Dear Dave,
Our daughter is 30, and she used to live a completely irresponsible lifestyle. This irresponsible behavior extended into the way she handled her finances, too. While she was in college, she took on $20,000 in student loan debt against our advice. About a year ago, she was in a bad car accident. She has recovered, but the experience really changed her. Her outlook on life, her finances and spiritual matters, in particular, are so much more mature. We were thinking about paying off the remainder of her student loans, just as a way to help and celebrate her big turnaround. What do you think?
Richard
Dear Richard,
Sometimes the best gift you can give a person is to let them wallow around for a while in the mess they made. Being forced to work your way out of bad decisions and irresponsible behaviors is a great remedy in lots of cases.
