A
female
age
36-40,
*eemran
writes:I love my husband very much and i dont want to loose him.but he is very concern about his family.he spend his every penny for them.he dont want kids now.i am a housewife.he wants to finance his brother's MBA,which cost will be $150000.i am scared.please suggest me something....soon Reply to this Question
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male
reader, anonymous, writes (26 August 2010): The question which springs to my mind is why can't the brother get a loan for the MBA? If he's too much risk for a bank, then why are you risking that sort of money yourselves? If the brother can't afford the repayments, then is he really in the sort of job which will benefit from a MBA? And if he doesn't have the income himself, why isn't he considering a less pricey degree (there are some well-regarded MBAs offered by professional associations using distance learning at pricing and times to suit busy engineers and accountants).
The deeper question is who is in your husband's notion of "family" -- are you really part of his family or are you some sort of extended-stay girlfriend.
If he has $150,000 at hand, then he should be seeing to the security of his family first. That means he shouldn't be offering his brother that sort of money unless the home is paid down and there's some money in the bank. If you are financially secure with no debts, then by all means he should be generous, but only because he can afford to write off $150,000 without affecting his standard of living.
Borrowing $150,000 to pay for someone else's education is very risky and an incredibly bad idea. If you don't want to service that loan, then you should avoid any mention of you in the loan papers. You should not go to the bank with your husband, ask someone you trust to go to ensure he makes no commitments that bind you. You should never make a repayment, even to save your husband the inconvenience. Do not do automated payment from a joint account. In short, avoid all appearance that it is a joint debt. Even then, you could be liable for half the amount if you and your husband divorce. In short, it is the sort of risk you would accept for your children, but which is not suitable for a brother-in-law.
Loaning money to extended family is a nightmare. If your brother-in-law won't repay you, then how are you going to enforce that? Do you have loan papers with him in writing? Will you be able to legally pursue the loan? The notion of "easier terms" might well be why the brother-in-law approached your husband in the first place. Which is good for him, but bad news for you. Seriously, banks serve a useful purpose so get your brother-in-law to use one. If he hunts around then he should be able to find a good student loan. Also, a lot of employers will help pay down student loans as part of a salary package, whereas they aren't going to help pay down a family debt.
A word about MBAs, since I have one. The idea that they "open doors" to a career is not true. Someone with a MBA flipping hamburgers is still someone in a dead-end job flipping hamburgers. Someone with no experience and a MBA isn't going to walk into a role with teams of hundreds and budgets of millions.
What the MBA does do is to round out your understanding of business once you reach the lower rungs of executive management. I was running major construction projects, and the MBA made me understand parts of the business I hadn't considered in depth, such as finance and contract law. Equally, the more finance-types on the course had to learn how to run projects and grow teams.
I spent a lot less than $150,000 for a MBA from a top ten management school (I think about US$40,000, although education outside the USA is much cheaper anyway). And because I was at a point in my career where I could benefit from a MBA I was making enough money to pay for it.
You don't need a MBA at the start of your career (some finance industries excepted). If your brother-in-law can't get a student loan due to the current conditions in US banking then don't fret. He can get one later, when the US credit squeeze has passed. Or he can get a job overseas near a good MBA school (one of the reasons France is a sought-after posting for junior executives of US multinationals).
But most of all I'd say "no" simply because he asked. Someone who needs a MBA to progress in their career will have insight enough to think of the above. And would realise that you can't finance his MBA without significant risk to you. Now, if he didn't think of that -- well he's never going to benefit from a MBA, as he's just not executive material. And if he did think of that -- well he's not the sort of person you can give a loan to and expect repayment.
A
male
reader, TimmD +, writes (25 August 2010):
 Marriage is about an equal partnership. You should have equal input into the money spending decisions. If this is not the case and if originally you decided to have children and now he is changing his mind, then the two of you need to sit down and have a serious discussion about your marriage and where you want it to go. Communication is important.
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A
female
reader, kittyl305  +, writes (25 August 2010):
 hello, there's no doubt that you don't love your husband, but you's need to talk, have you's talked about how you feel, and about how you feel about this happening?. If you want kids and he does not the may be you should go into a job were you care for children which may fill your needs and it doesn't cause him having to be stressed over a baby. but if you truly want one of your own he should understand and accept your needs and accept the responsibility's . I hope my reply helped in some way all my luck kittyl305.
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