Financial Infidelity
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In today’s Investor’s Business Daily, reporter Paul Katzeff quotes a psychiatrist as saying, “Cheating with money is a form of infidelity. … It can be even more devastating than sexual infidelity.” Why? “The loss of trust it can cause.” The lie is one thing but the then there is the “added component of having spent away your future.” The psychiatrist, Doug Welpton, a family therapist and an author (online) of articles about sex, love and money, adds, “What one spouse thinks you have in the bank for retirement, for your future together, as been spent—used—by the other partner.”
The story quotes a somewhat dated (published in 2005) Harris Interactive poll by lawyers.com and Redbook magazine, in which found that 29 percent of U.S. adults in a committed relationship said they had lied to their partner about spending habits. And the practice of lying about money may be on the rise, the article argues.
The best way to prevent this—and you might want to know this in case you have a client couple who is in similar straights—is to talk about money. Chances are that if a client couple is in your office seeking financial advice, they may not have such a problem. But, you might want to know the simple tools for preventing cheating with money in the event you encounter it.
