There is an interesting story that popped up around here about a 26 year old real estate agent named Robert Zoost who markets himself as a more high-end realtor while being portrayed as a “Million Dollar Man” so to speak. Even on his site there is a line stating “Marketing Properties from $1,000,000.00 - $50,000,000.00”.

Initially to a lot of people from the outside, including the media, painted him as a real estate superstar. Interestingly enough, his past has been slowly popping up due to various events, including lawsuits against him, and it is not a pretty one at all from a financial point of view it seems. There were occasions where he received advanced commission checks, well into the five figure ranges, while being hounded to repay various financial debts to multiple parties.

There were two instances that caught my attention where one of his former girlfriend apparently leased a cell phone for him which he was suppose to pay her back for. On top of that, he drove a luxury Mercedes Benz, to help his image I’m guessing, and the car happened to have been purchased and owned by a different girlfriend mainly due to his request (Based on what I read).

That just made me think of the parasitic style type of lifestyle that a lot of people indulge in at the expense of others. Isn’t that usually the case where people who constantly feel the need to flaunt about their vast riches are not all that they appear to be? I actually have experience lending a person a lot of money and resources as well. While getting your money back can be a real pain, it sure taught me a lot about the personality patterns and actions of people like that to avoid them.

For blog updates subscribe to our RSS feed.

A person was talking to me about a segment that appeared on the Oprah show that talked about how there was a lady that kept borrowing money from her family members to live on and as a result everyone was then suffering financially. I did go to the website to read a recap of it and it was definitely a precarious situation. The lady who was borrowing money decided to do things such as buying a new TV instead of using the money to pay for her rent.

I actually knew a person who did something similar as he constantly complained he was suffering financially with no money to live. Sure enough, when he was given thousands of dollars from friends and family members he decides to blow it on high tech electronic gizmos and other unnecessary things just to go back to others again to say he needed more.

From what I read in the recap, it was kind of interesting as the way they were trying to get through to the person was to make herself realize and admit that every time she didn’t pay people back or say her bills that she was simply lying her way through life. Seems like it was to a point where it was implied that how one handles money is a reflection of their character in general. Unfair assessment? Fair assessment?

One thing that I read from the recap was how some people would look at your FICO scores for more than just money loaning issues. It mentioned that it could also play a factor in a person’s employment chances. That was kind of interesting I thought as I have never personally seen an employer request for such information. I personally have a score of 800+ for the longest time, but that would still be kind of weird I think to use that information for purposes other than credit issues and such.

At the end the family members decided to stop supporting the person financially and to let her fend for herself. That’s the only way to do it based on the people I have met who consistently rely on others financially. When you think about it, there is a difference between helping a situation and encouraging it to continue.

For blog updates subscribe to our RSS feed.

Today a person was telling me about a situation where there is a person they know who seems to get by as a result of sweet talking their way into borrowing money from one person to another by using sob stories. Literally, the person apparently owes people money well over the $10,000+ mark.

The money was for irresponsible reasons too such as gambling or over spending. To make it worse, the person’s attitude and habits never changed. A lot of the lenders, who were friends and family to the person, just simply gave up it seems from even trying to ask for their money back.

Boy, do I have a story to tell about this when the time is right. I think the definite advice for this type of situation is that if you ever decide to lend the people you know a lot of money, always have some kind of documented assurance in place so that if they don’t pay you back as promised you can easily get something back from them without any fuss. You can be generous while at the same time protecting yourself as well.

For blog updates subscribe to our RSS feed.

One of my family members today was telling me how she felt bad that a person she knew was constantly struggling with money. Whenever possible, she offers to pay for one of the person’s small expenses. The conflict though is that she believes she should stop doing so since the person is well within a middle age range and is still reluctant to save or plan for the future.

That raises the question on just how far should you go before saying no more to a person? Should you just watch them continually destroy themselves financially or should you persist until something clicks? I am actually going through a similar type of circumstance in terms of trying to help a person I know with his finances.

It definitely is frustrating when you try to help someone and yet they are still reluctant to make the necessary changes in their lives. My situation is a little more interesting as the person specifically asked for help and as a result he began to show me items like his credit card bills. The crazy thing is whenever he knew he did something bad once we made a plan for him to follow, he would be reluctant to show what he spent his money on. It gets even more silly as when he does save money as a result of a change, he then spends what he saved on something else that he tries to pass off as an essential purchase.

Like with that, do you simply say forget it and let them possibly wreck their future since they are not taking it seriously? It’s like a choice between being a good person by persisting to help another despite their reluctance to change or allowing them to continually harm themselves with a good chance that the damage will be permanent. It can be a tricky thing when it comes to generosity.

For blog updates subscribe to our RSS feed.