Welcome to our new money section! You may already know Refinery29’s Money Diaries… this is our own version of it! We’ve put together a few questions to understand what women are doing with their money. Let’s break the taboo and talk more about finances!

It’s short, snappy, fun and anonymous.

Data Analyst. 34 years old. Married. Essex

Financial goals:

Short term (1-5 years): Moving to a larger house

Medium term (5-10 years): Private school for both children

Long term (10 years +): Retirement funds. Help kids with university

Best buy ever: Always spend money on what you put between you and the ground- shoes, mattresses and tyres. My mattress was £1,000 and worth every single penny

Worst buy ever: Cheap bifold doors from a shady cowboy. We went with the cheapest quote. Turns out these things are expensive for a reason

Things you spend the most money on: Mortgage, commuting, leisure, travel

Salary / Income: £50,000

Net worth (what you own vs what you owe, or your assets minus your debts): Savings £20,000 - mortgage £200,000 - student loan £8,000 - loan £7,000 we took out to finish doing up our house

Any side hustles: Nope. But I’m married so our combined income is much more

Savings: We have a number of savings pots for short and long term things. A large pot for a deposit on a bigger house, a medium sized one for random home stuff like the boiler breaking down and a small one where we save for Xmas, birthdays and holidays

Home: Yes. We own our home. We bought it cheap and did it up

Investing: I have an amazing pension but don’t invest yet

Pension: Through work. I contribute 5% my employer contributes 13%. My husband says I can never leave!

Insurances: My husband has private medical and dental for all the family through work. We both have life assurance from our employers

What is money for you? Security and peace of mind

What is financial independence for you? Knowing that we have a buffer should we lose our jobs

🙋🙋 Please help us break the taboo and participate here 🙋🙋