I grew up well in the middle class, he grew up in another country very well off.
I'm very prone to depression and certain (legal) addictions like smoking. I'm very aware of my problems, whereas he is the opposite. He sees a lot of my problems and he is very critical and hard on me, which is a good thing. It does bother me that he looks at my smoking as a real addiction, and his is not a real addiction in his eyes.
I did drop out of school and now that it's been many years, its been tough for me to balance depression/work/school so I'm getting through everything very slowly. He is very patient with me.
He came to do school here and had it all payed up to his masters degree from his parents, whereas my parents did not pay for any of my schooling or my siblings and he can't wrap his head around the idea that my parents would never pay for my schooling. He is almost 10 years older than me so we are at different stages in our lives, sometimes it conflicts, I'm very immature in some ways that he isn't anymore.
He grew up with servants so he really doesn't understand basic things like cleaning and cooking. He is not messy, but for example he has never once disinfected countertops and he leaves crumbs and spills all over the place. He has never washed a toilet bowl, but he does not leave towels or garbage anywhere. I'm the opposite, I am messy but I can't stand dirt so we make a great team.
He saves a lot of money and has perfect credit, I basically have no savings what so ever. Yet. I'm working on it, he has taught me a lot and I got myself out of debt because he encouraged me.
We annoy each other, but we balance a lot of things out for each other and even though it's not perfect, I love the crap out of him. I really appreciate his advice and knowledge of money and how things work. I am not sure if this relationship is going to be forever, but we try. It's been a tough 3 years, but we've got through things like cheating related and STDs and we have a stronger connection in a way because of it.
Something like, my car breaking down would have me in a panic attack and it would be the end of the world, and he somehow gets me so calm and makes me see little problems like that are really normal and not a big deal what so ever. It's just a car, and its just money to him, and things like that are replaceable and so what if you gotta take the bus to work today? No big deal, actually. Hey you don't like your job, it sucks and makes you miserable? Fucking quit, get a new job. It's not like you have a career yet.