‘I’m burned out’: I’m constantly helping my cousin who is running out of money. Is it too much to expect his sister to help?

The reader describes a recurring, unpaid caregiving role: time away from their own family and out-of-pocket costs such as gas and meals for a cousin who is running out of money. The question posed is whether it is reasonable to expect the cousin's sister to share the load.

This is a personal-finance story about the hidden costs of informal family support, not a market-moving event. Still, it illustrates a pattern that matters for household balance sheets: when one relative absorbs another's shortfall, the helper's own budget and savings capacity can quietly erode. Unlike formal care or public benefits, these transfers are rarely tracked, which makes them easy to underestimate.

What to watch is how such arrangements are structured. Clear expectations about who contributes what, and for how long, can reduce both financial strain and family friction. Readers should also note that this is one household's account, not data on caregiving costs broadly, so it should not be read as a general trend.