Here's a list I gave recently:
I'm 50. I earned my money over my life with no help from you, and it belongs to my kids when I pass. Unless you add significant value between now & then, don't plan your retirement over it.
If you don't respect yourself, don't expect me to. Wash. Shave. Keep your weight to within spitting distance of "when we first met." Let yourself go, and I will let you go.
I have raised my kids. I don't want to raise yours. Nor will I be their loan officer or bail bondsman.
If you have adult children, it's one thing to put their needs first, and it's another thing to put their wants above my needs.
I am 50, and not a project for changing. It will not be given a chance to build into resentment. My hobbies are not going to change.
If we move in together, it's going to be on a place we rent together, until I decide otherwise. "When I see fit" is when I will decide. I am still keeping my property. And it is mine. Yes, that does give me options. Got a problem with that?
We absolutely can open a NEW joint checking account to which I will cheerfully contribute my portion of the monthly bills we jointly incur. Your old bills are your own problem.
A secular marriage is a legal contract as is a pre-nup agreement. If you expect me to enter into the former, I expect the latter. Otherwise, I know some ministers who will perform commitment ceremonies without a license. This point is neither negotiable nor open for discussion.
If you don't work, I expect a clean house and a hot meal when I get home. Me working all day *IS* my half.
I don't spend money on frivolity. I won't fly first class when coach will do, and I'm not spending even a hundred bucks a night for a room which I will be "seeing" with my eyes closed while asleep. I have money because I am tighter than the bark on a fucking tree.
I don't do trendy.
I have no use for liberal women, especially feminists; the self-absorbed, or the unread.
Your degree does not impress me. I know, as an educator, how easy they are to get.
With all the affirmative action and set-asides for women, your accomplishments, as far as I am concerned, have an asterix next to them.
Bisexuals, atheists, and single mothers need not aspire to any status greater than "fuckbuddy."
No chick flix on my time.
Try to cut my balls off in public, and you have written your walking papers. There are no second chances.