It sounds as if they both have their own jobs and own money, and they probably split the rent and bills. Why wouldn't he be a boyfriend?

And why exactly aren't they allowed to split bills/rent? Most couples split their bills for some time when first moving in together.

40 - your comment confuses me, because its so dumb...

I don't. I had a boyfriend who wound up being a completely selfish asshole when it came to money. He'd constantly go out and buy new games, whatever caught his fancy (he didn't even play a quarter of them, just kept them on the shelf), still ask me for money sometimes to buy more, and even asked me to "help" (read: do all the work of) saving for a new clarinet, for a music degree that he wound up changing his mind about. No, I completely agree with bill splitting, pretty much in all stages of the relationship, right until divorce and/or death of me or my partner as a result.

I don't think sharing money is ever a good idea. From a personal perspective my dad was terrible with money, but my parents had separate accounts because my mom was smart. When my dad ended up declaring bankruptcy, they couldn't touch my mom's accounts because they were only in her name. This kept my mom and by extension my siblings as we were still quite young at the time from all being completely screwed over by my dad's poor money management. Even if you completely trust your partner to be financially responsible, there's still the risk of identity theft. If accounts are separate but one half of the couple gets compromised, you still have one person's healthy credit to keep the family afloat.

like I said though I inderstand not everyone believes this just what I personally believe