FINANCES AND FAMILIES!

Be careful! If you don’t want to jeopardize your family relationships, don’t get involved in any financial issues with them.

A family member asks to borrow money. What do you do? Lend it, charge interest or not? For me, I would give the money and not expect it back. It’s a gift. Why?

Every time you see that family member, they know they owe you money and so do you. What happens if they can’t pay it back? See what I mean. It can get very complicated.

Everyone faces financial challenges at times and it is good to help out but sometimes people need to get a second job, even if it’s for a short period of time.

My experience has been that I have helped people who really did not want to help themselves. I had an uncle (since passed away) who I really liked. Life of the party but a drinker. He used to call to get money because of an emergency and I found out quickly that he was not going to pay it back-ever!

Some financial pundits advise of getting a legal contract with relatives to make sure you get paid. My advice-don’t. If you don’t have the money to give, say so and save yourself the headaches of borrowing money to lend to a relative. People do this all the time.

Be a giver! Be wise in your giving! If you do give money to a relative, tell them to return the favor to someone else!

Jacques