Couples suffer breakdown in financial communication

At a time when money issues are commonly acknowledged as one of the most common causes of relationship breakdown, new research from Engage Mutual has found that 22% of Britons living with, or married to, their partner, have financial secrets which they aren't prepared to share with their loved one - credit card spending topping the poll as the number one red lie (36%).

The research also shows that despite the importance of financial stability when bringing up children, parents are in fact the most likely to keep secrets from each other about their finances (24% compared to 20% of couples who are yet to have kids).

Mothers are the most likely to keep schtum about their finances (27% compared to 21% of fathers), with 10% hiding their debt and credit card bills and 9% having a secret stash of spending money.

Both men and women with children are more likely to keep a financial secret from their partner (21% of men with children compared to 18% of men without kids, and 27% of women with children compared to 22% of women without children).

Meanwhile, mothers with children still at home are the most likely to hide their finances from their partners. Of those who keep secrets from their partner 41% don't tell them how much luxury purchases actually cost, 31% don't reveal the size of their credit card bills or show their partner their bank statements and 33% have a secret pot of money.

Women who earn their own income are far more likely to hide their finances from their partner. Indeed, 41% of women in a relationship where both partners work keep financial secrets, compared to 22% of men.