Tuesday, June 23, 2009

A Future in Finance?

I have always been intrigued by how my children handle money. Mason takes after me - it goes out as quick as it comes in. Hannah, on the other hand, is definitely her Pop's girl - she keeps every last penny and knows exactly what she has.

So Mason and Hannah make an interesting pair. I knew Mason occasionally borrowed money from Hannah, but that was the extent of my knowledge. Then, one day in our family wisdom search, we were reading in Proverbs about not lending money at usury. Hannah's eyebrows furrowed, and she asked her daddy what usury was. He explained the concept of interest, and Hannah looked heart broken! Apparently, she had been making a pretty good return on those loans.

A few weeks ago, Robert and the kids were at Wal-Mart (yes, again at Wal-Mart). Mason wanted to borrow a dollar from Hannah for a pack of gum. Hannah told him that was fine, but he would have to repay a dollar and a quarter. He got all huffy and reminded her that God didn't like usury..... And Hannah assured him that he need not worry about her immortal soul because she wasn't charging him interest, this was merely a "service fee."

I'm not exactly sure where Hannah learned about service fees.... we're an all-cash family.... She never fails to keep us on our toes!