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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask if you hide emergency funds from your partner?

30 replies

YourJadeLion · 14/09/2025 17:40

Do you keep a secret stash of money that your partner doesn’t know about? Not necessarily for anything sinister but just as a personal safety net.

Some say it’s smart to have financial independence, while others believe it’s dishonest in a committed relationship. What do you think, sensible or sneaky?

OP posts:
JacquesHarlow · 14/09/2025 17:41

FGS

Hankunamatata · 14/09/2025 17:42

Everyone should have some independent savings esp women

Myfridgeiscool · 14/09/2025 17:42

F off fund is useful to have. I used mine!

Backinthedress · 14/09/2025 17:42

I have my own savings but I don't hide it. We both pay in to the joint account for shared costs, everything else is our own.

NoahDia · 14/09/2025 17:43

No, I have my own bank account with my own savings but it's certainly not a secret.

Motomum23 · 14/09/2025 17:43

I don't. I'm not sure how I would feel if my husband had a hidden savings account tbh. In a divorce its 50/50 anyway so surely a hidden account could or would be found.

MumChp · 14/09/2025 17:44

No. No need to.

Caterfly · 14/09/2025 17:44

Yes and no - they are my funds and for me to spend as I wish, but it's not a secret. We both have our own money and can make our own choices.

MrsArcher23 · 14/09/2025 17:47

My DM called it her ‘running away’ money. She never ran away and it wasn’t a secret fund.

DancefloorAcrobatics · 14/09/2025 17:52

I earn enough money to fund myself - including housing should I need it. Always have done, even when DC were little.

DH is lovely, been married 20+ years, but I don't think he should pay for me when I am capable of earning the money I need.

My advice: always have a job, always have access to ALL money and never expect your partner to keep you - that's both ways BTW.
Exception to the rule: when DC are little, one partner will have times when they work pt...

TotHappy · 14/09/2025 17:54

I've got secret money but its not for running away - when I sell something on marketplace and get cash I stick it in my jewellery box. It's for Christmas presents for the kids or whatever else we won't have enough money for when it comes around because dh is not good at sticking to a budget.
I would tell him if he asked but I'm not going out of my way to do so.

Itiswhysofew · 14/09/2025 17:58

I've got savings but it's not a secret. I earn my own money from our company and there's money available should anything "go wrong".

mindutopia · 14/09/2025 18:01

Well, of course I have my own money. I’ve always had my own money. So does Dh. Very happy marriage, no ‘secret stash’, but we only have joint finances for paying bills. Everything else completely separate. I have no idea how much he has or what he spends money on and he has no idea what I have or how I spend my money.

That said, no it wouldn’t be enough to start a new life if I up and left because my money is tied in my house and other things. But I wouldn’t run away and leave my house and my life anyway even if I had all the money in the world, but yes, I have full financial freedom as every woman should have. None of this one account controlled by a man business.

PersephoneParlormaid · 14/09/2025 18:02

My DH won’t tell me how much he inherited, so why should I tell him what I’ve got.

Indicateyourintentions · 14/09/2025 18:03

I was saving my running away money by the time I was nine. It didn’t teach me to pick decent men but I’m damm good at saving.

InterestedDad37 · 14/09/2025 18:04

I have one, and I live on my own 😉😂

tumblingdowntherabbithole · 14/09/2025 18:06

I have my own savings but they're not a secret.

Kitchenbattle · 14/09/2025 18:07

I mean I have 60k but he knows about it…

MolliciousIntent · 14/09/2025 18:08

I've got savings he can't access, but they're not secret. He's got the same.

ItsNotMeEither · 14/09/2025 18:10

I grew up with a single mum who had been through a nasty divorce. It was always drummed into me that a woman should have some funds of her own. I'm not sure that they were ever completely secret. My husband always knew I had a couple of bank accounts of my own, but I never mentioned the amount.

I used to put away $5 a week in the 80s, then it slowly increased from there. eventually that became $50 a week. By the time we had been married for 34 years, it was an amount that was a decent deposit on am investment property. This had always been a quiet goal of mine. Not that I ever thought my little fund would get me there, yet it did. Growing up, sometimes mum and I shared just one room in rental accommodation, so I wanted to be a really good landlord for someone who needed that.

Anyway, at that point, I obviously had to mention it to my DH. I took out a loan but he has jointly contributed to paying it off. I still have some savings of my own, but my little emergency fund will now work for both of us when we retire. We've been marries 38 years now.

I think an emergency fund is something everyone should have, and if you get to the point where you really don't need it, then it becomes a nice bonus.

AhBiscuits · 14/09/2025 18:11

No. We each have have our own savings. I have no idea how much he has and vice versa. It's not a secret though, I'd tell him if he asked.

ZoggyStirdust · 14/09/2025 18:11

Mumsnet seems to struggle a bit when it comes to this subject. Women are firmly advised to have a secret fund, and are also firmly advised to dump partners who have a secret fund

gingercat02 · 14/09/2025 18:13

I have my own savings but it's not a secret. My MiL was horrified when we mentioned my "running away fund"
Everyone should have independent means, but if you have to hide them, you probably need them @YourJadeLion

TwelvePercent · 14/09/2025 18:14

Yes, I have 3 months take home salary saved away from my current account and the family savings. Its enough to put down a deposit, rent a house for me and the kids & get a solicitor if ever needed.

I love my DH, he loves me. But we've had our moments and shit happens. So many women get caught completely unawares that I think it's naive to claim you don't need your own money.

If it's all blue skies/lifelong apathy then we will spend it on a Stannah stairlift and the grandkids.
It would be a lovely surprise at retirement if DH has the same 😂

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