When most people have an affair, they prefer to keep it discreet. In fact, most people want it to be a complete secret and will go so far as having the affair in another town or even another state. If you’re not in one of those elusive open relationships one hears so much about, you may have a lot to lose if an affair becomes known. Divorce can mean losing your home, vehicles and a lot of money. Not to mention, children and life as you have known it for a while. Keeping the affair a secret is imperative unless your goal is to leave the marriage. Take every precaution needed to keep your life from blowing up and that includes using an alias, or fake name with your discreet affair. Consider these reasons why you should always use a fake name with your affairs.

No Name, No Drama

Affairs are meant to be temporary. They are based primarily on lust, passion and sex. Those things eventually wane and the affair ends. Using a fake name from the very beginning ensures that you never have to worry about getting caught. It makes it harder for her to find you when the affair is over. It also makes it hard for drama and hysterics to set in. Not knowing your name is a type of insurance policy against the whole thing blowing up in your face. Use a name that will be easy for you to answer to but not easily connectable to you if someone else where to hear it.

Incognito

Getting involved in an affair means meeting new people and interacting with a new social circle. It’s a small world, Six Degrees of Keven Bacon and all that. You don’t want anyone knowing who you are. It goes a long way in keeping the affair a secret if her friends and family never knew your real name to begin with. Use your middle name or your childhood bff’s name. Just don’t use your own. You never know who knows who and who will repeat your name. So make sure it isn’t your name they are repeating.

Greenbacks

Staying incognito means that it’s harder to trace you down for any debts or bills due. You can’t be traced by credit card usage or cancelled checks. Using a fake name keeps your hands financially clean of any connection to the affair. You will have to use cash for everything but it will ease your mind. The less paper trail you leave, the better off you will be when it’s time to cut ties.

Excitement

Let’s just face this head on. Excitement is a big part of the whole affair. Most people, men and women, have affairs to make up for a lack of excitement and/or stimulation in their marriage and in life in general. Every psychology book ever written will tell you people have affairs to fill a gap in their lives and really, no matter what is lacking, excitement will fill any void, at least for a little while. Having an affair with a woman who doesn’t even know your real identity is provocative and can be very stimulating to some men. It gives you the chance to live an entirely different life while still maintaining your original life.

Job Safety

Affairs can end badly. That’s no secret. Think Glen Close in Fatal Attraction. It could be for any number of reasons or no reason at all, but some women flip out and become so angry at you they lash out. Maybe you decided to ask her roommate out or stood her up for a dinner date, or maybe you just told her it was over and time to move on. For certain women, those kinds of things ignite a ferocious fire in them that makes you understand the old saying, Hell Hath no Fury Like a Woman Scorned. One of the oldest tricks in the book for these gals is trying to get you fired. Nothing is below the belt. They will call your boss, your coworkers and your wife, but not if you don’t use your real name.

There are a lot of good reasons to use a fake name with your discreet affair but they all boil down to the same thing; safety. If you don’t protect yourself in an affair, no one will. While everyone likes to think they have good judgment, the truth is you never really know someone. There is always a deep, dark corner of the soul that no one sees and that’s the part that comes out when you piss her off. Heading into an affair with your guard up and fully protected ensures a better chance at making it all the way through without a major life catastrophe.