I think this sort of thing is common in many Mormon families. There’s a certain understanding about money.

You see it reveal itself when young people barely out of college, with no established work history are buying homes and living in amazing luxury.

What about saving up? Paying your dues? What about other values?

You see it with former maintenance workers building massive retirement homes in Utah.

Where did the money come from?

If you ask, or even barely pry, you get attacked, and everyone calls you the problem.

Sorry, but when people live in an alternate reality where 2+2=5, I suspect corruption of some sort; especially if there’s no family money to speak of.

Mormonism breeds this sort of behavior.

You're reading too much into it.

All it takes to live beyond your means is getting a loan. And if you can't qualify, all you need is a co-signer.

Mormons like to have an "appearance" of wealth, whether they have it or not. And you don't need to have it just to appear to have it.

I k we rich Mormons who bought several houses in Utah as investments and their kids lived in a house and managed the other ones being rented. These were newly build homes in Draper and Lehi.

Small investors who snap up properties have become an issue where I live. They are taking some of the more affordable properties off the market for those buying first homes. It used to be that properties in my community would come on the market regularly. But we've only had one in the past six months or so.

I always found it rather dubious that BYU students are encouraged to start families, and often, to go on the dole to do so. Along with my nevermo peers, I was raised to believe that people should try to complete their schooling before having children.

And long ago, before the housing bubble burst, I looked with skepticism at some of the very large homes being purchased by young people in Utah. IIRC, a lot of those homes were lost when the bubble finally burst.

Nobody can be on the take unless somebody is handing out money. Please find six or more people who are handing out money and post their names, addresses and phone numbers.

Thanks in advance.

I’m old enough to remember when official LDS advice was to never go into debt except for a house, and (in some cases) education.

I live in a fairly affluent area. A year or so before the 2008 crash, I remember chatting with my bishop. He said that he was very concerned with the fact that so many of the ward members were living so close to the edge financially. There had been a lot of mcmansions built in our ward boundaries, and I often wondered how so many people were able to afford such expensive houses.

It's very important to appear that you are being financially blessed for your righteousness. Even if your state has to lead the nation in Chapter 7 bankruptcies.