You'd do anything for your man. So what is it about money that gives you—and all of us, if we're honest—such pause? We're happy to pay for dinner and drinks, pick up half the tab for a weekend getaway, and even lay down our dollars in a game of strip poker, knowing full well we'll lose. Yet when our boyfriends are in a bind and ask to borrow a few bucks, it doesn't seem so easy. And is that even a bad thing?
Most of us were taught from a young age that lending money to friends and even family members was a bad-news-bears kind of situation. Surely a boyfriend falls into the same arena, correct? But where the lines get a little blurry is when you two are hyper close, like, getting ready to be married close. If you're planning on blending your finances anyway, does the idea of him borrowing a few bucks still seem so bad?
Or is this more an issue of a dollar amount? Say, for example, your man needs $20 in cash because he failed to go to the bank before it closed and he's headed to a cash-only bar tonight. Does that seem like a better idea than writing him a check for $1,500 so that he can offer a more substantial down payment for a house?
I think, no matter the level of your relationship or the amount of money your man needs, it's best to avoid lending him money if other options are available. Money manipulates our emotions so easily and quickly that allowing him to borrow even $20—if it's not returned in a timely fashion—can be as dangerous as lighting a match near gasoline. And who really wants to bicker over a few bucks?
If you feel you must or should lend him money and the amount he needs is more than you can afford to lose, I even suggest writing an agreement down on paper. Include when he will pay you back, in what form, and how much he will return to you. That way if, heaven forbid, you two part ways before he's paid you back, you have some kind of recourse to recapture your cash.
But what do you think? Are you comfortable lending your boyfriend money, no matter how long you've been together or how much he needs? Do you have any rules you follow when it comes to loans between lovers?
