<prompt> Human: Hello Personal Finance,I am wondering what you would do in this situation. At the end of each month, Ive got about 1000 left over after expenses . I have been contributing 500 of it to a ROTH IRA, and the other 500 I use to help pay off my girlfriends loans. She has about 20,000 left in loans at an average of 8.5 . Obviously at that interest rate, it is better to put off my ROTH contributions for a little while and throw all of that money at her loans. However, while I think there is a 95 chance that well get married, it would suck to have an unexpected breakup and lose out on the savings I could have had.Do I keep contributing the yearly max to my ROTH IRA to protect my retirement savings in case of a break-up, and risk having these loans hang around longer than they should? Or should I just put the money toward her loans and miss 1 year of contributing to my IRA?  <response>: Dont comingle finances with someone unless you have a contract marriage in this case. 