Modern romance comes with EMIs & Splitwise accounts. It really isn’t a sport for the broke

Illustration by Shruti Naithani | ThePrint

Dating in 2025 is not a sport for the broke. The ping-pong of bills starts on the first date, even if it’s the cost of two samosas. Let’s just say “money can’t buy love” is an adage that hasn’t aged well. Now, in most straight relationships, there are three units—boyfriend, girlfriend and a Splitwise account for tracking shared expenses. Throw in male ego, papa’s princesses, and provider bro mindset, and you’ve got the formula for modern romance economics.

To the best of my knowledge—extensive dealings in subtle research techniques masquerading as gossip—the corporate culture of not discussing salaries has infiltrated the dating sphere. Everyone wants a financially compatible partner but we don’t outright ask the Hinge date about his monthly income. We’re cool people, we just run a silent audit of his LinkedIn. Most of us swear by the 50-50 rule—a perfectly fair financial split, powered by the enduring myth of pay parity. Then there’s the barter system: “I got you this time, you get me next time”. Of course, this is strictly for serious relationships because casual hookups rarely show up the “next time”.

The priciest relationship model—most likely to crash and burn—is total financial dependency. From ice cream cones to bathroom paraphernalia, one poor dude ends up footing the bill for two people. Tragic, really. Boo hoo. Men can’t even blame anyone because it’s their own system (read patriarchy) biting them on the backside. Trust me, not everybody hates it. A 26-year-old underpaid content creator’s fiancé loves providing for her. In fact, he gets offended every time she scans any QR code to pay for something. Another girl has been using her boyfriend’s credit card for a year now. You can say the Visa card is a strong glue keeping them together.

One aspiring actor in Mumbai represents all the modern damsels in distress—she doesn’t need a prince to save her, but she’s found one boy to help save tax. Two years into their relationship, she’s handed over all her debit and credit card details to her boyfriend, who moonlights as her personal CA. When he trades stocks or invests in mutual funds, he’s not just building wealth—he’s managing a joint financial empire she mostly ignores. He’s just happy to be in charge and feel needed. But does he realise that by helping her be financially free, he is digging his own grave?

Modern love comes with EMIs

Let’s just say this kind of financial dependence isn’t the kind of love that sends 20-somethings running away from or toward commitment. In this day and age, considering the unstable world of dating apps, getting your heart and your bank broken at the same time is a common risk of the game. One former boyfriend was stuck paying the EMI of his ex’s iPhone for years after the breakup. Another had to take out a loan to pay the hospital bills of her cheating ex-boyfriend.

A friend—deeply, madly in love six months ago—is working out a breakup strategy because his partner refuses to pay her share of the last three Goa trips. But for most of these love-liquidated souls, confronting their villains is pointless—they know they will be called stingy, bitter and someone who “keeps a score” in love. And they can’t even vent about it to friends because, well, it’s as embarrassing as talking about one’s bad credit score.

In the dating app era, best believe the cost of love has only surged. When you’re juggling 10 matches off Hinge, the only way to figure out who’s worth your time is to have an over-priced cocktail with each of them. Self-aware daters never swipe right on people who look richer than them. And then there are the delulus keeping multiple situationships afloat in this economy. Even with the bare minimum—booking late-night Uber rides for booty calls—these modern Romeos are always one weekend away from financial ruin.

The grapevine is full of lovers turned unintentional sponsors. They also warn against gift-giving, which is a common trap in toxic relationships. What starts out as thoughtful gestures—an expensive coffee, flowers, or a Blinkit delivery of fruits and chocolates—can start to feel like paying hafta to emotional extortionists. The gifts get bigger and more expensive, and before you know it, you’re in a loop—paying, upgrading and outdoing yourself just to keep the peace. There’s also the fear of imbalance, let’s call it ‘gift parity’: a postgraduate friend is pissed that she gifted Levi’s jeans to her ex on his birthday while he only sent a cake on hers.

Views are personal.

(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)