ADVICE PLSE - Should I help pay off my partner's debts

wherediditallgo

Brighteyes, I obviously don't know either of you so please don't take this the wrong way, but I'm sure there are many people who sacrifice their own financial future to help someone else out of a hole, only to see them either go their own way once their life has been sorted out or learn nothing from the experience & do the same thing again. It's a very personal choice as others have said - only you can know whether it's worth you investing in him in this way.

There are other ways to help besides directly handing over money. He's a grown man, so it's not for you to teach him the lessons of budgeting - he has to learn them for himself, either from other people's mistakes or from his own. Why not help him with spreadsheets, working out a weekly/monthly budget, helping him find cheaper deals for his purchases before he buys them, etc? That way, you're still helping him but he's doing the hardest part of it - doing without the money.

Donedoingdebt

Perhaps another way. Let him continue to pay off his loan at his current rate whilst you put your money into savings. At some point in the future, he will have reduced his outstanding balance to the same amount that you will have saved. You can then decide whether or not to pay off his loan completely & allow him to pay you back at whatever rate of interest you both agree to. This will give you more time to make up your mind & allow him more time to prove to you that he really is serious about not returning to old ways.

chevalier

My gut reaction was no don't do it.
BUT it really depends on a lot of things. How long have you been together? Do you rent together now? Has he cut up his credit cards so that he can't get more credit, or does he still use them. If the answer is yes to these, then he probably has had his LBM. But if he hasn't I would be more wary.

In the end he needs to come out the other side of this, with good money managment skills, to match those you already have. Will this happen if you help him pay off his debts?

best of luck with your decision
chev