People admit to ‘secret spending’ without telling partners

A new report has revealed that British adults are hiding expenses such as beauty products, gambling and cryptocurrencies from their partners as part of a “secret spending” pattern.

More than half of adults in relationships are secretly spending money on a range of products, according to research by investment platform AJ Bell and pollster Opinium.

The survey of 4,000 adults showed men spent an average of £2,545 without their partner’s knowledge in the past year.

The research revealed that women spent an average of £1,769 privately.

The most common secret purchase for men and women was clothing; 20% of men and 35% of women made this purchase.

Beauty products were the next step for women in relationships Most commonly, a quarter say they buy them secretly.

While men said their most common hidden expenses after clothing were bad habits such as cigarettes and alcohol, one in five (19%) said they did the shopping without telling their partner.

Men were also more likely to use their money for gambling or send gifts to friends and family without telling their partners.

Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2012, are more secretive about their spending than older generations, with an average of £4,303 last year.

Meanwhile, over-55s secretly spent an average of just £384 in the same period.

Laura Suter, AJ Bell’s personal finance director, said some secret spending “might seem innocuous” but could potentially highlight “a much bigger problem with how couples manage, discuss and plan their finances”.

Spending money in secret “can make it difficult to budget properly or plan for long-term goals like buying a home, building an emergency container, or saving for retirement,” he said.

Ms Suter warned that the gap between what people say they spend and what they actually spend “can be one of the quickest routes to financial friction for a couple”.

She added: “After all, you don’t have to report it every time you grab a coffee or get your nails done by your partner, but big costs, recurring habits or anything that risks derailing a shared financial plan should be on the table.”

Financial expert Iona Bain said couples who maintained some degree of financial independence could be “very sensible”.

But Ms Bain warned that some partners were hiding their spending from each other because they “failed to be honest about their values ​​and priorities at an early stage and knew deep down that their partner would not approve”.

“This type of behavior is understandable, but it actually creates more conflict in the long run because it’s impossible to do things like buy a house or have children together without being honest about how you spend your money,” he added.