Husband Threatens To Open Separate Savings Account After Wife Steals $2000 From Their Joint Account To "Invest" In Her Sister's Pyramid Scheme

"That line about 'stopping your wife from using her full potential' is full on MLM kool aid guzzling."

Chelsi

• Published in Interesting
• November 9, 2023

Trust built over a decade-long marriage crumbled after one questionable bank statement. The 39-year-old OP and his 36-year-old wife have pets but no children.

Their issue started with OP's 37-year-old sister-in-law. She is in debt after making a series of unsound financial decisions.

She doesn't have a job and is easily lured by multilevel marketing and get-rich-quick schemes. SIL then relies on relatives to get her out of her most recent trouble.

Luckily, or so he thought, his wife doesn't share her sister's business acumen. OP and his wife work full-time and earn enough to each have their own spending money.

They can use their "fun money" for whatever they want. Their only financial obligation to each other is to contribute an equitable amount into their joint savings.

OP earns more, so he contributes 60% to their monthly expenses, which he deposits into the joint savings. That money is specifically reserved for their household bills and home emergencies should it be needed.

They both have access to the account. If either of them needed to dip into the money saved into the account, it wouldn't be an issue as long as the other was informed about it.

His wife didn't talk to him this time when she withdrew money from their joint savings. He only found out when he went through their bank statements.

There was about $2,000 missing from their joint savings. All of them were Venmo transactions to his SIL.

OP confronted his wife about it. She said her sister needed capital for her new business of selling fake nails and makeup.

She said her sister could earn six figures monthly if she were successful. In fact, OP's wife also planned to invest in the same business.

She said she would quit her job to sell nails and makeup with her sister.

OP told his wife that she needed to get their money back or he would open a separate savings account. He didn't appreciate that she hid a large transaction from him and invested the money without talking to him about it.

OP got a call from his SIL after the confrontation with his wife. She accused him of holding her sister back from using her full potential.

As a precaution, if his wife is intent on joining this pyramid scheme, OP should follow through and open a separate savings account she has no access to

The $2000 should have been from her own funds, not the joint account they use to pay for their household bills

It will take a while for OP to trust his wife again with their joint account. He will wonder if she would fall for another MLM at the back of his mind.

They can peruse the resources tagged in this subreddit. There really is a subreddit for everything!

Would she have told OP about the $2000 if he didn't find out himself?

Could it be that she already used her own money and took more from the joint account to fund her sister's business?

If this isn't the first time her sister fell for a pyramid scheme, why did OP's wife believe that this is the one?

MLM's are inherently predatory

They use every manipulative tactic in the book to increase their earnings

OP shouldn't back down from this issue. If his wife really wants to "invest" in her sister's business, their joint savings account will soon be out of funds.

OP got lucky that he caught it this time. It will take a really long time for him to trust his wife with their finances again, especially if she's down the MLM rabbit hole.

Chelsi