Partner expects reader to pay the bill for his lifestyle

Dear Abby: My partner and I have been together for 11 years, living together for seven. He’s a Realtor in his hometown. I had a stroke four years ago, which forced me into early retirement. Real estate is a dog-eat-dog occupation.

Paychecks are few and far between, so I pay the rent and all the household bills. He pays his personal bills and the costs of doing business as a Realtor.

He is currently broke and doesn’t have the money to pay his personal bills. I refuse to pay them.

I think he should get a part-time job to pay his own bills, but he refuses. Of course, there will be a backlash, and he’ll blame me. He will lose his car, telephone, real estate license, health and car insurance, etc.

I have bailed him out before, but I am no longer willing to do it because I’m running out of what money I had set aside for retirement. He already owes me thousands of dollars in several loans, which I don’t expect to recover. What do I do? I don’t want to split up or continue to argue over this.

Planning Ahead

Dear Planning: Your “partner” refuses to look for a part-time job so he can be self-supporting and not dependent on you? Dear lady, you may not want to split up after this amount of time, but your partner is a luxury you can no longer afford. Stop arguing, accept it and move on.