Neither a borrower nor a lender
I hate teaching fiscal responsibility, but it's something you have to do. I know too many people who get into trouble long into adulthood from poor saving and spending practices.
My teenager didn't work over the winter. After his job ended in the fall, he survived about three minutes on what he "saved" from the summer, then failed to get another job to pay for "extras" throughout the winter. That included Christmas. He suddenly needed to buy everyone he knew a present. Too bad. I helped him buy his girlfriend a present but that was it. I had been telling him since early November that he needed to get a job if he wanted that kind of spending money, and he kept saying he would find one. Two weeks before Christmas he got busy and applied at two places before realizing nobody would hire him two weeks before Christmas. He skated through the winter, living on some babysitting money and "loans" (now mostly forgiven) from us.
He's back to working now, and has started to pay off the debt I absolutely won't "forgive" that he accumulated with me over the winter (i.e. girlfriend's presents, broken cell phone fee, overuse of data and text messaging). But his last paycheck was light, from when he was still in school, so he didn't apply any to what remains of that. The other day we had a talk about college, and I said that once he's getting his full paycheck, he should get a checking account for his spending money and put the rest of it in his savings, with the passbook held under lock and key. There's $30 in it, leftover from last year, that I actually took off the debt that he owed me, provided that it's money that will stay socked away.
So during our conversation, he mentioned that of the $200 he got a week and a half ago, he's loaned out money left and right to his friends, now everybody owes him money. "Bad idea," I said. "Don't loan out your money, you probably won't get it back."
So this morning he calls and asks if he can get the passbook so he can "withdraw" $20 of the $30 so he can go out to lunch with friends. "Actually, that was my $30, not yours, and I'm leaving it in your account so you'll start saving toward college. So why don't you collect from all those people you've been lending money to instead?"
"But they don't have jobs!" he said.
Exactly. And you aren't a bank, or their parents, I explained. And now, you're likely out money.
Lousy lesson to learn, but one worth remembering.
My teenager didn't work over the winter. After his job ended in the fall, he survived about three minutes on what he "saved" from the summer, then failed to get another job to pay for "extras" throughout the winter. That included Christmas. He suddenly needed to buy everyone he knew a present. Too bad. I helped him buy his girlfriend a present but that was it. I had been telling him since early November that he needed to get a job if he wanted that kind of spending money, and he kept saying he would find one. Two weeks before Christmas he got busy and applied at two places before realizing nobody would hire him two weeks before Christmas. He skated through the winter, living on some babysitting money and "loans" (now mostly forgiven) from us.
He's back to working now, and has started to pay off the debt I absolutely won't "forgive" that he accumulated with me over the winter (i.e. girlfriend's presents, broken cell phone fee, overuse of data and text messaging). But his last paycheck was light, from when he was still in school, so he didn't apply any to what remains of that. The other day we had a talk about college, and I said that once he's getting his full paycheck, he should get a checking account for his spending money and put the rest of it in his savings, with the passbook held under lock and key. There's $30 in it, leftover from last year, that I actually took off the debt that he owed me, provided that it's money that will stay socked away.
So during our conversation, he mentioned that of the $200 he got a week and a half ago, he's loaned out money left and right to his friends, now everybody owes him money. "Bad idea," I said. "Don't loan out your money, you probably won't get it back."
So this morning he calls and asks if he can get the passbook so he can "withdraw" $20 of the $30 so he can go out to lunch with friends. "Actually, that was my $30, not yours, and I'm leaving it in your account so you'll start saving toward college. So why don't you collect from all those people you've been lending money to instead?"
"But they don't have jobs!" he said.
Exactly. And you aren't a bank, or their parents, I explained. And now, you're likely out money.
Lousy lesson to learn, but one worth remembering.
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