A dad wanted his son to learn a valuable life lesson, so after he loaned him money for an investment that went wrong, he made him pay it back from his university fund
It’s important to learn big life lessons when you’re younger so that you’re less likely to make the same mistakes again when you’re older.
And that’s what one man wanted to do for his son when he “held him to a contract” to do with a “a fool proof investment” his son had come to him wanting to make. But his dad made him pay up and held him “accountable” when things didn’t go to plan, making both he and his mum “upset”. The dad stuck to his guns, however, as he wanted his son to realise that “money isn’t free”.
Taking to Reddit’s ‘Am I The A**hole’ forum, the dad wanted to know whether he was in the wrong for trying to teach his son a life lesson at a young age. He wrote: “My son came to me with a fool proof investment. I told him it was not a great idea. He said that he had a bunch of money in his education fund and I should just give it to him. He was fresh out of high school and not in post secondary. If we had taken money out and he wasn’t in school there was a pretty big tax hit.
“I told him that I would loan him the money but that if his investment didn’t pay off then he had to pay me back from his education fund. I figured it was safe since he can’t get the money unless he is in school. We wrote up a contract for the loan including nominal interest.
“His fool proof investment went poof. He got a job. It turns out that working for a living is harder than school. It’s been two years and he is going to community college this fall. He managed to save up exactly zero dollars from two years of work. He did have a string of girlfriends and a few vacations though.”
His dad told his son he has to pay him back “before he empties the account” – but rather than agreeing and accepting the situation, he “got upset” that his dad was “taking his money meant for his education”. “I asked him how much money would be in the account if I had let him invest it? He didn’t have an answer,” he shared.
He continued his post by writing: “I got my money but he is p***ed. His mother is upset that I’m holding him accountable. I told her she could pay me back the loan and he could have all the money in the account. She hung up.
“I could afford to write off the money. It is substantial but not crippling to my future. But I need him to understand that money isn’t free.”
In the comments, some said the son was just mad that they didn’t get money “free of consequences”. One wrote: “If you bail your kids financially every time they screw up they will never learn anything and will keep failing throughout their adult life. So you did your son a favour and he can always come back for more loans but the next time he will think all through much more carefully and will know about consequences.”
Another pointed out: “Actions have consequences,” reassuring the dad that he’s not in the wrong for showing his son that. Someone else shared: “So many lessons wrapped up into one. And holding him accountable is the big one. It’s important for someone entering adulthood.”
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