Are your married clients financially unfaithful to each other?

Helping married clients gets tricky if spouses aren’t transparent about their finances. And, in some cases, spouses might be outright deceitful with one another.

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In fact, more than one-third of Canadians (36%) say they’ve been victims of financial infidelity from a current or former partner, finds a survey commissioned by Financial Planning Standards Council (FPSC) and Credit Canada. These respondents tend to be younger (18-54 rather than 55 or older) or single.

Those who say they’ve been victims are also more likely to have lied to a romantic partner about financial matters, and to have kept financial secrets from their current romantic partner (51% apiece), says the survey.

The top offences are running up a credit card balance (14% of respondents) and not contributing enough financially, based on income (13%).

A BDO Canada survey likewise finds that the most common thing partners hide from each other is credit card debt.

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For those in a relationship, the FPSC and Credit Canada survey finds that 36% admit they’ve lied about a financial matter to a partner, and 34% admit to keeping financial secrets from a partner.

There were no significant differences between women and men when it comes to being a victim of financial infidelity (35% of men versus 37% of women), lying about a financial matter (36% of both) or keeping financial secrets from partners (35% of men versus 34% of women).

Nor do household income levels play a role in financial infidelity, finds the survey. However, a lack of communication might: the BDO survey finds that 36% of those in a relationship rarely or never discuss personal finances with their partner.

Read the full survey.

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About the survey: Leger conducted a survey of 1,550 Canadians between Jan. 2 and Jan. 5, 2018, using its online panel, LegerWeb. A probability sample of the same size would yield a margin of error of +/-2.5%, 19 times out of 20.

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Help single clients plan for retirement