TL;DR: He's emotionally fulfilling for me, and is a leader for me spiritually and intellectually. But our differences in socio-economic standing, coupled with his jokes of "being a house husband" and that one time when he attempted to split the cost with me on an expense that was purely his, all intermittently give me the ick.

Do I keep investing in this relationship? Please help!

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This guy has chased me for years.

I finally gave him a chance, and being in a relationship with him has given me the most emotional and spiritual fulfillment that I have ever had.

He's a very stable guy. He's not the most externally and behaviorally masculine man I have ever been with — but curiously, he is the most emotionally intelligent and level-headed of all of them.

(This is in comparison with a couple of hyper-masculine guys I used to talk to, who incidentally seemed to have a lot of hangups with the opposite sex.)

He's incredibly intellectual and spiritual — two major things that mean a lot for me. He leads me to emotional stability and usually calms me down. I've fallen in love with him deeply primarily for this.

Now, I come from an upper middle class background, while he comes from a middle class one. I'm poised to inherit a family business earning in the millions; meanwhile both his parents are employed.

I'm studying for law, and he's studying for his PhD in philosophy.

We've come to terms with the fact that in the future, I will inevitably out-earn him — which, to be honest, is not a big deal for me, as long as he is ambitious with his career (which he is!).

Currently, he's a professor at a public and prestigious university. He loves his career and is passionate about it, which is always exciting to witness.

He's shown evidence of being responsible and family-oriented. He provides for his Mom and his cousin whose father doesn't have work.

However, I have immense anxiety in going all the way with him.

One: my parents don't know yet that I've begun dating him, mostly because I have fear that they'll disapprove. They want me to at least marry somebody of equal economic standing or somebody of potential equal economic standing. The career path that he has chosen doesn't seem to fit him in either categories.

And I plan to compromise with my parents regarding that by exhibiting to them how hardworking he is and how he is reasonably responsible with his family.

Two: The first time we got out on a date, he has offered to pay, to which I refused. So we have long settled on paying half in dates. Again, this was fine for me, until that day we had a major argument.

He wanted me to meet his friends and their kids, who he is a godfather too. And for some odd reason, he told me to go half on the costs of the gifts he would buy them, which struck me as bizarre. More than that, he wanted me to drive us to his friends' house.

I told my friends about this and they said he was being a mooch.

I confronted him on that, and he conceded that it was unintentionally odd behavior. However, he asserted that him asking me to go half on the gifts was just out of his assumption that I wanted to give the gift to his friends and godchildren "together." Like a "couple gift."

He apologized and said he wouldn't do it again. And to prove that he wasn't intentionally being a mooch, offered to pay for all dates from then on and to drive us to wherever we would hold any succeeding date.

Three, and lastly: It's been a week since we laid that issue to rest. But just now, while out for groceries and texting with me, he joked, out of the blue, that he could just be my house husband while I maintain the family business and my future practice.

It just gave me the ick once more which I find to be such a great shame. The ick always arrives at the most inopportune times — usually when I feel deeply in love with him and pondering how emotionally supportive and level-headed he is as a boyfriend.

It's like a glitch in the Matrix or something, and it's driving me nuts. Can someone please talk their third party observer sense to me and tell me what's going on?

Do you guys think this is a man worth investing in, because I'm falling deeply in love with him. I prayed for him, and he's the kindest guy I know and have dated since my first failed relationship of 5 years. Please, I need your opinions. Thank you.