Know how much your spouse earns? Many couples don't

Here's a pop quiz for married couples: Do you know your spouse's salary? What about the balance in your partner's retirement account—and credit card?

- Diane Harris

Bonus points if you can cite how much your husband or wife thinks you both need to live comfortably in retirement, or even what age he or she hopes that will happen.

A Fidelity survey found that more than a third of couples could not identify their partner's salary within at least US$25,000 (S$33,300) of their actual pay. Over half disagreed about how much they needed to save for retirement. Research shows similar disconnects among many couples when it comes to debt, net worth, savings, and lifestyle goals.

That's not even counting the outright secrets that about four in 10 married couples admit to keeping about money, according to a 2025 Bankrate survey. Leading the list of indiscretions: spending more than their partner would be okay with, followed by hiding debt, credit cards, or savings accounts.

"About 50 per cent of the couples I talk to don't know their combined household income, and 90 per cent of those with debt don't know how much they owe," said Mr. Ramit Sethi, who wrote the book Money For Couples.

"But beyond facts and figures, the most important thing couples don't know about their partner is what their vision is of a rich life—what ideally they hope their money will allow them to do and accomplish together."

IGNORANCE ISN'T BLISS

This lack of knowledge about key aspects of a spouse's finances can hinder planning for retirement and other goals, such as buying a home or paying for a child's college education, advisers said.

"When there's misinformation or an absence of clarity about the resources you have to work with, you're more likely to make suboptimal financial decisions, and partners' habits and behavior don't always align with goals," said Mr. Douglas Boneparth, a New York City financial planner who writes a newsletter with his wife Heather called The Joint Account.