[john70t]

Dad was a spender of grandparents wealth as well. Many big things he did were good investments such as real estate which broke slightly more than even, but there were a slew of projects which went nowhere sadly. Those were pretty farsighted and beneficial but was implemented wrong, imo. Too many pies juggled. He was mostly missing while growing up, feelings and larger topics were simply not discussed with children in his strict overbearing grandmother world, but I've gradually realized the slew of mistakes I made as well.

Mom is a carry-over from her depression era parents to an extreme sometimes. Go on an expensive vacation to the other side of the world but kids don't get that unique one-of-a-kind $2 ice cream. Even once. Go to an expensive restaurant once a year but only a small side salad is allowed. What's the point? Meanwhile maintaining two abodes both at very high overhead cost. Won't spend $10k to fix a basement water leak creating long term damage but then sell it for $50k under value. Random. Overall she's made good choices and I'm proud of her.
(edit: When dinner was put on the table, you damn well eat it, and eat all of it, because you won't get a second chance.)

Some of it all didn't make sense, but it did instill a sense of thinking twice about purchases vs. investments.