I have to get this off my chest, because I see post after post in other subs of women who are combining finances and buying houses with boyfriends of 5+ years and it makes me want to SCREAM.

Please, please, please, don't combine finances with someone you're not married to. FDS already discourages doing this (and cohabitation); but I see women (SMART women too!) buying houses with boyfriends left and right. Playing house is probably the single biggest mistake women make in LTR's prior to marriage and it tends to cost them greatly. Until you are married, (not engaged, married) the law does not protect you. You might as well have opened a bank account with the kind barista that makes you coffee every morning. If he decides to break up with you, drain the account, and peace out, you're SOL because he's legally entitled to do that. If you buy a house together you run the risk of him (1) dying and now you own a house with his parents because girlfriends don't inherit jack (2) refusing to sell or take your name off the mortgage after a breakup and now the court has to get involved (good luck) (3) stopping payment on the mortgage and now you're foreclosed on with no equitable distribution to help you get the money back somehow, or (4) he doesn't pay his bills and now you own a house with his creditors because unmarried people can't be joint tenants by the entirety (only title that could protect you from that). There's a bunch of other possibilities and nuances here, but it all boils down to one thing: marriage is not "just a piece of paper," it provides a lot of protection and legal avenues for recourse in the event of separation. And if you're thinking, "he wouldn't do that", well... he hasn't married you yet, so how do you know he's staying long term? His foot's out the door, because THAT'S WHAT DATING IS FOR. The whole point of dating is to get to know someone and have time to decide if they're marriage material; ergo, if you're dating... he doesn't know if he wants to marry you yet and neither do you.

I know plenty of women who are still recuperating financially YEARS after a breakup because they never thought their partner would hang them out to dry like that. Spoiler alert, if he wouldn't marry you, he most likely would. You can love your partner and protect yourself at the same time, doesn't have to be one or the other. And if he's eager for marriage benefits like financial stability and health insurance he can pony up a ring. No marriage benefits until marriage. Period.