Telling family of our venture

[Paul Enzinger]

Hi, my wife and i are taking the plunge and going into our 2nd rental property ( our first was house hacking and becoming unintentional landlords). We purchased a duplex and need some repairs initially, which we are in the process of completing. We have a Tenant lease signed for the main unit for a move on of November 1st, and are accepting applications for the smaller unit. Our financial matters are getting a bit complex, so w decided to start an LLC "do this landlord-ing thing the right way". I have a bit, ok a lot, of hesitancy with telling either set of parents because, primarily of their poor financial habits and the potential of getting into arguments/being expected to pay for everything now we have resources...

It's a pickle because of both sets of parents' lack of transparency about their matters and poor financial habits.. I'm not vindictive, but cautious. For example, just the other day my father, who is retired after having a more-than-normal difficult time finding a job since early 2000s , asked my opinion regarding a supposed large purchase (they bought a boat when times were good only to have it sit there in idle and in disrepair for 10 years) and whether it would be prudent either for a HELOC or credit cards so i can only imagine that they want to fix the boat and buy a truck to tow it with. Nevermind living within your means and buying assets that appreciate in value... My mother is 11 years his junior and still working. They also squandered an apartment in NYC by selling it and renovating/extending their house. They have the most expensive house on the block now and will never recoup the money lost (forget about generational wealth).

The other set of parents are not as spendthrift-y but do buy new vehicles quite often and max out their credit cards by living well above their means.

I would love to hear what other investors would do in this situation. It's a moral conundrum because by not telling them they can hold the fact that we withheld information over us and catch us in a lie, but if we do, my greatest fear is that we will be taken as "showing off"/ pride being the greatest of the deadliest sins  and/or authorizing more spending foolishness.