The Bible tells us that money or at least the love of money is the root of all evil. That statement may be a bit excessive but money and debt can certainly be problems in relationships. Years ago we wrote about dealing with gold diggers.

Guys, have you dated someone who only seems interested in your money? How did it work out? Did she take you for every cent that you had? Or did you misread her intentions and give up on the best woman that you ever met? Dealing with gold diggers takes awareness and maybe a little insight into your own thinking. And, dealing with gold diggers applies to women as well as men.

Be careful with money and debt in relationships. Does it appear that your relationship is all about money, paying for things, paying off your friend’s debts, and running yourself into debt? If so it may be time to think about the most important thing in a relationship and believe me, it should not be money.

When couples come to believe that they are going to be together for the rest of their lives they start making plans. They talk about having babies and where they want to live. They talk about jobs, sharing the work at home and finances.

Please note that dealing with finances comes at the end of that last sentence. When money comes up first you need to ask yourself if this is a variation of an abusive relationship where someone simply wants you to bail them out in return for a little flirting and being seen together.

Although it is smart to be careful with debt in relationships there are times when having debts is OK. For example, there are a lot of college graduates with good jobs and prospects for a good financial future who are paying off college debts. And there are folks who have had to pay unexpected medical bills or for other unforeseen emergencies. The thing to watch out for is hooking up with someone who habitually runs up credit card debt and then looks for a new friend to bail them out. If this is happening to, you send your new friend to a debt counselor and tell them to come back when they have a plan to regain and maintain solvency!

Dealing with Finances and Debt

Let us say that your new girlfriend is not a gold digger but you want to impress her. So, you buy a new car or even buy the car for her. And when you start making plans to marry you go out and buy a really nice house. And then it turns out that the two of you are not made for each other and you are stuck with the car, or just the payments for the car and a home for a couple and four kids. And here you are living there alone. There are lots of ways to make a great first impression and none of them really cost that much. Be careful with debt in relationships and get the basics of the relationship discussed and working before you set yourself up to make payments years and years.