Comments on: Financial Independence Week: Should I Expect My Parents To Rescue Me? http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/01/31/financial-independence-week-should-i-expect-my-parents-to-rescue-me/ Financial talk for the rest of us Sat, 16 Feb 2013 01:14:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Vanessa http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/01/31/financial-independence-week-should-i-expect-my-parents-to-rescue-me/#comment-962424 Vanessa Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:25:07 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/01/31/financial-independence-week-should-i-expect-my-parents-to-rescue-me/#comment-962424 test

]]> By: GEoff http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/01/31/financial-independence-week-should-i-expect-my-parents-to-rescue-me/#comment-533980 GEoff Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:56:48 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/01/31/financial-independence-week-should-i-expect-my-parents-to-rescue-me/#comment-533980 @Cheryl
I’ve always had a pretty independent streak, and haven’t taken money from my folks since high school. But when I fell on my ass after college graduation they bought me a bus ticket back home from Iowa and let me crash on their couch for six months while I got life together. … I still owed some guy in Iowa $2,000 and I paid for that myself with the $8 an hour job I could find, and I saved up the stake to buy a truck and put some seed money together so I could move to Dallas. But I really think they bailed me out…

]]> By: Cheryl http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/01/31/financial-independence-week-should-i-expect-my-parents-to-rescue-me/#comment-233106 Cheryl Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:36:20 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/01/31/financial-independence-week-should-i-expect-my-parents-to-rescue-me/#comment-233106 Adults expect their parents to bail them out of a financial crisis? Really? Maybe I was raised to be independent, but that’s just me I suppose.

]]> By: boardmadd http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/01/31/financial-independence-week-should-i-expect-my-parents-to-rescue-me/#comment-193498 boardmadd Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:12:10 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/01/31/financial-independence-week-should-i-expect-my-parents-to-rescue-me/#comment-193498 Much as I love my Mom and Dad, they did me a great disservice when I was a teenager (totally unintentionally) by giving me one of their credit cards unsigned; this way I could use it any time I wanted to, no questions asked (this was back in the days when you could actually *do* that). Needless to say, it insulated me from just how much money I was spending (they made a *lot* of money at the time, so rarely said anything about it). When they *did* get on my case about it, I just decided to get my own cards… and WHOA, what a wild and not fun ride *that* was!!! It took me a few years, but I managed to rack up close to $30,000 worth of debt, much of it to fund my “music career” (I was going to be a superstar and it would all be worth it… HAHAHAAA!!!!!).

Needless to say, I faced many years of tough times because I was maxed out, and thankfully I was able to stay afloat (barely)! It was hard going and it was a long road until we were able to clean all of that crap out.

While I had $30,000 in debt when we got married (at 24) my wife had managed to save almost $30,000 (at 23, having worked and saved aggressively since she was 16). What made her different from me was that she did *not* come from an affluent family; her dad was a machinist and made decent money, but he had worked as a logger and a miner and in various other jobs over many years; he was a *very* frugal man and believed in making everything go as far as it could for as long as it could and still have a utility value. He developed the same mindset in his daughter; work hard, be frugal, save as much as you can and make do with what you have for as long as you can.

I kept our finances separate after we got married for three years because I felt guilty that I would effectively wipe out her savings. Ultimately, we cleaned up the mess, put everything together, and pledged to do all we could to stay out of debt. We have been consumer debt free since 1995. In December, we paid off our mortgage, so for the first time in fifteen years of marriage, we can now say we are completely debt free!

Through all of this, we have been *very* open and transparent about money to our kids, the true cost of stuff, and a declaration that we will not “bail them out” of financial trouble if they get themselves into it. Of course, we hope that we will teach them the way to stay out of trouble in the first place (knock on wood :) ).

]]> By: Fran http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/01/31/financial-independence-week-should-i-expect-my-parents-to-rescue-me/#comment-155645 Fran Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:23:36 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/01/31/financial-independence-week-should-i-expect-my-parents-to-rescue-me/#comment-155645 Once upon a half-life ago, I dated a guy who’d grown up in a very affluent family. He was in his early thirties, had wrecked his credit beyond repair, and still expected them to bail his booty out. Would that Trent’s article and wisdom had been available to all back then. And heck, yes, I dumped him. ;)

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