Over 5.5 million people don’t actually know how much their partner earns, research from part of the Think Money Group suggests.
At the same time, an estimated 6 million say that their partner doesn’t know how much they earn.
The survey, conducted for All About Money, found that around 2 million people have lied to their partners about how much they earn. A million told their partner they earn more than they actually do, and another million told their partner they earn less.
Just over 8 million people – that’s one in five partners – have savings that they keep secret from their other half. 22% of women have money put away, compared with 20% of men. Although women are slightly more likely to be stashing their cash, men have over £3,000 more (£8,554.53) hidden on average than women do (£5,391.41). The average amount stashed away overall is £6,805.51 – but 18% of people with a secret money stash are hiding over £10,000.
Ian Williams from All About Money said: “For most people, relationships are built on trust and openness – and our research shows that this honesty usually extends to our finances too. However, there is a minority that don’t take that approach. Some people are misleading their partners about how much they earn, or stashing some cash away ‘just in case’.”
OnePoll Research carried out a survey of a representative sample of 2,000 UK adults on 02.05.13. Figures have been extrapolated to fit ONS 2013 population projections of 50,371,000 UK adults.