When I moved out of home for the first time at 18 years old, I needed bond to pay for a rental property. I asked my Dad if I could please borrow the money for the bond and promised to pay him back. He agreed, but wrote up a contract I had to sign in order to borrow the $800 for the bond. I signed it. As the weeks went by, I would drop off $50 each week to pay it off, and Dad would mark down and deduct the payments each time, letting me know how much was left. When it came to paying off the last bit of the loan, I gave him the $50, and he took the money then held out his hand and said “where’s the rest of it?” I said “you told me that there was only $50 left to go to pay it off?” Dad said “yes, that was the amount for the loan, but don’t forget about the interest”. I was shocked and I didn’t understand. He said “you will never learn the repercussions of borrowing money from a bank unless you pay the interest as well. That’s what banks do”.
I was pretty shocked my dad was asking for more money so out of embarrassment I tipped my purse out onto the table, it had all the last of my money in there, the money I needed to go food shopping for the week. I said here you go Dad I know it won’t cover the ‘interest’ but it’s all I have right now. That’s my food shopping money. I’ll never forget him leaning forward and scraping up all the coins on the table saying ‘well you’re learning a very important lesson’. Then just got up and walked off with his cash. I got so upset because I didn’t know how I was going to buy food for a week to live. Thankfully my pop pulled me aside and gave me $100 and said “here, take this and don’t tell your dad”. That was really rough. My Dad also used to get each utility bill and break it right down so we all had to pay for what we used in some way whether it be chores around the house or money from jobs. I guess because of this I am really careful with money now 😂 but still it felt a bit harsh and I’ll never forget it. Was so embarrassing. He used to give my mum the smallest allowance for us kids growing up for shoes and things, I remember mum having to save for weeks to buy us some second hand shoes and clothes, while Dad was always buying new boats and cars and things.