Roommate (21M) in the worst financial position I've ever seen. 486 credit score, $18k in debt, 0 college credits, $0 savings, no car, suspended license, minimum wage job and no family to help him. Can someone give him a path?

In a similar situation with my current roommate. We're a little older, and not quite as close as you are with this guy, and his finances although bleak, aren't AS bad as your roommate's. That said, I've still gradually come to the conclusion as the months have gone by that I simply cannot help him. It's not that I haven't tried, I pay $300 - $350 more in rent than he does, let him have his way with the apartment almost entirely in spite of that fact, am currently looking the other way toward a month's worth of missed rent on top of the discount until he is able to pay (it's been several months now)...I basically sacrificed a year of my life that I'm never going to get back in order to accommodate him and he just won't make a single move to get his shit together no matter how much I support him.

I pull my punches when I talk to him about this because I can't stand kicking people when they're down but the painfully obvious truth is that I can't help him and if I continue to try I'm just going to get dragged down with him, I see it coming if I don't cut off his support when this lease is up. It makes me sad to think about where his life is going but at some point I have to accept that I'm not Jesus, I'm not a hero, I'm just a normal guy and as much as I care about people - with what's been exposed as a huge soft spot toward those that are struggling, to the point where I now consider it a character flaw - I can't save someone who isn't willing to save himself.

OP, from what I'm reading here, it sounds like my spiel should be hitting pretty damn close to home

/r/personalfinance Thread