Neither a borrower or lender shall I be.

Is the person who borrows money from you a friend or your slave? For discussion, a person here, can be person or several people, or business.

In the first instance, if you practise the idea and stand by this principle that you would neither lend or borrow money from anyone, than you are sure of an up front relationship with your friends or people around you.

On the other hand, you borrow some money. You will have to ensure that you keep to your obligation that you re-pay the loan on the stipulated day or earlier. Then, it is fine. But the usual advice is, don’t make it a habit.

What happens if you cannot meet the deadline, even by a few days. You expect and hope your friend or relative that lent you the money would be understanding. On the other hand, if that friend or relative who lent you the money, lent that money which was reserved for something else with the expectation that he or she will get the money back on the stipulated agreed day. Now, that person is put in a spot.

The person has to remind you about repaying back. He has to ask you back for his money. If you are able to repay it soonest possible, even though it is a couple of days overdue; then, it is kind of ok, I guess. It depends on the borrower.

If you, the borrower, is not one that usually borrows money in the first place; just the act of asking for a short term personal loan from a friend or relative, itself; can make you squirm. So, if you have to borrow, make sure you meet your repayment obligation.

Best practice is neither a borrower nor a lender be.

NOTES:
1. In anticipation of what is expected to be an election budget in Malaysia. Incentives in tax cuts should not be a recipe for spending.
Tax incentives should be viewed as a means to easing the overall financial position of the person, family or business.
2. Spend wisely. Spend on only what is needed.
3. Most people will borrow money or take loans to spend more. Taking loans from a financial institution will have interest factored in as well.

‘Neither a borrower nor a lender be’ is a line from Act 1 Scene 3 of Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet.

It is spoken in a speech by Polonius, King Claudius’ chief minister. His son, Laertes is leaving for university in Paris. Laertes and his sister, Ophelia, are waiting for him at the harbour. He arrives, and delivers a speech, in which he gives his son his blessing and offers him advice about how to conduct himself.

It is the speech that probably has the most quoted phrases in all of Shakespeare’s speeches. Wise phrases such as ‘Give every man thy ear but few thy voice,’ ‘to thine own self be true,’ and ‘The apparel oft proclaims the man’ fill the speech. The last piece of advice in his speech is ‘Neither a  borrower nor  a lender be’:

In all of his works William Shakespeare never tells us what he personally thinks about things. His characters’ opinions range around the whole spectrum of what human beings think and believe. So we don’t really know whether Shakespeare approved of borrowing and lending money. Polonius’ disapproval is part of the portrayal of one of his characters, Polonius.