My husband’s business is in a bit of financial constraints due to having too much expenses vs. lowered revenue plus operational inefficiency and some wastage.

The easiest thing to do is to loan his business money. If you have the money, why not? Anyway, loans are to be paid off, and if it helps lessen the financial pressure, then you help.

However, after loans have been piling up, my husband has resorted to having his credit card bills payable to 24 months at 1.99% interest per month. That’s a whopping 24% annual interest charge!

I knew about this problem last May. My husband tells me not to worry as he has everything under control.

The hardest thing to do is to do NOTHING.

And to trust that your husband really knows what he is doing, even though you do not agree with his ways and means.

It’s really difficult for me to do nothing though. People who know me know that when faced with a problem, my automatic response is to act on it and solve it.

With this issue however, the fastest band-aid to do is to just lend him even more money even if he still owes money. However, the logical part of me knows that lending him more money will sink his business more in debt, and I will just enable him in buying more inventory he probably won’t need, or to pay off people he shouldn’t really be paying.

So I watch in the sidelines and worry.

At the end of the day, the credit card his business uses is under his name, and personally he is liable for everything he buys. “Keeping a business afloat using loans is the Filipino way of doing business. It is the easy way out and is not the correct way,” my father in law said.

I know, dad… but what can I do?

My husband tells me to trust him. And that he has it under his control.

My inner gut tells me this way is not a way to build and grow a business. Personally, the business I am managing is super tight with money and has built up sufficient cash reserves in just 4 years. My husband’s business has been there for a decade and has yet to build up any cash reserves.

I try not to interfere but it is hard.

I know if I interfere, I can help. But to interfere is to emasculate and belittle my husband, who is the leader of our household.

But if I don’t help, there might be impending doom. And it’s crucial that my husband’s business survives, as a man finds his self-worth with what he does. A man who is unemployed and has let his people down is a defeated man, and such a man is not a good companion for the house.

BIG SIGH.

I am not asking for pity. But I share this with you to say that even if everything seems rosy and perfect, we have problems as well. Honestly, this problem is between my husband and I and is something that must be settled together.

Well, let’s wait and see how he will handle it. He said to trust him and I will. So I will wait to see how he will solve his problem.

As I’ve said, one of the hardest things to do is to do NOTHING.

How about you? Have you ever seen a potential trainwreck to happen and stop yourself from doing something about it? How do you feel about that?