I agree with giving the money instead of loaning it.   I’m always prepared to help my family when they are on the edge.   I have a friend who was going through a very tough divorce with two children.   She was working fulltime, doing all the right things but her husband was always late with the child support which paid her mortgage.   When she shared this with me, I turned to my husband, he looked at me and then reached for his checkbook.   We wrote the check and told her it was a gift.   She has never forgotten it.   And neither have I.   It felt good to be of help.  She never needed to ask for more but she knew we had her back.  

I will loan clothes and jewelry to my daughters.   I am not comfortable loaning my car.    : (

My brothers, and two of my long-time friends, and I have been passing back and forth, about $1000 for about 25 years now….the concept is simple…we all find ourselves in the middle of ‘circumstances’ every now and then, where a little bit of help can mean deflecting a huge crisis, or hedging for time.  Of course, when there is a divorce, or a move out of State, or hospitalization, or job loss—-the impact on money resources is hit very hard—-going out to dinner or a new dress are not ‘life emergencies’…..there IS a difference!  We each ‘monitor ourselves’ for what is an emergency loan….so much so, that when one of us asks another for money, we do not have to even give an explanation….although we usually do…..the loan is not really a loan…it is a gift, that sometime in the future, we give to another one who needs it, until someone else needs it, and on and on….

Of course, personal responsibility is assumed when it comes to money——we call it a ‘hand up’ rather than a ‘hand out’…..

Cynthia,

I am a great admirer of yours, but still feel compelled to point out that lend  is a verb and loan is a noun — therefore, "I have lent cars, houses, jewelry, and clothes with pleasure" would be better …