Interesting real life money conundrum for the PPOT brain trust
 

Here’s a wacky one.

We were at my parents’ house, my dad (in his 80s and very well set financially) was cleaning out some old junk things to toss or give to Goodwill.

One was an old box of golf balls (4 sleeves) from the 60s or 70s, opened but unused.
He asked if I wanted any of it, I took a few things, including the box of golf balls to give to my son (who played competitive golf from a little kid all the way through college).

I gave the box to my son, who was going to use it as decoration in his apartment.
My wife, son and I left my parent’s house and drove back to my house later that night (my son is in his mid 20s and doesn’t live with us anymore, but is visiting this weekend).

When we got home, we opened the box and under the balls was a little panel, and under that was just under $2k in cash!

My dad didn’t put the money in there. Someone gave him the balls probably 15 years ago (or he possibly received them as a gag gift or door prize at a golf event), it was in the box when my dad received it. There’s no way of knowing where the box came from or who put the $ there.

All of this happened over the course of around 4 hours.
So, whose money is it now?

Belongs to the son. You gave it to him..

Edit.. I was a victim of not reading this thoroughly… I thought your dad had passed away and you were going through his things… If the dad is still alive then, yes it needs to be his decision.

Might discuss with Opa first, but it would seem the $ should go to your son.

If it were me, it would belong to my Dad and I would return it to him. He was generously gifting you the golf balls (not the cash). If he accidently also gave you $2K cash, that was never his intent (unless it is a test of some sort). I would return it and tell him exactly what happened (with no expectations of anything but a thank you). If he wanted/wants to give you or your son the money, then he still can.

Maybe he did know the money was there and just forgot (will remember later). Maybe he needs it more than you realize and has not shared that with you. Regardless, I would return the money.

The plotting and manipulative side of me says return the $$ to dad.

It builds trust and shows that you and your son have ethics.

This could yield handsomely down the road.

(Also, it’s a nice thing to do).

I'm with fint 100 percent. Easy decision.

I say it's Dad's money.

Absolutely, shouldn't even be a question.....

Tell dad about the money.
Let him decide who it belongs to.

$2000 is a small price to pay for a lesson in character

My vote is it's Dad's money.

Cool find!

Are they round and white with little dimples in them? I was wondering where I had put that box. Just drop me e PM and I will give you my address so you can send everything back to me.

Or just give them to your dad, he seem like a good guy.

Found money, spend it on makin' memories - like maybe a grandfather-father-son golf weekend or something....

No conundrum at all imo. Ask your dad what he wants to do with it, and I'm quite sure that he will "gift" the newfound $ to your son. Tell your son that "hookers and blow" is what the $ should be used for :D

Dad's money and when you tell him about it he will just say keep it but I thought the story was going to the notion that the golf balls were worth a lot being so old and unused and there was some issue there.

Agreed…same thing I thought. Dad will probably say “keep it” and I also thought you were going to say the golf balls were some rare collector’s items.

It's Dad's money.

Dad's money

It’s Crowbob’s money.

If this happened to me I'd return the money to my dad.

I remember giving the golf balls McLovin's Dad.

And it was 3K in cash...I can PM you my address:cool:

Like the others here, I'd tell Pops - he sounds like the type of guy that would appreciate the gesture.

Yes...def tell him.
It'll gnaw at you if you don't.

The measure of a man is not what he does when people are watching , but what he does when they are not watching . It's dad's money .

This!

I have never taken something that's not mine unless someone is watching. Integrity is my middle name :D!

Under Biden, $2,000 is only worth about $400 anymore. Just have a big family dinner and blow it all.

your dad put it there, he is testing you

That was my first thought.

^^^ Yes...except he said his Dad gave him the choice of taking what he wanted.

I can easily see a well-heeled friend of Dad giving them to him as a gift/joke.

It takes balls to hide money like that ;)...

Give dad back his $5K :D

^^^ inflation?

you already know what to do

Mystery solved.
My dad was a huge golfer for 50+ years. He played in tournaments, competitively, socially since the 60s. He was still walking 18 and carrying his bag until his late 70s, but by 80 couldn’t swing to his standard anymore.
I called my dad this morning. The money was part of his pocket change/side bet money stash (kind of like how other married guys may or may not have “car part fund” stashes:D ). It’s been in there since 2009. He had figured that somewhere along the way the CFO had intercepted it.
So now it’s quietly back where it belongs. :)

These are the golf balls by the way, lol.

https://youtu.be/qDZE3s0oUw4

^^^ Good job!

Haha!
Yep, like I said, the $900 is safely back with its rightful owner. :)

Quick Sea Story on Dino:

My Dad's father was a very goog athlete and golfed into his 80's.

We lived in Thousand Oaks/Newbury Park for many years and my grandfather, from the Bay Area, knew a few members of the Thousand Oaks Country Club so when he was down for Thanksgiving he and my Dad would play a round there. I caddied.

One year they got paired with Buddy Hackett and Dean Martin. On one tee Dean shanked a ball off the tee badly and stormed off without a word...Buddy calls out to Dean: "Hey Dino, you forgot your lucky tee."

Dean turns around, looks at me, I was around ten, and says, "cover your ears kid..."

Thanks for saving me the time of typing out this exact same thing.

Those Dean Martin golf balls are cool AF

"Swingers dozen" Golf balls..what, does everyone swap wives at the end of the round?

All this talk about "tests" reminds me of the Kirk Douglas + Michael J. Fox movie, "Greedy".