Millions Hide Money, Accounts From Spouses
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
With your money briefing, I'm J.R. Whelan at The Wall Street Journal in New York. You wouldn't hide money from your spouse or live-in partner, right? Right? Well, statistically, you just might be. We'll break down the numbers in a moment. First, these money and market stories you should know. New federal and state laws are directing banks to take a more active role in addressing frauds and scams that target older customers.
What recent bank trends reveal financial abuse against older customers?
And the banks have turned up a substantial amount of financial abuse. U.S. banks reported a record 24,454 suspected cases of fraud to the Treasury Department against the elderly last year.
How many Americans secretly hide bank or credit accounts from their partner?
That's a 12% jump over the year before. And the problem isn't likely going away. An average of 10,000 Americans turn 65 a day. That's a pace expected to continue through 2030. Now to try to stem the problem as best they can, the banks are ramping up training programs for employees on how to detect, stop, and report issues without violating a customer's privacy. And the most expensive home ever sold in the U.S. goes to billionaire Ken Griffin. The Wall Street Journal Real Estate Bureau reports the hedge fund manager closed on a New York City penthouse for roughly $238 million. The 24,000-square-foot apartment is in a yet-to-be-completed high-rise overlooking Central Park. Griffin first signed a contract to buy the unit in 2015, and closings only recently commenced now that the building is nearing completion.
His purchase, by the way, breaks the previous record set in 2014 when hedge fund manager Barry Rosenstein paid $137 million for a home in the Hamptons.
Does the phrase for richer or poorer include hiding money from your spouse or partner? Well, it turns out that 29 million Americans are hiding a checking, savings, or credit card account from their significant other.
Why do people consider financial infidelity worse than romantic cheating?
That's the result of a survey by creditcards.com, and analyst Ted Rossman is here in our studio to discuss. So, Ted, this could be a make-or-break incident for a marriage. More than half of those surveyed view financial infidelity as worse than romantic infidelity?
Financial infidelity is a big deal. So just to break that down a little bit further, we found that 20% of people think that financial cheating is outright worse than physical cheating. And then 35% think they're about the same. So that's where we got that added together. 55% think that financial infidelity is at least as bad, if not worse, than physical infidelity. These are big numbers.
And this is probably the product of people married or otherwise not having honest conversations about money.
What reasons do people give for hiding money or accounts from a spouse?
Communication is so important here when you're talking about big life decisions with your spouse or partner. I think the biggest reason why people hide accounts is that they're ashamed of something. They're either ashamed of the way they spend their money or they think you're going to react in a negative way. Or they're ashamed of some debt they've incurred in the past or a blemish on their credit score, some skeleton in their financial closet. I think sometimes people find it easier to hide it than to be upfront about it. And that's a bad idea because... If your secret does get out, it really undermines trust. You know, you think about if you're married to somebody for years and all of a sudden you learn about some financial account that you didn't know was there, that's going to undermine trust in a far greater way.
The other person is going to start to think, well, what else don't I know? I thought I knew this person. And what other secrets does he or she have? And that's really not a path you want to go down.
We should point out that there probably are other reasons besides being ashamed and feeling that you're not a good money manager, that you're hiding money from your spouse.
How can hidden accounts undermine trust and shared financial goals?
That's not this kind of show. Well, you tackle that on another show. But you make a good point about how people just might be embarrassed to show that the money has dwindled or they haven't invested properly or they feel like they can't manage it properly. But, you know, this is something that really should be on the top of people's minds, especially when you consider that Americans have dangerously low amounts of savings.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:05–0:29
2
What recent bank trends reveal financial abuse against older customers?
0:29–0:42
3
How many Americans secretly hide bank or credit accounts from their partner?
0:42–2:01
4
Why do people consider financial infidelity worse than romantic cheating?
2:01–2:48
5
What reasons do people give for hiding money or accounts from a spouse?
2:48–3:53
6
How can hidden accounts undermine trust and shared financial goals?
3:53–5:26
7
Why are millennials more likely to hide accounts than older adults?
5:26–7:34
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from WSJ Your Money Briefing
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