Chip Chick
She’s noticed that her boyfriend doesn’t make an effort to save up money or progress his career forward.
Hypothetically, he could be researching other schools to work for, switching to working at a high school where he would earn higher pay, or finding ways to make money through his art.
Since her boyfriend is a talented artist, she’s asked him if he’d ever be interested in selling any of his artwork or finding a way to utilize that skill outside of teaching at a middle school.
She brought up the idea of becoming a tattoo artist because, in their country, tattoo artists make an impressive salary, and there aren’t too many hurdles to jump through in order to enter the field.
Another option she thought of was for her boyfriend to dive into digital art. He is technologically inclined and has a graphics tablet that he uses for his art, so he already knows a lot about how to create digital artwork.
“In his rare free time, he usually just plays on his Nintendo Switch device, spends time with me, attends music practice, or does other chores unrelated to work or money,” she said.
“He always changes the subject when I suggest he look for alternatives or simply dismisses by saying he will think about it, but never actually does.”
If her boyfriend proved that he was serious about growing within his field and progressing his career, she would be happier and more supportive of his chosen field. But she’s disappointed that he seems comfortable remaining, in her view, professionally stagnant.
The two of them are on the same page about their future. They’ve talked about how they hope to have three or four children someday, but now she’s worried that this wouldn’t be feasible because of her boyfriend’s lack of ambition to make a higher income.
When they’ve had conversations about money, she’s gotten the feeling that her boyfriend underestimates just how expensive it is to provide for a family or even live by yourself without financially relying on your parents.
“He truly believes $3,000 per month is enough to start a life and start a family. Let me just state that it is not, at least where we live,” she explained.
