What To Do If Your Parents Ask You For Money

In this blog I will help you with What To Do If Your Parents Ask You For Money.

Truth be told, I have been in this situation and so is my husband.

It is very challenging sometimes to figure out how to handle when parents ask for money. From my personal perspective, I have the good fortune of having my Dad be good at making and saving money, and only my Mom has challenges. It used to be on my mind a lot and I wanted to help my Mom. So my husband and I bought a condo in the Resort Zone of Waikiki to run an AirBnB business. I pay my mom to help me manage it and also do all of the cleaning and stocking up on supplies.

I think every case is different. In my case, my mom can still work and she has a good work ethic. She just has a block around making money and saving. I used to have that block too so I get it.

Read on for helpful tips from my own experience and what I’ve learned from others.

Pay Yourself First

In general, before you can help someone else in an airplane you are supposed to make sure you have the oxygen first. Otherwise you are no help to others.

In Finance and Money you need to save for your own retirement and your own expenses otherwise you can’t help anyone with their finances can you? If you don’t save and invest and cover your own expenses, then you will end up asking others for help later.

This is probably the main difference between people with money and people without money. If you can master this, then you will truly be valuing yourself. As you value your worth, your Net Worth will increase. This is how you can actually be a financial help rather than a burden to others. You can also be a good example to help others become better with money.

Understand How You Feel When Your Parents Ask You For Money

How do you feel when your parents ask you for money? What are they using the money for? Do they have bad financial habits that they just aren’t going to change or is this a one time situation?

When my mom asked me for money recently to fix her bathtub, I felt frustrated. She had told me over a year ago that she was saving to fix it and then she told me she spent the savings on something else.

So I helped her get insurance, and then I helped her open a high yield savings account and set up an automatic transfer so she could start saving again.

Hopefully she will stick to her savings plan.

Employ Your Parents or Have Your Friends Employ Them

Maybe your parents can babysit your kids while your at work? Then you can pay them what you would be paying for after school care. Perhaps they can teach your kids a skill, or language? Then you can pay them extra.
Perhaps your parents can fix things in your home, or can sew curtains or make clothes? Maybe they have valuable skills and you can put them to work for you or your friends.

Give Them The Money They Need If You Have It and They are Financially Responsible

Everyone gets in a tight spot sometimes. Even if you are financially responsible, maybe the pandemic or the housing crisis or suddenly losing your job makes you temporarily need assistance. If you have the money, then give it to them.

My brother gave me money during the pandemic to help us one month for our mortgage.

Helping your parents by giving them money may be the best answer. I would do a gut check as well. Does giving them money make you feel good or worse? If it makes you feel good then go for it. If it doesn’t, ask yourself why and dig into what is going on before you give money.