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The Naked Truth | Love and money: financial infidelity can tear relationships apart, so be open and honest when it comes to your cash

  • Financial infidelity happens when couples lie to each other about their finances, such as hiding debts and not being truthful about how they spend money
  • The best way to repair a relationship harmed by financial dishonesty is to first own up to your mistakes and acknowledge that you have crossed a line

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Financial infidelity can tear relationships apart. Photo: Shutterstock

There are different types of infidelity – they tend to fall into two categories: physical and emotional.

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As expected in today’s internet age, people “live” in the digital universe as much as they reside in the real world. This means cyber-cheating is becoming more common.

It happens when people develop emotional intimacy with someone they meet online, and without having to meet face to face. Betraying trust in a committed partnership is abhorrent no matter what form it takes.

There is also another form of cheating that predates the internet and often escapes our attention: financial infidelity. This issue seems to go unnoticed when people talk about trust-related relationship problems. Most people don’t see it as a form of cheating.

Financial infidelity happens when couples lie to each other about their finances. Illustration: Marcelo Duhalde
Financial infidelity happens when couples lie to each other about their finances. Illustration: Marcelo Duhalde

The reality is that financial infidelity can rock the foundations of a relationship and tear it apart because it raises the issue of trust and transparency. Without trust there is no reason for any relationship to continue.

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