What is Financial Infidelity?

Financial infidelity is a situation in which a married individual lies to his or her spouse about financial matters. Financial infidelity can take place in many areas, including accumulating debt, overspending, or hiding savings. This problem is very common in society today and can be just as damaging as the traditional form of infidelity.

According to many experts, the majority of married couples do not reveal everything about their financial lives to their partners. Even if the lies are considered to be small, most married individuals do not divulge every last secret to their partner. These lies often cause problems in the marriage and lead to even bigger problems.

One of the most common ways in which financial infidelity occurs is with debt accumulation. One spouse will open a credit card without the full knowledge of another spouse. The spouse with the credit card will start to make small purchases on the card and then pay them off. After a certain amount of time, the spouse starts to accumulate a balance on the credit card. At some point, the balance becomes too large for the spouse to pay for with disposable income and he or she hides it from the other spouse.

Another common way in which financial infidelity occurs is with overspending. For example, a married couple might agree on a certain amount of money being spent on expenses for a child. One spouse will spend more money than is allocated for the child and not tell the other spouse about the overspending. When the error is discovered by the other spouse, it often leads to fights and more problems.

Some spouses utilize financial infidelity in the opposite way. Instead of spending too much money, they will save money in secret. This typically happens when one spouse opens a bank account without the knowledge of the other spouse. The spouse with the bank account will find ways to save extra money and deposit it into the bank account. Many times, the spouse will use cash payments so these deposits cannot be tracked as easily.

Regardless of the method of financial infidelity, it can be extremely damaging to a relationship. Even though a spouse might not believe it can be as damaging as traditional infidelity, it has been demonstrated that it can be just as damaging. Many marriages have been dissolved because of this situation if it is not resolved soon enough.