Does love and the IRS mix?

It’s not totally unheard of for a couple to wait to marry until one of the partners has paid off their pre-marriage debt. The jury is still out on whether that’s a good strategy financially and relationally. If it’s going to take you four years to pay off your student loans, and you’re already 35, you might not want to wait those four years before getting married and having a family. Debt shouldn’t keep you from the moments that matter most in life. I’m not saying you should have a big fancy wedding if you’re struggling to keep up with your credit card payments, but you shouldn’t delay milestones indefinitely and use debt as an excuse.

One of the reasons you should still get married if you have credit card or student loan debt is that it’s much easier to pay it off if you have two incomes instead of one. If you can’t work together to pay off debt, you have to wonder how other aspects of the marriage will go. It’s supposed to be a collaboration. I’m not saying that if one partner spends thousands of dollars on clothes and toys they can’t afford, their partner should just accept it and keep paying their ever-growing balance. 

The one kind of debt that you don’t want to mess with is IRS debt. They are ruthless and will take everything from you if you don’t pay them. The boyfriend in this story doesn’t want to marry his girlfriend yet because she is so blasé about her IRS debt, and I don’t blame him one bit.