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Earlier today, my one of my coworkers came across this adorable illustration of the characters of “The Proud Family” after Penny Proud’s graduation ceremony. As we discussed the photo and people’s hilarious reactions to it, we began to reminisce about what a good show “The Proud Family” was and how it sucks that it was canceled before fans were given a proper farewell. Somehow, the conversation turned to finances, and some of my colleagues began to speculate that Kyla Pratt, who voiced Penny Proud, is probably set financially after collecting all of those Disney checks.

“What happened to Paula Jai Parker then?” one of my coworkers asked.

As you may recall, Parker, who provided the voice of Trudy Proud, opened up about her financial struggles on TV One’s “Hollywood Divas”. According to the actress, she was blacklisted by the industry behind her relationship with her husband, whom she met on the set of Hustle & Flow. Since then, she has struggled to find work, and her finances have taken a hit. On the show, Parker opened up about being homeless, having to live out of a hotel, and her husband’s unemployment.

“Surely, she could have bounced back by now,” one coworker suggested.

“Even if she has work, the fact that she has to support her entire family with no assistance from her husband will make it hard to stay afloat no matter what,” another colleague chimed in.

“A broke man will keep you broke—even if you work every day!” I screamed, causing my co-workers to burst into laughter, mainly because that’s always my go-to line when we discuss topics related to relationships and finances.

Obviously, none of us really know the details or inner workings of Paula’s relationship or her finances, but I can definitely speak from experience when I say that dating a financially unstable partner can have a dramatic influence on your finances.

While in college, I dated a not-so-ambitious dude. I was 19 and didn’t see the writing on the wall initially. He the same age and hadn’t really grown into himself yet, I’m assuming. He was an artist and collected small weekly checks for some of the work he did around the community. And when I say small, I mean small. Like, under $90 per week small. Small. He also had a part-time security gig; however, whenever his supervisor called him for work, he always managed to come up with an excuse as to why he couldn’t make it.

I, on the other hand, went to college full time, and I worked about 30 hours per week. I was by no means balling, but I made decent money. Surely, it was enough to support myself considering that I still lived at home with my parents and no real responsibilities except for paying my car insurance and cell phone bill. Some months into the relationship, I started to notice that my money started to get a little funny. Despite working the same hours, things were extremely tight, and they didn’t turn around until we broke up several months later and I couldn’t believe it.

“I don’t know where this extra money came from,” I exclaimed to my mother during one of our shopping outings.

“It’s because you dropped whats-his-face,” she said. “Dating a broke person will leave your finances in the toilet if you don’t pay attention.”

I giggled a little bit, but then I realized that she was kind of right. My ex’s financial situation had a huge impact on my finances when we were together. He was more than willing to spend the little money he did make during our dates and just everyday outings, but because he didn’t make much, the bulk of our time together was on my dime. Even if we weren’t on a date and did something as simple as hanging out at a park. It’s not even like I was out here tricking on him, but costs added up quickly because there was no one to really share those everyday financial burdens with. Simple things like traveling back and forth to see each other several times each week got really expensive.

I’m not saying you need to date someone who is filthy rich, but I am saying that dating someone broke could potentially drain you.

Have you ever dated someone who was struggling financially? Did this affect your finance?

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