The Moneyist
‘He built our home over the last three years. We are both on the title and carry no mortgage.’
Last Updated: April 17, 2026 at 6:09 p.m. ET
First Published: April 16, 2026 at 8:06 a.m. ET
Dear Quentin,
My partner and I have been together for seven years.
We are not married. We are both in our early 50s, and we both have adult children. We are both debt-free. He’s a contractor/carpenter and has money in a high-interest savings account from occasional cash-paying jobs, but he’s never put together any retirement strategy, so he has no investments. I’ve been putting the maximum into my employer retirement plans and a Roth for almost 20 years.