a car payment because we don't want to still be working when we're 65 with no end in sight" may not be effective, but it sure would feel good to say.
That's my general feeling. I don't need to tell my in-laws they are terrible with money... Until they start trying to give us money advice.
"Lets see, y'alls net worth is negative, ours is in the 6 figures, the advice needs to go the opposite way its currently going"
or
"Taking money advice from you is like taking weight loss advice from Paula Dean"
Some parents don't realize that they lead by ANTI-example (as in, do the exact opposite of my life choices"