People Who Married Someone Significantly Richer Or Poorer Explain How It Worked Out

I've had a few rich significant others. It can be uncomfortable. I didn't learn soon enough to speak about the uncomfortable.

Lucky

"Just got engaged to the woman of my dreams, her mom was homeless and she’s been working minimum wage jobs since she was 16. Hopefully things turn out well, she’s sweet and kind and I honestly think I’m the lucky one." ~ Responsible-Laugh590

The Practice Girl

"My husband grew up very wealthy and very socially awkward. When he was 20, his mom had him take out the new maid so he could 'practice' on her. The mom did not expect him to propose. She was not amused. She cut him off until they had their second kid. This was like forty years ago. We’re still happily married." ~ HolaEverybody

Life is good...

"My wife's family is very wealthy and I grew up a poor country boy. They've been very welcoming and nothing but amazing. We met at a park a few years ago. She has a higher earning potential than I do because of her education, but I'm the breadwinner of the family right now. Life is good, we have everything we need and most things we want (excluding super expensive things)." ~ chewroxurface

'favela'

"I was born in the 'favela' (Brazilian name for ghetto), always lived there and I met this woman at a mansion party that I went because my brother was a friend of one of the organizers, I've been studying hard as f**k for my whole life and now I work at a pretty big corp (got accepted two weeks ago), while she's the daughter of a plastic surgeon and lived at a very rich neighborhood here in São Paulo, we met, dated and we're engaged now."

"The funny part is that her family loves me, her father is a very nice man and her mom is pretty much an angel, all of them treat me really well. The weird part is that my family doesn't like her exactly for the fact that she came from a rich family, I already got into an argument with my mom because of this, my brother is the only one who really supports us." ~ Regular-Attorney-310

When at Sonic

"I was making around 90k a year and she was a car hop at Sonic. We met through my sister n law at the time. We were married for 18 years, and the divorce." ~ No_Ordinary_3824

So far a mixed bag. You win some, you lose some. Ah sweet romance...

No regrets

"Over 30 years after meeting and later marrying my beloved deep south redneck wife, no regrets! It's going well, and we've been able to forge a strong partnership. My elitist, aristocratic Japanese mom's inheritance helped not just us but those we care about." ~ MyAnvsIsBleeding

10 years this January...

"Not the biggest difference, but my girlfriend is definitely on a higher level than me. When we met (at a mutual friend’s birthday party) I was unemployed, she was a software engineer leading a team of people from all over the world, writing the kind of code that entire countries use to keep track of their economies. I was still living with my parents at 25, she was able to support herself in her own flat in the centre of town, no roommates."

"I got s**t GCSEs and never pursued higher education, she’s got the kind of degrees that give you letters after your name. We’ll have been together for 10 years this January - I do minimum wage restaurant work, she makes four times as much as me writing code from home and developing cool apps. I’m saving up for an engagement ring. :3." ~ SpookyVoidCat

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And in the end...

"I grew up in public housing, lived on welfare and food stamps for a time, and attended college on scholarship. I met my husband in college when we had a class together and, later, when we met again during a protest of the first Gulf war. He was handsome, funny, and bold. I had no idea he was from a wealthy family until we were already engaged."

"We separated this summer after 26 years together but, in truth, our marriage had been over for several years. A health scare and slow drift into extremist politics changed him into a different person, the pandemic accelerated it until he was unrecognizable. Our son no longer speaks to him and his mother and brother are baffled by his behavior. We had 2 good decades together and raised a beautiful child, I'm just sad it ended like this." ~ HaupiaGoddess

Made it Work

"My wife grew up wealthy. Her dad is a doctor and exec of a local hospital, her mom is a professor. Both of my parents worked in a factory. My mom was a secretary and dad an electrician. I was the first in my family to go to college and got a computer science degree."

"I learned to budget well, lived within my means, and bought my first house at 23. I sold it a few years later and put myself through grad school where I met my wife. We have 2 beautiful daughters and a nice house. She’s a stay at home mom now and we live off my income. It’s going great." ~ HitNRun_

Mom's Tale

"Not my story... But my mother was a single parent of two working 60 hours a week to provide for me and my sister."

"When I was around 5 , she met my step dad who was making 100k as a railroad engineer. They soon moved in together and my mom was able to spend more time with me and my sister. I'm now 18, they've been married for almost 4 years and together for 13." ~ BladeWolf26

Here we are 11 years later...

"Not extreme, because I'm not wealthy or anything. But I definitely had a very different upbringing and opportunities (college degree, stable home, professional license...) We met because she was a server where I ate every Thursday. We clicked so one day I gave her my number and she called. Here we are 11 years later. It still gets interesting. Since being with her I've had more interactions with the police and legal system than I know."

"If you say you are cold she will give you the shirt shirts she's wearing damn nudity laws. She'll make ramen to take to people she saw sleeping in the laundry room. She's also the person that will come back from redbox and say 'The police will be here soon. Girl got in my face so I kicked her a**.' Our perception of life are very different; but we are better together." ~ diegojones4

Thanks Cupid

"I was a nanny and in grad school to be a teacher, and he was working in finance making half a million a year. We met on OkCupid and hit it off from there. I grew up lower middle class with blue collar parents, and he grew up in different countries with a prominent ob-gyn father and SAHM."

"Every one in his family is wildly successful while my parents are probably the most successful out of their families of black sheep. My sister jokes that I’m a fancy witch now and maybe I am. But I am still a thrifty person at heart; husband likes that I’m scandalized by the costs of things and try to find better deals and don’t want things just because they’re expensive."

"For example, I drive a Subaru while he drives an Audi because the idea of a $900/month car payment is offensive to me. We could afford it, but I’ll take my Subaru. I also donate more to charities than he does because it’s ridiculous we have so much money. He thinks it’s all very normal, but it’s not for me!" ~ katiejim

26+

"I was in fast food as a lowly peon watching my marriage crumble (first husband was a serial cheater). He (second husband) was a college student nearly eight years younger than me. We met on the internet back in the days of the BBS (ya know, in the early days, back when rampaging hordes of compuserve and AOL floppies roamed the earth)."

"We struck up a friendship while my soon to be ex husband was out on a date on our anniversary, and about two months later started dating after I left my first husband. Been together 26 years now, married for 23." ~ Pagan_Chick

From the Middle...

"Idk if this counts but my dad came from a middle class family and my mom was the daughter of two factory workers (working class). They met at a country fair while they were both in high school. My mom was the first person in her family to even try to go to college. My dad has a Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering. He works full time and makes triple what my mom does working in a store part time."

"They love each other so much it's honestly inspiring but my father has expressed some sadness around the pressure he feels as the almost sole provider for the family. My mom, on the other hand, is sad she didn't complete school and get a degree. They make it work but it's rough on both of them. I can see how something like this could break up a marriage though seeing as they just celebrated their 25th anniversary I think they're doing ok." ~ ShadowCast2550

Legit

"My ex-wife and I fit this very well. I'd rather keep the specifics to myself, but everything that I had heard about how it could go wrong did go wrong for us. Not saying it's not possible, but there's a legit reason people are warned not to do this." ~ Locklin13

"Similarly, my cousin dated the same guy all through college and for a while after. They had a beautiful life together and our family all adored him. But his family thought she couldn't be anything but a gold digger because she came from a poor family. She walked away shortly after they got engaged because she just couldn't live the rest of her life with in-laws looking at her like that." ~ nothingweasel

'unlimited funds'

"We met through a mutual friend while I was finishing up my BA in my late twenties. I'm not exactly poor but I certainly am compared to the outrageous wealth that she comes from. Overall it's great but I still find her hang-ups about money to be extremely strange. For example, we rent even though she has a trust with 'unlimited funds' for purchasing a home because she isn't ready to buy."

"It wouldn't be my home but I would rather pay her rent than a landlord. People who come from old money seem to have strange psychology around money. Her aunt isn't leaving her cousins any of the family money because she feels the family inheritance ruined her life. Truly bizarre." ~ howdidthishappen777

Toxic Boomer

"My wife grew up showing horses and I grew up mowing the infield of a local dirt racetrack so I could pay our electric bill. 28 years later, we are happier than we ever have been. We raised a daughter, moved across the country, and now enjoy taking a shower together every day. It prolly helped she decided to kick her toxic Boomer parents to the curb, though. I encourage her frequently to reach out, especially when we make infrequent trips back to our birthplace. Her choice. They really are unredeemable a**holes, though." ~ BBaggins75

Struggles...

"I grew up moving from home to home with a drug addict father and a mother who had to work 2+ jobs to keep a roof over her 3 children’s heads. my husbands family definitely struggled when he was a kid cause he’s the oldest, but now they make upwards of $150k a year and live in a nice house with nice food and things and present parents. We didn’t endure the same traumas and sometimes it’s difficult to understand each other’s struggles, but we’ve been married almost 6 months now and everything’s going great!" ~ straightupgong

In the Bay Area...

"I grew up in the Bay Area, so my dad made good money and invested well with stocks. Money pretty much wasn't ever an issue. My wife's family always struggled with money though I'm not sure if say it was poverty (she finds Malcolm in the Middle very relatable, haha). We met at church, been married about five and a half years. I'd say it's going pretty great. :) " ~ The_GREAT_Gremlin

Fairytales...

"Yes. We met online, lived in different countries and it’s a fairy tale for 7 years now. Sounds cheesy and cliche but it’s true." ~ No_Prune1433

It feels like money isn't always the obstacle. If you're going to be together forever, you make it work or you don't. For richer or poorer be damned.

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