Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background.

Loan to son - how to get it back
I started a business a few years ago.  At one point it wasn't going so well and my father "loaned" me an amount not too dissimilar to what you've done. From a personal perspective, the moment I took that loan there was a strain the relationship.  Especially when I was sometimes late on the interest payments...  Unfortunately thoughts like "he doesn't need this right now, but if I don't pay the car loan then that is taken away" came up a few times and paying the interest fell to the bottom of the monthly bill payment stack. At some point my wife and I finally took a hard look at my finances and goals.  We got rid of things that simply weren't necessary (car payment, cable tv, etc) and focused on the things we needed to.  Doing the same with the business helped out as well, as it helped focus me to to turn things around.  Things are now going great. That said, two of my siblings ran into their own financial trouble that our parents helped them on.  When this happened my father called us together and basically forgave everyone's debt by an equal amount which covered everything plus wrote a check to the one that was doing fine.  This "cleared the air" with regards to future inheritance, questions about how much one sibling was being helped vs another, etc.  Honestly, it made family gatherings more enjoyable as all that underlying tension was now gone. I've since helped one of my children.  Although I went about it an entirely different way.   Rather than loan them money, I gave it to them.  We also had a few discussions on how I think they ought to manage their finances and a set of goals to work towards which we co-developed.  Bearing in mind that they are an individual and sometimes you can lead a horse...  Given the current state of things I consider it money well "spent".