I grew up poor but my boyfriend has money

If we were to marry, could we make it work?

Published July 24, 2006 11:00AM (EDT)

Dear Cary,

I've been dating a good man for the last seven months. We have loads of fun together; we're both creative types who pursue our passions in our own time while working at jobs related to our respective creative fields. It's a good match. People kind of hate us because we're such a good couple. I love this man and appreciate how well he treats me. He's patient, kind, mature, respectful, supportive -- all of the things that most of the lads I've dated in the past have not been. It's a pretty healthy relationship, I think.

And yet.

I worry that we will be incompatible in the long run. His family has money -- not millions, but enough to afford monthly mini-vacations and second homes and German cars. My boyfriend has traveled all across the world, touring four continents. He owns a lovely house in a pretty swanky neighborhood. His family paid for his private-school education and college. His friends and contemporaries are the types to buy $10 cocktails and $400 shoes (he thinks $200 jeans are "reasonable"). In short, money is not a large worry for my boyfriend, and if bills pop up, he always has a family that can help out.

My family, on the other hand, lives off my father's Social Security checks and my mother's $7/hour part-time job. I think they made $18,000 last year. We were never destitute, but we were poor -- the kind of poor that doesn't really register until you're an adult and you can look back to figure out that the reason Mom gave most of the food to me wasn't that she "wasn't hungry" but that we couldn't afford enough for her, too. These days I'm making an OK salary, I'm paying off student loans and I stick to a budget, I rent in a kind of sketchy neighborhood, I have traveled but not extensively so, and a surprise $1,000 expense can really throw my finances for a loop.

The problem is that Boyfriend wants to do things that I simply cannot afford to do. "Let's go to Japan!" he'll suggest. Well, I'd love to go to Japan, but I don't have the means. I politely tell him that I can't afford to go to Japan (or, hell, Seattle) right now, and he comes back with a cheery, "Oh, there's always a way!"

His unwavering optimism drives me nuts, because he seems to think that everybody has had the same opportunities that he has. He's not a snobby rich kid by any means, but for him, my scrimping and fretting over money ("I should put money aside for a just-in-case fund," "Let's make dinner instead of going out," etc.) is unnecessary. But to me, it's not. Being poor isn't just an abstract thought for me; it's an unpleasant memory, and I don't want to go back to those days.

I worry that my inner class warrior (and yeah, it's there) may not be able to handle dating someone who can't empathize with my situation. It frustrates me that he keeps suggesting expensive trips and overpriced adventures that I can't afford -- when he should know that I can't afford them. In all fairness, he does sometimes foot the bill for birthday/anniversary trips and whatnot, but I don't expect him to do that all of the time. Over time, I am beginning to feel poor again, embarrassed that I can't keep up -- in short, I am beginning to feel as excluded as I did when I was growing up.

That's not what I want to feel around someone whom I care for and who cares for me. To him, it's not a big deal -- he thinks that if we get married, the issue will dissolve, because then it'll be "my house" too, etc. But to me, it is a big deal, because class is a personal/political issue for me. He has the luxury of not having to think about it while it's something that really affects me. So my questions are, How do we cross this class divide? How can I help him understand my situation without making him feel like I resent his privileges? How do I explain to him that I don't really want to live a money-bleeding lifestyle of $25 entrees? Am I nuts to think that $200 is a lot to spend on jeans, or am I just a recovering poor girl who doesn't know what's "normal"?

Feeling Like Lula Mae Barnes,

Dear Lula,

You sound like you are compatible as people. It's the money that stands between you.

It's not a personality conflict but a material conflict. Ideally, your personal compatibility would serve as a foundation for resolving the material conflict. That is, you would like each other enough, and know each other's weaknesses well enough, and have enough respect, and want to stay together badly enough, that you could work through this to the satisfaction of each party.

But it won't be easy and it won't be quick. There may be surprises afoot. You may find that his easy affability crumbles when he confronts the notion of actually giving up some control over his money. He is going to have to cede some control of his money to you if you marry. You will have to be an equal partner financially or you won't feel secure.

He won't be the only one to be hit hard emotionally by the issue. You yourself may find yourself conflicted and confused in ways that you cannot yet envision. This is an issue that touches us at the core of our existence -- not only as individuals, but as political actors as well.

There is of course a class division in America. It is a fact of searing emotional significance to those who can't afford to ignore it. And it is a trifling matter to those who can -- which of course infuriates the rest of us all the more.

Right now, if things get too rough, he can always go to Japan. Money is nice that way.

How would he deal with losing that cushion, that safety valve? Would it tarnish his air of blithe disregard, that low-key air of well-being grounded in the accustomed knowledge that there is always a way out? Relax, he says, things will work out. Well, yes, things will always work out -- for him. And presumably things will work out for you if you hitch your wagon to his. But unless you reach a binding agreement about control of the money, he will always be able to unhitch his wagon and gallop off without you when things get uncomfortable. I think that is the issue that you need to resolve.

He may want you to just trust him. I think you will need more than that.

The upside of this is that I'll bet you would be a very good manager of money. He sounds like he throws it around. I take it there's not an inexhaustible supply, just a good-size pile. You would do well to safeguard it.

I suggest, in short, though I don't know exactly how to do this, that you do two things: 1) Tell him that if you got married you would want significant control over the finances -- that as a matter of principle you would want to be thrifty rather than spendthrift, and that you would invest the money wisely. Tell him that you want to be in it together equally, sink or swim. 2) Engage your boyfriend politically. Tell him that if you were to marry, you would want to use at least some of his money to contribute to helping the poor.

See a lawyer who specializes in family estate planning, or an accountant. Get as much information as you can about what the issues actually would be if you were to marry. Get things in writing.

And then relax and see if you can't make a go of it!

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