Just a few months into her marriage, Veronica from Texas is “freaking out” after discovering her husband, who she thought was worth nearly $1 million, lied about his finances and is actually drowning in over $150,000 of debt with no significant assets to his name.
“Where do I go from here?” she asked in a letter to The Ramsey Show in a clip broadcast Nov. 18.
“I would go straight to counseling,” replied co-host George Kamel. “I don’t know anywhere else to go when your relationship was built on a throne of lies.”
However, fellow co-host Ken Coleman wanted her to consider the “nuclear option” instead.
“I would go straight to the judge and I would get the marriage annulled,” he said bluntly.
Now, while lying to a spouse about being a millionaire may be an extreme case, it seems financial infidelity is actually quite common in America.
The results of a Bankrate survey published in early 2024 reveal 42% of adults in the U.S. who are married or living with a partner say they’ve kept a financial secret from their significant other. Secrets include spending more than their partner would approve of (30%) and holding undisclosed debt (23%).
Among those who lied about their finances, 28% felt embarrassed by their ability to handle finances and 17% were worried about the relationship ending poorly. Overall, 28% of respondents with a spouse or live-in partner felt keeping financial secrets in a relationship is as bad as cheating, while 7% say it’s worse.
“It’s not always easy to talk about money, but it’s so important. Financial secrets can take on a life of their own and undermine the relationship,” Bankrate senior industry analyst Ted Rossman said in a news release. “We’ve often found that the breach of trust has a greater impact than the dollars and cents.”
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Marriage counseling is an option for couples to resolve differences and change behaviors. It can be a forum to open up communication between partners and get them on the same page.
But the level of deception involved in Veronica’s relationship may be too high to overcome, according to Coleman.
