U.S. residents like keeping finances private

BLOOMINGTON, Ill., April 17 (UPI) -- More U.S. residents prefer to share details about their weight than their finances, a survey released Wednesday indicated.

There are gender differences, the financial services group Country Financial said. More than two-thirds of men (68 percent) said they would prefer to discuss their weight than the size of their checking account while only 58 percent of women would.

One in five respondents admitted lying about income, and a third said expressed fear of looking at financial statements. At 22 percent, men are slightly more likely than women (18 percent) to admit deceiving people about their financial situation.

But 77 percent said they would rather put in time figuring out their finances than getting a root canal.

Only one in 10 admitted spending more than they could afford on something because they wanted to keep up appearances. One in five respondents in the 18-29 range said they are having trouble living on their incomes.

The telephone and online survey, conducted March 21-24, is based on responses from at least 3,000 Americans and has a margin of error of 2 percentage points with 95 percent confidence.