Grace said she’s newly pregnant and living paycheck to paycheck. She and her partner have a combined $5,700 monthly income after taxes and $91,000 in debt. She’s looking for a way out of the mess, and co-hosts Rachel Cruze and John Delony didn’t hold back.
“You are roommates financially,” Delony told her. “You have to think about it that way.”
The risks of combining finances as an unmarried couple
Grace was already on shaky ground before any of this. But the core issue is straightforward: she tied her financial life to someone else’s before she had any legal protection in place.
Her partner hasn’t even started his divorce yet, largely because of a $5,000 attorney’s retainer he can’t afford. But they’ve been informally pooling money by paying each other’s bills and splitting expenses, without any of the legal framework or protection that marriage provides.
It gets even messier when one partner is going through a divorce. During the divorce, lawyers often review financial records such as bank accounts, utility bills, retirement accounts, and income. Any shared assets or payments could be scrutinized during divorce proceedings.
Grace’s approximately $48,000 income is commission-based, with a $2,500 monthly baseline that can swing up to $4,000 or more depending on her performance. That variability makes budgeting difficult and leaves little margin for error, let alone the ability to absorb someone else’s debt.
