MY HUSBAND HAS SECRET £7K SAVINGS

Dear Coleen

My husband is so tight with money, and just recently I discovered he’s been hiding away savings without telling me. We have two young children and I returned to work parttime last year because he was giving me such a hard time about bringing money into the household.

And all this time, he’s been putting away £100 a month into a savings account I knew nothing about. I only found out because I opened some of his post by mistake and found a bank statement for almost £7,000. I haven’t told him I know yet. I have to confront him about this but I don’t know how to.

I know he’ll accuse me of snooping, but it was an honest mistake. What do you think I should do? I don’t want a massive row with him over this, but I do deserve to know what’s going on.

Coleen says

You’ll probably end up having a massive row but, you know what, he’s being sneaky and he deserves it. It’s fine that he’s putting money away for a rainy day, but it’s your money as well and you should have known about this account. You’re a married couple, for goodness sake. It’s not his money alone!

He’s being manipulative and sneaky, and you need to get all this out in the open. Just keep calm and tell him what you told me. By the sounds of it, he will get defensive so make sure you know what you’re going to say.

Think about what he’ll say and have your replies ready. I think he’ll probably accuse you of being irresponsible with money and claim he’s just being sensible. But you’re in a partnership and he shouldn’t be keeping secrets.