In this inspiring episode, Sarah Diamond, founder of Skin Lab, joins Women’s Wealth Money Mentor Siafra James to share her journey from burnout in the NHS to building a thriving aesthetic clinic in Kent.

She opens up about:

• Overcoming self-doubt and imposter syndrome

• Starting a business while working full time

• Making financial decisions as a solo founder and breadwinner

• The power of planning, persistence, and passive income

• Why it’s never too late to design the life you want

Sarah also reflects on working with Women’s Wealth to set up her pension, build a financial buffer, and gain peace of mind as her business grows.

🎧 Whether you’re dreaming of starting your own business, juggling finances as a solo founder, or simply looking for real-life money motivation - this one’s for you.

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Women’s Wealth Ltd is an appointed representative of Professional Financial Planning Group Ltd which is authorised and regulated by The Financial Conduct Authority, no. 950921.

Finding herself with a lump sum of money and feeling unsure about how to use it for her future, Polly talks about the stress and overwhelm she felt during this time. She shares how she overcame these challenges, saying, "Educating yourself and building a strong support team is the best way forward." Polly also highlights the importance of leaning on friends and talking through the situation with them.

She reflects on the impact of moving out of the marital home on her children and how they adjusted to the changes.

Polly stresses the importance of reviewing pensions, noting that many women often lose out by not advocating for this in a settlement.

While mediation requires negotiation from both parties, Polly found it unsuccessful in her case, leading her to go through the court process instead.

Now, Polly is rebuilding her life after having had no control over the family finances during her marriage. It has been a challenge, but she shares, "for me, visually seeing the cash flow, knowing how I was going to spend my money, save my money and use my money was so beneficial." Today, Polly feels empowered, with her money secure and working for her.

She has found peace of mind, settled into a new home, and is looking forward to a bright future.

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Women’s Wealth Ltd is an appointed representative of Professional Financial Planning Group Ltd which is authorised and regulated by The Financial Conduct Authority, no. 950921.

Savvy Sam talks about how to manage the family finances to get the best deal for everyone.  Sharing allowances and ownership of things to be tax efficient and fair, whether that's between adult partners or even putting stuff in the children’s name.

We will leave you with our top 3 tips to make sure you are a financially fit family and 3 mistakes that you can avoid.

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Fernanda's Situation 

In her 30’s, Brazilian and living and working in London for over 9 years, Fernanda is navigating career, relationships, home ownership and managing a lifestyle in an expensive city .

She felt it was time to consider how best to organise things with a view to creating resources for later out of “spare” income available now.  She and her long-term partner have 2 cockapoos so the natural progression might lead to children, so any planning needs to be nimble and adaptable.

Challenges:

• Getting the best return possible given the different or uncertain timescales involved for different pots. How to choose? What to expect? Overpay mortgage? Cash in share options? So many choices. 
• Wise use of tax allowances and tax efficient investment wrappers ensures best return, but it’s complicated and changes every year. How do you know you have got it right? 
• Continued earnings is what makes her financial plan manageable, but what if …………. ?

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Madeleine’s Situation
Madeleine is navigating divorce, freelance career, health challenges and a master’s degree, all whilst raising her children. We met this real-life superwoman at the point she was trying to work out if buying a replacement family home was the right use of her divorce settlement or whether there were other options that deserved her attention.
Challenges
· Now she is dependent on her own earnings alone. How does she build resilience for her family especially as her freelance earnings have been disrupted in the past by health issues?
· Is buying a house the best use of her resources? If she doesn’t buy will she end up squeezed out of the property market? If not property, then what?
· Pensions divorce – complicated, long winded, and very valuable in the long run!

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Jess’s Situation Currently working for one of the big tech corporates Jess has a great income, bonus with share incentives, pension and benefits and wanted to be sure she was making the most of her opportunities and being financially responsible.

She also has the substantial costs of living and working in London and had to navigate the ‘should I rent or buy a home’ dilemma.  This is further complicated by a desire to travel and eye on career options that move away from the good corporate earnings she currently enjoys.

Financial planning was key to Jess levelling up her knowledge and gaining confidence as financial decisions became weightier.  She sought autonomy over relying on input from friends and family, but also realised this is a specialist area and having an expert on her side is a great way of being sure all options have been considered.  Women’s Wealth loves taking on the role of BFF (Best Financial Friend) and we have enjoyed watching Jess lean into her financial responsibilities. 

Challenges 

• Lifestyle creep means high earners can become trapped unless they manage spending to a level that leaves them with choices. 
• Benefit packages that include share incentive schemes turn you into an investor whether you are ready or not and learning to manage your stock assets is part of growing into financial maturity.
• Getting familiar with your pension fund, how to choose the right investment, contribution level and when and how best to use the fund in the future because it is likely to become one of the biggest assets you will ever own.  
• Buy or rent – it is a big decision with lots of ramifications.

Further resources:

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Book a free 15 minute chat with one of our Money Mentors.

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Janette's Situation.  Having throttled back from full-on work to do only a bit of what she enjoys, Janette is transitioning from earning and accumulating wealth to utilising what she has created to support her lifestyle.

She wants to make the most of what she has got rather than creating a legacy and she has a gap to navigate until her pensions pay out in full. 

Challenges 

• Outliving our resources is a frightening prospect but making sure we get the most out of them is also a lifetime responsibility – how to tackle the balancing act.
• How to use different pensions at different stages of retirement to gap fill and smooth out your income. 
• She has recently come out of a long term marriage and lost her last parent – she felt quite alone and with decisions to make about an inheritance.

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Listen to the women who joined our LIVE 'Ask the Adviser' session as they ask their burning questions -  we love to explore the issues (and solutions!) that affect women’s money.

Ask the Adviser is LIVE the last Thursday of every month on our platform - The Women's Wealth Network. FREE to join.

Further resources:

Women’s Wealth Website

Book a free 15 minute chat with one of our Money Mentors.

Women’s Wealth Network (FREE to join for 6 months)

Join us on for the ‘weekly lives’ where you can listen to what others are saying

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