Daily Archives: September 24, 2014

A sudden windfall of dollars, do you play with it or pay back?

A friend attracted an amount of money she’d been wanting for a new project.  She considered it a windfall and was excited beyond words she could now make her dream a reality.  She began making plans and went to sleep a happy camper. She called me the next day in a quandry.  As she was making a list of what to buy, she began to call the friends and family who’d supported her vision to tell them the good news.  During their conversations she was reminded that a friend paid her cell phone bill the past year, her mom let her live rent free and her dad loaned her his car. While no one was asking for her to pay them back, she began a tally in her head, deducting those amounts so she could surprise them by repayment.  By the time she added it up, she was left  a far cry from what she needed for her project.  Her question to me was, should she pay everyone back first or do her dream first?   Continue reading