From a very young age, my father began informing me of the important message behind the old adage: "never a borrower nor a lender be". Of course, as I got older, I began to realize that real life requires you to be a borrower and often asks that you be a lender. My own opinion of the adage began to be that it was an idealistic thought which needed to be amended in order to make sense in modern society.

Today, I believe that you should only be a lender if you can afford to lose whatever it is that you’re lending. After all, people don’t always give you back what you thought they would, so you have to be prepared to deal with the ramifications of losing what it is that you’ve given. If the sweater really is your absolute favorite, don’t lend it to the sister that you know always keeps stuff.

By the same token, I believe that you should never put others in the position of wishing that they hadn’t been a lender. My addition to that part of the adage is to only borrow if you have a realistic plan for repayment. Life is certainly about helping each other out but it’s not about relying on others for making your life work. Whether its personal loans or money owed to credit cards, establish a plan for paying it back and make yourself a good borrower. Then you can look yourself in the eye each morning without guilt or stress.

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