Family secrets often stay buried — until someone finally decides honesty is the better investment.

So when one woman heard her younger sibling proudly talking about the college fund their father created for her, she told the hard truth: their father had irresponsibly squandered the entire thing.

But as her sister’s face filled with disappointment, she wonders if she made a mistake by telling the truth.

You’ll want to keep reading for this one.

AITAH for telling my sister not to count on the college fund my father set up.

My father got himself put in jail a couple years before I started college.

He used the entire $300,000 that my family put into a college fund for me to bail himself out and pay legal fees.

Still, she found a way to get herself through, even though it was hard.

I put myself through college and graduated, but I had and still have $200,000 in loans to pay off.

My father talked big about how I made it through college and told people how proud everyone was because of how much they put into my college fund, despite me never getting it.

Her sister, however, was a different story.

AITAH part: I was watching my little sister for my dad’s ex yesterday.

She has been looking up to me for inspiration as she is going through school.

She was talking to me about my college and stuff.

Her sister didn’t seem to understand just how irresponsible her father had been.

She mentioned that my father had set up a college fund for her so she could attend the same places as I did.

I told her to be careful about relying on that fund to pay for college, as it might just disappear when she actually needs it.

So instead of sugarcoating it, she decided to be honest.

I told her what happened to my college fund and why most of the family won’t put money into that account.

She seemed quite upset by this because her mom hides most of the nonsense my father pulls, so my little sister doesn’t know how horrible he actually is.

She seemed a bit disappointed and discouraged.

I tried to reassure her that I will be there to help her in any way I can, but she just wanted to change the subject.

Now she feels bad for causing pain, but at the same time, she still feels like she paid her sister a favor.

I feel horrible for telling her that, but I didn’t want her to face the pain I did when I found out that it wasn’t there when I needed it.

AITAH for telling her not to rely on the college fund my father set up for her and explaining why no one else in the family will add to that account?

This is a tough one.

What did Reddit think?

There’s no point in her sister getting her hopes up over nothing.

It often pays to be realistic.

This commenter’s judgment depends on one key factor.

This user thinks this young woman did exactly the right thing.

Sometimes the truth hurts, but it doesn’t make it any less difficult.

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.