Abe Lincoln's and his brother's loan - good advice.

So I was listening to Dave Ramsey today and he mentioned a letter Abe Lincoln wrote to his step-brother when he asked him for money for the umpteenth time.

I found it here

But I thought just for the heck of it, I'd share it here as well:

December 24, 1848

Dear Johnston:

Your request for eighty dollars, I do not think it best to comply with now. At the various times when I have helped you a little, you have said tome, "We can get along very will now," but in a very short time I find you in the same difficulty again.

Now this can only happen by some defect in your conduct. What that defect is, I think I know. You are lazy, and still you are an idler. I doubt whether since I saw you, you have done a good whole day's work, in any one day. You do not have very much, merely because it does not seem to you that you could get much for it.

This habit of uselessly wasting time, is the whole difficulty; it is vastly important to you, and still more so to your children, that you should break this habit. It is more important to them, because they have longer to live, and can keep out of an idle habit before they are in it, easier than they can get out after they are in.

You are now i n need of some ready money; and what I propose is, that you shall go to work, "tooth and nail," for somebody who will give you money for it.

Let father and your boys take charge of your things at home - prepare for a crop, and make the crop, and you go to work for the best money wages, or in discharge of any debt you owe, that you can get. And to secure you a fair reward for your labor, I now promise you that for every dollar you will, between this and the first of May, get for your own labor either in money or in your own indebtedness, I will then give you one other dollar.

By this If you hire yourself at ten dollars a month, from me you will get ten more, making twenty dollars a month for your work. In this, I do not mean you shall go off to St. Louis, or the lead mines, or the gold mines, in California, but I mean for you to go at it for the best wages you can get close to home - in Coles County.

Now, if you will do this, you will soon be out of debt, and what is better, you will have a habit that will keep you from getting in debt again. But if I should now clear you out, next year you will be just a deep in as ever. You say you would almost give your place in Heaven for $70 or $80. Then you value your place in Heaven very cheaply, for I am sure you can with the offer I make you get the seventy or eighty dollars for four or five month's work. You say if I furnish you the money you will deed me the land, and if you don't pay the money back, you will deliver possession - Nonsense! If you can't now live with the land, how will you then live without it? You have always been kind to me, and I do not now mean to be unkind to you. On the contrary, if you will but follow my advice, you will find it worth more than eight times eighty dollars to you.

Affectionately,

Your brother,

A. Lincoln

Wow good advice - much more blunt than 'neither a borrower nor lender be' and still good advice for anyone who may have a sibling or family member who doesn't know how to handle their money - kinda ike I used to be. Luckily, I never had to ask my little brother - who is and always has been great with money - for a loan.

12 days to go...

I got (hopefully) my final bill for my evil nemesis - the shiny, red, 0% card.

I was so happy - at first. Knowing that the debt would be finally gone in a little over a week and a half. The only unfortunate thing is that the due date is incredibly close to when I get paid.

So, knowing that there is a definite possibility of me paying and then suddenly getting hit with 'late charges' I decided to call up the card company and see if I would be able to pay over the phone.
After going through several voice automated prompts I finally talked to a young lady.

I asked "Can I pay over the phone with a check?"

She said "Yes"

I asked "Is there a charge?"

She said "Yes there is $10 charge for paying over the phone"

"Great!" I replied not really happy about the $10 charge but, glad it wasn't the $15 that a prior debt holder charged for paying over the phone.

I was just about to hang up when I asked the $64 million dollar (or in this case $10 buck) question "Will that $10 be able to be paid by the check OR will you have to charge it to my account?"

"...we will charge your account"

[DANG IT!!!]

"o.k. ...." I replied - my enthusiasm knocked down a notch.
I said good bye and returned to staring at my calendar.

I think I will go ahead and 'kite'* a check over to them from my money-market. Hopefully, it does not hit before I get paid a day or two later.

2 other things:

1. I just listened to Dave Ramsey's podcast today and one caller, a guy I'm guessing in his mid 30's called in to say that he pulled his credit and found there was $25,000 in credit card bills that he knew nothing about. After further investigation he discovered that right after high school his PARENTS took out a few credit cards in his name and began charging random stuff to them. 10 years ago they decided to stop charging stuff and instead started making minimum payments as the interest builds. The guy is from a small town where everybody knows everybody - he has since moved on - but in order to get a proper identity theft notice on his credit file he needs a police report from the small town. The local police, who know his parents personally, have thus far refused to file a needed police report because they state it's past the statute of limitations. I think Dave's advice was something like - 'hire a lawyer' but - MAN - Talk about family drama! I feel kind of lucky now because my parents have lent me money on more than one occasion - possibly with a little bit of guilt but definitely haven't ever put me into debt...
2. I just had a 'neighbor' from an apartment across the way, knock on my door and ask me "Hey man it's [Chuck] from across the way. Listen, can I get $3 for bus fair tomorrow?" {Now let's back up - and say that on a prior early evening/ late afternoon. [Chuck] and a friend were sitting out by Chuck's porch chit-chatting about nothing in particular. Chuck is a black male also but, he happens to be my father's age - in his 50's or 60's. Chuck's friend, a black male as well seemed to be in his 40's. Anyways, I waved, said 'hi' and everything and as I was coming back from getting my mail the younger guy came up to me and started chatting about nothing in particular. Eventually he asked me what I did. He then explained that his son had done the same thing before ...it was a really nice casual conversation then all of the sudden - almost mid-sentence - the brother changed his tune and said "listen, can I get a $1 for the bus?" - Caught off guard and also caught with my wallet in hand I said "Sure" and i pulled out a crisp $1 bill and handed it to him as he stared - much like an 18 year-old guy stares at shot girls in an underage bar - at the $20 something remaining contents of my wallet.} So back to today, I looked at him funny for about a half-second then said "No" . To which he replied "well how about a $1 or $2" To which I replied "No, sorry man" he turned around and then looked back looking slightly defeated as he walked away. I guess what I wonder is - do I LOOK like I have money falling out of my pockets?! Just cause I am usually dressed up and I do have a job (two in fact) does that mean I should immediately become the community welfare coordinator?

I guess this/these semi-rhetorical question(s) goes out to all the darker skinned people in the room:

• Do you owe a brother 'in need' bus fair if you know he is just unemployed and will possibly use bus fair for something other than a bus?
• The moment you are financially able to move out of the ghetto - should you move out or should you stay and try and help out the community - even it seems like a thankless job?
• MOST IMPORTANTLY: Have your neighbors asked you for bus fair lately?
  

Anyways, with that, I look in my wallet and discover that I do not have $3 I do have $2 but, I'm keeping it...in case I need bus fair.

*although it really won't be 'kiting' the check since the money's in the bank - there's just a possibility the check will go through before I can deposit my paycheck a couple days later. I also don't earn any interest on my money market if it drops below $1000 - which will happen if the bill payment hits before my paycheck does.