Kiruvwife,
All those suggestions are great, however even living modestly these days costs alot of money (ONLY TUITION for 2 or 3 kids is like months of your average kollel wife’s salary never mind food,electric bills and heat in the winter and other neccesities) and if the husband thinks it is a good idea not to work as soon as he gets married and the wife dosn’t have any special marketable skills (which most girls who havn’t gone to college dont have) the couple will probably need somone to help them out. Having a rich father in law makes finding that somone a whole lot simpler, so it is natrual that it will be considerd a major plus and you cant really blame the guy for seeing it as such.