My aunt told me this advice when I was 19 and in a really toxic relationship. She's in her early 30s, and she told me about her friends that were living with their boyfriends, always hoping to get engaged, but the boyfriends wouldn't propose.

After she told me that, I said to myself that I would never live with someone unless we were engaged with a wedding date, or married. I started to notice this trend happening everywhere, and it's really sad when the woman really wants to get married, but the boyfriend just strings her along. One woman I knew while we were both living abroad, her boyfriend broke up with her and moved all her stuff out to her parents' house while she was across the ocean! In my country, common-law couples don't get the same benefits as married couples. If you break up without some kind of prenup-like agreement, there is no protection for the partners. Someone can fuck over someone else. And since men usually earn more than women, the woman will typically be the one to suffer because she had no protection (whereas in marriage at least, you're entitled to half of your husband's things).

Moving in does not equal marriage. It is playing wife without the tangible benefits (i.e. tax, insurance, protection if you two split, wills, etc.) and without real commitment. My roommate told me that he would never marry someone without living with her first, because he has to test the person to see if they're compatible. It just doesn't make sense to me to share a home, buy all this furniture together, have a pet together, before marriage to "test" out the relationship. If you have doubts about someone that need to be resolved by testing out a marriage-like situation, you probably shouldn't move in with that person in the first place.

My roommate also told me he wants a girlfriend just so he could buy a house. But why would you want to commit to a mortgage if you can't even commit to marriage (a mortgage is at least a 30 year commitment!!). I told him that in our province, the law doesn't protect common-law partnerships when they purchase property together. He was very surprised, and when he looked into it, he told me that maybe buying property together wouldn't be the best idea. He said he'll just buy his own condo and charge rent to his girlfriend then in order to protect himself. I would never date him lol.