Cohabitation (Good Idea or Bad Karma?)

It's become more and more common these days. So much so that it's what people have come to expect will be the next step you take in a serious relationship. I'm talking about cohabitation or "shacking up" as the older generations call it. Moving in together is a serious decision, one that shouldn't be taken lightly. You'll definitely get to learn all about a person, their good AND bad habits, what makes them tick, their sleeping patterns, etc. Some people even say you can not truly know a person or whether or not you really want to marry them until you both live under one roof. On the other hand though, statistics show that living together before marriage may be one of the leading factors for divorce. Reasons for that being once you live together under one roof there's really nothing left to look forward to within marriage, you're already living together and doing all the things a married couple does you just don't have legal documents binding you together. People get comfortable with this living arrangement and feel it's no longer important to get married so they continuously put getting married off. Here's the twist though, once they finally do get married and are legally bound together, fear sets in. No longer are they able to just pack up and move out without any real issues. No longer is one person's debt their own, the two have now become one. The thought of actually being bound to someone FOREVER is frightening and more that some people can handle which in turn leads to divorce. Now, statistics do not say that ALL couples who live together before marriage end up divorced, in fact, some couples have cohabitated and go on to have happy, successful marriage. Every situation is different. My question is though, what do you think? Should you live together before getting married? Do you think the saying "why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free" should be applied when considering cohabitation? Is cohabitation a good idea or bad karma?