My girlfriend is broke. Not just a little broke, a lot broke. She's a student, one degree done, working on the second. Plenty of student loans, owes mom and dad money, negative net worth.
We're in different places financially, I've been working for a few years. I struggled a bit early on, with car payments, and rent, but am on a good positive path now. For the most part, she lives off of student loans, and part-time jobs. Good education is a good investment, and it will be worth it in the long run. But, debt is still debt.
I see that she's making some of the money mistakes I made early on. When we first started dating, I wouldn't dream of getting involved. However, the amount of debt she is taking on is small relative to my income. But I don't want to step in and become a rescuer. Learning the lessons early on, helped me get where I am now. I also don't want to lecture (that's her dad's job).
Her debt level is high though, and will take a few years to pay off. And I can see what kind of an impact it will have on our future finances. I am starting to think about our future finances will look like, when my postive net worth meets her negative net worth.
What impact will my being more established have on her financial knowledge? Will she be too dependent? How can we integrate our financial lives in a way that's fair?
More questions than answers on this one, I'm afraid. Time will tell.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
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You can only really wait and see how she turns out. If in a year it looks like she's not serious, it might be time to re-evaluate.
ReplyDeleteBF did that with me.. he saw that I was on the same page as he was in terms of money values and supported me the entire time through it, not ever having had a single red cent in debt his whole life.
I agree, the only thing to do is wait and see how it will be once she's in a debt repayment mode.
ReplyDeleteActually this kind of situation is faced by a lot of students. They actually need to understand about future goals, debt. Therefore, proper guidance from parents, friends and Certified financial advisor can play a major role in such situation to make then financial free.
ReplyDeleteYes this is true. Nowadays it is being a major problem for lot of students to repay their debts. Family, friends and majorly certified financial planner in india or plan some other destinations.
ReplyDelete