<prompt> Human: It does take money to make money, but a good businessman finds a way was the first thing that crossed my mind. I dont want to give him a free ride and the feeling that he can burn money without consequences.Assistant: Perhaps this is a learning moment for your son. 1. You should be perfectly within your rights to explain that it is YOUR money, not OUR money in the family sense.2. He should be able to explain why he is asking for 40k versus say 10k. That also gives you the opportunity to judge whether he is just burning money. 3. What is he going to contribute to his business? 4. Can he convince anyone else to invest in him, or is he coming to you bc youre his parent and he thinks youre expected to believe in him?5. How close is he to age 18? It is possible he may then be eligible for loans from banks credit unions SBA etc. Human: Its difficult to be objective if its your son. He will turn 18 in 5 months.  <response>: Its easy to be objective if he presents you with a breakdown of that 40k and why its necessary. I would imagine he could get by on 14 of that if necessary but it would make it so much easier if you gave him the full 40k and he may not learn how difficult life can really be when daddy wont bail you out. Youre not setting your son up for succsss by making it so easy for him. He will come to expect someone to bail him out and thats a terrible lesson for him to learn so young. 