Men are more likely than women to have financial secrets, a new study has found.
According to the findings of an online survey by the personal finance company WalletHub, which involved 220 Americans nationally, 77 percent more men have financial secrets compared to women.
WalletHub also found that 1 in 4 people said they lied about money all the time, with 58 percent of Americans saying they have financial secrets.
Secrets were kept about different financial matters, such as large purchases, income, savings, credit score, debt, job status, inappropriate purchases and more.
It was most common though for people to lie about large purchases, according to the survey's findings, with lies about income and inappropriate purchases in second and third respectively.
A separate study by Edelman Financial Engines from 2023, found that men were more likely to keep secrets about expensive electronic purchases, spending on alcohol and gambling, while women are more likely to hide clothes and cosmetic shopping hauls, as well as gifts for people other than their partner, USA Today reported.
Not only was it found that having financial secrets is quite common in the U.S., but the majority of the respondents in the WalletHub survey also believed it was necessary sometimes to keep secrets about one's finances.
Even when married, financial secrets were still seen as occasionally necessary by 31 percent of Americans in the survey, and a partner was the most common person those in the survey had lied to.
More than 1 in 10 Americans felt their partners didn't have a right to know how much money they have, and the same proportion felt that if their spouses had a debt they wouldn't help them pay it off.
Finances also appeared to be a deal-breaker when it came to maintaining relationships, with 53 percent of respondents saying they would break up or get a divorce over financial problems.
Financial infidelity was also seen as worse in a relationship then emotional or physical infidelity by more than 1 in 10 Americans in the survey.
Outside of romantic relationships, the WalletHub survey found that 41 percent of the respondents had lied previously to their parents about money.
Reasons for why people keep financial secrets are varied, with one study by consumer financial services company Bankrate finding people cited a need for financial privacy or a desire to control their own finances for why they chose to conceal financial affairs.
Other reasons included a lack of desire to share the information, financial matters never coming up in the relationship, or embarrassment about money management habits.
The Bankrate study also found that rates of financial infidelity varied through generations, with older generations being less likely to have financial secrets.
The study found that 67 percent of Generation Z participants, 57 percent of millennials and 34 percent of Generation X in the survey had kept financial secrets from a partner.
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