This is a story about the Alexander family.
Mr and Mrs. Alexander are divorced.
Mrs. Alexander is remarried. To Thomas.
They have two kids, Billy and Joey.
Mr. Alexander had to spend a lot of money that he didn't have on lawyers during the divorce, and during the settlement he also had to give a large sum of money to his wife. He had to apply for a credit card to cover most of the expenses or else he would have been late on his mortgage and car payments. He didn't want to lose his house, and he didn't want to lose his car. He got to keep the kids.
Mr. Alexander sat down with Billy and Joey after the divorce and explained to them that they are going to have to cut back a little over the next couple of years, so he could pay off the debt on the credit card. Mr. Alexander regularly put 15% of each paycheck into savings, but now to pay off the credit card he puts 25% of each paycheck aside.
Billy and Joey visited Mrs. Alexander and their step-dad Thomas a couple of times a week for dinner or to go to the park. During one visit, Mrs. Alexander asked how Mr. Alexander was doing. Billy told her that they don't go out for dinner and a movie as much anymore, because Mr. Alexander said they have to save some money to pay off the credit card. Joey said that normally Dad would put aside 15% of his paycheck and spend the rest on fun stuff, but now he puts 25% aside so there's not as much money for fun stuff. Thomas thought that this was absolutely ridiculous. He told Billy and Joey that if he was their Dad he would even put aside less, 10% to be exact, for savings and spend the rest on fun stuff. Billy and Joey thought that was awesome.
When Billy and Joey got home, they had a talk with Mr. Alexander. "Dad," they said "Why do you want to put more money aside to pay off the credit card?" Mr. Alexander told the kids that it's a pretty basic concept. He said, "Sometimes in life, shit happens, and to keep the roof over their head I had to pay for the cost of the divorce with a credit card. And now I have to pay that money back. After I pay off the credit card, we can start doing more fun stuff like we used to do." Billy and Joey thought this sounded pretty stupid. They said, "Thomas told us that he would save even less than you were originally saving if something like that happened to him." Mr. Alexander asked them how exactly that would work. Billy and Joey didn't know.
The next time Billy and Joey went to visit Mrs. Alexander and Thomas they asked Thomas how he would put less money aside and still pay off the credit card. Thomas told the kids not to worry so much about the details, but he just reminded them that if he was their dad that is what he would do. Billy and Joey liked that. They liked the thought of doing more fun stuff. Billy and Joey wished they lived with Thomas and Mom, because Thomas is more fun and would spend more money on fun stuff.
When Billy and Joey got home, they had another talk with Mr. Alexander. They said "Dad, we had a talk with Thomas about why he would put less money aside even if he had a credit card to pay off and how exactly that would work." Mr. Alexander said, "Oh really and how did he say that would work?" The kids responded, "Well he didn't really say, but he said he could and would do it. He's the coolest step-dad ever. Why can't you be more like him?" Mr. Alexander told the kids that if he was in fact their step-dad hoping for their approval by saying whatever they want to hear disregarding how little sense it made, then maybe he would be more like him.