The Average Affair Costs over $2600...
20 June 2018Two years down the line and $2600 spent - the profile of the average affair has been revealed in a new survey.
In addition to potentially costing a person their happy home and marriage, Vouchercloud has revealed that the average affair costs the cheating party over $2,600, including dollars spent on expensive dinners, hotel check and gifts while sneaking around behind their spouse’s back.
The survey, conducted as part of the company’s wider research into the leisure spending of American citizens, profiled 2,645 US citizens aged 25 and over and had been married to their partner for a minimum of 5 years.
Respondents were initially asked if they were having or had ever had an extramarital affair, to which almost a quarter (24%) stated that they had indeed strayed outside their marriage. The majority of those who confessed to having an affair were male (57%).
In order to assess when a marriage is most at risk of infidelity, the relevant respondents were then asked to reveal how long they had been married for when their affair had begun and how long the affair had lasted. The team collaborated all answers to find that the average affair begins two years into a marriage and lasts for six months.
The survey then required the adulterous participants to shed some light on how much their affair had cost, including all expenses such as hotel checks, dinner and drinks tabs and gifts for their secret lover. The following list reveals the average spend per item per month:
- Hotel Bills – $123
- Dinner & Drink Tabs – $162
- Gifts – $54
- Date activities e.g. cinema tickets – $69
- Other – $36
This equates to average expenditure of $444 per month. Considering the average affair lasts for six months, the total cost of an illicit extramarital relationship was revealed to be $2,664.
The adulterous respondents were then asked: “Did/Does your spouse ever question your finances or notice any unexplained expenditure, in relation to your affair?” to which only a third (32%) said that ‘yes’, their partner had noticed their extramarital financial commitments.
