DailyXY’s MoneyGuy blog is sponsored by RBC
Money may not be able to buy happiness, but it can sure breed misery. A recent DailyXY poll found the almighty dollar has strained the relationships of more than four in five of our readers.
For our readers, much of the fiscal disharmony seems to stem from what is commonly described as financial infidelity — the lies that people tell to hide their spending. Nearly half of the 175 respondents (49%) admitted to keeping some of their purchases to themselves, while about the same number (48%) said they think their partner, too, has been financially dishonest.
What’s shocking isn’t that our readers keep money-related secrets from their partners; it’s that so many of them do. Last year, a Credit Canada and Capital One report found that 29% of Canadians have lied to their significant others about their spending. So why is the number so high for DailyXY readers? Does a cultivated taste for the finer things in life lead beget financial infidelity? Let’s hope not.
With 80% of respondents contributing more than half of the household income, perhaps there’s a sense of entitlement at play. Or maybe they’re just sheepish geeks: Nearly half of our lying readers admit that the purchases they’ve concealed weren’t at strip club or bars; rather, the offending spending was on gadgets and technology (47%).
Laurie Campbell, executive director of Credit Canada, offers another explanation for all the financial infidelity: Talking about money, she says, “is not sexy.” In other words: It’s no fun, and so many put it off.
Little surprise, then, that few of our readers are in a rush to merge finances: Only 37% of readers in relationships have shared accounts. “That’s really low,” says Campbell, pointing out that separate accounts are likely to breed secrets. “When couples are off doing their own thing, you have to ask, Do they not have any joint goals? How are they going to save for a trip?”
To which we say: What trip? We’re saving up for a secret iPad.
Image courtesy of bolandrotor.
