My father has this problem. He makes more money than both his siblings, my mother and stepfather combined, but he’s always dead broke. He is a compulsive spender and at one point, he was crying to me because he had no money. This was at a time I was living on Ramen noodles and no a monthly public bus pass which I could barely afford .
I get really angry with him and his bad spending habits. I strongly suspect he’s committed credit card fraud, tax evasion and identity theft to support his spending habits recently (I don’t know for sure, but this wouldn’t surprise me in the least.)
I feel conflicted sometimes because lately, he’s been feeling guilty about this and he’s been buying my daughter gifts and giving me handfuls of cash every few months. On the one hand, I know that he can’t afford to do this because his spending is so out of control. On the other hand, I feel like he SHOULD be able to afford these gifts with the wad he earns. And after years of him welching on promises and kinda being a jerk, I feel like I deserve this stuff.
I wish I had a good answer for this, but right now I take the presents, feel guilty about it and am very grateful that I didn’t inherit his disastrous spending habits.