Am I a Bad Person For Hiding Money from My Spouse?

It's called financial infidelity. Is it as bad as cheating?

Is buying things and saving money behind your spouses back the same as cheating? Some think it is.

How do you and your spouse or significant other handle your finances? Do you have joint bank accounts or totally separate accounts from one another? Do you have a system and does it work?

I recently, sold some old collectibles at a large auction and surprisingly ended up taking home a sizeable amount money when it was all said and done. The person running the auction requested to pay me on Venmo. I asked if they could send it to me and mark the transaction as private so my wife doesn't see how much I made. I kind of laughed it off at first. Then someone warned me that what I was doing could actually cause a serious strain on my relationship.

It's called financial infidelity. I had never heard of this term before. It's loosely defined as someone who hides money or credit cards from their partner. Doing this can cause a lot of trust issues.

It's actually not that uncommon. According to CNBC, over 50% of people have kept money a secret from their significant other.

My reasons for hiding the cash were innocent. I thought maybe I would buy some more things with the money to sell later. However, according to Investopedia, many people who hide money from a spouse are doing it for a different reason. Often times it's a sign of cheating?

Do you keep any amount of money from your partner? Does that make you a bad person?