This paper provides a detailed analysis of financial remittances to families in ru-ral Andean Ecuador. Five different types of transfers are identified and analyzed:family maintenance remittances, migrants savings, debt repayment, emergencymoney, and gift money. In each case, the dollars families receive as remittanceshave various meanings. In order to fully understand migrants money transfers totheir families, the relationships between senders and receivers, which include mu-tualand sometimes divergingexpectations and obligations, need to be takeninto account. These relationships are complex, and shaped by gender, age, andkinship considerations.