Forum
Should you tell someone your budget before you start dating them?
Everybody knows a relationship costs something. Transport, data, outings, birthdays, the emergency at home. Nobody writes it down and everybody knows the number.
We have decided that saying it out loud is unromantic. So people get into things with no idea what they have signed up for, somebody quietly overspends to keep up appearances, and it ends badly.
One side: say it early. What you can do, what you cannot, what a tight month looks like. Ten unromantic minutes that delete an entire category of resentment.
Other side: the moment money becomes explicit, affection turns into invoicing. People start keeping score, and somebody ends up feeling bought.
Where do you land? And has money you were never willing to name ever ended something for you?
