Payday Loans and Wise Spending

There was a time in my life where I thought payday loans were a way to get things for free. I had lost my first chance with a payday loan before I knew the way they worked. Fortunately for me, my parents were there to help. For my friend Alex however, it's a completely different story. Alex has always had trouble managing his finances. He spends more than he has, and never thinks about whether or not he has the money to pay it off later on. He's a good kid and all, but the things he spends his money on sometimes just makes you want to cry.

His parents told me about the first time he spent a weekend away with a payday loan of theirs. Apparently it was a long weekend at a friend's house and he needed the payday loan to go to an amusement park. When he returned with an entire car full of these overly large stuffed animals, his parents' first instinct must have been to think that they raised a real winner. In reality, the only thing they raised was a very large payday loan bill. Something to the tune of seven hundred dollars. That was his first encounter with a payday loan. He was sixteen. By now, Alex has developed a strong sense of right and wrong. He knew not to play with fire, not to cross paths with moving vehicles, and not to cut his own hair. Alex must have missed the lesson on financial management however, because he still has problems.

He's twenty-one now and he works hard to spend every last dime of what he makes. He pays for meals when we all go out (Something none of us have complained about), he goes to all the latest movies as soon as they come out (and then buys them on DVD), and most importantly, he forgets to save money to pay off his student loans. Those are all great decisions in his mind, just as the stuffed animals were great investments. He hates to be lectured on the matter at hand, and when his parents call him to ask about his finances, he doesn't hesitate to tell them about the recent pinball machine he bought for our apartment. Or the new stereo he put in his car. His parents don't pay his bills anymore, and when he's short on money he comes looking for me.
Michael C.