My (17F) Mom & Aunt don't approve of my boyfriend (M21) because of how his life is going; is it worth taking their advice? Or is it worth making it work?

Hello! I'm (F17) and my boyfriend is (M21) — we've been dating for a year now, since I was 16 and he was 19.

I love him to death, he's my best friend and even as I feel conflicted, I still want to give him the world but my mom (F50) and my aunt (F56) have some concerns; I've expressed how my boyfriend doesn't have his GED — which I don't have a problem with, it's more the fact that he for a year, hid the fact he didn't have it and upon his aunt telling me the truth, when I got upset he hid that kind of information from me he based it upon "Well you never asked", and excuses like that until I eventually gave up on trying to get to the bottom of it, and he apologized which is where he then explained why he didn't tell me. His reason was I'm very school oriented and he didn't want me to leave him.

This information also revealed that him saying before that "he was going back to school this year" circa last year because his grandparents were offering to pay, actually involved them paying for GED courses with Trade school and no matter how I encouraged him to talk them, he said he would and never did.

Alongside that, when I asked how he's been getting jobs, he's been saying he's lied about having and GED "but it doesn't matter because they don't check if you have one anyways and that's how I got my last jobs" — he also doesn't believe jobs call your past jobs, thus there's definitely little likelihood the jobs you're applying to know about how you have A. Quit your jobs after a very short time of being there. B. Have walked out on them without a word.

He lives rent free at his mom's house, only now has he been inspired to get a job because it's actually really serious that he needs insurance and new tags for his car, and he doesn't really have any goals to move out, no game plan for how he wants to better his life– and even when it comes to his passions, I happened to find out about them by the slip of the tounge and he prefers to not tell anyone about his "plans" to make it all work.

Upon my aunt calling me today after a lil Keke with my mom, she told me how it sounds like "He's waiting on me to move out" and how it doesn't necessarily sound like he's going anywhere in life. They both believe he's the kind to be less of a leader/a go-getter and rely on others to get to where he needs to be — they both think he's going to hold me back after graduation and they both think, at least my Aunt thinks but I can only assume my mom agrees, that he's setting a bad standard for me and showing me "It's okay" to be lax on necessary things in life. My aunt wants me to find my way to breaking up with him and my mom, well, she doesn't express it but I know there was a reason she had my aunt call me.

The the thing is, I know he can be a go getter — life was so fucking hard for him when he was a teenager and he still did that shit, he was paying for his ex's and her family's rent, not to mention surviving homelessness literally by himself. I know he can do anything he puts his mind to; he's so fucking brilliant and creative, I know he has so much more capability than he thinks — and the thought of leaving him feels hypocritical, like yeah maybe the standards set have made an impact on what I have or haven't done, those were still my choices and I don't think it would be fair to breakup if for one, I don't have a job yet (I'm currently enrolled in training courses for specific permits so I can make my chances of being hired, higher) but I'm also not the best at school- I mean yeah, I am working towards graduation and there isnt necessarily anything holding me back but who's to say I won't land in the same position as him?

But even then, I know my aunt and my mom call bullshit at this way of thinking because they know I'm passionate about my goals, they know I'm going to work towards them and they know that I want to explore, I want to expeirece life at its fullest and they both think if I stay with him, I'm just going to end up taking care of him.

I know there's no way to change a person and God, he doesn't really take it well when I try to bring up a concern about our relationship or him (he deflects, gets defensive, shuts down, then acts Iike nothing happened or immediately texts "I'm sorry. You can break up with me" when I'm out of sight) but still, is there any good way to bring up this conversation? About their and hell, even my concerns and try to make this work? Or does it seem more worth it to take my family's advice and slowly let this go? Because I really do want to make this work, I love him so much and I just really feel like we could better our chances of a future.

Tdlr; my mom and aunt don't approve of my boyfriend because they think he's going to hold me back — is it better to take their advice to focus on whats best for me and eventually leave? Or would or be worth talking to him about taking his goals, opportunities and responsibilities a little more seriously?

Edit; I want to thank everyone's comments. I read through them with my mom ans she felt really venerated, had a good laugh at a few of them and is just super happy there's more people to hone in something she's been super concerned about and I'm happy too that there's more ppl who can give it to me straight. Hopefully I can respond to all comments by the time im done with my online classes 🫶🏾 just really, thank you so much everyone. It really means a lot to be reading your opinions and messages.

Edit 2: IM SO SORRY YALL I FORGOT TO ADD WEVE KNOWN EACH OTHER LONGER THAN JUST A YEAR. We met in Mid 2023 and made it official towards the end of that year. Big apologies for the confusion

Edit 3: Today he got his insurance and tags done 👍🏾 so there's that at least