Don't Borrow from Your Family

Adopt the rule to never borrow from your family unless you are really in a life or death situation. Don't use your family as a bank. It doesn't foster good relationships and it certainly doesn't help your personal finances or financial habits. You don't want to become the leach on the family finances. When you borrow from a family member, you go through every family event wondering if they are wondering when you are going to pay them back. It's not a very nice feeling. Those who borrow are enslaved to their creditors until the debt is paid off. You don't want to be a slave to a family member. Keep your borrowing habits to yourself and keep your relationships in tact. Families generally have enough issue to deal with, so don't throw money in to complicate matters.

Don't Lend to Your Family

As it goes with borrowing, you don't want to be the one on the other side of the table wondering when your family member is going to pay you back. If you've made a rule never to borrow from family, you should also make a rule never to lend to family. The same exception applies in that if it is a life and death situation, then it may be okay to lend, but your relationship would do better if you give money to a family member instead, which we'll discuss in a moment. Do you really want to make one of your family members a slave to you? Maybe someone might, but it's just as bad of a feeling as being the one enslaved. Make it a rule to never lend to family. That goes for lending to your parents, children, or siblings. You don't want to put yourself in that situation and imagine the disappointment and loss of trust if your family member can't pay you back.

Give Money Rather Than Lend

If someone in your family really is in need of some money, gift it to them rather than lend it. When no strings are attached to a monetary gift, you feel better, the person receiving the gift feels better, and they may love you more for it. You, at least, will be showing them a lot more love in giving rather than lending them money. There is only one caveat to this advice though. That is that if a family member is habitually getting into desperate situations where they need financial assistance, you are only enabling them to continue making wrong choices by gifting them money. If it is a one-time thing, make it a gift, but if it becomes a habit, your relationship will suffer, and so will your bank account. If bad financial choices become a habit for a family member, get them professional help rather than enabling a downward spiral lifestyle.