Couples living in Dubai are hiding their money from each other and experts say this is putting their joint finances at risk.
Some men are not telling their spouses of the Ferraris or houses they have bought and women do not tell their better halves about their shopping trips to the malls. “This will not only harm the relationship, but also put household budgets and long-term planning in jeopardy,” the experts say.
“People in second marriages are more likely to hide their assets and debts from each other,” one financial expert said. I am in awe of these people (not the financial experts, but the secretive couples) because there is nothing I can do to hide anything from wife, forget about trying to keep an Italian sports car parked outside the flat, a secret.
I don’t know how people can afford to marry, divorce and marry again when I can’t even afford the one and only marriage I am in, and where I can’t even hide a few dirhams in my wallet from my wife, to have a nice time with the guys over the weekend.
As I was busy making plans with my colleagues, I got a call from my wife saying that she had taken the Dh500 that I had hidden between old grocery bills in my wallet. “I need it for eggs and stuff,” she said. “But, but, but ...” I said.
The report said that it is not only in Dubai that this is happening, but that one in four couples in the UK are hiding their stash of pennies from each other and an even bigger number are ringing up debts and pretending they don’t exist.
These guys must be geniuses or are some sort of ‘Wolves of Business Bay’, because there’s absolutely nothing I can hide from my wife and her iPhone. “Your salary has arrived and I have withdrawn the rent, school fees, grocery money, Dewa and etisalat charges,” says my wife.
Technology is a curse and all this business about plastic money has made my life miserable. Before internet banking, phone banking and credit cards I could possibly hide a few currency notes here and there without wife noticing it.
Still, I had to be careful: One night, as I was crouching in the darkened balcony, my wife knocked on the glass and shouted: “What are you doing out there freezing? Are you counting money? I can hear the rustle of banknotes.”
Credit cards may be a boon to some smart people who know how to live on credit and buy things without having to pay a halala of their own, but the moment the checkout guy rang up the sale and swiped my card, I got a call from my wife. “What are you doing in Umm Al Quwain,” she shouts.
“Nothing my dear,” I stutter. “I am here to report on a strange fish that looks like a mermaid,” I said and the long line of people at the checkout counter looked at me strangely.
“I thought I’ll pick up something while I am here,” I say. “Quick thinking,” says my friend behind me, giggling. My wife is quicker: “That report came out yesterday. It says the fishermen threw it back into the sea. What have you bought?”
Hidden savings and debts can harm a relationship, says the expert. Be honest with each other and if you have financial problems, remember that if you share a problem, it is a problem halved, he said.
“My dear, I need Dh5,000,” I told my wife honestly. “Without even looking up from her iphone, she asked, “Why?” I said that I was planning to go on a junket with a group of photographers to Cambodia, and she looked up, and my voice faded away.
