Updated: July 27, 2026
Student loans do not always stay in the “young adult” season of life.
For many people, they follow them for decades. Some borrowers took out loans for their own college or graduate school. Others took out Parent PLUS loans to help their children. Either way, those monthly payments can still be there years later, right when someone hoped to slow down, reduce work hours, or retire.
In this special episode of The Catholic Money Show, Jonathan and Amanda Teixeira join Timmerie on Relevant Radio to talk about how student loans can affect retirement, why minimum payments can keep people stuck for years, and what Catholics should consider when making long-term financial decisions.
They also discuss another important money conversation: Catholic dating. Should someone’s income, debt, career plan, or desire to stay home with children become a deal breaker before a first date even happens?
Both topics point back to the same question: are we using money with prudence, trust, and a clear view of the vocation in front of us?
Student Loans Can Follow You Into Retirement
Student loans are often treated like a normal part of life.
You take them out, make the minimum payment, and keep going. Over time, that payment can start to feel like a permanent bill.
However, that mindset can create serious problems later.
Jonathan and Amanda explain that student loans are now following many people into the season when they hoped to retire. Some have been paying faithfully for years and still owe a large portion of the original balance. In some cases, the interest has made it feel like the loan barely moved at all.
That can be discouraging.
It can also delay retirement.
If someone still has a student loan payment in their sixties or seventies, they may need more monthly income than expected. That can mean working longer, taking on additional work, or feeling trapped in a job they had hoped to leave.
Minimum Payments Can Keep You Stuck
Minimum payments can feel manageable in the moment.
The problem is that “manageable” does not always mean effective.
When you only pay the minimum, especially on a loan where interest keeps accumulating, you may stay in debt far longer than you expected. You may even look back after years of payments and realize you have paid much more than the original loan amount.
That is why Jonathan and Amanda encourage borrowers to look under the hood.
How much do you owe?
How much interest is being added?
How long will it take to pay off at your current pace?
Will the loan still be there when you want or need to retire?
Those questions may be uncomfortable, but they are necessary.
A student loan should not become a lifelong financial pet that follows you around forever.
Parent PLUS Loans Can Create Pressure Later
Parent PLUS loans can be especially difficult because they often come from a generous desire.
Parents want to help their children. They want to make college possible. They may believe they are doing the right thing by borrowing on their child’s behalf.
But generosity still needs prudence.
As Amanda points out in the conversation, you can borrow for college, but no one is going to hand you a retirement.
That matters.
Parents need to consider whether helping a child with college costs will create serious pressure later in life. If a parent enters retirement with student loan debt, a fixed income, inflation, and limited ability to increase earnings, the burden can become much heavier than expected.
There may also come a time when an adult child is doing better financially than the parent who borrowed for them. In that situation, a hard but honest conversation may be needed.
Can the child help with the loan?
Can the family make a new plan together?
Can the debt be paid off more aggressively before retirement becomes urgent?
Those conversations are not easy, but they may be necessary.
Be Careful With Reverse Mortgages and Quick Fixes
When people feel squeezed in retirement, they may start looking for ways to access money quickly.
One common option people hear about is a reverse mortgage. The basic idea is that a homeowner draws from the equity in the home to create income during retirement.
Jonathan and Amanda urge caution here.
There may be situations where selling a home, downsizing, or using assets strategically becomes part of a prudent plan. However, using a reverse mortgage to cover debt or basic retirement needs can create serious problems.
A home is often one of the largest assets a family has. It may also be something parents hoped to pass on. Once a family starts pulling equity out of the home, they may lose flexibility and control.
The larger principle is this: do not make a panic decision with a long-term asset.
Pray. Run the numbers. Get wise counsel. Understand what you are signing. Then make the decision from a place of clarity, not desperation.
Do Not Wait to Live Until Retirement
There is another side to the retirement conversation.
Some people save and grind for decades because they believe life will finally begin once they retire. They do not take trips, invest in their marriage, make family memories, or enjoy their current season because they are always preparing for a future that is not guaranteed.
That can become its own kind of false idol.
Prudence is not fear. Saving is good. Paying off debt is good. Planning for retirement is good.
However, a Catholic family also needs to live fruitfully now.
That might mean putting some money toward a retreat, a family trip, your children’s formation, a date night, or something that helps your home become more joyful and connected.
You do not need to go into debt to live well. At the same time, you do not need to treat every present good as a threat to retirement.
The virtue is usually found in the middle.
Spending and Saving Are Not Enemies
It is easy to think of spending and saving as opposites.
If you spend, you are not saving. If you save, you are not spending.
But in a well-ordered financial life, spending and saving can work together.
Saving prepares for future needs. Spending supports present responsibilities, relationships, and joys. Both can be acts of stewardship when they are ordered toward your vocation.
The problem comes when either one becomes disordered.
Saving can become hoarding. Spending can become escape. Debt can become avoidance. Retirement can become an idol.
A Catholic budget should help you live faithfully in the present while preparing prudently for the future.
Money and Catholic Dating
The second part of the conversation turns to Catholic dating.
Jonathan, Amanda, and Timmerie discuss a trend they are seeing among singles: evaluating someone’s finances, career path, income potential, debt, or family plans before even giving the person a chance.
There is nothing wrong with caring about money in dating.
Finances matter in marriage. Debt matters. Work matters. Children matter. A couple should absolutely talk about these things before marriage.
The question is timing and posture.
Are you getting to know a person, or are you trying to disqualify them as quickly as possible?
Those are different approaches.
Encounter Before Evaluation
Amanda talks about the difference between an encounter-based dating culture and an evaluation-based dating culture.
An encounter-based culture gives people room to be known.
An evaluation-based culture treats a date like an interview, a checklist, or a financial screening.
That can become exhausting and discouraging, especially for faithful Catholics who are trying to discern marriage seriously. A man studying theology may be dismissed because he is not expected to make enough money. A woman pursuing medicine may be dismissed because someone assumes she will not want family life.
Those judgments may happen before anyone has taken the time to know the person’s character, prayer life, generosity, work ethic, or openness to God.
That is a problem.
Financial Conversations Should Grow Over Time
Money should come up in dating, but it does not all need to come up on the first date.
Jonathan makes the point that financial intimacy grows over time, just like emotional intimacy and physical affection should be rightly ordered over time.
At the beginning, you can notice values.
Does this person seem generous?
Do they live beyond their means?
Are they responsible?
Do they talk about work, family, and vocation in a grounded way?
As the relationship becomes more serious, the conversations can become more concrete. A couple may talk about budgeting, debt, career plans, paying for dates, and future family hopes.
Then, when engagement is approaching or has begun, the details need to become clear.
At that point, a couple should disclose debt, income, savings, obligations, financial habits, and plans for merging their financial lives.
That gradual unfolding respects the dignity of the person and the seriousness of the vocation.
Character Matters More Than a Perfect Financial Profile
A future spouse does not need to have everything figured out.
In fact, most people do not enter marriage fully formed, perfectly healed, debt-free, financially optimized, and ready for every possible sacrifice.
Marriage is part of how people grow.
That does not mean you ignore red flags. It does not mean debt is irrelevant. It does not mean career choices do not matter.
But it does mean character matters deeply.
Is this person committed to holiness?
Do they pray?
Are they willing to grow?
Can they receive correction?
Do they work hard?
Are they honest?
Are they open to God’s call?
A person with a perfect income but poor character is not a safe foundation for marriage. A person with a modest income but strong virtue, humility, and a willingness to grow may be far more prepared for the vocation.
You Do Not Have to Arrive Before You Begin
Our culture often acts as if you need to have arrived before you can begin.
You need the perfect job before marriage a perfect financial plan before children, a perfect home before hospitality or even a perfect retirement account before enjoying life.
That is not how real life usually works.
Couples grow together. Families learn together. Spouses influence one another. Circumstances change. God provides grace in the actual vocation, not only in the planning stage.
That does not excuse irresponsibility. Instead, it invites trust.
Prudence asks us to make wise decisions with what we know. Faith reminds us that we are not in control of every detail.
Bring Money Into the Light
Whether you are carrying student loans, planning for retirement, dating with marriage in mind, or trying to build a more stable family budget, the invitation is the same.
Bring money into the light.
Look at the numbers. Tell the truth. Ask better questions. Pray for wisdom. Get help when you need it.
Do not let student loans quietly follow you for decades without a plan. Do not delay every good thing until retirement. Do not reduce a potential spouse to an income bracket or résumé.
Money matters because vocation matters.
When money is ordered well, it can support family life, generosity, peace, and freedom.
When money is ignored or idolized, it can quietly shape decisions that deserve much deeper discernment.
Need Help With Your Money Plan?
If you are tired of living paycheck to paycheck, carrying debt without a clear plan, or wondering how to bring Catholic wisdom into your finances, WalletWin can help.
Jonathan and Amanda Teixeira help Catholics budget, pay off debt, save, give generously, and use money in a way that supports their vocation.
Learn more at:
Other Resources mentioned:
WalletWin Catholic Money Academy
https://walletwin.com/academy
Stop living Paycheck to paycheck.
https://relevantradio.com/2024/01/money-as-a-catholic-feast-of-the-holy-spouses/
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