There’s an article in the local fish wrapper about rent to own pets.

…she took home the fuzzy black poodle her daughter picked out at Puppies Tampa. She got the food bowls, the leash. The toys, the treats. But the purebred dog came at a premium cost. One, she said, a pet store employee assured her could be managed through a finance plan for which Rodriguez would certainly be approved.

Essentially, the protagonist of the story entered into a “rent to own” agreement for a $1,500 dog. She didn’t realize this until she was told by her bankruptcy attorney. And now she’s suing because the people didn’t properly explain the dog could be repo’d if she missed a payment.

The theme of the story was evil companies use predatory loan practices on the most vulnerable for pets. My takeaway was don’t do poor people things, like finance a fifteen-hundred dollar dog.

Dave Ramsey explains the difference between broke and poor. Broke is a condition that you find yourself in usually because of mistakes, but sometimes because of other events. Poor is a mindset. It’s usually tied with a failure to delay gratification combined with financial illiteracy. One of the big characteristics of poor is blaming others for your situation. I can’t get ahead because someone is keeping me down.

My guiding principle for charity is hand up, not handout. I am willing to help a broke person, but not a recalcitrant poor person. It may sound cruel, but I want to make sure my limited charitable resources do the most good.