Recruit-a-Friend, best thing ever or a curse?

I have a level 47 pally with just over 1 day played. He's also dead broke. It's amazing to return to Gadgetzan, turn in 5 quests, and get a level and a half off them. But this means I've skipped huge sections of content. Lost reputation, quest rewards, and gold everywhere.

But what am I complaining about?! I'm actually able to raise a paladin as protection. It's a LOT of fun to run my horse through clumps of guys over my level, jumping off, and destroying them. If I map out my quest route well, I play for an hour and get two levels.

I don't see how two people new to the game can do this though. You have to make an alt to play with your friend, and use your main to support them. It's 9-12 gold to get all my spells every other level and I just get a fraction of that doing the quests. I gave my friend's druid 50g at level 30. He already had 30g, but now at level 46 he has 9 gold, and hasn't been paying to level any professions.