I’ve been with my boyfriend since 2024. Our relationship has to be on the down low / an open secret because dating isn’t permissible among his people. His family says they really like me, but they’d never accept me as his wife since I’m not Arab, maybe as a second wife, but the first wife has to be someone they approve of. I don’t want to be a second wife. I’m with him despite all of this because he treats me great, fucks me good, and gets me (he’s very open-minded and chill, and I feel fully comfortable with him). But I know he won’t go against his family for me because of $$$.
To answer the question in your title, it depends on what you’re looking for.
When I was in my teens I didn’t know where I would be in a few years, planning for the future was difficult. The main criteria I used was that I didn’t want to regret a relation. It should be something I could look back on fondly and think “Yes, this was meaningful” even later.
As my life got a bit more predictable in my now early twenties and the road ahead more clear, this has shifted my priorities strictly towards seeking a partner for life. Right now, I have found someone who (hopefully) is it. Time can pass quickly, so once you’ve an idea of what you’re looking for in a long term partner (assuming you want one) it may be a good idea to not get stuck in dead-end relations.
situation specific part
As for the situation you describe here in your post, to me it looks like a huge red flag to be extra careful even if this relation can be enjoyable for the time being.
To be clear, what follows here is anecdotal, based on a personal experience with a friend who had a similar relationship with an arab where his family had the same kinds of reservations. Your mileage might vary, just make sure to not simply assume that he’s as open-minded you want him to be, ask.
In any case, my friends ex seemed like a very reasonable (i.e not misogynistic) person when I met him but things got ugly when she wanted to break up. His own values had been much closer to those of his family than he let on. Suddenly she was “his” and he wouldn’t allow her to break up. Not great.