My boyfriend and I are both 18, and with our incomes combined, we make just under $45,000 a year. I’m a CNA (took the classes and certification in high school so got a job right after graduation) and he’s a welder (went to vocational school in high school, so he was making $17/hr his senior year). We want to get our own place together (we’ve been together three years) and my parents say that we can afford it and to go for it, but his parents say we’ll be broke and miserable if we do it.

Is $45,000 a year enough to live off of? Or should we wait?