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5 Steps for Confessing Financial Infidelity
Updated: December 26, 2020 |
Taylor Kovar, CFP

How to Admit a Money Mistake to Your Spouse

Nearly every relationship harbors some level of financial infidelity. It might be as minor as not telling your partner what you really spent on her birthday gift or as major as keeping a secret bank account to pay for your gambling addiction. (Find out where you stand with the Money Relationship Assessment.) Either way, the path to healthy financial communication will never be smooth unless you are honest about your behavior and take these steps for confessing your financial infidelity.

If you’ve got a history of lying about spending or hiding money from your partner, it’s time to come clean. You can do it!

Here’s how:

1. Get real with yourself.

Take a good look at what you’ve been doing and why you’ve been doing it. What’s behind your behavior: Fear? Anger? Control? Resentment? Shame? Before you tell your partner about your infidelity, you need to understand what’s led you to these behaviors. This isn’t about making excuses or blaming your partner, it’s about being honest with yourself so you can take ownership of what you’ve done. No one made you do these things.

2. Be prepared for anger.

Your partner is going to be angry. They have a right to that reaction. He or she is going to be hurt. They may even resent you, especially if your financial infidelity has led to debt or other money problems. As much as we’d like to tell you this won’t happen or that everything’s going to be just fine, the truth is that financial infidelity is a real problem that brings with it real pain.

3. Don’t delay.

There isn’t going to be a perfect time to confess your financial infidelity. Naturally, you don’t want to bring it up in the midst of some other argument or use your confession as a weapon against your partner. Instead, pick a quiet evening, sit down together, and tell your partner the truth.

Preface your confession by saying something like, “Honey, I know we’ve had some disagreements about money in the past. And I want you to know that I’ve done some things with our finances that I’m not proud of. I want to tell you about those things so that we can work together to build a better relationship and a better financial future.”

4. Listen to your partner.

Once you’ve been honest with your confession, it’s time to listen. As hard as it might be to hear, your partner will want to respond to what you’ve said-and it might not be very pleasant. But if you don’t let your partner react and respond, the questions, the anger, the resentment that he or she is bound to feel will only fester and blow up later. So take it in, listen without getting defensive, and apologize and seek forgiveness.

5. Focus on the future.

Depending on the level of financial infidelity you’re dealing with, your partner might have a lot of questions or concerns. There might be some serious financial damage that you’ll need to repair. There might be issues of trust and resentment that will be hard for you to deal with. (If there has been a severe breach of trust, we strongly recommend seeking professional marriage counseling.) But don’t let your past define your relationship. Come to this conversation with ideas for repairing the financial and relational damage and make a plan for moving forward. Show your partner that you are committed to building something new, together. Make plans to check in regularly and use that time to take a hard look at your financial picture. There are also some great apps that help couples share finances easily.

Recovering from financial infidelity is not easy. But with time, patience, trust, and a true commitment to change, you and your partner can rebuild your financial relationship.

Your relationship is priceless. Be honest with each other.

Taylor & Megan Kovar

The Money Couple

Taylor & Megan Kovar posing at the Fredonia Hotel in Nacogdoches Texas

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