There are those who say “promises are made to be broken,” but not when it comes to promising your child something. An unidentified couple’s son had $5,000 in savings when was 16, so they promised to match the amount he earned from then until he graduated and buy him a car. The couple thought the boy would earn around $10,000 and they would buy him a $20,000 car. What they didn’t count on was him earning a whopping $35,000. He managed to save around $10,000, but then decided to invest the money in stock options and wound up, as the parents described it, “stupid lucky.” For their part, the parents can’t imagine allowing an 18-year-old to drive a $70,000 car. Financially, the couple can handle following through on their promise, but they point out that the college he selected won't let him drive the car to school until he's a sophomore, and insurance on a $70,000 car would be a nightmare. Now the parents are asking social media whether the best course of action would be to break the promise and likely face resentment, or keep the promise and cough up the money. Surprisingly, most responders agreed that there was no need for a teenager to have an expensive car and that the couple should just say no and face the consequences of breaking their promise. Others say they should keep the promise and pay the $35,000. Still others say there should be a compromise: the parents should pay as promised, but only use part of the money for a practical car and let their son keep the rest for future expenses. In the end, a whopping 45% of respondents opted to match a portion and using the rest for future expenses, while a mere 10% said a promise is a promise. The remaining 45% were somewhere in the middle. What did the parents end up doing? That remains a mystery.
