When Life Gives You Lemons in 7QT

Linking up with Kelly again for my second post of the week--yay, I met my goal!

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As I have hinted in my past posts, we are in the never ending joyous process of purchasing a new home.  We had chosen a small, but reputable,  Christian mortgage company thinking we should support that type of business and feeling like we could be confident that they were using the money wisely and honorably.  WHILE I cannot speak to the way that the money is used, the service we received was anything but lovingly Christian.  After our closing was delayed by TWO MONTHS, the loan officer requested that we again extend it and submit another pile of papers, I think they needed wallpaper for a new office for we surely supplied enough paper to do so.

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Anyway, we knew we had to find another way.  We thought and prayed and were blessed with an alternative route.  We were able to borrow money from our 401K's at a rate of 6% over 10 years, but here is the bonus, 4% of that goes back into our accounts which means they will actually be making money instead of losing it!  We still had a gap, and we prevailed upon our family to find a few people who would lend us $5,000 each to be paid back over five years at the rate of 2%--a win for everyone, what bank is paying 2%??

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However, we still needed a small amount to close the gap and cover closing costs, now that all our cash for moving and closing had been thrown into buying the home.  It just so happened our three little investments children had the exact amount we needed.  Can I hear an AMEN!  God is good all the time, all the time God is good!

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Enter the homeschooling lesson, because when life gives you lemons, you create a unit study.  We had already been learning about wise money choices and building businesses.  Why not learn about compounding interest and loan agreements???  Hmmm, we might be onto something.

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I checked If You Made a Million out of the library and also found this website to explain earning interest to kids.

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Then there is this video 

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Lastly, I typed up loan agreements to fill out and sign with each of the children.  So that it's all legal and everything and to add to the learning experience.  I will be sending a copy of the loan agreement to all my subscribers next week.  You don't have to borrow thousands from your child for this lesson, you could start with $100 or even $10.  The importance is them understanding that when one borrows money it costs money and has to be paid back on a schedule, and also the wonder of compounding interest, no matter the pathetic nature of bank investments these days.  I am hoping it will encourage the children to think more about what they do with their spending cash and how they can plan for the future.  Please remember to subscribe, if you haven't already.  Thanks.