How did Harry's family come into so much gold?

Could it have been as simple as James and Lily saving? Although looking at this, they were not rich people, so where did the money come from?

what did james and lily do for a living?

I think the money comes from James' family - from what we know, the Potters were rich, pureblood and probably a longstanding family in the wizarding world.

I would imagine that they were 'old money', a bit like the Malfoys (but for the side of good), and the money was just passed down from generation to generation.

I can never remember whether we've been told Lily and James' jobs - or if what I'm thinking of comes from fanon! It seems a general consensus that James was an auror, and in most fanfictions, Lily is either a healer or something to do with experimental charms.

I dunno if these are simply fanon creations though...

I always thought that James was an auror as well, though like you, Im not sure if thats through fanfics!

It does make sense, though, what you are saying, and it is the most obvious theory, though I cant help wondering if there is something else there

I would have to say the same. We know the Potters as rich and pureblood.

You also may include the fact that both Lily and James were aurors and were probably very good in doing their job.

*shrugs* thats what i think

I have to agree with all of you on the fanfic thing but it sounds easonable...

But if we were to speculate in the oddity of this we'd simply assume James was a double agent and then when he got enough gold from voldemort he ran!! Haha but no...it's not plausible.

Anyway yeah the potters were rich, probably aurors and purebloods.

i actually dont think that the were aurors - it so predictable and not JKR. and i think it would make the story alot more interesting if they werent.

although about the money thing i think it was probably just passed down from generation to generation

Yeh as other people have said it's probably just saved or passed down, and I also think it's from James' side as Lily's family, I don't know, it may jut be some sort of ranomd thing in my head but they might not have been rich in the wizard world. *shrugs*

I think the money was from James' side as everybody else thought but I thyink that they were both training to be aurors, I mean they were young so they took time out to Hvae Harry and then they went back to training

it was proberly passed down yeh and also slughorn said that lily was cleaver so she would have had a good job

i think that Lily have something to do with charms because of the fact that Slughorn said she was good at doing charms..... As for James i like to think of him as a qudditch player because after all he was good at playing qudditch and it would have gotten him lots of money

i think lily and james had good paying jobs but thats not where it all came from. i think potter supporters gave the bank money for harry. you know the order people... just a thought

I could of sworn that Jo said that it was passed down from James family and that he didn't need a job to support his family. I think she said it an interview a while back but ican't remember which one.

lol. I read them all from MuggleNet and the LeakyCauldren... so yeah. I'm pretty sure that they weren't working.

I think they were pretty far into the Order which you don't get payed for so I do believe that James inherited everything from his parents

The Potter's were rich.It was in the book.i cant remeber where though

Well, I didn't look up anything about the whole family tree like stephy, but since the Potter's are direct descendants of Ignotus Peverell who we know was a very talented wizard to help create the Hallows, I would assume that the family name had carried money for a very long time and as it built down and was passed through the generations it continued to grow.