<p>oldfort,</p>
<p>We have both family members and close friends who couldn’t control their budgets. Otherwise intelligent people (one was an accountant!!!) who just never got a handle on their financial lives. We had subtle requests for “just gas money” (chipped in happily), and an out-and-out request to co-sign a car note for a family member (when we couldn’t afford a car for ourselves and were leading a car-free existence). We’ve provided advice on where to get free medical and dental care, and where to get debt-management counseling. I’ve spent hours with one friend re-visiting financial strategies that would work for her if she’d only stick with them. I’ve played the tight-wad wife who controls all family finances for so long that any financial issue (even paying my mother-in-law’s electric bill out of the bank account we’ve set up specifically for her to pay that kind of thing from) gets run by me every single time. Not fun, not fun at all. Count yourself blessed that you have not had these experiences.</p>